Tasting Notes and Pub Notes: on a Day Out in York
York could very easily stake a solid claim to the title ‘beer capital of the North’ (if such a thing were ever up for grabs). The whole city centre is pretty much one great big historical tourist trap and ‘traditional pub’ seems to be one of the most commonly deployed weapons in the York tourist board’s arsenal. This, I firmly believe, is a Very Good Thing Indeed.
Jo and I have been to York a few times in the past couple of years but always on a weekend – so the historical sites we’ve actually wanted to visit have usually been closed to the public due to weddings. To get around this problem we nipped over on the train last Thursday. Arriving round about lunchtime, we headed in search of sustenance at the one York Brewery pub that we hadn’t visited on previous occasions: the Three Legged Mare.
I was Jonesing for a pint of light, hoppy Terrier and a baked spud (or something like that), but alas the only food on offer was sandwiches (not much good to us wheat-intolerant types) so plan A fell at the first hurdle. Turning around, I spotted a Marston’s pub – the Hole in the Wall – just down the road. Worth a gamble?
As it turned out: yes, it was well worth a visit. Inside it was a case of low ceilings, exposed beams, plaques on the wall proclaiming its historical associations with the nearby Minster and four hand-pumps on the bar. The Hobgoblin must have finished a the precise moment we walked in the door, so we opted for Mansfield Bitter, which turned out to be well-balanced hop/malt combo and an ideal lunchtime pint at a genteel 3.9% ABV. We also ate heartily: a well-portioned plate of pork steaks and black pudding served on a big dollop of creamy mashed spud with apple gravy (recommended!) for me and an equally generous helping of pan-fried white fish in a crayfish sauce with new potatoes. If that’s standard Marston’s fayre then I might seek them out more often…
Nicely refuelled by our dinner-sized lunch we then headed off to do some tourist-stuff – namely have a shufty around Barley Hall, a medieval residence just off Stonegate – and then Jo very kindly let me wander back around the corner to The Bottle, a specialist beer retailer that just had to be done. After perusing the US imports section (once again: more on the results of that in a future New Arrivals post) we chatted to the owner, who mentioned that he’d opened a bar upstairs earlier in the year. We reckoned it was probably about time for a pit-stop and frankly it would have been rude not to, so Jo and I climbed the stairs to The House of Trembling Madness, a former tea-room that also happens to be the oldest medieval hall in York and looks a little like this:
We opted for draught Anchor Steam Beer, which was served well-chilled but was still very flavourful, with a big malty base and a pleasantly sharp, hoppy after-bite. The rest of HoTM’s draught beer selection was interesting – Kwak, La Trappe Dubbel and Timmermans Kriek – and the fridge was stocked with a good selection of bottles from downstairs. About the only thing missing was a session bitter, but then there are plenty of other session-bitter filled public houses in town after all. A bit of a hidden gem that’s worth seeking out, the House of Trembling Madness has a lot to offer if you’re feeling slightly more adventurous.
Time was ticking on and we’d missed the chance to spend a decent amount of it looking round the Merchant Venturer’s Hall (which sounded very much like a good excuse for another trip to York at a later date) so we set off to stroll around the city walls and enjoy the sunshine for a while instead. That done, we then wandered back through the city centre and headed south of the river towards The Old Siam; a rather good Thai restaurant on Mickelgate that we’ve eaten at three or four times in the past. And as we were a little early even for early-doors, we stopped off at The Ackhorne on the way.
The Ackhorne is a proper drinking pub. Situated a couple of hundred yards up narrow, cobbled St Martin’s Lane, it’s far enough off the main Mickelgate drag to be out of sight to passing gangs of revellers, which means you’ve got a decent chance of enjoying a quiet pint. Mind you, The Ackhorne really does seem to specialise in session bitter – the selection last Thursday comprised London Pride, Greene King IPA, Marston’s Pedigree and Deuchars IPA, with a tempting-looking Rooster’s Yankee tucked in between them. Good choice: a 4.3% golden ale with a a big hit of malt and tangy, caramelised orange flavours, it was very drinkable indeed.
After a very tasty Thai meal Jo and I decided we had time (and room) for one more pint before heading back to the station, so we nipped three doors down to one of our favourite York pubs, Brigantes. It’s part of the Market Town Taverns mini-chain of 10 pubs (all in Yorkshire) but manages to maintain a Free House feel with a range of eight to ten real ales on tap, a couple of real ciders and a good bottled beer list.
The friendly barlass explained that the three Kelham Island pumps were left over from the ‘meet the brewer’ event they’d hosted the night before. Jo and I thought we’d help them reduce their surplus stock; I fancied something big and flavourful to end the evening on so I went for a pint of Pale Rider. This 5.2% pale ale was rich and hoppy and, because it was poured via sparkler, I do have to say much better presented, with a much better mouthfeel than the sparkler-free pint of the same that I’d had at The Gunmakers earlier in the week (memo to self: remember to ask them to stick a sparkler on the pump next time you’re in The Gunmakers, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind).
Jo opted for a pint of American Stars and Bars, a 4.5% US-inspired pale ale brewed using a trio of American hops. Once again, it was light, fresh, hoppy and very tasty.
We’d ideally have liked to stay for a couple more before staggering off to a guest house, possibly via the York Brewery Tap around the corner (can you believe it – a whole day in York and not a single York Brewery ale passed my lips, never mind a Rudgate brew or two… something of a missed opportunity there, surely?) but the timetable suggested we should make our way to the station if we were to be home at a decent hour. Passing through both Dewsbury and Huddersfield on the way back to Manchester meant that we were forced to resist further temptation as well. Maybe next time we should factor in an overnight stay and a couple of stopovers on the way back, eh? Now there’s a thought.
