GeoGuessr 2 – Birmingham (Pint Shop)

The Pint Shop is listed in Good Beer Guide and has an excellent reputation on-line, so this seemed an ideal place to start the pub testing for the day. It’s a small chain of two bars, with the other being in Cambridge, with the third location in Oxford having closed in February 2019.

This blackboard is outstanding in a number of ways, (i) it’s clearly presented, (ii) there are two of them, (iii) they’re in places where customers won’t block them and (iv) the choice is excellent. The number of dark options on there is exciting, some more commonplace choices and some more unique ones as well. The service was friendly, engaging and knowledgeable, one of those places where the staff actually seemed to want to be there.

Davenports is a local Birmingham brewery and this is a striking pump front, It Ent Terry’s chocolate orange porter. Quite full-bodied, but the chocolate orange flavour is nowhere near strong enough, although the porter itself had a pleasant taste. The pricing was reasonable and it tasted well-kept and was at the appropriate temperature.

The upstairs of this bar is a restaurant area, which we didn’t veer into on this visit. The downstairs was quieter than we’d expected, but it was clean, comfortable and welcoming. I liked the different seating styles and there was a relaxed vibe to the bar,  that endearing mix of on-trend and informal.

All in all, rather lovely and I’ll make sure I visit their Cambridge bar in the new year since I appear to have over-looked it.