Another
business trip to the UK. I like the
travel, the work, and especially the beer.
But physically getting to the UK is difficult, and it is tough on the
family. Fortunately for me I try to make
the best of things, so I started with my journey down to Newark Airport, and
stopped at the Office (http://www.office-beerbar.com/). The Office is a chain of bars in North Jersey
that brag about having a good beer selection.
The selection is good, but I wanted to try a sampler from Carton
brewing, a new microbrewery from Atlantic Heights. I really enjoyed the Carton of Milk (cute
name), a milk stout that was both creamy and sweet. It was a good stop (especially with the
Parkway backed up), so I used Garmin to get me to the airport. I’ll have to say that Newark airport sucks in
terms of beer selection (Jet Rock, can you start expanding?), so I grabbed the
red eye and made my way to Birmingham, UK.
The
red eye is great, except that you arrive in the UK REALLY tired and you can’t
check into the hotel until the afternoon.
But being Sunday morning, I thought I’d cruise over to Coventry to check
out the Cathedral. The Cathedral had
been destroyed during WWII, and they had built the replacement next to the
ruins and dedicated the new structure to peace.
The most striking feature for me was the cross of nails, set where the
old altar used to be, with the message “Father Forgive.” I was there so early that I had to wait 2
hours for the church service, so instead I headed over to the City Arms, a
Wetherspoon pub that is in the Good Beer Guide (this will become a theme this
trip), for Breakfast. I went with Eggs
Benedict with a pint of Byatt brewing Coventry Bitter, as well as Hook Norton’s
Double Stout (delicious!). 
Next
I headed northeast, closer to my hotel, to the town of Smisby to check out the Tap
House. An independent brewer, the Tap
House opened at noon with a Sunday carvery.
Unfortunately, I arrived at 10AM and took advantage of the time with a
little nap in the car. The landlord let
me in an hour early to use the loo as well as to sample their beers. I tried their Ashby Pride Golden ale and
their Dark & Dangerous stout, and enjoyed a bag of Snyder’s jalapeno pretzels
(a little taste of home).
Off
again, and this time it was to that famous England brewing town,
Burton-Upon-Trent. I stopped by at the
National Brewery Center (in the book) to see what they had on cask at the
Brewery Tap, and was pleased to find a Worthington Autumn Shield (related to
their White Shield and Red Shield) on cask.
The Brewery Center has a bottle shop (what better souvenirs) where I
found a Dorothy Goodbody Blissful Brown to enjoy later. I next went down the street and visited
Burton Bridge (also in the book). I had
tried to visit last March, but they are closed in the late afternoon. This time I got to have a nice visit, and a
Staffordshire Knot Brown Ale. It was a
great final stop, but it was time to check into my home away from home.
The
Hampton is located in City Centre, and I was happy to get checked in. It was too early to turn in, so I headed over
to the Babington Arms (also in the book) for dinner. They were out of the Ploughman’s, so I tried
a British burger and a Kelham Island Back in Black stout. The beer was delicious, the burger, not so
much. My last trip it was BLTs, and this
time I was on a quest to get a good hamburger.
And I knew I had to keep looking.
It was time for bed, so I called home and headed back to the hotel. Here’s to my search for both burgers and
beer. – 6119/12828
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