This weeks #beersaturday led me into town on a supposed hunt for a birthday present. I say “supposed” because in the back of my mind I knew the real purpose of my day out was to visit some quite brilliant pubs which offer a great choice of world beers.
So after 30 minutes present hunting I got very bored and found my self subconsciously heading towards my first public house, The Keans Head.
A great little boozer and very unassuming too. Not at all a place that jumps out at you, in-fact, you’d be forgiven for walking straight past without even noticing it (However, my forgiveness would end if you knew about the Keans Head and didn’t stop in for an ale or two).
As usual I was like a child in a chocolate factory, all wide eyed and dumbstruck at the sheer volume of different beers held captive inside a row of fridges. I asked the barmaid for a menu to save the young lady the hassle of explaining each and every beer to me. “Sorry, we don’t have a menu, although that would be a good idea”, she said with a look of trepidation on her face knowing I was about to put her through the long process of helping me select the perfect beer. “Oh, hold on, we do have a list of all our beers scrolling on the wide screen tv 📺”. I looked behind me to see gigantic television hanging from the wall and after ordering a cheeky beer from the pump I wandered over and stood in the middle of the pub to stare at the screen like it was showing the World Cup final. Fortunately I didn’t have to wait too long before the first of many many pages of bottled, cask, and canned ales appeared. Unperturbed by the thought I may look slightly fanatical, I pulled out my phone and began taking pictures of the scrolling list of beers so I could sit down and take my time to read the descriptions while enjoying my beer. Wow! What a selection!
It was a tough selection, like choosing which of your kids will sit up in the front seat of the car. In the end I played it rather safe and picked a good old NEIPA from Black Iris, a local brewery with good form. I also added a bottle of Orval, which I ended up pouring like an absolute retard, ruining the entire beer 🤦♂️ For that reason, Orval will not be showcased in today’s post.
After finishing my beer I bagged up my takeaways and skipped away in the direction of my next point of interest.
The Canal House is a very special pub and one that can be labelled unique without any sense of exaggeration. I mean, come on, how many pubs have you been to that have a barge moored up inside? You even get to cross a little bridge to access the bar area. Once across the bridge you’re confronted with a wall of beer that can only be described as a thing of beauty.
I love visiting The Canal House and really appreciate how they serve you some of the greatest beers in their personalised glasses. Order a bottle of Orval and you’ll be given one of their magnificent Viking style glass goblets to drink from. The same goes for many other beers, too many to mention in fact, and each glass is equally spectacular.
The Canal House is the Yang to the Keans Head’s Ying. These two pubs couldn’t present themselves any more different if they tried. Nonetheless, each pub has its own charm and while The Canal House certainly wins the battle of the wow, the most important quality a pub should have is shared equally between these two awesome houses of ale. And that special quality, of course, is a great selection of beers!
Both pubs offer a whopping 30% discount on takeout beers and had my venture been closer to payday I would have walked out with many more beers than I did. Again, I played it safe and chose a Trappist Rochfort 8 to take home. For me, Trappist Rochfort are the kings of Belgian Trappist ales and the No.8 is my favourite of them all. I think it’s the candy sugar they use in their brew method that really sets this beer apart. But what do I know about brewing beer? Not a lot. But I don’t really need to know much as I’m an appreciator of these fine ales and that’s exactly the role I want to play. You brewers just keep on supplying these wonderful beers and I’ll keep drinking them.
All hail the ale! Hurrah!!
As it’s turned out, this weeks post hasn’t been so much about the beer itself but more about those special places we like to go to drink them. It can’t be understated what an important part of the beer drinking experience this is. So please, go prop up your favourite bar, pub, tavern, or whatever you call them in your neck of the woods. It’s one thing in life we mustn’t allow to disappear 🫥
Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you enjoyed reading about my #beersaturday adventure. Before I go let me leave you with a couple of images of the beers I chose to takeaway.
Until next time, folks! Happy drinking!!
Picture sources for images not owned by myself are as followed; pic1 Keans head bar image
pic2 Keans head pub
pic3 Keans head bar image
pic4 canal house barge
pic5 canal house outside seating
That looked like a couple of great places to visit, I really miss to go to a good pub and being able to select a few decent ales. I think our local has a bike hanging on the ceiling and sells Guinness only.
I have picked this post on behalf of the @OurPick project which will be highlighted in the next post!
Nice one buddy! Omg, only Guinness...is it an Irish bar? Have to admit, we're spoiled for choice over here and the craft beer scene has taken off massively. I guess the price of regular beer isn't far off that of a craft ale so folk are more inclined to get involved. Once you've had a proper beer it's hard to stop drinking then 🤣
yeah its an Irish pub. Thats pretty good with the craft beer scene there. Looks like you had plenty of choice. Very impressive.
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