Pint Of Ale

Venturing into town for the second time this week, I met up with my Brother and Sister in-law in the North Bar. Arriving a few minutes early, I bought a pint of the first beer I recognized, sat down and took in my surroundings.

This bar was voted “the best place to drink in Britain” last year by the Observer and sells a huge range of beers and lagers from Germany and Belgium. Each drink is presented in its own style of glass. My first pint was a white beer called Erdinger, this came in a very tall, egg timer shaped glass. The decor of the bar includes a few paintings of faces scattered around, and a list of the name, percentage and translation of all the drinks available at the bar, which takes up most of the length of the room. Very useful I thought.

The clientele of the North Bar ranges from student age up to retirement age, and has a pretty much even number of men and women. And it’s not surprising with the number of light, dark and fruit beers available, it would be hard to find something that didn’t suite everyone’s taste.

A pint and a half of Erdinger in, I decided to try the North Bar ale. For what I assumed was the budget beer, it was extremely drinkable, pale in colour and a fruity taste. It was a beer I could have happily stuck to for the rest of the night. My final drink was a bottle of Kwak. Upon asking the bar tender for this, he asked if I wanted it in a normal glass, or a special glass that I had to leave £10 deposit for. I opted for the cheaper glass but was intrigued to know the magical powers of the £10 glass; did it make the beer taste better? Would a genie pop out and grant me 3 wishes? I guess i’ll never know.

Above the bar is a sign that reads “Sierra Nevada”, I did a quick search on the internet and found this site Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. which has a variety of bottled beer. I didn’t have any of these on this visit, however I shall make an effort to try a couple next time I go.

All in all an excellent bar, it doesn’t have the plastic feel of the increasingly “trendy” bars, and has a great range of beers to suite all.