Category: Scarborough

One of the advantages in pubs using Untappd is that it alerts me to what beers they have which might tempt me in. This was no exception, located near to Craft Bar I noted that they had the Salted Caramel Tonkoko beer from Brew York which is just my sort of thing. It seemed only sensible to wander over and give it a little try, especially as it is listed in the Good Beer Guide.

The bar seems to be doing plenty to engage with their customers, with sports showing, events being advertised around the venue and some decent cask options. The service at the bar was friendly, engaging and personable, with a team member sitting at a nearby table making brief conversation. It’s not what first time customers might perhaps expect from the outside where there was a doorman monitoring proceedings, but it was a little oasis of calm inside.

Like a child, I still watch for my photo to appear at the base of the screen after rating a beer on Untappd. But that’s why they do it, some of us don’t get to go out much and we’re easily pleased. There were a number of reasonably priced beers from Brew York, but I’ve had those before and I was after the 12% imperial stout, but it was a well balanced selection.

Excuse the dead dog on the floor, but here’s the decadent beer itself. This didn’t let me down, it was smooth, rich, silky and the mouthfeel was just right. There was salted caramel, but there was chocolate, coconut and even some biscuit, it was all a pure delight. We were also very pleased when the team member came over and said they’d mispoured the drink and so they gave us another glass of the beer for free, and I can’t imagine many more beers I was so excited to get more of. World class and this beer would I think even delight the brewers at Goose Island, definitely the best brewery in the world.

Anyway, back to the pub. Absolutely justifiably listed in the Good Beer Guide, there was a community feel to this arrangement, the venue was clean and comfortable with an inviting atmosphere. The service was warm, the customers seemed happy and the beer choice was broad with an effort made with keg and cask. A perfect way to end the evening.

I didn’t have a great deal of time to visit pubs in Scarborough as I was primarily on a walking weekend, but Craft Bar so excited and delighted me that I decided to go there twice. It’s Good Beer Guide listed and it is primarily keg based, but they have four real ales on as well.

The cask options and the service at the bar was timely, polite and engaging. Customers were served in turn, they were greeted in a welcoming way and the team member was knowledgeable when answering questions. The cask options were the North South Divide from Bingley Brewery, the US IPA from North Riding, White Rose from White Rose Brewery and Black Jack from Milltown Brewing. The pub’s beer list is also on Untappd, which is what initially tempted me in.

The interior was modern and bright, it was a mixture of craft beer bar, a micro-pub, bottle shop and bar cafe. That might be loading a lot of different categories on one venue, but it felt suitably on-trend and it seemed to be surprising and delighting plenty of customers. There are power points so customers can charge their devices and wi-fi for those who wanted it.

Look at the colours! Each to their own, but how people decide they want to just drink pint after pint of Fosters I’ll never really quite understand. All three of these beers deserve their own little comment, so from left to right.

On the left is the Passion Fruit, Mango & Peach beer from Funky Fluid’s Gelato range. Funky Fluid are perhaps my favourite European brewery and it’s a beautiful reminder of Poland and I’m going to have to find time to sneak in another visit this year and I’m debating whether I can be trusted to go to the Warsaw Beer Festival in October as that would work…. But I digress. The beer was consistent with other beers in their Gelato range, it was smooth, rich, fruity and had a suitably sour kick to it. The peach was the most obvious flavour, but all three of the ingredients were notably there.

In the middle is the Raspberry Blueberry Bubblegum Bottles from Vault City. They had a tap takeover at the Brewery Tap last week which I only realised too late, so I was a little disappointed to have missed out. Fortunately, I caught the tail end of a similar project at this bar, so I was able to try this fun little number which was like a fizzy sweet with a bubblegum flavour. Sour, playful and drinkable, there’s something exciting about having a blue beer, it plays to the inner child and all that.

On the right is the Maple Vanilla Choc Chip Scoop Imperial Stout from Vault City, a full bodied, decadent, rich and complex beer with lingering flavours of chocolate. It’s quite something to be able to make a beer where after one sip there are the equivalent aftertastes of eating an actual chocolate pudding. Outstanding, interesting and a reminder of just how good Vault City are.

Thank you to my friend Hayley for taking me to the bar on the first night, so enjoyable was it that I decided to encourage Richard to experience it on the second night so that he could forget his little incident of falling into a bog during the day. I wasn’t disappointed here either, I went for the Even Cloudier DDH Hard Lemonade from Vault City, which was smooth and packed with lemon flavour without a sharp aftertaste. Then I went for the Divine Coffee Intervention from Brew York, full of coconut sweetness although not quite as full bodied as the Maple Vanilla from the previous evening although the ABV is much lower.

Bars such as this are the future, the cafe bar approach which offers a range of quality and frequently changing beers and other drinks. It doesn’t do food other than bar snacks, but there are plenty of nearby options for those who so desire a meal. It’s rare for me to want to go twice to the same venue when so time limited, but this one deserved it and I’m delighted that it’s in the Good Beer Guide.