Skip to main content

In Search Of The Best Guinness In Cambridge: Part 4 - A New Hope?

 With so many venues owned by the big empire (Greene King), finding Guinness away from said empire is getting harder and harder. Luckily this band of rebels are well versed at both avoiding these places or sneaking in quickly, to sample the Guinness. This latest instalment of the Guinness challenge, brings a mixture of both empire bases and other venues. 

We kick things off at The Maypole, which is one of my favourite pubs. The beer selection here is one of the best around, with a focus on local breweries. The food is up there with my favourite food in Cambridge. This was my first time trying a Guinness here. 



The offer of a Guinness challenge tick was even too much for Nathan to resist, a man who normally drinks ciders and sours. The Maypole Guinness was a solid effort, 3.5/5. 


Recently I got an offer that I couldn’t refuse. Friend of the blog, DJ, got me into an exclusive club. Guinness seemed to be the most popular drink, at The Cambridge United Supporters club. I was able to enjoy a 2.5/5 Guinness whilst looking at Cambridge United memorabilia. 

I would love all that stuff in my house….


Sadly, it was then time to sneak into a couple of venues, owned by the empire. 

Starting at The Rock, a miserable GK pub. Miserable Guinness as well, I scored it a perhaps generous 2.25/5. 
Continuing the walk up Cherry Hinton Road, our next stop was the Earl Of Derby. 

I forgot to take a photo of the Guinness here, so the above is a photo of me feeling ashamed. This place was the new hope, the Guinness was a solid 4.25/5. A very good pint. 

Next up we visited the oldest licensed inn, in Cambridge. 

The Pickerel is one of the few Greene King pubs I like, mostly because it doesn’t feel like a Greene King pub. The Guinness here was an above average 3/5. 

The plan from here was to visit The Baron of Beef, upon arrival they had no Guinness. We fled to The Mitre. 

Positives first. I think this is the first time, certainly in Cambridge, that I’ve had something drawn in my Guinness. It’s shame this pint looked a lot better than it tasted. 2/5. 

That concludes part 4! A few of the empire bases ticked off and a new hope discovered, in The Earl of Derby. I wonder where part 5 will take me and who I’ll drag along for the ride….



Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. retiredmartinFebruary 8, 2024 at 3:52 PM

    A noble quest. Surprised the Rock was disappointing as it's always seemed the sort of place where Guinness is a big seller.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beer MooseFebruary 8, 2024 at 10:04 PM

    Oh it was selling alright. Just tasted meh

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2024 In Review & The Beer Moose Awards!

  “Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time” sang Pink Floyd in 1973. They’re sort of right, each year feels shorter than the last. In fact, it does not feel like a year since I was last writing a blog like this one. Contary to what Pink Floyd said, I found time to do quite a lot in 2024! I rode a new personal best 211 rollercoasters! 2024 will remembered as a bit of a rollercoaster (sorry). Great heights and moments balanced by a devastating loss and a rather poor Cambridge United team. This blog is aiming to be a review of my year, with some awards thrown in! Let’s get into it!  January:  January started with an FA Cup tie, away to Blackburn. I decided that Blackburn was sort of near Liverpool, so like all good away days we made it into a pub weekend.  It was an absolute goal fest! Sadly, like most goal fests The U’s are involved with, it ended with United on the losing side. 5-2 Blackburn.  Golden bird I liked Liverpool, it’s a smart and nic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Smile Like You Mean It: The Story of My Friendship With Rach, Mental Health and Our Latest Adventure.

 I’m very fortunate to have great friends in my life, I don’t think you can put a value on good people. People who have your back, make you laugh, pick you up if you need it, advise you, complement you and at times challenge you. I’m not a great lover of texting or messaging, because it just isn’t the same as being together in real life. To me, a sign of a great friend is someone you can spend weeks or months away from, but when you do meet again, it’s like you were never apart. People come and go, the best people stay.  In 2011, whilst at secondary school, I was elected to Sports Council. At this time I was failing to accept that my rugby playing days were nearly over. I have a lifelong problem with my back, it was getting worse. I was seeing two physios a week, hours of laying on my front having my back looked at, coupled with loading up on whatever pain relief the Dr would prescribe me. That was all to try and get through the rugby matches. Eventually, my consultant, Dr Jen...
2 comments
Read more

Moose On The Loose - Lincoln: Imping Over The Line

  I was excited to visit Lincoln properly for the first time. Last year I visited just to watch the football and only managed to get to one pub. Therefore a proper visit was long overdue. I was joined by a full squad of friends and here’s what we got up to. An early start at Cambridge station saw us arrive before eleven in Lincoln. Every train we rode arrived on time, what a miracle! After checking into the hotel we made our way to The Golden Eagle, probably the best football away pub I’ve ever visited!  Pints of Castle Rock beers, including Harvest Pale and How High Is The Moon, were consumed as excitement for the game started to build. Last season Cambridge were hammered 6-0 by Lincoln, as we walked to the ground I hopped history was not going to repeat itself. Untied in Endeavour  A collector’s item James Gibbons goal gave bottom of the league Cambridge a solid away point from a game that in truth they should have taken more from. Though it was nice not to be having co...
Post a Comment
Read more