This was Hector’s first trip to The Staggs on this Day of Memorial. Katie, Mein Hostess has been counting down the days in anticipation of the Beer Festival that is the Highlight of their Year. On this day – It is Written – only Ales are sold (along with Soft Drinks), no Fizzy Lagers, Wine or Spirits. For one day a year The Staggs is exclusively a Real Ale Bar. All Ales cost £3.30 and we were encouraged to order by Tap Number. It took me back…
No Trains
Hector had a Cunning Plan. We needed to travel from Waverley to Musselburgh without out normal train connection. Why not arrange a taxi to collect us from Musselburgh, we would be serve, and avoid extortionate Edinburgh Hackney Prices? It was made so. We permitted entry on arrival at 12.20 but Nigel, Mein Host, correctly waited until the stroke of 12.30 before serving.
Salopian Hop Twister (Shrewsbury, Shropshire) at 4.5% was a gentle start to the day. Cool and Refreshing it went down well as a Starter Ale, however after Hawkshead (Hawkshead, Cumbria) in Glasgow on the two previous days, it lacked the anticipated Hops. A Strange Ale is Hop Twister, some times it comes over as Hoppy, at others it misses the spot.
Citra from Great Heck (Goole, Yorkshire) at the same 4.5% was an instant Hop and Citrus Hit. I almost felt a Pilgrimage coming on, alas Goole is east of Pontefract, a town Hector singularly failed to find thanks to an unforgiving road network.
Edinburgh CAMRA were poorly represented initially, however, Numbers soon turned up.
Jim Lawrie passed round photos of Glasgow Pubs taken some twenty years ago. Many were Eastenders, who drinks there? Jim produced his latest Book about the very Pub in which we were sitting. Called simply – The Staggs – it is due for publication shortly. He handed over Freebies of a previous book – Honesty Brewing – covering the History of Breweries and Maltings in Musselburgh and Fisherrow. Hector received his copy – Gracefully.
Eddie and Charlie, our Favourite Locals were in Good Form today. Graeme, former barman and now a Brewer at Tempest (Scottish Borders) was also in the house. The Staggs was Stowed. And everyone drinking Ale, Quality Ale, the majority Pale and Hoppy and some even over 5.% There’s no demand for…
It was time for the joint best Ale of the moment – Green Devil IPA (Oakham, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire) at a splendid 6.0%. Nigel had not guaranteed this would be on, there were many others Ales promised, but so few hours to consume the Ale. Robin considered a return trip tomorrow.
It isn’t everyday one gets to buy the Current National Chairman of CAMRA an Ale, today Hector managed this.
Our taxi collected us at 19.00 as arranged and returned us to Waverley. For the record, the Glasgow CAMRA Chaps were not the first to leave as one person from The East predicted…