The Arbitrager

To Arbitrage - the simultaneous buying and selling of securities, currency, or commodities in different markets or in derivative forms in order to take advantage of differing prices for the same asset. Now, I have been in banking for 29 years and that sentence means nothing to me! What I do know though is that this tiny pub is a most welcome addition to the City of London beer scene.

They are unique in the Square Mile as they only sell draught beer and cider produced in London, and, as they only buy in a small quantity of each beer, the selection is always changing. The beers are served in 2/3 and 1/3 pint measures, or in growlers (why they are not called flagons is beyond me.....) to take away, this option is tempting when one is having a bad day in the office I can tell you! The beers are served in excellent condition and the bar staff are always more than happy to talk you through the range and let you have some tasters. They also have a wide range of spirits, all distilled in London, the gin selection really is rather good, (I am partial to a nice G&T, especially in the summer months, or, days I should say). On top of this, they have home made tonic, which is served on draught, along with an in house punch which changes regularly.  

The Arbitrager as a pub has been around for many years, and would have been a favourite haunt for bank messengers and those brokers working at the stock exchange opposite. However, I only knew the pub as dirty, smokey and selling stale out of date crisps thrown at you by a very grumpy landlord! I can assure you it is much improved.

Not only have they upgraded in terms of personnel, drink choices and bar snacks, the place itself has had a considerable makeover, as you can see from the pictures above. On the left is how it used to be, and, I must say this picture makes it look a whole nicer and cleaner than I remember it. On the right is how it is now. It is snug, but, bloody lovely inside, they have used the limited space to great effect, well done to whoever designed it, worthy of an award in my opinion.

Near the bar is a large map of London (sadly the picture above only shows a small part of it) on it they have highlighted all the London breweries, which, as you can imagine, requires a lot of updating on a regular basis.

All told, this is a great little boozer and one that is firmly on my radar during the working week. The pub can be found at 27a Throgmorton St London, EC2N 2AN. If you are in the area, I can highly recommend it as a place to visit, cheers!

For those of that are interested, these are the beers I had on a recent visit:

Islington Lager at 4.7% by Hammerton Brewery - a refreshing tasty lager which is unfiltered and unpasteurised, proving once again that lager does not have to be clear, fizzy, cold and tasteless.

Rye IPA at 6.1% by Maregade Brew Co (these guys are new, and, are brewing below the Cock Tavern in Mare Street, Hackney, once the home of Howling Hops). I like my Rye IPAs clean, and, this one hit the mark, I will be seeking out their other beers when I get the chance.

Biere De Garde at 7.7% by Partizan Brewing - a very drinkable slightly higher than usual abv biere de garde, but, absolutely delicious, really well balanced between the fruity flavours and the sourness/funk.

Friday the 13th

Friday 13th, a date which some people dread, for me however, the 13th May was a day to look forward to - ½ day annual leave and a trip over to Four Pure in Bermondsey to meet with Head Brewer John Driebergen. He had agreed (or “been volunteered”) to show me round the brewery and talk me through their brewing process, but, with a particular focus on one of my favourite beers, the Session IPA. I wanted to know a bit more about the beer I was going to review with Steve and Mark, for the season 10 curtain raiser of the Beer O’Clock Show podcast http://www.beeroclockshow.co.uk/ to be released on Friday 10th June.
My allotted time was 3pm, so, I left work at 1pm and headed south, well, as far as The Pelt Trader, where I shared a few beverages with one of my partners in crime, Clayton. It was a nice sunny afternoon when we left the Pelt, however, strolling over London Bridge admiring a view I never grow tired of, I realised I might be cutting it fine time wise, so, decided to get the Jubilee line over to Bermondsey. The thing is you see, Four Pure are on the outer reaches of the Bermondsey Beer Mile, so, unlike me, give yourself plenty of time to get over there, especially if walking down Blue Anchor Lane, where you will find a fantastic chip shop on the left, hard to walk past, sadly, on this occasion I had no choice (memo to self - plan better next time).
However, i did get there on time, and within a few minutes John appeared, introduced himself, handed me a not so snazzy pair of protective glasses and so began a very pleasant 2 hours in the company of someone who knows his stuff (he was previously at Meantime before he joined Four Pure in 2013, before any beers had been produced, in fact, pretty much before it became a brewery!).
As my focus was on the Session IPA, John basically walked me through the process, which when explained to you by an expert always sounds so simple. It's not. Amongst all the lovely shiny fermenting vessels, I was shown a Hop Gun, how fantastic does that sound? A Hop Gun. (This is where the Mosaic, Simcoe, Cascade & Centennial hop pellets all come together for a bit of a dry hopping party) A brilliant name for a piece of equipment that allows the maximum extraction of flavours from the hop pellets that they use in their beers.

By this time I had sampled the Session IPA at two early stages of development, when the yeast had been added and post Hop Rocket. You could taste the direction of travel, but, it was far from the finished article, in fact, it takes 18 days to produce this beer.
Next, we went for a walk, not far, around 100 metres to another unit that has recently become an extension of the brewery. This is where the canning takes place, but, only after the beer has been piped (yes, piped) the 100m from the brewery. They run along the wall behind the industrial units, John tried to put a dampener on proceedings by saying there was probably only water in it that day (in my head it was Session IPA or Pils, what does the head brewer know anyway?). They then pass the beer through another shiny silver machine called a Centrifuge, where more technical stuff takes place (translation: Magic), eventually ending up in tanks where it will lager (it was years before I knew that this basically meant to store) for 7-10 days before being kegged or canned, incidentally, this is their only method of dispense for these beers. They were also the very first UK-based craft brewery to start canning their core range.
Aaahhh, the canning line is a wonder to behold, a cross between advanced space age technology and an ACME device built to catch the Road Runner (it fills 12,000 cans an hour, but, sadly was inactive when I was there), oh, and it is silver and shiny too, in case I forgot to mention that.
We went back to the brewery (where the tap room was now open and already serving thirsty customers) to enjoy a chilled Session IPA.
Time to be a bit professional and ask a question and make a legible note of the answer, "Why the rebranding of your core range?" the response was simple "Time for a change, after all, the staff see these cans every day". John did expand further, explaining that the background picture illustrates what inspired each of the beers, for the Session IPA it is New York. I must say I like the rebrand, it manages to remain familiar yet new and different. While I remember, I did ask a question earlier as well (look at me go) - what has been the impact of Session IPA and Pils appearing in M & S stores up and down the country (train beer anyone?), well, those two beers alone make up 25% of their output, it's no wonder they needed a new canning line!
This brought me to the end of my visit to the brewery, I really enjoyed my time with John, thanks again for sharing your insight and knowledge (and thanks to owner Daniel Lowe for arranging in the first instance), really appreciated it.
If you get a chance to visit the tap room, please do not hesitate, you won't regret it. Failing that, avail yourself of their core range, then their seasonal, actually, just try them all (I have been giving it a good go recently), and with 35 unique beers brewed in 2015, plenty to choose from! 2016 and 2017 look like they will be just as exciting, if not more so (I am eagerly awaiting the burgundy barrel aged beers myself).

How we spent St. George's Day

It was time to get up, but, it was 5am on a Saturday morning, what was going on? I’ll tell you what was going on, it was St George’s Day and we were going to Manchester, not only that, we were going to visit one of the most exciting breweries to burst onto the scene in 2014 – Cloudwater. Michelle and I were booked onto the 8am London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly, a journey scheduled to take just over two hours, giving us enough time to eat, drink and chill (provided everything went to plan). Having picked up some grub, water and tea at Euston, we patiently waited for our train platform to appear on the departures board, these moments give you a chance to spy on potential fellow passengers (you know, the ones you want to avoid). I had already spotted a group of guys that I did not want to share a carriage with earlier, they were the ones who made sure everyone knew they were around and definitely had not stocked up on food, water and tea! (Disclaimer – I have no issue with train beers at whatever time of day suits you, I do have a problem when you are a loud mouthed twat with or without train beers) So yes, you guessed it, these guys appeared on our carriage, needless to say, we moved, and, we weren’t the only ones. The rest of the journey to Manchester was rather pleasant and we arrived without further incident shortly after 10am.

As the tour at Cloudwater wasn’t for another hour, we decided to walk as it was a nice spring day, Google Maps however had other ideas. It didn’t prevent us walking, but, it provided no assistance in helping us to get to our destination. After lots of short sweary words from yours truly, we hailed a cab, 5 mins later we were dropped off at unit 8 on an industrial estate not too far from the station, just in completely the opposite direction Google Maps had indicated earlier. Unit 8 however did not have a Cloudwater sign outside, in fact there was very little indication we were in the right place, until we looked up and spotted quite a lot of bottles on the window ledge inside, so, we rang the bell and to our delight, we were welcomed in.

Even a new brewery has a beery smell/feel to it, and this place was no different. To my left was lots of shiny gleaming silver vessels, pipes and assorted machinery. In front of me, some barrels which were being used to barrel age some of their beers and to my right, a seated area with tables – the taproom. The brewery was bright, airy and welcoming, although not quite as welcoming as “what would you like to drink?”, now, this is where I must congratulate the guys at Cloudwater, providing a beverage before the tour is unusual in my experience, but, definitely the way to go! I had the Bergamot Hopfen Weisse – Special Edition. It was zesty, hints of hops and lemons, refreshing & fresh (also provided me with two badges on Untappd, double badges are becoming increasingly difficult to get these days!).

With everyone’s name ticked off (you pre book your tour and/or drinks at the taproom via Eventbrite), 15 of us picked up our glasses and proceeded to follow our tour guide over to the shiny silver side of the building, basically the bit where the magic takes place. Unusually for Cloudwater (so, we were told), they were brewing on a Saturday, so, there was plenty of activity going on, the brewer kindly made it easy for us to identify him, he had beard! We were shown the all the usual component parts that make up the brewing process and our guide was very knowledgeable and evidently enjoyed her role at the brewery as well as sharing with us on a Saturday morning. We were shown the machine that had been used to bottle 15,000 of the DIPA V3 recently and quite frankly I was amazed that it could cope as it really did look like most of the process was manual, and it appears that I wasn’t far wrong in this assumption. However they managed it though, grateful I am, as the DIPA V3 really is rather brilliant (seems that using hop pellets and Vermont yeast played a big part in this stunning beer). Then we were asked if we wanted to try some, as yet unamend beer straight from the bright tank…….guess what? A resounding yes from all, the beer was slightly hazy due to the influence of wheat, some lovely soft fruity and banana notes, no herbal flavours & aromas were present, very drinkable, so I had seconds (ultimately they named it “Spring & Summer White IPA Comet”).

Robyn, our tour guide was now moving us in the direction of the tap room, this could mean only one thing – more beer! So, I had some of the DIPA V3, again (well you have to really), next up was the Custard Porter, the barrel ageing for 6 months had seemingly removed all traces of the porter. Reminded me of cola cubes, with booze added, this was a 4/5 on Untappd. Another 4/5 was the Sour Yellow Peach (Sherry BA), my notes simply say “tinned peaches”, which reminded me of dessert on Sundays when I was a kid. This pretty much brought us to the end of our time at Cloudwater, it was a wonderful experience, and Robyn is an excellent tour guide/host. Also, we met some nice people as one often does (beer people are good people), special mention goes to the guy who is opening a craft beer bottle shop in Northampton, find him on Twitter - @Beer_Guerrilla, he was there purely for research purposes (obviously) with his dad and son, I wish him and his family the very best of luck with their new venture.

Originally, we were going to visit a few bars in and around Piccadilly post brewery visit, however, my eagle eyed girlfriend had spotted on Twitter that Beer Merchants were throwing a party in their new warehouse on the same day we were in Manchester, and, it was on the way back to the station, next destination was sorted, St George’s Day was being celebrated in style and only English beers were going to be being consumed.

Highlight of the Beer Cave for both of us was the opportunity to try some of the new range from Four Pure, thanks to Sophie and Neil for allowing us to take up so much of their time, really appreciated it. The Cherry Tart and Vertical Drop were the two standouts for me, good to see these guys expand their range, more to come I am sure.

And, that as they say was that, it was goodbye Manchester, see you in October for Indy Man! 

Cantillon Quintessence

The trip had been booked for some time, all tickets purchased, plans made (including a visit to Brewdog so that EFP holder Clayton could get his free birthday drink), I even had my train beers sorted and chilling.

5th May at 05.32, a missed call from Clayton. I called back shortly after expecting there to be told there was a problem with our train line, which would not have been a shock. However, I was to be shocked, Clayton had just discovered that his Kiwi passport (which only have a 5-year validity period) expired 2 weeks earlier! He couldn’t go. This put a bit of dampener on proceedings I must admit. Felt gutted that Clayton was going to miss out on the event he had paid for and on his birthday, also felt a bit sorry for myself as no beer buddy to enjoy the event/travel with. However, there was nothing to be gained in me not going (Clayton enjoyed the London weather with his partner and got his birthday beer from Brewdog) so, I got the train to London, made my way over to Euston and having picked up some food for the journey proceeded to check in and await boarding The Eurostar at St Pancras. I do like train travel (although my commuter service provider does their utmost to put me off on a regular basis), especially the longer journeys when you can relax/unwind, and departing St Pancras always feels special, it is such a beautiful building skilfully and lovingly restored to its former glory. Did you know the pillared undercroft was used for storing beer brought down to London from the Midlands originally? Once on the train and utilising my spare seat to good effect for food and beer I settled down for the next two hours.

Arrived in Brussels bang on time and decided to head straight over to Cantillon rather than visit one of the many bars outside the station that were bathed in sunshine. It only takes 10 minutes or so to walk over there and more than once in the past I have wondered if I am going in the right direction, then you sort of happen upon the brewery. There was a queue, but, everyone had tickets and those tickets came with a time slot allocated, mine was 12 to 12.30. All the chatter in the queue was about beer, there was a good mix of people to mingle with as we waited for our time to come. Once inside we were ticked off, presented with a programme, a glass and vouchers for food as we went along (don’t expect me to be saying too much about the food, there’s no Untappd app for that!).

I love the brewery and the sense of history you get when you see the barrels, the old equipment and the bottles, I have done the tour a couple of times in the past, however, this time I felt like I was seeing more of the place and from a different perspective.

There were 23 beers and the selection of foodstuffs at 9 stations to navigate, I like a challenge!

The next 4 hours flew by, quite happy was I in my own beery world, watching and listening to other people’s conversations about the different beers being sampled, sometimes joining in, but, most of the time keeping my own counsel and thoughts to myself. I have had a few of the beers previously from Cantillon, but, the majority of them were new to me. Standouts were Gueuze +2+3+4 (2011), Classic Gueuze (1996), and 50 Degrees N – 4 Degrees, with the 1996 Gueuze being the absolute highlight. 20 years old and so very smooth and drinkable, a real pleasure to behold. The beers from Masia Agullons were interesting, and, some promised a lot, but, none of them really hit the heights of the many Cantillon beers I tasted during the day, but, perhaps this style of beer is not in their DNA and the regular range might well be worth seeking out, unfortunately I don’t know (must get to Barcelona sooner rather than later!).

So, what to do in Brussels when you have a few hours to spare before your return train? Drink more beer of course, but, before I departed I queued up for some takeaways for myself and a bottle of the Lambic D’Aunis for the missing birthday boy.

Moeder Lambic is probably well known to anyone who has been to Brussels and has an interest in beer and is only a 15 minute walk from Cantillon. Busy it was when I arrived, but, found myself a seat indoors and chose what I hoped would be a nice refreshing beer, I was rather pleased with my choice – IV Saison from Brasserie de Jandrain, it was cool, refreshing and only mild hints of “Belguimy”. I then spotted a familiar face sitting outside with some mates – Joel from the Hop Locker, a pop up bar on The South Bank of the Thames, well worth a visit, can be found on Twitter @TheHopLocker. I popped over to say hi and was invited to join them, which was very nice of him and also bagged me a seat in the sun, shades on, beer in hand and good company – I was a rather contented and happy chap. A few more beers were had before the walk back to the station, even the 30 min delay at Brussels did nothing to dampen my mood.

Cantillon:

Grand Cru Bruocsella Lambic Bio  (3.75/5)

Lambic D’Aunis  (3.5/5)

Zelige  (3.75/5)

Rose de Gambrinus 2014  (3.75/5)

Lou Pepe Kriek 2012  (3.5/5)

Vigneronne  (3.5/5)

Riesling Zusslin  (3.5/5)

Fou’ Foune 2015  (3.5/5)

Zwanze 2012  (4/5)

Cuvee Saint-Gilloise Champions  (3.25/5)

Iris  (3.5/5)

Iris Grand Cru 2013  (3.25/5)

Asperule Odorante  (3.5/5)

Gueuze +2+3+4 2011  (4/5)

Classic Gueuze 1996  (4.25/5)

La Vie est Belge  (2.75/5)

50 Degrees N – 4 Degrees E  (4/5)

 

Masia Agullons:

Barrico Blend #1  (2.75/5)

Barrico Merlot  (2.75/5)

Barrica Kumquat  (2.5/5)

Barrica 2013  (3.25/5)

Setembre  (2.75/5)

Setembre Edicio Nadal  (2.75/5)

 

NB. Birrificio Del Borgo from Italy were excluded due to the takeover by ABInbev. The decision to exclude is very eloquently explained on the Cantillon Facebook page, courtesy of Jean Van Roy.

Duvel Tripel Hop Series

Monday 25th April was meant to be a dry day. Well, that was the plan. Then I received an invite to attend a tasting of all 6 of the Duvel Triple Hop Series in the West End. I said yes.
So, off into the cold wind and rain I went (the things i do eh....?) heading in the direction of Oxford Circus. However, rather than head straight to the venue, I met with a couple of friends beforehand - Steve, one half of the much
loved beer podcast The Beer O'clock Show and Matt, otherwise known as the Half Pint Gent, check them both out on Twitter. Having had a half of well kept Truman's Zephyr at The Windmill we made our way, in the sunshine (British spring time?!?!) to The Burlington Arms.
We were greeted with pens, paper, glasses and most importantly, beer. First up was Duvel, a true classic in my opinion, but, probably overlooked as we are so used to seeing it in bars and supermarkets, this is a mistake and I am as guilty as anyone on this score. Duvel is brewed using two Hop varieties, Saaz-Saaz and Styrian Golding, together they produce an 8.5% abv golden refreshing beer that drinks like a sub 5% abv, simply wonderful.
So, what is Duvel Tripel Hop you might well ask, simple in principle, they had a third hop into the mix. This practice started a few years ago and they have reached the stage where there are now 6 iterations of the beer. Our mission was to taste, and decide which were our three favourites, voting forms were also provided. This process would be replicated around the world with the winning beer becoming a staple offering in their portfolio from 2017.
A few of us took an orderly approach to proceedings, deciding to use the bottles as our guide, handily numbered 1 to 6 (OCD 1 - 0 Chaos), reflecting the order the beers were originally released.
First up - Amarillo. I have to be honest here, this one might have  suffered because it came straight after the original, saying that, a few of us were of the same opinion - didn't really work. Quite a sweet start, with a dry finish, but, not a whole lot going on in between, the aroma felt slightly out of place too. Using my Untappd scoring system, this was a 2.75/5.

However, the next beer utilised one of my favourite hops - Citra, and, boy, could you get that on the nose straight away. The taste didn't disappoint either, dry fruity citrus all in a nice Belgian golden ale. Very enjoyable, score 3.75/5.
Number 3 was the Sorachi Ace, which is a Hop from Japan that definitely divides people in the beer world, let's call it the Marmite of hops. I neither love or loathe it myself, as it turns out this is the one I had tried previously, twice, giving it 3.5/5 on Untappd, and after sampling again saw no reason to change that score. This was the driest of the beers by far, literally sucking the moisture from my mouth, which meant I drank a bit more (cunning plan there Duvel) and I felt the Sorachi Ace worked well with the base beer.
Hop number 4 was the Mosaic, which like the Citra provides plenty of tropical fruit aromas and flavours, but, also provides more bitterness. This combination worked big time for me, a 4/5, which incidentally is the same score I gave for the original beer back at the start of the tasting.
Into the home straight with 5th in the series - Equinox, a Hop I am not immediately familiar with, but, definitely added fruity notes to the aroma, but, less so on the palate. Not so dry as the four that preceded it, but, drinkable none the less, a 3.5/5.

Last up was the Experimental Hop 291, catchy eh? So new, it is as yet unnamed. This one, a bit like the Amarillo didn't hit the mark for me, I found it rather sweet, however, with a little persistence it did grow on me, getting a respectable 3.25/5.
Before I voted, and just to make sure my scoring and comments were correct, I tried them all again, yes, I am that dedicated!
Mosaic won for me with Citra a very strong second. Third place was a tie between the Sorachi Ace and Equinox. However, if I had to choose just one beer from the Duvel range to have on a regular basis, it would be the original.

A very interesting and enjoyable evening was had by all who I spoke to.

This event was hosted by R&R Teamwork Drink & Food PR, thanks to all involved for setting this up and looking after us.

PS - Loved the scotch eggs, they were delicious.
PPS - Big thanks to Steve for getting me on the guest list, much appreciated. See what Steve thought about the beers - https://t.co/tyGBCmpGQP

A brewery, a tour and a tap room

Recently, I paid a visit to the Concrete Cow brewery in Milton Keynes, did the Fuller’s Brewery tour and enjoyed a few beers at the York Brewery tap room – this is what happens when I have time off work!

My parents live in Milton Keynes and have done so for a number of years, so, every so often I provide a taxi service for my son to see his grandparents (let’s not kid ourselves fellow parents, it’s all about the grandchildren) .  For those of you that aren’t aware, Milton Keynes is renowned for the number of roundabouts along its roads and the concrete cows that were created in 1978. It is after the infamous cows that brewer and owner Dan Bonner named his Concrete Cow Brewery in 2007.

It is also a bit of a beer desert, Wetherspoons being the exception to the rule.
My son and I took the short drive on the Saturday after midday from where my parents live to the business park where Concrete Cow are based, found the unit, parked up and briefly wondered if the place was open, however, a quick tug on the handle and push on the door revealed that it was indeed open to visitors. Dan was there with another customer/friend/fellow brewer discussing all things beer, I said hello, introduced my 15 y.o. teen and myself, whereupon I was offered a generous tasting of the new lager being produced – MK67. The lager comes in at 5%, and, is a soft almost creamy well balanced beer, hoppy with a nice bitter finish.  The name comes from MK for Milton Keynes and 67 as it was in 1967 that Milton Keynes as we know it was born. Next up was a can of MK IPA, a 5% American IPA, this was really enjoyable – soft, zesty, well balanced (which I think is a feature of their beers), with a rather smooth finish. This was the 7^th batch produced and seemed, by all accounts to be the best yet, so, I purchased a few (when I say a few, I mean a few six packs). I also took home a few bottles of their real ale, the Pail Ale I found to be clean, crisp, bitter and refreshing.

It was nice to spend time in the brewery with Dan and his mate, plenty of beery chat was had by all (with the exception of my son, who probably switched off when I said “hello”), I will be popping in again in the near future.

Read more about them here: http://www.concretecowbrewery.co.uk/brewery/

A couple of days later, it was time to tick off the Fullers Brewery tour from my “big beery to do list”. My girlfriend Michelle, had purchased a brewery tour for two as one of my many great Christmas presents, so, off we went to Chiswick together for the 3pm tour. Always ones to ensure that we arrive on time or early, this meant time for a swift one on the Mawson Arms named after the owner Thomas Mawson, who owned the original brewery on Fullers site.  I had hoped to find Chiswick on cask so close to the brewery as it is one of my favourite session ales, I was disappointed. I plumped for a 330ml bottle of Pale Ale, which I must admit I hadn’t seen previously – it wasn’t too bad, refreshing and sessionable @ 3.5%. The pub itself is nice and the food looked good, only thing lacking for me, was a wider range of the Fuller’s beers, being as it is so close to the brewery.
Then our guide turned up, a gentleman steeped in Fuller’s history, limping along somewhat with his crutch (the exact nature of the injury was never shared, but, it was his first day back), despite this he seemed fairly sprightly to me, I put this down to the London Pride, which was declared early on to be his absolute favourite beer, EVER!
I won’t go into detail about the history and heritage that seems to emanate from every nook and cranny of the brewery, it as potent and tangible as the smell of beer, but, you can read all about it here:  http://www.fullers.co.uk/brewery/history-and-heritage
After we had donned our hi vis jackets, the tour began. It was both informative and entertaining with some good stories being told as we went along, whether they were all true is another matter, but, hey, who cares? It was a mixed crowd of young and old, with a few locals, and some from further afield, plenty of photos were taken and questions asked. One of the highlights for me was the cold hop store, what a wonderful aroma greeted us when we entered, I could have stayed longer. 45 enjoyable minutes had passed when the magic words “who wants a drink?” were uttered by our guide (by now you will have realised that I have forgotten his name) – unsurprisingly, the answer was a resounding yes.

The brewery bar is in the Hock Cellar, which contains plenty of beer memorabilia and could easily be described as a museum, however, despite this, it was to the bar where we all congregated.
At last I got to try their new keg IPA,  which, at 5.3% doesn't smack you in the chops, but, a tidy bitter finish, perhaps a bit more of the citrus fruit flavours might have come through had it not been quite so cold. I also had a London Pride in tip top condition (still no Chiswick), so very quaffable (Michelle enjoyed her first Pride). There were a few amusing moments in the cellar, especially when a couple of the party asked for cider or Sierra Nevada. Lastly, and this was an unexpected treat, we shared a 2007 Vintage Ale, not only do I not have one of these in the cellar, I had not tried it previously either. It was simply exquisite, boozy liquid fruit cake. And, there ended the tour, apart from a brief visit to on site shop where I expected to be tempted by all of the Vintage Ales, surprisingly this wasn’t the case.

Last up was a visit to the York Brewery Tap, only a few minutes away from York train station, and 2 minutes walk from the hotel where we were staying (although we took the scenic route via the city walls). The outside of the brewery/tap room looks like a pub and as you get closer you get the unmistakable whiff of beer being brewed. Once inside it is a short walk up some stairs, behind glass you can see some of the brewery in operation, then you enter the tap room. Very unlike any other tap room I have been to, it is a cross between a social club and your favourite local boozer.

Naturally, their own beers dominate the choices (as it should be) with a variety of cask offerings, plus a couple of keg beers too. Made up of three rooms with a pool table/shop at the back, a middle room with an eclectic mix of furniture and the bar area with stools and barrels – this is where we perched, I like to be near the beer!  

I sampled a few of the cask offerings, the highlight being a fruit wheat beer – Black & Weisse 4.8%, very light and refreshing. Both of the keg offerings were very good - Legion IX, very drinkable at 6.5%, a nice take on a US IPA, but the absolute standout was the Imperium, a 7.5% stout that provided hints of booziness, with a sweet start and a dry finish, brilliant.
The atmosphere in the bar was very friendly and welcoming, also, the wifi worked brilliantly, which meant I caught some of the Liverpool Europa League tie (bonus!).
For more information about the brewery and tap room: http://www.york-brewery.co.uk/
York has some lovely historical places of interest to visit such as the National Railway Museum and York Minster as well as some nice places to enjoy some very good beers (York Tap and House of Trembling Madness spring to mind).

Next stop – Cloudwater in Manchester, bring it on!