The annual trip to York is something that I always look forward to. York is a city of history, great coffee, excellent walking spots and most importantly excellent beer! I was super excited to hear that Northern Monk had opened a new bar in York and that is where this story both starts and ends (spoiler alert).
Visiting York in December isn’t for the faint hearted, the Xmas market fills the centre with people walking as slowly as possible to get the best view of the tat on offer. The weather can also be rather wet and cold however on this trip we were mostly lucky with the weather and only had one wet day! Since I'm a beer man and not a weather man maybe I’ll stick to talking about what I know. Northern Monk can be found round the corner from the market and it’s also dry, which was nice!
Sup was the first beer of the trip, a light golden ale with a crisp refreshing finish. More on Northern Monk later but following this pint it was time for lunch! We opted for some loaded fries from Valhalla, a place I’d always rated more for food than beer.
Though this Porter from Manc brewers Sureshot was a welcomed sight on the bar!
We mixed things up on this trip by staying at The Hilton opposite Clifford’s Tower, which is a lot more central than where we normally stay. On the street next to the hotel is a small mostly cocktail and wine bar called Howl, happily they had beers from local nano brewery Trig who became a real star of this trip.
Picco, a lager, was the refreshing kind of bitter and just what I needed! From Howl we headed for dinner at The Rose and Crown which also stocked Trig Beers.
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| The photo doesn’t do it justice |
Force, a pale ale, is packed with fruity flavour despite being just 3.4% ABV. A true session pale and one that actually takes good! I continued my pale ale theme across the road at The Rook and Gaskill Beerhouse.
Here I found Our House by Castle Rock. If I see a Castle Rock beer I’m getting it! They rarely disappoint! Strangely also a 3.4% beer, Our House was more zesty kind of fruity beer! Following the ancient city walls and through and arch way you’ll find The Phoenix, one of my all time fave York pubs. Normally I have a dark beer here but I decided to stick to my pale beer theme and opted for Frostrow IPA from Yorkshire Dales Brewing Co. Another excellent beer! Full of that piney, bitter west coast taste that I love.
From The Phoenix to The Slip Inn, another of my York favourites. This back street boozer also featured Trig in the form of Interloop, a porter. This was a strong shout for beer of the trip!
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| What a line up! |
We had one pub left in us for the evening so made the short walk to The Swan, where I returned to pale beers to finish the night.
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| I was tempted by the toffee beer! |
We pick things up the following afternoon in Evil Eye, a cocktail bar on Stonegate!
The Whisk Eye is one of the best cocktails I’ve ever had! Time travelling forwards into the evening we kick off a night of beer in The Golden Ball, which I’d been a little disappointed with last year. Happily this year things were much better with delicious pales from Rudgate and Bradfield Brewery.
Walking through that dark streets of York we find ourselves in The Ackhorne. A Rudgate Ruby Mild here is a top experience, it’s always first class!
Next we flew to The Falcon (get it?)! Turning Point beers are just so good! Harvest Sun, a red ale was followed by The Festive Porter which was thankfully not very festive! I really hate cinnamon and it has no place being in beer!
The following morning I meet friends of the blog Rach and Jo at York station and after some much needed coffee and sandwiches we headed to their hotel which happens to be next to The Slip Inn, it would have been rude not to. I neglected to take a photo this time but there’s more on The Slip Inn later..
Weirdly the evening before Rach and Jo arrived I’d been invited to a soft launch of a brand new pub, I couldn’t make it then but could now so we headed there!
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| New! |
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| A dark photo of dark beer |
The Little Ale House has opened on Stonegate next to The House Of Trembling Madness and is a really interesting place! The ground floor is a wine and spirit shop and bar whilst upstairs is a proper pub with a mix of good beers you’ve heard of and also local beers on cask and keg. I look forward to returning!
Jo had found us a pizza place for dinner called Cresci which had its own beer menu! There was me expecting something rubbish like Peroni but no!
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| Tasty! |
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| The pizza was so good! |
From here we headed to Brew York. Now I really like Brew York as a venue and I think their marketing is brilliant but to me their beers are almost always distinctively average. Never bad but also never that great. On this visit I tried Black Bess which cemented my opinion of Brew York being average. To be honest I think I’ll give Brew York a miss next year. We did get a group shot though (minus Jo).
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| Some people look happier than others…. |
We decided to head over to Northern Monk again as a group before we split for the evening. I went for a fruited IPA which isn’t really my sort of bed but was great! It’s important to push the boat out once in a while.
I tried to take Rach to The Swan but there was a darts tournament on so we headed to The Slip again where a fresh cask of Ruby Mild appeared! It was incredible, simply incredible. In my view it’s the best mild in the world and The Slip is one of the best places to drink it! When the pub closed I was devastated.
Time flew on this trip but we had time for a final walk around the city and one last beer, at Northern Monk of course!
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| Isn’t this where we came in? |
What a city York is and the beer scene is growing in strength with the additions of Northern Monk and The Little Ale House! Thanks for reading!
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