Our
first stop was a personal favorite, the Brunswick, which brews their own beer,
always has some guest ales, and has an excellent vibe. I got the spring ale from Hook Norton, called
First Light, and was quite impressed.
The Brunswick is quirky in that it has little rooms all over the place
to have private conversations. Next we
headed down past the train station to the Station Inn for a Charles Wells Bombardier
Ale, a beer that I had never found on cask before. The pub was fine, but not one of our
favorites, so we didn’t linger and headed around the corner to the Florence Nightingale. They didn’t have any new ales, but they had
English brewed Red Stripe on tap. Red
Stripe is a family favorite, reminding Jenn and I of our Sandals honeymoon in
Jamaica, so I thought a pint of this elixir was a good choice. 
We
were now getting hungry, so we headed up the street to the Royal Telegraph, a
Marston’s pub, for dinner. I love this place
because they always have some sporting event (usually Premier League football),
and they once gave me a free pint glass just because my friend Len asked for
it. I had the Chicken Tikka Masala, the
most popular dish in the UK, with no salad dressing salad (why waste that fresh
garden vegetable flavor with bleu cheese, or ranch, or Italian dressings). For my beer, I had the Marston’s smooth flow
on draft (presumably to compete with the Worthington Cream Flow). 
It
was now time for Matt and I to part ways, and I decided to walk towards an area
of town that I’d never been, looking for one of the bars that was on the pub
crawl list. So I headed over to Abbey
street, cutting through the unlit rows of tenement houses, and past groups of
locals who quickly realized that I did not belong in their neighborhood. So I walked fast, and made it to my
destination, the Olde Spa Inn. The place
was nice enough, and the people were friendly, so I decided to get a pint of
the Marston Pedigree Diamond, brewed especially to celebrate 60 years of this
beer, and corresponding to 60 years of rule by the Queen. I next headed up the street to the Crown Inn
for a Carling Extra Cold on draft. This
place wasn’t so nice, and I found myself chugging my pint to get out of there
(never thought about leaving the beer there untouched). I called Jenn as I headed back to Centre
City, and even though she didn’t quite approve for my choices for the night,
she was glad I made it back to my safe zone.
I
met up with Matt and we headed over to my personal favorite in Derby, the
Brewery Tap, for a nightcap. I got the
Derby Quintessential ESB for a drink, but skipped on the homemade pork scratching,
no matter how hungry I was. We talked
about the days events, and then decided that one more stop was in order, so we
went around the corner to the Exeter Arms.
I got the Dancing Duck Dark Drake stout to go with my genuine pickled
pub egg (delicious). There was a band
(Matt thought it was the same group from Sunday night), so we hung out for a
while and enjoyed the scene.
It
was a long day, so I headed back to the hotel (easy walking distance, essential
for the end of a pub crawl). I had fun
walking around the city, and I was looking forward for what the rest of the
trip had to offer. – 6000/12117
“On
victory, you deserve beer, on defeat, you need it.” - Napoleon
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