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 commiserations pints afterwards. 

With a packed beer-genda we wasting no time in heading to Tiny Tavern. I’d heard that most Lincoln pubs are home fans only, but I had a cunning plan! With my Cambridge scarf in my pocket and a grey hoodie covering my shirt I was completely in disguise! It worked! We all made it past the seemingly impenetrable security, consisting of a man sat by the door who would let you if you passed his checks. 

Lincoln being in the north meant sparklers on the beers, which meant we could enjoy the complete time wasting exercise of waiting for the overly sparkled up beer to settle. At least the beer looks pretty I guess. Jester from Red Rose Brewery tasted pretty too! 

Heading towards central Lincoln, we called into The Treaty Of Commerce. 

Another dreaded home fans only sign 

Metal pump clips always look the best

I had the best pint of Triple XB I’ve ever had. A really delicious ruby coloured beer! We than started doing something alien to the group, walking up a hill which could be considered a risky task for a group of southern softies. With great risk comes great reward however.

Too hilly

Such a poser

 The Joiners Arms is a proper back street boozer, I loved it. Built for conversation and serving beers you’ve not heard of, it’s a proper pub. I opted for Urbane Gorilla by Hewitt’s who I am assumed were a northern brewery but Untappd tells me that they’re from Brentwood, Essex. Nevertheless it was a great pint. 

Turns out the hill fun didn’t end there. We had already walked up this: 

There was still more hill to climb. Steep Hill to give it its name. There are things to see on the way up: 

Survived the hill now for the reward

Everyone I spoke to about Lincoln said that I must visit The Strugglers because it’s the best pub in Lincoln, high praise indeed. 

Braving the garden

A quick side note to say that every pub in Lincoln felt like an oven inside. I get that it is winter but that is what everyone is dressed for. Anyway in the garden, which we were told is on the site of the castle’s former moat, the beer was very nice. Sleepy Badger from Little Critters Brewing Company was a strong shout for beer of the day! 

We made the short and thankfully flat ground walk to BeerHeadZ. A birthday party was taking place and the entertainment was a ‘singer’ who completely butchered some of my favourite songs. Luckily the beer was better than the entertainment. 

Windmill Bitter was tasty and I was surprised to at just how cask heavy Lincoln’s premier craft pub is. I guess Lincoln is a proper cask city. 

Next on the beer-genda was The Adam & Eve Tavern.

What’s going on here lads?

Rat In The Hat from Rat Brewery was only ok so we decided to walk to The Cardinal’s Hat.

I’d pictured The Cardinal’s Hat at proper trad pub, maybe it’s the name. The reality you find is a vibrant and modern pub, with a good range of beers. Baize from Thornbridge was certainly an interested taste and possibly the only mint chocolate stout I’ve ever had! 

From The Cardinal’s Hat we tried to go to Craft but despite standing at the bar for a while were completely ignored by bar staff, until one member of staff told us that “they are closing this half of the bar and you need to move down”. We opted to move on and into The Strait and Narrow.

I only get photos of people looking there best

This place felt more like a cocktail bar than a pub, which is fine but not really what we wanted. Anspach and Hobday London Black was a welcomed sight though. 

Most places were now closing but we found a place open late! 

It was paper cups only! But never mind, the place was nice enough. I tried Forged Stout which I was thought was awful but thankfully offer beers were available! The music and atmosphere were fun. We then called it a night. 

End of night selfie

The next morning we aimed to begin the journey home only to find no trains back until 14:30. Therefore we had time to visit some Lincoln culture, including:

A tank statue 

A cannon

Dragons

The Cathedral: 

Could fit a huge beer festival on there! 

With the culture ticked off we went to the pub. We stumbled across Wig and Mitre whilst struggling up Steep Hill.

A pre midday opener!

Harvest Gold by Ferry Ales Brewery was decent. 

It’s a great feeling when you stumble into an unplanned pub stop and find an absolute gem of a pub, and that’s exactly what we did. The Duke William Hotel was lovely! 

Beautiful pints

The 49 Squadron was a crisp and refreshing bitter! 

We had one more stop to make before our train:

Now tell me a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon, I’ll wait:

Proper pub with great music, relaxed atmosphere and good chat. But can you spot the star of the show? 

The Plum Porter was perfect and a great way to end our Lincoln trip. 

There’s no disputing that Lincoln is a pretty place but I wouldn’t rank it as a top tier beer city. Whilst there’s an array of quality back street boozers which serve cask in mostly fantastic quality, Lincoln currently lacks the beer venue diversity for me to consider it higher up the list. I do look forward to visiting again the next time Cambridge United make the trip up there.

What’s weird is that the place we visited on the way home is the opposite. You’ll be able to read about that soon.

Cheers for reading!