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29-11-2011, 07:33
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Formonths my mates and I have been meaning to do a bar crawl around London whichinvolved no beer. As we always go from bar to bar drinking beer after beer, itseemed like a fun idea to try something different and see what the city hadwhen we weren’t chasing hops.


Itdidn’t start off entirely successfully. We met in The Ship (http://www.fullers.co.uk/rte.asp?id=4&itemid=267&task=View), a Fuller’s pub inBorough. The front row was on cask: Chiswick, London Pride, Bengal Lancer, ESBand Black Cab. A concession was made that the first drink could be a beer. Itwas Friday night and everyone had come straight from work, so we were thirstyand only a beer could slake that thirst. Besides, it was still early...


Westarted proper on cocktails at The Hide (http://www.thehidebar.com/) on Bermondsey Street, a piece of Londonwhich feels lifted from the backstreets of Brooklyn. A cool place, a bar linedwith spirits and a thick menu to choose from. Mine was an Old Fashioned in achunky tumbler. Others sipped from martini glasses, something virtuallyimpossible to drink from without looking like a twat or an extra from Sex andthe City. All tasted great but at £8 a glass it’s not something I’m drinkingall night.


Nextwas gin. We decided to walk across Tower Bridge and get the tube from there –we were going to Barbican. This took longer than expected and was probably amistake: we were very thirsty. Getting to The Larder (http://www.thelarderrestaurant.com/bar.php), aka (to us, at least) ‘The Gin Bar’, Idrank a great G&T in about 12 seconds and my thirst only increased. “Wherenext?” Wine? Whisky?


Weended up at The Old Red Cow (http://www.theoldredcow.com/). It was only around the corner. They don’t just dobeer, someone said. Only the third stop and all six of us ordered a beer. Weneeded a DRINK. Some chased it down with whisky but most just had a pint whilewe battled it out over Connect 4. We’d started over two hours earlier and onlyhad about a small volume of liquid. This was not what we’re used to.


Nextit was The Lexington (http://www.thelexington.co.uk/). A wall of 50 bourbons plus good beer. We order the bourbonbut Sierra Nevada Celebration was also on tap and no one can resist that, canthey? Another bourbon followed while we play foosball, plus a few mint-infusedbourbon shooters. The bourbon and the beer are both excellent. And it’s a coolvenue.


Otherswent on to a sherry bar before last orders while I jumped on a tube for thelast train home feeling somehow like I’d failed as I’d ultimately not managedto last a night of drinking around town without going to beer.


Thenight wasn’t what I expected. I had a classic cocktail, a London-made gin,fantastic American bourbon and all were excellent and I got to see a few differentbars, but such small measures were so different from what I’m used to whendrinking with mates. And while everything tasted great, it just didn’t do thejob that a pint does of being something uniquely satisfying to drink in volume.That’s what makes us able to drink beer all night long; it’s low ABV, it’sthirst-quenching but also thirst-inducing, and there’s also a more socialaspect around it – a pint lasts a while and it just feels more friendly, more 'let's sit and talk shit' than ashot of vodka.


Sittingat home or at dinner with a bottle of wine is fine, sipping it through anevening, but out in the pub or in bars was a different experience. Maybe it wasjust that I was with my beer drinking buddies but it just felt weird. And whileI love a wide range of drinks, it’s the variety which makes it most interestingand I think we’ve all learnt our lesson and that when wandering around Londondrinking it’s probably best to focus on beer and choose the others as extras.


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