Our attention must now be directed to the principal subject of this evening's paper: Lager Beers ("Lager Biere"). Of these there are four recognised types :—Bohemian, Vienna, Bavarian, and American. As a general rule, three varieties of each are brewed: Light, Ordinary or Summer Lager, and Export. The exports are all brewed considerably stronger and contain more alcohol. All the types vary a good deal in colour, flavour, palate-fulness, amount of hops, acidity and alcohol. For example :—1. Bavarian and Munich beers possess a light to dark-brown shade of colour, are lightly hopped, and are characterised by their palate fulness, sweet taste and malt flavour. Their gravities vary from 12.5° to 15.0° B. in the Light, and from 15.0° to 18.0° B. in the Export beers.2. The Bohemian are light-yellow, as in the case of the Pilsener, to a peculiar greenish-yellow colour. They taste somewhat sharp, dry and wine-like, but with a prevailing bitter of hops as opposed to the lightly-hopped Bavarians. Their gravities vary from 10.5° to 11.5° B. for the Light, and from 11.0° to 12.8° B. for the Heavy.3. The Vienna Lagers come somewhere midway between the Bavarian and Bohemian, especially as regards colour, hops, and taste. The gravities vary from 10.5° to 13.5° B. in the Light, and from 13.5° to 15.5° B. for the Heavy and Export beers. The larger amount of the common beer of Vienna is brewed at a gravity of 13.5° B.4. The American Lagers generally follow the German rather than the Austrian types, yet differ considerably in the many American cities.
"Lager Beers" by James Grant in Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 15, Issue 3, May 1909, page 379.

I resumed my wander and carried on down the High Street towards All Saints Parish Church, but turned right when I arrived at Friarage Road. On the way I'd passed a pub called the Fleece which is supposedly the oldest pub in town, but a quick nosey inside revealed nothing to suggest its supposed antiquity, there were a couple of fruit machines, and no hand pumps, so I beat a quick retreat. And so I duly arrived at my second venue of the afternoon, situated across the road from the M&S Foodhall.

I left the Masons and carried on towards the church and turned left beside the Buck, the local branch of Wetherspoons, passing the church and was soon in a village-like spot with a village green and a pub decked out in flags at the end of a row of cottages next to a cemetery. I was at the Oddfellows Arms (opening image), the second CAMRA Good Beer Guide-listed pub of the afternoon. I could here plenty of laughter and conversation from around the back of the pub which I assume was from a beer garden. Inside, whilst it was quite busy, it was relatively quiet, with many eyes on the Ladies Final at Wimbledon, which was showing on a couple of TV screens. There were three hand pumps on the bar, and I went for a pint of Ossett White Rat, which was cool, refreshing, and in very good condition (NBSS 3.5), one of the beers of the day. The pub itself is fairly small, with the bar to the right of the main room. There is a games room beyond, and it is pretty much a locals pub, but well worth a slight detour off the main drag, although it turns out this is actually a continuation of the High Street.

I finished my pint and retraced my steps back towards the main part of the High Street, passing the church again on my way back. I had one more place on my to-do list, which was Northallerton's third CAMRA-listed pub. It was early evening by now, and the High Street was much quieter than earlier, the assembled hordes having now retreated back to where they whence came. I carried walking on and then, a few minutes later and beside the entrance to an alleyway or arcade, as they call them round here, a strategically-placed A-board pointed me in the right direction....

So I wandered down Garthway Arcade and came to the Stumble Inn. It is, essentially, a micro pub in a shopping arcade which was clearly a retail unit in a previous life. It was, apparently, set up originally by the people who have the pub of the same name in Scarborough, but it has been under different ownership since 2023. There was a good atmosphere here, with people sat on high stools at the bar or at various tables in what is basically an L-shaped bar. I ended up staying around the bar and got chatting to the guy working. There were 4 beers on hand pump and I went for a pint of the world Cup-themed Three Lions on a Shirt, a 3.8% session pale ale from Mithril Ales, who are based in the village of Aldbrough St John near Richmond. The brewery was set up in 2010 by owner Pete Fenwick in old stables opposite his house where he brews once or twice a week on a 2.5 barrel plant, the beers being supplied to pubs in the local areas around Richmond and Darlington. It was another decent beer, flavoursome, well-balanced, and in great condition (NBSS 3.5). There were a number of craft ales on here as well, and deciding to catch a later train back, I went for half from a brewery I had never come across before. Bayonet Brewing are based near Northallerton and were set up as a part-time venture in 2021 by Alex Postles, who combines brewing flavour-forward craft beers with his role as a full-time serviceman. The beers tend to have names with a military connotation. The one on sale here was a collaboration with Worcester brewers Cooper Beech, a 6.5% West Coast IPA called Reorg, which was well-balanced and deceptively light considering its strength. I enjoyed the Stumble Inn, there was a friendly atmosphere here, and the beer was good.