This trip, like the last one to Bavaria and the Czech Republic last year, was about beer. The journey was well planned and was put into motion 17 June, 1999. It should be noted, that if the trip had commenced on the 15th of June or earlier, lower rates would have prevailed. Live and learn and that was what the trip was all about. Learning more about the world of beer making. In this case it also meant learning about ale, the back country of England, and the grandeur of Scotland.

Another lesson was learned by not doing the routing ourselves. Our tour planners used Northwest Airlines through Minneapolis and that created a five and half hour layover between the plane from Tucson and the one on to London. The going was tolerable, since sleeping during a night flight is somewhat easy, but the jet lag was more intense once there. The return was a burden and caused a real strain on health, since we traveled with the sun and never went to sleep. By the time we got home we had been up 22.5 hours straight. It would have been better to book a direct flight that makes the trip more enjoyed than unforgettable. The jet lag is certainly increased by exaggerated lengthy days. Next time we should plan a day on the East Coast and disembark with only a normal day ahead of us.

We chose to go in and out of Gatwick airport, sister to the famous Heathrow, because it was cheaper. The location difference to downtown London is not a factor. A convenient train ride into London is required by both and frankly the surface trains are easier than the Tube to deal with.

We arrived on the 18th of June and transferred to Victoria train station without a hitch. We taxied from there to the Brewer’s Inn in Wandsworth a southwestern suburb of London right next to the Young’s brewery. It turns out the Wandsworth Common station is much closer, but we didn’t know how to manipulate the train system to make that happen. Anyway we got to the right hotel and met up with Bruce Wright our guide for the entire trip and most of the other eight in our group. A tour of Young’s was planned for 14:00 and we got there before noon, so all was well.

The group consisted of following beer wranglers shown in the picture above:

Sean Eudaily and Sara Glasgow a couple from the University of Georgia soon to be married. They were there to find wedding items - like a ring.

Next was Jeff and Jeff both from the US Patent Office - Jeffrey Gaffin and Jeffrey Hoffsass.

Next was John and Lorraine Howley from Havertown, Pennsylvania. John has a company called Heil that produces refuse trucks and related equipment.

Then the singles, Fred Schneider, Ken Kane and of course Dave Moritz and myself. Fred sells Arm and Hammer baking soda and Ken works for the power company in Portland, Oregon. He also helps sell flowers made from wood products with a friend.

We had secured $200 worth of Pound Sterling at Minneapolis, so money was ready at hand once in England. Where does the time go? We were actually a little early. The rooms were not ready. Check out is 11:00 or 12:00 normally and the maid service in some cases is the owners. So we went exploring and had our first pint at the Young’s ale hall. Once the bags were in our rooms, we all gathered in the lobby of the Brewer’s Inn and headed back to Young’s which was just down the block.

Young’s was started in 1860 and once totally ran on steam power. Vestiges of the old engines, axles and pulleys still remain throughout the brewery. They have two large mash tuns and use Maris Otter grains exclusively. The original coppers were now museum pieces.  The fermentation vessels were a strange breed of slate sided square tanks open to the air. They vacuum off the yeast and recycle it. Young’s also keeps a stable of black Shire horses to pull their beer wagons or drays on special occasions to celebrate the beer and make an impression.

After the tasting, I began to feel the pressure of the jet lag and had to go back to the room and crash. Later that night we went to the Ship Pub on the Thames just a few blocks walking from our hotel. We ate outside and I had a wonder fish dinner and Earl Grey tea. I had had enough beer for one day. We met our guide for the London sights, one Mr. Brian Bade. He is a CAMRA associate and knows the Pubs of London well.

The next day 19 June, a Saturday, was a busy one. Up early and down to breakfast in the hotel. Like all the places we stayed, a fine hardy breakfast was provided by the hotel. We then walked to the Wandsworth Town train station about half way towards the restaurant of the night before. We zoomed down to Victoria station, this time exiting onto the promenade. This is a big open space with a glass roof. Many people buzzing around. We got a four zone Tube pass to be used later. Next to the Thames and across the bridge next to Big Ben. The view is very nice there and now we were in London proper. We walked around the Parliament building to Westminster Abbey and took the self guided tour. This tour was wonderful. Such history in this old Cathedral. It took about an hour to go all around and come out on the west side where we all gathered for the next sight. Walking from there along the south end of St. James park and across the horse guards parade ground passing Downing Street which was barricaded up. We went through the stable and out onto Whitehall street.  Just down the street we visited Lord Moon of the Mall Pub. Brian Bade was our guide as we started our pub crawl. Next we went to the famous White Horse bar for lunch and a view of the cellars.  The White Horse has several fine cask conditioned real ales. They were the best of the whole trip as is turned out. 

Next we visited the Black Friar Pub via the Underground or Tube. This is an interesting place that has hammered copper artwork of friars at work on all the walls. Into the walls are a collection of many gothic arches and anterooms. I had a Riggwelter blackish colored beer from the Blacksheep brewery.  More about that place later. We continued but were out of luck at seeing the Ye Olde Chesire Cheese an ancient old pub, because Prince Edward was having his wedding at the Windsor Castle Cathedral and most of the stores and pubs were closed. I guess everyone wanted to see it on the tele. We managed to wonder down the Thames passed the Globe theater which is on the newly constructed river walk that is very nicely done on the south side of the river. There is much preparation for the year 2000 celebrations. A huge Ferris wheel is being constructed. We ended up that evening at the George Inn. This was a wonderful old stage stop and hotel about 300 years old. The meal was in a private dining room, family style, with silver and beautiful china plates. The room was decorated in the period the hotel is famous for. I had lobster stuffed chicken with veggies and Earl Grey tea. We met Brain’s wife who joined us for dinner. We talked a long time, but in the end said good-bye to Brian and was ready to call it a night. We got back to the hotel about 23:00.

Sunday 20 June we set out by taxi early to catch the train at King Crossing station to York. The rag-tag band of beer drinkers were met by one Leon Singleton who turned out to be the life of the party for several days to come. He had a big van that consumed us all and ours bags, which was no easy matter. We went to the old town of York and toured the York Minster a beautiful cathedral. The organ was moaning and a choir was singing. Very beautiful indeed. We next toured the old village to include walking Shambles Street and it was, but cleaned up with modern shops that were very nice. This would be an ideal place to spend a romantic weekend. We later converged on the Maltings Pub and had lunch and a pint. I had a Guinea Bold from the Hardy and Hansen brewery. This was a creamy light ale, very nice. In fact the group shot at the top of this page is in front of the Maltings.

Now comes the Blacksheep Brewery in Masham next to the much larger Theakston’s Brewery. Blacksheep is a Mecca for the beer person.  Beautiful restaurant, gift shop, and beer tour of the brewery. I was delighted with the whole place. We wondered down to Theakston’s, but didn’t stay. It is a beer factory with a gift shop which was closing for the day.

Me making a fool of myself at Theaston's

Onward over the moors and into the dales of Northern Yorkshire. This is very beautiful country and looking back on it, I think is was the best area we visited. It was unpretentious and quiet. Real rural England dating back to Roman times. Mostly agriculture and little villages like the one we stayed in - Giggleswick. I’m not sure if it was named after a drunken candle maker or what, but it was great. Half of the group including myself stayed at the Black Horse Inn, a very old coach stop, and the other half stayed at the Golden Lion Inn on the main street of Settle, the next village only a few yards away. Next to our Inn, and just under our window, was a vast old graveyard dating back to the 1600’s. I felt like I could reach out and touch the grave stones. I don’t believe in ghosts, but if I did, I would be worried at this point. The ghosts behaved themselves and we had a great time. We all ate dinner at the Black Horse and I was amazed at the wonderful food. I had a perfect salmon and curry soup. I washed it down with a Timothy Taylor Ale a local brew.

The next day 21 June a Monday, we headed for Tadcaster and the home of Samuel Smith Brewery an old traditional place with drays pulled by white Shire horses and real cask conditioned ales. The tour of the brewery was highlighted by seeing the “Yorkshire Squares”. These are the huge fermenters made from Welsh blue slate with an upper and lower chamber with a large hole in the center connecting the two vessels. The effervescent ferment is kept active by volcanic action of coming up through the hole from the bottom vessel to the top. Then everything is cycled back to the bottom. This extreme measure is done to keep this particularly lazy yeast active. Of course, this also gives their ales a distinctive taste that is copied by similar fermenters we saw at other breweries. These large breweries all had a nice tasting room with bottomless glasses of all their fine beers. And, of course, we had many a deep glass full of their famous Old Brewery Bitter. Next to Sam Smith’s is John Smith’s a very large beer factory breakaway from tradition to make beer for profit. The family was split over tradition, but I for one am glad Samuel Smith’s is hanging in there. Tradition is so thick at Sammy’s that the still have coopers to make the oak barrel that they delivery the cask ales in. We went through the shop with its smoky, “oaky” smell and feel to the place. Sammy’s also produces lager for the Germany company Ayinger. That was a big surprise. That operation is all stainless steel and a different world from the “real ales”.

You can’t help but notice that almost all the houses are made form limestone or sandstone. That held true for Scotland as well. The uniformity adds to the historical feel and tradition all around you. Next we jumped into out van and headed off back towards Settle stopping in Harrogate to visit a small brewery based out of a garage type industrial area. The whole operation was crammed into this single unit wide place with a rollup door in front. It had two levels with tanks and plumbing going in all directions. This is the Daleside Brewery and was turning out award winning beers. Bill Witty started the place in 1980’s and now his son Craig is turning out the volume. They are Belgian immigrants that have a 600 hundred old legacy in beer making. The town of Harrogate is a Victorian spa town on the edge of the beautiful Yorkshire Dales National Park. It was a real treat to see this place.

We returned to Settle and went and saw Leon’s work shop. He sells, repairs, and services beer engines all over the UK. The shop is quite extensive and full of great beer stuff that he generously shared with all of us. What a guy. Next we visited Leon’s 17th century old house that was originally a candle shop. It was filled with antiques and was very charming. We all had a round of cheer. Thanks Leon.

That night we went to the Marton Arms Pub in Ingleton. This is a very old place where at the near by chapel Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was married. And at the pub he had a few pints in front of the big fire place. It is situated out in the country up a hill and nestled in a stand of trees. It was a wonderful warm delightful time. I decided to do the fish and chips bit. I was going to try this sometime and this seemed the time. It was good.

On to the north and Scotland. We bid our farewell to the Singletons and boarded the train at the Settle train station and headed out across the dales. This is an open country sparsely treed with numerous sheep and cattle penned in by regularly spaced rock pile fences about three feet high. The patchwork of pastures were a peaceful sight. I enjoyed every bit of the train ride. The train crossed several stone viaducts that curved providing a picture perfect scene from the ample window. We got to Carlisle and changed trains for Edinburgh. Once there we caught a taxi to the Athletic Arms or “Diggers” pub. It is located between two cemeteries and thus the name Diggers Pub. We had a beef pie and a pint (McEwins 80/) and then huffed it down to the Caledonian Brewery for a tour. Caledonian is a great brewery. They are rebuilding after a few convenient fires that provided them with the funds to construct a traditional looking brewery of modern design. They don’t seem to be hung up on tradition and are experimenting with some real nice products. We sampled their best and were very pleased. A special salute to their Edinburgh Strong and Flying Scotsman beers. Dark ruby red, rich in flavor, a full bodied delight of a drink.

Now it is late afternoon in a country where the sun doesn’t go down to 23:00.  So the night was young. We checked into the Meriden a townhouse three story walkup Victorian place. The Diane and Hugh Crawford run the hotel and they were just great. We went across the street to Bennet’s bar which became the hangout for the next few days. Bruce Wright our guide was raised in this neighborhood and knew the folks at the Bennet very well. We were on our own for supper, so I went with a few of the guys to an Indian restaurant and had the curry. Big time hot and sweaty, but good. We all were scrambling for the alka-seltzer that night. We went by the Canny Man Pub for a final brew (Belhaven 80/) and off to bed. It was a long day and a fun one.

Wednesday, 23 June, we are off to see the castle, Din Eidyn, Edinburgh castle, home of the Scot’s military presents in the city and protectorate to the Queen to this day. We took the local bus from Morningside north to the town center and climbed the Royal Mile or High Street to the castle perched high above the city and most prominently. The self guided tour was excellent accomplish by a CD ROM player each person carried. The pathway is very sequential from sight to sight spiraling up and around to the center. From this point stone steps bring you back to the wide cannon battery area below where you can have your ears laid back at 13:00 when the soldiers fire a cannon. Boom!, and the crowd screams. This was a most excellent place.

Next we descended a zillion steps to Grass Market area and started the pub crawling. We ended up at the Bow Bar for lunch. I had a meat pie and a Budvar Budweiser. The name bow came from the bow shape in the Victoria Road bending up to George the IV Street where we got off the bus that morning. At this point the group decided to go our own way and meet up back at the hotel that night for dinner. I took off to find a bank to secure a handful of Pound Sterling and then hit the stores on Princes Street. I found a tartan museum and they provided via computer the MacWilliams tartan a subclan to the Gunn clan. It is a dark greenish wool cloth. The Thompson clan’s tartan is a tan color. I didn’t shell out the additional $20 bucks for that one. I checked into the Crenshaw name and came up empty. That must be the Irish connection.  Oh well, Grandmother Wolf would have been proud that I at least found her McWilliams tartan on the home ground itself. After the shopping I crossed the Prince Street Gardens and back up to the castle at the top of the Royal Mile. I came up through the “closes” or alleyways past many historic plazas. The author of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Robert Burns poem museums were there in the alleys. Once at the top of the hill, I started down the Royal Mile visiting the Giles cathedral and in and out of the many super shops along the way. I walked to the end where the Holyrood Palace is, passing the new Parliament building. The palace was closed, because the Queen was there. She was up from London to move the Scottish Crown from Edinburgh Castle to the new Parliament building. The ceremony was to take place the following week. I was exhausted by this time and found my way back over the bridge at the Waverly train station to Princes street to catch the bus back to Morningside. The rest of the crowd never showed up for dinner, so I went to an Italian place near the hotel.  The boozers came in late after many a pint. The room roared with snoring that night. Dave, Ken Kane and myself were all in one big room at the top of the building with a nice dormer looking out at Bennet’s bar.

Thursday, 24 June, and off to see Traquair House by hired bus. This place is south of Edinburgh in the countryside near Peebles. It was hidden in the middle of a vast forest many years ago. Now farms surround it, but it still has the country feel to it. We knew of the old brewery it houses, that was reopened in 1965, after laying still for over a hundred years. But I had not realized it was the hunting lodge for the Kings of Scotland throughout its long history. The house has been there over 800 hundred years and the tour through the house overshadowed the brewery completely, although the sampling of the Jacobite Ale with it hint of coriander, the Bear Ale, and Traquair House Ale was great. Traquair comes from Tra, in old English meaning Hamlet, and Quair, a tributary of the Tweed river. It sounds French, but is very Scot. The Stuart family acquired the house in 1491, so James Stuart was the first Laird or Lord of Traquair. Mary Queen of Scot was there with baby James VI until the exile and imprisonment down in England at the hand of Elizabeth. Traquair House is still the house of Stuart family and the 20th Laird now runs the estate and has the beer brewed. In 1745 as Prince Charles Edward Stuart left Traquair house the Bear Gates at the entrance to the estate were closed and remain so, awaiting the return of a Stuart to the Throne. It marks the end of the Stuart dynasty. The estate has several other buildings around and a small collection housed craft shops. I bought my daughter a silver ring made in Gaelic style from a young lady handcrafting jewelry there. Next the bus headed for Belhaven across the moors and dales of the Scottish countryside. We found a Pub along the way to eat lunch. This time I tried a Chicken Kiev and it was great. Belhaven is a modern brewery in all ways. It also provides for bottling for many other breweries in the area. Big business and good beer.

After returning to Edinburgh, I set out to retrieve my laundry I dropped off that morning and find the email store Ken located as he was exploring one day. Both were accomplished. It was fun sending email back to the States from there.  That evening we went back to Bow Bar to gather the troops for our final dinner across the street at the Grains restaurant. It was a big banquet style meal and Leon came up from Settle to be with us. We met Bruce Williams the owner of Thistle Brewery an arm of the old McClays brewery and drank his Heather Ale. He has really started something with what he calls “Historic Ales” in the Gaelic sense. He has an elderberry, pine, heather and gooseberry brews. All very good. He also provided us with a tour of McClays the next day.

McClays was a well know and popular brand around the world, but it is now closed.  The valuable parts are now going into the Thistle Brewery. The tour was informative because it showed how the old breweries were built from grain storage to grist mill and mash tun. All wooden construction and dust explosions being the main cause of fires. The pictures we took tell the story better than words. Let’s say it was about time the place folded. We did enjoy a taste of "Full Monte" a brash ale and we received a bottle of Parliament Ale brewed especially to honor Scotland having a voice after 300 years of silence. I can't imagine a silent Scot!

Once back at the hotel in Edinburgh the group split up and went our separate ways. We were to meet down town at Princes street park that evening for supper. Then I went back to the Royal Mile and the Scotch Whiskey Heritage Center and took the tour. It was fun to learn about the famous Scotch whiskey. It basically is peat smoke barley beer that is distilled. The tour was a la Disney in form and catered to families with a ride in a whiskey barrel shaped cart through a museum of displays set up realistically to put you into the mood of the times. The tasting at the end was exciting. You can’t sling back too many of these without feeling it. I had a Crawford (the same clan name as the B&B owners) brand.  It was like fire. I got a small bottle of Glenfiddich to take home.

We all gathered hungry for supper at the base of the “Gothic Rocket” a large spiraling structure in the park on Princes street. Bruce and his wife and I went up the thing. You get dizzy because the stairs are in about a four foot circle.  Passing those coming down gets interesting. I’ll bet no Sumo wrestler ever ascended those steps. Once on the street, we went to the Mather Bar and then to dinner at the Henderson’s cafeteria. They had a jazz group, well a piano and bass. I could have stayed there all night. The gang started out on yet another pub crawl and I went back to the hotel.  I just don’t have the capacity anymore.

 Saturday the 26th of June and the sun is shinning. The group head to airport and back to the US. Dave and I headed for Glasgow. Bruce took us to the train station and we got on a train right away and boom, we were in Glasgow’s Victoria Station. We were trying to go to Glasgow Central, but this was the end of the line. Not a problem. They are about a block apart and both are at the town center. We taxied to the Boswell Hotel a few miles south of Glasgow proper in an old Georgian house made into a hotel tucked into a private neighborhood. We got our maps out and got orientated and back to the town center with the main pubs marked on the map. The first one was another Black Friars. This one is owned by Allan Cunningham. He is connected to CAMRA and loves the world of beer. We talked for some time and he unloaded a bunch of fun stuff on us. We also sampled a Belgian lager La Konnick that was very good. We found that the George Square was a beehive of activity. Glasgow puts on several summer festivals to keep the tourist flowing in.  The following week was a jazz festival.  The day we were there it was a little bit of everything going on all day. The bus tours of the city start there as well. We took a ride around the city in a open top double decker. Great way to see the city. We also visited the Drum and Monkey and The Cask & Still pubs. But the best place was back near the hotel a place called the Clockworks. It is a microbrewery and was out in the middle of a residential area. Everyone was there and we got to meet the publican Mr. Robin Graham. He knew Leon Singleton and Bruce Williams was his brewing teacher. Small world. Well, that got us a tour of his “clockworks” an intricate collection of tanks and pipes. He had beers from all over the place. He also had owned the Boswell Hotel at one time.

The Clockworks Pub and Brewery    Glasgow, Scotland

Now it is Monday the 28th of June and we found ourselves on our way to Warrington.  We left from the Glasgow Central to Warrington Bank Quay. Once again, the hotel was in an upscale residential area. The place was called the Kenilworth Hotel. We checked in and taxied back to the town center. It looked a little bleak until we happened onto High Street. This was all done up very nice. We ate dinner at the Yates pub and did a few other pubs and taxied back to the hotel.

Tuesday, 29 June, we got an earlier start. We had to change trains at Manchester-Picadilly. There was no advanced information on how to get to these places.  We just figured it out along the way.  Our tickets didn’t make sense until we saw the schedules in the train stations. The ride was very interesting. When we got to Newport we tunneled under the channel and stopped in a station on the other side. Then pulled out backwards. This maneuver got us going in a new direction towards Bristol. The Bristol station was having a makeover and had scafling everywhere. We taxied across the city’s winding streets and hills. This is a nice looking place with a river walk area. The hotel was another house in an old neighborhood called the Nasbey Hotel. The owners were very friendly. They had a beautiful garden back yard and two lazy old dogs. We walked this time, all the way back to the train station going from pub to pub. We passed a large Courage Brewery. It looked new, but in the Cornubia a pub across the street, told us that it used to be the tasting room for the brewery. They said Courage had sold out to the developers that were remodeling the water front with upscale apartments. Progress at the expense of the workers and beer. This is bad.

Wednesday we headed for Dorchester. The ride was a long one down through the couture side. Very pretty trip. Dochester is a very small town and the hotel was close by. The Hotel was the Wessex Royal Hotel and was right at the town center on High Street. We got there just in time to make a 13:00 tour at Eldridge Pope Brewery. It is a large old place that had a malt house, bonded warehousing, and a large bottling operation much bigger than the one we saw at Belhaven. We later toured the town garrison. Dorsetshire has always been a military region and the history of the troops goes back through all the great battles the Empire engaged in from India to New Guinea.  The garrison is a castle looking structure with twin rooks. We went through it. The view from the roof was great. I was barely hanging on. I caught a bad cold somewhere back in Edinburgh and was not feeling my best, but onward through the fog as they say.

July first, a Thursday, and we were on our way to Crawley the last town we would stay in before return to the US. The train ride had a twist. A truck had run into a bridge down the way and we were diverted to Gatwick Airport which was a shortcut for us. We got off at Twin Bridges station and the hotel was close by on High Street again. This one was the George Hotel and it was a relic. Very old and crusty. We wondered around the area and went into a big shopping mall.  That night we walked to the Snooty Fox for dinner. I had had enough ale for one trip. I finished the trip drinking tea.

The next morning we got back on the train for two stops and were in the Gatwick Airport. The usual security and customs checks and we were on our way back to the US. Once back in Minneapolis we had a five and a half hour layover. Then the plane came in with a lightning strike. Another hour and a half and we were finally on the way back to Tucson. Dave’s brother-in-law and sister picked us up and took us home.

Well, that’s it folks. Two weeks in jolly old England. And what was my impression? Well, real ale is not what I expected. It was good when it was good, but many were off, on their way to becoming stale beer. I really don’t think the real ale movement has much for the modern guy. The clean taste of kegged beer and bottled beer are for me. Besides the bitter taste of the English beers leave something to be desired. I really enjoyed the beers in Scotland. But my true love is still the beers of Germany and the Czech Republic.

The British “real ale” supporters remind me of Tavia in “Fiddler on the Roof”, tradition, tradition - it’s all falling apart. Sometimes you just have to move on.

Cheers

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