Evening all,
whilst tackling ( and continuing to tackle) the dire horrors of trying to sell the flst of the sadly passed away Wee Fatha, me and Keith, or rather, WB and WK, decided to get a break away. Initially we thought about Glasgow, but with restrictions not clear, we opted instead for Bristol, a place where WK got his MBA degree with wee fatha back in 2019. I was keen to see what was happening down there, and having asked our friends Ray and Jessica from the blogging world, we got advice on where to go, and what to do. Here are some highlights....
The journey down was plagued by standing traffic - although we did surprisingly bump into Roger and Anne and Rachel our uncle, Aunty and cousin, as we took a break at the services. Back on the motorway we were soon in Bristol and despite having taken a wrong turn to find the hotel (and then a 2 mile detour back) we were soon booked in and headed for our first stop.
This was the Cornubia - we both had a pint of locally brewed southern seas hoppy pale ale or similar, and it was hot sat outside. Popping next to the Seven Stars, I had another locally brewed pale and WK a weaker more traditional drop - both sat outside on benches enjoying these. Next was the Bridge on Passage Street - a cracking pub with 2 or 3 cask from the past on. Me and WK were both on a pint of Purity, before I slipped in another half. Marvellous!
A bit of a wander followed - down to the quays and Hotwells and along a disused railway track and through a gap in the fence to the fabulous Orchard pub. Here I had a pint of Arbor IPA from the cask, along with a pint of Otter 4 Paws and a half of delicious cider - Hecks, possibly, but only a half. This was a truly fabulous pub, and from here we went to the Merchants Arms at Hotwells. My beers in here are sadly a little unclear - but the pork pie and mustard was much appreciated! A short walk away we went to the wonderful Myrtle Tree - still selling Bass from the cask, so I had a pint and WK a half, before we finished at the Bag of Nails.
I had heard plenty, including from WK, that it certainly smelled of cats, and worse. To be fair there were only 3 cats in when we arrived and no smells - as it was busy we went upstairs - I think I had a pint of Wickwar, but am not entirely sure. The beer was flat and delicious - am going to blame that half of cider for my rant on the walk back to the hotel...
Next day we walked up St Michael's Hill towards the park where the Bristol Comedy Garden was being held. Arriving 55 minutes before it started we queued for about 20 minutes to get in but once sat down there was a bag of goodies and snacks and in the end the gig went quite quickly. Highlight for me was probably Rachel Parris - assuming that is her name - and also later on seeing Rosie Jones in the Highbury Vaults.
We took a quick walk to the Clifton Suspension Bridge and crossed it both ways, before following google maps through the back roads to come out at the Highbury Vaults. Here we met up with Rosie in the beer garden and also the lovely dog that her chums had brought along. A cracking pint of St Austell Proper Job for me, although sadly WK once again had to download an app just to order beer.
Next we sat accross the road at Beerd and enjoyed the dark lager from Lost and Grounded, and a Lost and Grounded pale - both were on excellent form. We then walked down a side road to come out at the Kingsdown Vaults, a cracking pub with a range of real ales on, of which I had a pint of Butcombe - according to the glass! From here we took a walk to Cotham Porter Stores where I had a pint of the excellent Wickwar B.o.B - just like I remembered it.
A short walk down hill and we found ourselves at the marvelous Hare on the Hill. On my last visit this was a Bath Ales pub but now was a fabulous free house with a grteat range of beers on both keg and cask. Highlights included a beer brewed there, and one each from Good chemistry and Anspatch and Hobday. We could have stayed for many more but were quite hungry as well as a trifle refreshed.
Walking into town we stopped off at a Greek deli for some dolmades and chips before finishing on some frankly ludicrous beers in BrewDog near the hotel. A truly cracking day!
Our next to last day included a walk from the hotel underneath the Clifton suspension bridge to Pill. There are about 4 pubs in the village but we turned up at 1400 - and none opened on a Monday until 1600! After buying scran we hopped in a taxi back to the hotel.
A quick wander back to King Street brought us to Small Bar - here WK sadly had to download his 5th different app to order and pay for beer - to be fair to them, as they pointed out, they would love to be back in a situation where customers could simply see what was available and ask based on that. I had two thirds of Good Chemistry Jam sesh a fruited pale, followed by 2 thirds of a pale ale which had a name. Soon we were up the hill and steps to Zero Degrees where I had two pints of their Parallax Effect at 5.9% and Keith included a half of heir Mango ale, before walked down to Steak of the Art for some Bristol Beer Factory and two marvelous meals!
Our penultimate stop was at Beer Emporium where I finished on a pint of super cloudy Electric Bear gluten free pale ale at 4.2%. Our final stop was in the mighty joy of the Left Handed Giant brewery tap. I started on a strong IPA at about 7%, two pints of, before we had two finishers - one imperial stout which was about 10% and one called woodlands or similar which was 11% - really really enjoyable, although, it absolutely destroyed us. And is no way related to my spending £35 on three take out bottles from their aged beer collection...
I realise that we missed a good few of the pubs we really wanted to see - one behind the town halll and in the market place, possibly called the vines inn? Along with the Wiper and True and Moor brewery taps (although these may have been a way away) along with the Grain Barge. Despite this - I have to say that Bristol was a joyous place to visit, and there are loads of reasons for us to pop back and enjoy them and other places again!
Cheers
Wee Beefy