Beer & Cider Tasting

This group is for those with an interest in beer and cider… drinking it, tasting it, exploring new varieties and visiting agreeable pubs in congenial company. The group meets once a month, on the 3rd Thursday evening, to visit one or two pubs in order to sample the brews on offer. There are many suitable venues between Southwell and Nottingham along the No. 26 bus route.  All pubs selected are within a very short walking distance from stops on the bus route, so Group members can take advantage of this service and leave the car at home if they wish. We catch the bus that arrives at Wheatsheaf Court as soon as possible after 19:00 hrs and return on the bus that leaves as near as possible to 22:00hrs. This gives us about 2 hours to sample the wares, usually at a couple of pubs, and gets us back to BJ at about 22:30hrs.

A list of proposed expeditions for 2024 is shown below:-

BJD U3A Beer and Cider Tasting Group – The Bath Inn and The Fox & Grapes –  July 18th 2024

This month, 22 of us visited The Bath Inn, near Sneinton market, in the heart of Nottingham’s “Creative Quarter”. We had planned a visit to The Bath Inn in May but had to cancel because of bus problems due to roadworks in Burton Joyce, however, the July date proved to be fortunate, as we happened to hit on one of the few nice evenings of the summer so
far. It was such a pleasant evening that the landlord hurriedly put out a load of folding tables and chairs on the pavement outside, so we could take advantage of the decent weather. It felt almost continental…
The pub is quite spacious and seating was no problem inside or out. No loud music but there was a pleasant, subdued level of light jazz and swing numbers playing in the background. The Bath is run (joke – “bath is run” Geddit!) by Piers Wheatcroft Baker, whose father Tom Baker played the fourth Doctor Who, and there are several “Whovian”
items on show. It has become a popular destination for Doctor Who fans. In addition to the Time Lord related stuff, the pub has an eclectic Art Deco decor, including a 6ft Tutankhamun sarcophagus, a golden octopus, and a swimmer diving over the bar. Presumably, the swimmer is a nod to the nearby Victoria Baths after which the pub is named…

*Grisly fun fact – The Victoria Baths were used as a mortuary during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic… https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/dark-past

As well as the usual selection of craft ales and lagers, there was a good selection of cask ales on offer, including the local Lenton Lane Breweries 36 Degrees North and Ossett White Rat. All were in good condition and went down well in the evening sunshine.

On the way back, we dropped in for a couple in The Fox and Grapes, as it is handy for the bus stop. The Castle Rock Preservation and Harvest Pale were excellent. *Further grisly factoid – The Fox and Grapes also has a gruesome past. In 1963 George Wilson, the landlord was brutally stabbed to death outside his pub. Still, enough old tales of death, disease and mayhem – we get enough of that in Nottingham every day, don’t we readers…

We hope to see you next month at The Final Whistle in Southwell.

Rob Johnson, Group Coordinator