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18-04-2014, 10:36
Visit the a swift one site (http://www.aswiftone.com/2014/04/leeds-continued-part-2.html)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IR71t_y2fIQ/U1DkFEOOyjI/AAAAAAAAAz0/Q-7ru0cKOn4/s1600/IMG_0702.JPG (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IR71t_y2fIQ/U1DkFEOOyjI/AAAAAAAAAz0/Q-7ru0cKOn4/s1600/IMG_0702.JPG)I left you a little while ago in the Leeds Brewery Tap. Next port of call was a pub I had not visited for six years when I had my retirement do there. And how it has changed ! 'The Scarborough Taps' (just across the road from the railway station used to be a pub that seemed to be full of male office workers who hogged the bar and drank copious amounts of Tetleys. Now all has changed - Tetleys is still on the bar, but is not the beer it was. The pub is light, airy and full of comfortable seating and its clientele seems a mixture of suits, travellers and lots of 'ladies that lunch'. The interior has changed but I could not quite work out how but certainly for the better. And since it is part of the Nicholsons group, it was part of their beer festival.


I managed to lay my hands on the festival programme here and selected another couple of beers from the list. There were fifty available thoughout the festival, with around eight on the bar here. Adnams 'South Town' and Peerless ' Down Under' were the choices here. The latter being excellent with a good blend of southern hemisphere hops. The former again being southern hopped but a red ale, which gave it a more of nutty taste.




http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8eqSC2jLjVo/U1Dk8MpvciI/AAAAAAAAA0I/QIwi08u0GuA/s1600/IMG_0705.JPG (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8eqSC2jLjVo/U1Dk8MpvciI/AAAAAAAAA0I/QIwi08u0GuA/s1600/IMG_0705.JPG)


The Bar In Tapped


Anyway time and beer waits for no man. So it was onwards and outwards again. This time to 'Tapped' on Boar Lane. My first attempt to find it was fruitless, but I must have walked straight past without realising as it is a pretty imposing sight. And that is just the exterior. Inside it is something totally different for the city. It has lots of brewing paraphenalia on one wall and a brass fronted bar on the other. I was a little concerned as I could see no hand pulls but once my eyes had become accustomed to the lighting I found a list of draught beers on the wall to the right hand side of the bar. I think twelve in all. I had really hoped for a beer from their sister brewery in Sheffield but was out of luck. There were plenty of Yorkshire beers on offer, I eschewed the Mallinsons in favour of Atom 'Camomile' which was a tea infused beer appaently. Pleasant but not exceptional. And again £1.75 a half.


Next up was Mr Foleys Ale House on the Headrow. Another pub that has been facelifted since my last visit. In fact this had been done earlier in the week and included a new bar, new beer lines, and a new doormat of which the staff appeared unusually proud. Being a York Brewery pub there were 4 of their beers on offer, but I overlooked these and instead opted for Roosters 'Revolution ' and the beer with the best name of the year 'Misunderstood Starfish' from 4 Thorns. Both decent beers but I was still itching for more festival beers and I was just across the road from another Nicholsons pub.


'The Victoria Family and Commercial' is on Great George St just behind the General Infirmary, and is a wonderful building. A perfect antidote to the modern bars that have recently sprung up in the city. This is all dark wood, high ceilings and small intimate booths. And around 10 hand pulls with festival beers.
I selected Brains 'Rye Catcher' - a mistake. It was either running off or a very weird beer, or both. Luckily I found Trumans 'Tom Ditto IPA' on the bar as well and this was very pleasant, very fruity and according to the list a collaboration between the brewery and writer Danny Wallace. It even included a new hop from the USA which is not even named yet.


By this time the beer meter was showing close to full, and although I knew there were other pubs to visit, I did not feel this was the day to do it. But having ignored the promise of Leeds for some time, it will not be too long before I return and check out the rest of those I missed out and revisit those I especially enjoyed.


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