By arthurchappell in Food January 29, 2015, 8:01 AM 29-01-15

Diary – Wednesday 28th January 2015

Dull as the proverbial dishwater up to the evening when I went on a Northern Quarter of Manchester city centre bar crawl, despite wind, hail, rain, and later, snow.

I caught a bus to the first sanctuary from the elements, The Angel Inn, in Collyhurst, just outside the city centre. Fine ale, a loud arrogant customer, and a very poor Wi-Fi connection too. I hate Wi-Fi passwords that read like this (not the actual one in the pub) 765i63o274 – Letters that might be numbers – vagueness about capitalization, etc.

The pub has a real fire too, and a rucked carpet capable of tripping an unwary customer into the flames.

My first choice of beer was a mistake as I never noticed it was a 7.3% strong ale – not the best to start a pub crawl with when you have had no food – prices for meals in The Angel are high.

The beer, Beowulf’s Killer Stout was potent, with a cracking aftertaste. I followed it with a more modest Finnis Hall Porter at 4.7% which was smoky, traditional and tremendous.

Our second port of call was one of my favourite bars, Bar Fringe, where I supped Backyard Brewery’s Rob’s Revenge, a 4.6% ale, copper coloured and liberally laced with whiskey.

At The Castle Inn I had my lightest beer of the night, Titanic’s 3.9% Steerage, a light bitter tasting refreshment.

In Pie & Ale I had Rednick’s Stout, a very smoky brew that was a 4.1% and tasted much stronger.

The last pub, which we walked to as the snow started to fall and stick, was Soup Kitchen where my final beer delight was the Welsh Cwyn brewery Lal, a 4.5% bitter that was excellent and quite traditional.

I got a quick kebab supper and the last bus home. Another grand night out.

Arthur Chappell

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