The End of the Barrel        Burton  26th July 2013

Up for it were:

Yupmeister, Anytime Tone, Pedro, Keithee's up for it, JayCee, Ali Gee, Jacko, 2 Pie Hard Dave Semi-Colon, Tim Mothy, Sean of the County Wounties and Mark Royall

 

A single carriage slowly approaching Stoke Station could be seen by the hordes waiting on platform 1, knowing that it was going to be a tight squeeze. Today, it appeared, just happened to be Ladies Day; one of the busiest days in Uttoxeter’s Racing Calendar.  Taking no prisoners we pushed through the crowd and fought our way to grab a seat; anywhere would do. 

Once settled, and in between hot flushes, generally experienced by women, Jaycee explained that he was considering various broadband and tv package deals.  2 Pie R’d Dave Semi-Colan said as long as he could get ‘Catch Phrase’ he was perfectly happy. 

The jovial conductor was most helpful, bellowing out instructions as loud as he could; telling everyone to stay where they were until he’d opened the doors at both ends of the carriage at each stop.  Only then could they disembark !!  The carriage emptied at Uttoxeter and The Royal Mark from Talke, complete with a man bag containing his hat, moved seats to join us for his first squarry do.  Now the carriage was quieter, there was an opportunity for the conductor to confirm the times of our connection in Derby.  Shame he wasn’t aware that it would be delayed 20 minutes, depriving us of valuable drinking time.  Walking from platform 2a to 2b did at least pass ten seconds.

 

 

It was only ten minutes or so to Burton, where, after a short stroll past the town hall, which both Tony and Jaycee recollected having visited previously, we located the Old Cottage Tavern.  Except for 2 guys the pub was empty and there was no sign of the advertised beer festival.  ‘Where's the beer festival??’ asked Yuppy.  ‘Not here darling’, came the reply from the barmaid.  Weird.  It was definitely advertised on their web site. http://www.bigpubguide.co.uk/establishments/view/burton-old-cottage-tavern

A limited selection of Old Cottage Beer Company ales was available, which included their Halycon Daze, Stout and Oak.  ‘This aint right’, announced Pedro, and returned his Stout to the barmaid.  ‘I’m not used to waiting this long for a pint’, said Pedro, as the barrel was being changed.  ‘That’s because you’ve never stood at a bar before’, shouted Yuppy.  ‘That’s not quite true’, added Keithee, ‘although it was some time ago when there were only 3 groats to the shilling’.

 
The 2 guys, who were now seated amongst us, turned out to be experts from the brewery and said in the trade they would call it ‘the end of the barrel’. 

But after necking most of their pints, which they had previously said was in fine fettle, agreed it was sh*te and requested a replacement too.

 

 

With no food available we opted to move on to The Roebuck. 

 

Jacko caught up with us, having ran 4 miles from his son’s house where he’d quickly parked up after being delayed on route.  A brief look inside the lack lustre Roebuck confirmed it was not for us, with limited ales and atmosphere, so we briskly moved on to the Devonshire Arms which instantaneously hit the right spot. http://www.thedevonshire.co.uk/index.html

 

Golden delicious and Stairway to Heaven were amongst the favourites chosen and taken out to the rear yard where we sat in the hot sunshine.

Basic grub was available although you had to act quick to get one of the last 3 mince and onion pies. Anytime Tone, 2 Pie R’d Dave Semi-Colon and Sean of the County Wounties got their orders in but the rest had to make do with sausage, egg and chips for an extra 75p; but boy did it taste so much better !!

 

Anytime Tone and 2 Pie R’d Dave Semi-Colon sat on a separate table with their pies.

 

When Sean's pie came out he moved over to join the 3 pie hard table.

 
Having dismissed the Roebuck earlier there was ample time to try out the Burton Brewery Tap a short distance away, connected to the National Brewery Centre which we passed on the way.

 

A guest beer and 3 Worthington beers from their ‘White Shield’ microbrewery were on offer: White Shield IPA at 5.6%, Red Shield, a classic bitter at 4.2% and Spring Shield (green shield pump clip), a golden ale at 4.2%.  Sadly there were no green shield stamps issued if you opted for the Spring Shield, but at least the prices were reasonable.
Undecided, Anytime Tone and 2 Pie R’d Dave semi colan bought 3 thirds, checking out their floral flavours with their little pinkies raised to the sky.  Bar meals were unsurprisingly expensive, so it was as well we weren’t staying.

Cooling towers could be spotted in all directions as we walked back towards the Coopers Tavern.

Jacko confirmed that the brewery was spread out over a couple of miles and that the biggest cooling towers were 5 times higher than the small ones we passed by Morrisons.   Cooor ...

 

  
The Coopers Tavern was fairly quiet, although it was only late afternoon.  I’ve no recollection of what we had from the bar but it was up to it’s usual high standard. We split, with half of us taking up residence in the back yard in the sun, whilst some started an exciting game of dominos inside.

 

 

       
At 5.45 we left for a long walk, to the The Apne Indian Restaurant, next door.  Jugs of ale at a tenner, plus a tenner deposit were bought from the Coopers and taken with us.  No wine was ordered as Keithee had promised Laura, his daughter, that he'd stay sober and coherent when he got home, as her boyfriend would be meeting him for the first time.  Just to be on the safe side he drank another jug of beer.

The obligatory pops and chutneys were ordered due to time restraints followed by main courses.  The range of main courses was extensive and mouth watering.  Pedro over ordered again so he could feed Joan her first meal in a week when he got home. The service was very good and efficient; so efficient in fact that we had time for Fantastica ice creams.  Now that was a first!!
       

The jugs were swiftly returned to the Coopers before we left and made our way back to the Station.  Time for another in the Devonshire Arms?  Oh go on then..  What was on the shelf above Jaycee's head?

 

 

 

Someone was missing .....   Who were we waiting for?

    

 

     

 

 

Anytime Tone had a fag and downed a few more drinks on the train.  We thought he'd gone for a Burton.  (Sorry, had to get that phrase in somewhere)  Thankfully all the trains were spot on and we made it back to our homes for supper. 

Cheers

Yuppers

(Enjoy yer Wikipedia Burton trivia below)

Before WWII the Burton Brewery ran a series of advertisements for Burton's Beer. In these adverts the characters would use the phrase to explain the absence of one of the characters in the advert, implying that they had gone for a pint of Burton's. One of the adverts (at least) was football related and featured teammates asking the location of a missing player (probably the goalkeeper/referee??) and being told he had 'gone for a Burton'.  During WWII pilots used the phrase to describe the absence of pilots who had failed to return from a mission.

 

Burton town is currently home to 8 breweries; Coors Brewers Ltd: formerly Bass Brewers Ltd, and now the UK arm of Molson Coors Brewing Company – which produces Carling and Worthington Bitter; Marston, Thompson and Evershed plc, bought by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries now renamed Marstons plc. The Marston's Brewery produces its own brands, draught Marstons Pedigree, draught Hobgoblin and also draught Bass under licence from InBev.

 

Burton Bridge Brewery is a local company based in Bridge Street with a six local pubs in and around Burton. It produces a number of traditional beers including Bridge Bitter, Stairway to Heaven, Damson Porter and Golden Delicious. Tower Brewery is a microbrewery located off Wharf Road, Old Cottage Brewery, based in Hawkins Lane whose beers include Oak Ale and Halcyon Daze, Black Hole Brewery is based at the Imex Centre, Gates Brewery, and is also a microbrewery and is located in Reservoir Road.

 

Burton is also the corporate headquarters of the pub operators Punch Taverns plc and Spirit Pub Company, which were spun out of Bass in 1997. In addition, the White Shield micro-brewery remains open alongside the National Brewery Centre formerly Coors Visitor Centre (previously the Bass Museum of Brewing).