Pubs & Pints III

Colchester & Ipswich: Day 9 

The Purple Dog in Colchester

We spent a day in Colchester sightseeing with a little bit of shopping. We stopped in The Purple Dog for a pint and some lunch. I had a pint of Crouch Vale Brewer's Gold - a refreshing, slightly fruity, slightly hoppy ale - from Essex. I also had a delicious falafel sandwich. Great spot, located in the center of town.

Isaac's on the Quay

It's Friday night in Ipswich. After a pint of Adnams Explorer - a light pale ale, at the Kesgrave Social Club with the family, we head to Isaac's on the waterfront. It was built in 1636, as a merchants house, with warehouses at the rear opening directly on the dock front. Today, this pub has four bars and an outdoor courtyard with a view of the harbor. It was packed when we arrived. We started off outside at a picnic table, but as the warm day started to get a chill we moved inside. We ended up with a private room overlooking the courtyard. I drank a few pints of Adnams Southwold Bitter, one of my favorite Adnams.

 
London: Day 9

In the morning, we headed back to London. Jay and I boarded the train with a John Smith Extra Smooth in hand. It was a nice malty ale.

We arrived at Paddington Station ready for a pint. Fortunately for us, there were a number of pubs near our hotel. We stopped in the Sawyers Arms for one while we waited for my cousin to arrive. This pub became our home base for our final days in England.  The Sawyers Arms is a multilevel pub with tables out front. Since the weather was beautiful, we sat by the window drinking our pints and coveting a table. I had a pint of Greene King IPA and Jay had a Guinness.


The Greene King IPA brewed in Bury St. Edmunds in the Westgate Brewery, which has been brewing cask ales since 1799. It is slightly hoppy with a malty flavor. English IPAs are never as hoppy as craft brewed IPAs in the US. In comparison, they have a taste of hop, which I grew to like after I change my expectations. 

We were finally successful in securing an outside table, so Jay bought a cuban cigar from the shop down the street and we wiled away a couple of hours people watching, drinking pints and waiting for my cousin to arrive. We met a lot of friendly people here - a couple who are retired pub managers and a group of pub crawlers to name a few.

From the ladies room in The Victoria

After Brian and Kevin arrived, we enjoyed another pint and made plans for the evening. We met up at The Victoria. The walls of this pub, built in 1838, were covered with photographs and memorabilia of Queen Victoria. It is rumored that it is thus named from a famed visit by the Queen herself. Another bit of trivia is that Charles Dickens spent time here. I had a pint of the Fuller's ESB - malty, caramel flavor, slightly hoppy, with a bitter finish. Yum!

O'Neill's

We followed this up with a taxi ride to Soho. We visited O'Neill's. O'Neill's is a multi-level chain pub with live music in one room, a dance floor on another level, and pub style seating on the ground floor. It was loud and packed. I had a couple of pints of Moorhouse's Black Cat - a ruby ale with a chocolately malty flavor. Moorhouse, in Lancaster, has been brewing ales since 1865. The beer was delicious and a fun evening was had, but the pub was not one of my favorite.


London: Day 10

After a late night we set up for some sight seeing on our last day in London. We stopped in The Crown in Covent Garden for a pint. It was a quaint little pub with seating with lots of windows with bar stools facing the street. We enjoyed pints of Wychwood Hobgoblin, which I had never had on tap. The ruby ales has a chocolatey malt flavor with a hint of bitterness. A nice place for a pint, but my lesson learned here -- don't ask the bar keeper for food recommendations.

The Two Brewers in London

My family had been telling Jay that he needed to eat a traditional English roast before he left. We wandered the streets looking for a suitable pub. I asked the bar keeper at The Crown if he could recommend a place. He referred us to The Two Brewers. With a little google research, I now realize that they are owned by the same company...  But we ordered a couple of pints - The Young's London Gold for me and a Guinness for Jay. The Young's London Gold was a little light for me, but with it's citrusy flavor and hints of fruit, it was refreshing after walking around London all morning.

We were famished, so we also ordered lunch. Jay ordered the Sunday roast. I had the Roasted Vegetable Suet Pie -- roasted Mediterranean vegetables bound in a tomato sauce, served with mashed potatoes, and mushy peas. If these items had been freshly prepared they probably would have been good, but the microwaved fare we received tasted like rubber.  This was definitely a pub food fail.  Skip it.

Our time in London was coming to a close, so we had our last pint in London at the Sawyers Arms. I had a Hawkshead Bitter and Jay had a Bass Mild. The pale, hoppy bitter was brewed in Staveley in the English Lakes District at the Hawkshead Brewery, a relatively new brewery founded in 2002. We sat in a little corner booth and reminisced about our trip. It was a great time. We will have to return, because there are so many more pubs to visit and beers to try.