A Part of the Rat Race
Your BARch Madness Final Four, Sixpoint's new taproom, and a Scottish Pilsner
I could probably dedicate three newsletters alone to stories about the last two weeks I spent traveling in England and Scotland, but my favorite moment had to come last Thursday, when I ventured down from Newcastle to Hartlepool to visit Camerons Brewery, an historic brewer in Northeast England that’s been brewing since 1865.
But this story isn’t about Camerons, where I chatted with their taproom manager Tracy for two hours over “banker pours” of their amazing flagship Strongarm bitter. You see, the brewery tap didn’t open for the day until 2pm, and my train got in at 1:25, so I did what any beer tourist would: find a pub to grab a pint and kill the time. Conveniently, I found a pub that was in the train station: the Rat Race Ale House.
There are pubs in England that are truly, truly passionate about beer, often at the expense of everything else. The Rat Race is one of those places. Pete Fenwick, the publican, openly admitted this to me, saying, “if you’re here for a smile, you’re in the wrong place. If you’re here for good beer, you’re in the right place.” I was initially taken aback as I stepped into the quiet, carpeted room that can only comfortably hold about fifteen people. The Rat Race wasn’t exactly teeming with visitors during the two-hour window when Pete opens for lunch (he opens again at 4:02pm for an evening crowd). As I sipped on a pint of Saltaire Cascade Pale Ale, I marveled at the display of cask clips on nearly every inch of wall and even stuck to the ceiling, and quickly found that Pete and I had something very much in common: we like beer stats.
The way that I count off breweries, Pete meticulously keeps track of every beer he’s pulled since the pub opened in 2009. Every cask clip is displayed on the wall in chronological order of when it was first pulled, and on a chalkboard as you enter the pub, the total count is on display: 1,810 different beers from 497 different breweries — all ales, as the “no lager” signs posted on the interior and exterior of the pub suggest.
This pub is abashedly unrefined, but you’re here for the beer, not the ambiance. The vibe comes off as a little pretentious, but you’re here for quality, not the quantity. It’s a place for good ales and nothing else. You can’t please all of the people all of the time with a pub, and the Rat Race Ale House doesn’t try to, and that’s why I loved my visit there.
Presenting the BARch Madness Final Four
We’ve made it to the Final Four of BARch Madness, the bracket to determine NYC’s favorite beer bar. After two rounds full of upsets in the past week, we’re down to four bars competing in voting that begins today. You can go vote now in the two matchups between these four spots:
Solid State (#7 seed in the Pilsner Region)
Woodside, Queens’ beloved pinball-and-beer bar was backed by a huge outpouring of support from both Queens locals, pinball enthusiasts, and beer lovers. The bar, which is under the 7 Train, sports twenty draft lines, all of which pour New York State-produced beer and cider from the likes of Arrowood Farms, Other Half, Industrial Arts, and Alewife Brewing (who’s just a few stops down the 7). Their love of local beer is matched by their love of pinball, with a wide array of vintage and modern machines.
Hops Hill (#11 seed in the Saison Region)
In its eighth year in operation in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, the pint-sized Hops Hill has established a neighborhood following among beer nerds for its extensive beer list in draft, bottles, and cans. They’ve hosted countless beer events and tap takeovers in their history on Fulton Street. Their fifteen tap lines boast Suarez Family Brewery, Hill Farmstead, Perennial, and even the Oude Gueuze from Belgium blendery Tilquin. Hops Hill puts their tagline “strictly craft” into practice every day.
Bierwax (#5 seed in the Stout Region)
Chris Maestro had a vision to create a space where his passion for music and beer could mesh — and in 2017, that vision finally became reality in Bierwax, a Vanderbilt Avenue spot with twelve draft lines and over five thousand records on the walls, any of which might be playing when you walk in (no requests, please). Interboro, Hudson Valley, Schilling, and Miami’s Unseen Creatures are just a few of the beers pouring in this welcoming space that celebrates the intersection of hip-hop and beer effortlessly.
Augurs Well (#10 seed in the IPA Region)
There are plenty of bars on Saint Marks Place that play to the East Village’s lowest common denominator, but Augurs Well stands out as a reliable spot dedicated to drink outstanding craft beer. They winning over locals and visitors with fifteen taps of gems from breweries like Bissell Brothers, Grimm, Equilibrium, and Transmitter. Augurs Well has quietly become a staple of NYC’s beer bar scene, and is the veteran of the BARch Madness Final Four having recently celebrated their tenth anniversary.
Sixpoint to open taproom at City Point Brooklyn
Sixpoint Brewery has announced their first-ever permanent taproom will open later this year at City Point Brooklyn, the development that houses DeKalb Market Hall, Alamo Drafthouse, and Trader Joe’s in Downtown Brooklyn. It’s a step forward for the brewery’s presence in its home market, and comes after a previously-planned taproom and brewery in Gowanus fizzled out during Covid. Their Instagram post about the City Point location hints at additional taproom openings in New York City in the future, suggesting a rebirth for the brand born in Brooklyn in 2004. You can follow along at @sixpoint_taproom for future updates about the opening.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 2,627
Total breweries visited in 2022: 97
Total breweries visited in the UK: 134
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #2605, Chapter Brewing, Sutton Weaver, Cheshire, England (Visited 18-Mar-2022)
“What’s a guy from New York City doing in Runcorn?”
It’s a question I got a lot in the past two weeks in various forms (just replace Runcorn with Hartlepool, Maghull, Sunderland, or Clitheroe), and the answer was quite apparent: “well, I’m here for the beer.” Chapter Brewing was a place I only knew about from finding it on a map when searching for day trips during my stay in Liverpool. I didn’t know their approach to beer or their history… I just knew they had an open tap on Fridays and were a short train ride away. So off I went on the train to nearby Frodsham, trekking three miles round-trip along a busy highway and over the River Weaver to their taproom on a sunny and unseasonably warm afternoon.
I instinctively started with the Bread & Circuses English Pale Ale, poured on cask for me by brewer Noah Torn, who indicated this was a new formulation of the beer that he was excited about. It lived up to the hype, with a nice biscuity malt character and some citrus fruit flavors. Next came a pour from the keg of the Taller Than a House Pale Ale, an American Pale Ale that was the highlight of the visit. It had a bright and floral aroma, notes of pineapple, and a soft mouthfeel thanks to the addition of oats. At 3.9% ABV, this beer was dangerously drinkable. Ultimately, I drank down much of the list here in half-pints, including their award-winning Dead Man’s Fist Smoked Porter with a touch of black pepper, and As Lazarus, a dry-hopped rotating IPA that was bursting with sweet fruit and berry flavor.
Yes, the beers were outstanding, but it wasn’t until I got further into my trip that I realized I had stumbled across a true gem. Five other people asked if I had visited Chapter while near Liverpool, including two that very night when I got back to town, two in Manchester, and even someone two hundred miles away in Newcastle. The brewery’s reputation stretches far beyond Runcorn and Frodsham, so I guess I wasn’t just “here for the beer.” I was here for a great beer experience.
Social Post of the Week
Czech it out!
Beer of the Week
Pilsner Beer
Newbarns Brewery (Leith, Scotland)
German-style Pilsner
4.2% ABV
It feels like craft lager hasn’t quite gotten its moment in the spotlight in the U.K. the way it has over here in the States. A couple brewers I talked to suggested it’s unpopular because the beers can be too close an approximation to the vast amounts of cheap lager that’s consumed by rowdy folks with no interest in craft beer, but if that were the case, certainly no one here in the U.S. would dare make a lager that almost perfectly mimics a mass-produced beer.
The handful of breweries in the U.K. I came across on this trip that were willing to make lagers were doing them well. The highlights were Manchester Union Lager from Manchester’s only lager-focused brewery and this gem: Newbarns Pilsner. It’s equal parts traditional and non-traditional. It’s crisp and bready and nicely carbonated, but its hop character is more New World with the use of Callista hops, a relatively new and very aromatic German hop that adds some lovely citrus and berry notes to this beer.
This was easily one of my top-three beers from my two weeks across the pond, and it helped even more that I was enjoying it in a lovely little canalside pub in Leith on a sunny afternoon where the daylight hit the beer just right. The memory is still fresh in my mind, but I would love nothing else than to be able to transport myself back to that moment.
Long Read of the Week
Since we’re all about the U.K. this week, Pete Brown visited the Prince’s Head, a pub in western London that’s better known by American TV viewers as The Crown & Anchor, where Ted Lasso and Coach Beard frequent in the Apple TV series. Unlike how the TV version of Cheers looks nothing like Boston’s Cheers and McGee’s Pub on West 55th bears no resemblance to McLaren's Pub on How I Met Your Mother, the setting for Ted Lasso’s local is strikingly unremarkable, as it should be as a stand-in for an idealized London pub.
One More Thing
A huge thanks to everyone who helped guide me through my trip to England and Scotland. Whether you gave me advice before the trip or along the way, steered me in the right direction, spent far more time than necessary talking shop with me, or grabbed a pint or two with me, it was the people who made this trip so memorable. Whether I’ve known you for years or just met you and you stumbled across this newsletter because of that, I can’t thank you enough.
Also, thank you to Mother Nature for gracing the British Isles with two weeks of incredible weather. Here’s one last view of Edinburgh.
Cheers,
Chris