I am alive. My liver is functioning and I now have time to start writing about drinking again. There are quite a few reasons why I’ve been absent(bought a house, applied for lots of jobs, been poor, got new job, had no time!) because it’s been a bit of an odd year. I’m going to try and do at least one pub review a month next year but until then I’ll tell you about a really good pub crawl I did a few weeks ago.
In classic drinkingaloud style start in the Paramount –
The Wetherspoons on Oxford road. If you have a smaller party start in the Old Grey Horse or the Circus the two tiny pubs on Portland street (but we had more than two people).
The Paramount was standard Wetherspoons, quite busy but coping. It’s gets a bit mad in there and is one of the bigger ones in Manchester. It’s good for the train station and bus though. We had a quick pint in there, something pale but my friend couldn’t remember what.
We then moved on to The Temple –
I really like the Temple but you have to pick your moments with it. We went slightly later a few weeks after and could barely get in the door. It’s an ex – public toilet and has getting close to the worst toilets in Manchester. The bar is so small all the ales are bottled. I had Coniston Bluebird which is a nice Bitter. The glasses are pretty much always warm in there too so once you’ve cooled the first down with your pint keep hold of it. They do a range of different bottled beers and have Tuborg on tap. We managed to get a table but the place fills up very quickly.
It’s tiny.
The Temple belongs in the Northern Quarter but is infinitely better because it isn’t there. The juke box is excellent and usually playing something I like(this is entirely subjective) and we debated not moving on and staying there until we had to go home. However variety i the spice of life so we moved on down the road.
The Peveril of the Peak –
It’s an odd pub to say the least. Green tiled outside and with slightly bizarre opening times it has a weird little garden on the top of it that looks like a Wallace and Gromit model. It’s quite expensive but well worth a visit because it’s rare for these pubs to still exist.
There are a few rooms and its bigger than it looks inside so even if it seems busy you can usually find a seat. We were in there for one before heading over to
Rain Bar –
Rain Bar used to be an umbrella factory. It’s fairly generic inside but the beer is excellent. They have JW Lees MPA which is one of the best pale ales I’ve had for a long time. I can heartily recommend it. There isn’t much else to say apart from there is a good beer garden for the summer and that the food is OK. Just down the road is the
The Briton’s Protection –
It’s unfortunate that the pub’s name will put people off because it immediately puts you in the mind of a Britain First off shoot. It is nothing like that and is a really, really good pub. It’s a Robinsons pub so you can get Unicorn amongst many other things. It still has the original decor and loads of seats and rooms. It’s standard Manchester prices so don’t expect it to be cheap but it’s a really cool old boozer and you should go.
Cask –
Eventually we stumbled into Cask it’s near MOSI and is a real hidden gem. It’s not the best place but it is just off deansgate. Now usually they have a good selection on but tonight they had very little in the form of handpumps. I went for one of the lagers because I didn’t fancy the one handpump beer that was left which I think was a stout. I had a high end lager, which was nice and cleared my head a little. Cask is pretty rustic in it’s furnishings but that makes it mre about the beer. It’s a good simple bar that’s always pleasantly buzzing and friendly.
I think someone picked us up after that but to be honest I just don’t know.
8 Pints\6 Pubs.
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