# Your favorite pub



## winn (Dec 31, 2005)

Hello -
==> What are your favorite pubs? Why are they your favorites?

- Pelican Inn, Marin Highlands, CA: This one seems transplanted from Cumbria in England, and is in a vale amid the mountains just north of San Francisco, near to the Pacific Ocean.
Nice scale. Nice arrangement of rooms. Great ale.

- Granite Brewery, Toronto: I always have a good time at Ron Keefeâ€™s place whenever I am in Toronto. The best bitter from the hand pump is great. In 2005, I spent American Thanksgiving evening here with some American and Canadian friends. A Thanksgiving to remember!

- a little pub in Elterwater in Cumbria on a cloudless summer August day, with sheep roaming in the front yard. I canâ€™t remember the name.

- the Gingerman, 36th Street between 5th Ave and Mad Ave, NYC, eight blocks south of Trad Nexus - 44th and Madison: Great selection of ales. Nice scale. Comfy couches. Hand pumps!

- The Ship, Milford, NJ: for a lot of personal reasons....

I am sure that I will think of more with time...

====

A response to a post by ChubbyTiger, 30 January 2006, from the thread â€œKilt Tilter Pale Aleâ€ is here in this new thread to get broader airplay:

_winn - You're definitely not alone in your appreciation of the ale. I'd toyed with the idea of joining CAMRA, too. If I ever make it to the UK for vacation, I'll have to get that book._

CT - The book, "300 beers to try before you die" by Roger Protz (2005), is not like a traditional CAMRA guidebook to â€œWhere to find...â€ I think most, if not all, beers in the book are in bottles. There is a nifty checklist covering four pages in the back that I am going to photocopy - one for the car as I travel, and some for my buddies so they can help me in my quest. I checked the CAMRA website. The book is on back order due to popular demand!

_Arrogant Bastard is a pretty good ale, as is Fat Tire. I haven't tried the Kilt Lifter (wonder if you can get it in NYC). Are any of you familiar with Bell's Brewery in MI? That's one of the things I definitely miss about Ann Arbor. Highly yummy._

The beers that Larry Bell creates out of Kalamazoo, MI, are great. Check out one of my favorites - Two Hearted Ale. A very hoppy ale. Note the Hemingway reference, and the trout on the bottle. Larryâ€™s ales are becoming more available in the east, slowly. You would have to mention AA,MI - Now I am hungry for pastrami from Zingermanâ€™s!

_If it weren't 8:30 AM, and if I weren't at work, I'd go open something from Brooklyn Brewery right now (I think the Pilsner is in my fridge at the moment)._

Go to the aforementioned Gingerman. Now.

Cheers,
Winn

Changes: book reference added. mathematical correction - eight blocks not six


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## ChubbyTiger (Mar 10, 2005)

I personally go for the very relaxed dark-wood style of Irish pub. I loved every single one that I went into in Ireland. Well, except for the smoke. 

In the US, I loved Conor O'Neill's in A2, as well as the brews at Arbor Brewing Company and the Grizzly Peak. (And I miss Zingerman's, too.)

winn - I love the Two Hearted Ale. I am a card carrying hop-head.  I'll have to check out the book then; it sounds interesting. And if you like interesting references on bottles, check out . Great recipies if you brew and perfect bottle labels, even if you don't.

CT


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## JohnnyVegas (Nov 17, 2005)

Trinity Brewhouse, Providence, RI - Want something different in a place you did not expect it? Trinity has six beers on tap, all of which they brew themselves, and NOTHING ELSE. The beers on tap rotate, so every time you come in there is something new (yes, they do repeat a lot of them over time). Their famous IPA is always on hand, which they bottle themselves. My personal favorites are the Scotch Ale (brown ale meets scotch, as smooth as anything going down), the Brown Ale (amazingly rich brown ale), and the Russian Imperial Stout (better than Guinness).

The Half Door, Hartford, CT - A small Irish Pub, the Half Door has about thirty (good) beers on tap and dozens of bottled beers from every corner of the earth. I lived near here during college, and one of my friends used to buy me a pint every Tuesday so I'd teach him something in class. On weeknights the place was typically a little slow, which was a great time to get a drink.


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## jbmcb (Sep 7, 2005)

Dragonmead in Warren, MI - Some of the best beer anywhere, all made fresh on-site, from the appropriate foriegn and domestic ingredients. And there is a lot to choose from. It's small, and they only have a few things to eat, but they have a binder of restaruants that will deliver. No smoke, and the whole place smells of hops. Outstanding.

Cadieux Cafe in Detroit, MI - Great Belgian flavored local bar, with feather bowling, and pretty good mussels.

ChubbyTiger:

Arbor Brewing Company is pretty good, so is Conor O'Neils, but Dick O'Dows in Birmingham is better  I gotta get over to the Prickly Pear again sometime...



Good/Fast/Cheap - Pick Two


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## JBZ (Mar 28, 2005)

Here's a second for The Half Door (I'm assuming JohnnyVegas' post contains a typo, as this pub is located in Hartford, CT, not Hartford, RI). Great place for a beer and some pub food. Good live entertainment from time to time. The only drawback is that the neighborhood is somewhat sketchy.


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## marc_au (Apr 22, 2004)

l don't go to pubs to drink, l only go for live entertainment. The Espy in St Kilda is Melbournes top pub, it has great live entertainment everyday and night and is an excellent venue. The Corner Hotel is another great institution that plays live music every night.

*GR8MAN (The Shooman) B8MAN.*


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## JohnnyVegas (Nov 17, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by JBZ_
> 
> Here's a second for The Half Door (I'm assuming JohnnyVegas' post contains a typo, as this pub is located in Hartford, CT, not Hartford, RI). Great place for a beer and some pub food. Good live entertainment from time to time. The only drawback is that the neighborhood is somewhat sketchy.


I don't see any mention of Hartford, RI 

And yeah, it's in a sketchy neighborhood. I lived there for a year and survived, so it's not THAT bad.


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## jeffdeist (Feb 7, 2006)

I love the Olde Shippe in Fullerton, California. Real bartenders and waitresses from the UK, and a wonderful "pubby crush" (as Wolfe described in _Bonfire of the Vanities_ in the evenings. It's a very warm and welcoming place. I liked it better before the smoking ban, but still a wonderful experience. Great for kids, as they can watch adults enjoying themselves with adult beverages- without the horrible trappings of Americans bars, e.g. Bud Light posters.


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## n/a (Sep 4, 2002)

Gentlemen: Must we be _specific_ about a certain pub or, perhaps, more generalized about what we look for and love in a pub?

There is nothing in London that truly appeals to me (as a gay man the Compton St. bars are nothing more than overcrowded meat racks), yet it was my privilege to walk into a hotel bar in Great Malvern (Worcestershire, UK) last year.

Everything was just right: a nice selection of cold beers on tap, attractive help, clean tables and loos, smokerâ€"friendly, a clientele wondrously outgoing and inclusive. Furthermore, a lite-jazz band playing the usual â€œstandardsâ€ pleasantly serenaded us. (American tunes of course. I think Ella Fitzgerald must have inimitably recorded them all at some time or other.)

Now match that!


Rarely, rarely, comest thou,
Spirit of Delight!
Wherefore hast thou left me now
Many a day and night?
Many a weary night and day
'Tis since thou art fled away.

Percy Bysshe Shelley: _Song_​


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## tintin (Nov 19, 2004)

London- The Lamb in Leadenhall Market (great DB suits) and The Fox and Anchor for a mixed grill to cure a hangover.
Bermuda- The Hog Penny (It smells good - - to me)
NYC- The King Cole Room (great looking hookers) and Fraunces Tavern (great cheese spread and great looking digs)
Chicago The Coq D'Or at the Drake (the Executive). The 4th Floor Bar in The Union League (Phillip the bartender and the naked lady behind the bar).
Philadelphia - A Martini from Murray the bartender at the Westin (the old Ritz) and the Nodding Head (The IPA).
Washington DC- The Old Ebbit Grill (great looking) and the Tune In (horrible looking).
Los Angeles- Nothing (Who wants to drink and smoke with these people)


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## J. Homely (Feb 7, 2006)

John McCain


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## DukeGrad (Dec 28, 2003)

Gentlemen

Damn TinTin, you get around!
All those pubs!

I love Chicago, the Drake is one of my favorites there.
I have so many as well

Nice day gents


Jimmy


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## DukeGrad (Dec 28, 2003)

Gentlemen

You are going to hate me, so be it.
The Washington Duke Hotel bar.
A great golf resort, and course.
I do not golf.

I run, or did, until 2 years ago.
I love running around that course.
It is so beautiful.
It it is for golfers and tennis players.
I ran, and drank at the pub there.
Classy.

Also, MIDDLETONS in Annapolis.
George the man Washington, drank, in the same seat I sat in?
Or vice/versa.This is the first president my friends.
Great food, pub.

The best is Harris Crab house, on the Eastern shore of Maryland!!!
Go there

Nice day my friends


Jimmy


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## Vettriano Man (Jun 30, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by Jason Evans_
> 
> There is nothing in London that truly appeals to me...


Jason, you won't say that when you've been to the Mitre Tavern in Ely Place (off Holborn Circus) or the Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street where some of us London members often meet for dinner - these establishments reek of coal-burning fires and ambient lighting, old timbers and wattle and daub walls, good beers and wines with old English fare and excellent service. Join us one day.


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## n/a (Sep 4, 2002)

> quote:_Originally posted by Vettriano man_
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Vettriano man, I made a very flippant statement for which apologies are offered. I was, however, referring a certain "type" of pub in London where I can relax without harassment, feel comfortable wearing T-shirts and jeans, and enjoy the company of a younger, primarily male, clientele. So far nothing has particularly caught my fancy.


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## Badrabbit (Nov 18, 2004)

I don't know that all of these are what one would call "pubs" but here are some of my favorites near me. I have so many nationwide it was easier to just name those I live close to.

*Florabama*- On the Alabama-Florida line on the beach. Hundreds of scantily clad beauties and live music. Great combination.

*Judge Roy Beans*- Daphne, AL 
A great dive bar with great live music. Jimmy Buffet, Steven Stills, Delbert McClinton and lots of others have played here. Great Crawfish and Oysters.

And not really one of my favorites but definitely worth mentioning.

*The World Famous Johnny's Zip Lounge*- Montgomery AL
This bar never closes. It is open 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year. They don't even have keys to the doors because they are never locked. The last time they had to close at all was sometime in the 80s.

The really interesting thing about the Zip is that they have a reputation for banning people for life if they cause trouble. Since it is often the only place open, no drinking man wants to get banned. This has the odd effect of making normally incompatible groups get along famously in the Zip. It is not odd to walk in and see a drag queen, a biker, a ******* and a preppie all playing pool together.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Women thrive on novelty and are easy meat for the commerce of fashion. Men prefer old pipes and torn jackets. 
Anthony Burgess


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

Irelands 32 and the Starry Plow in San Francisco and Berkeley. One was provisional and the other stickie. They pretty much wore the finish off a dummy hand grenade mailing it back and forth or wiring it to each other's front doors.If you were a student of anything from the Tain bo Cullaigh, W.B. Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, Myles Na Gopaleen or Seamus Heaney it was all there in a isolated, unchanged and unchangable gene pool as undiluted as the Guiness and Jameson's funding and fortifying lost causes, lost souls and lost sailors.


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## Old Brompton (Jan 15, 2006)

The Admiral Codrington, Mossop Street, Chelsea, London -- It's where the Sloane Rangers and public schoolboys-on-break congregated in the 1980s. I went here as a young man starting at age 16. It's where I learned to drink. My chums and I would hold contests to see who could drink the most without literally falling over. We downed pint after pint of bitter. The publican was a large, bearded man (we called him 'The Admiral') who always wore a blazer. Because the place was also frequented by City types, I picked up from an early age some sartorial & grooming tips that have stayed with me to this day.


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## Nantucket Red (Jan 26, 2006)

Perhaps not a pub in the strict sense of the term, but Speyside Way in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo is one of the most fantastic bars ever. It has an intimate ambience and boasts more single malts than any other bar in the world -- and this includes bottles from decades past. Their cognac selection is also excellent (I've finished off a couple of bottles, including their 1954 milliseme). The staff are very knowledgeable, and the food is also good.



-------------------------------------------------
God gave us women; the Devil gave them corsets.
- French proverb


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## RJman (Nov 11, 2003)

I miss the Brickskeller...


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## winn (Dec 31, 2005)

_"I miss the Brickskeller..." _ (RJMan, 21 February 2006)

Hey RJman -

That is understandable. Did you ever go to any of the beer events at the Brickskeller? They bring in a lot of interesting beer and great and knowledgeable people about beer.

Call me clueless. What is the beer scene like in France? Are microbrewed ales available? Do they have anything close to a brewpub or a beer bar like the Brickskeller (DC's pre-eminent beer bar)?

Cheers,
Winn


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## RJman (Nov 11, 2003)

I never went to a beer event -- didn't know about them, sadly.

There are so-called Irish pubs all over, but I have a soft spot for the Frog and Princess on Rue Princesse for nostalgic reasons. It allegedly brews its own. 

There was one interesting pub I went to near Maubert-Mutualite that seemed different, I forget why. Near my apartment is L'Academie de biere, but I haven't yet had a chance to look in. I don't know of anything with anything near the range of beers the Brickskeller had, and French beer is nothing to write home about. I found the Grande Epicerie carries my favorite Schneider Aventinus, Gouden Caroulus and Kwak, so the RJ cat and I have been partying at home as I've been rather busy lately. Hopefully I'll get out more. At a cafe my favorite alcoholic drink is grog (toddy) as it's cold and wet out.


*************
RJman. Accept no imitations.


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## JBZ (Mar 28, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by JohnnyVegas_
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I just saw this. I didn't mean to make the neighborhood sound like a warzone or anything. I just wouldn't go walking around there late at night by myself. The Half Door is a favorite hang out of UConn law students and local politicos, among others. It's a reasonably accurate representation of a traditional Irish pub, considering it's located nowhere near Ireland.


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## JohnnyVegas (Nov 17, 2005)

> quote:_Originally posted by JBZ_
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I would not recommed walking around that area alone either. Thankfully, the local homeless people are not very threatening.


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## Tyto (Sep 22, 2004)

Santa Monica: *King's Head * at Santa Monica and 2nd. Pretty much the primary British expat hang-out on the west side. Good brew selection, decent food, nice atmosphere, but large. It recently changed hands, and I haven't yet been there since, but I'm told the new owners are committed to keeping it just the way it is.

Woodland Hills: *Pickwick's * at Ventura near Canoga. An expat magnet in the San Fernando Valley. Tiny, noisy, but easy to strike up a conversation with the person next to you--a great crowd. Burned down recently, but supposedly will be rebuilt.

__________

Fair and softly goes far.


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## Bradford (Dec 10, 2004)

Don't drink anymore, but when I did, I would say my two favorite hangouts were Bob Dobbs in Tucson, AZ and The Rustic Cabins in Grosse Pointe, MI. Just two good neighborhood bars and fun places to spend an evening with friends. The George and Dragon in Central Phoenix is fun if you're looking for a British experience.


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