Pub 142, Day 52 – Shakespeares

By Rob

I'd never been to Shakespeares before, but I'd heard good things.

Amongst the individuals queuing up to praise the pub was Pete, our temporary travelling companion and the man behind Sheffield Ale Pubs, who rated Shakespeares as one of his favourite boozers of all time.

I can see why.

Stepping through the front door, I fell in love with the place almost immediately. The dark wooden interior, the cosy taproom, the quirky beer garden, and the astounding selection of ales were ticking every single Pubquest box.

Once at the bar, we made our first big mistake of the day. Eschewing the more reasonable beers, we selected two pints of Christmas Snowball  – a 7% stout fortified with Advocaat – and headed for the outdoor seating.

The choice was a mistake for two reasons. Firstly, a summer's afternoon in a sunny beer garden does not represent the ideal environment in which to drink a thick, Christmas stout. Although chocolate, vanilla, coconut and Advocaat can work surprisingly well together, this isn't the case in mid-August.

Secondly, we were on the fourth pub of the day. We'd already imbibed a cider and two ales, and so far neither of us had eaten a thing. As such, the 7% stout and Advocaat mix – on top of the previous three pints – was a disaster waiting to happen.

Making it demonstrably clear that he was more of a proper human being than us, Pete ordered a light, lemon-flavoured beer with a perfectly normal amount of alcohol in it.

We sat ourselves down in a covered area of the beer garden, resting our drinks on one of the barrels provided.

"Come, gentlemen, let us drink down all unkindness," I said, holding up my glass and quoting the famous bard whose name the pub now held.

Pete then lifted his glass aloft, and said "with mirth and laughter, let old wrinkles come!"

All eyes fell on Andy, who reluctantly raised his glass from off the table.

"Cheers," he said.

As time passed, Pete resumed the interview that had been taking place throughout the day. Out came the pad of paper, and out came the questions in rapid-fire succession.

"What do you think to ale in a can?"

Easy. We didn't care. 

"Do you prefer ale from a keg, or a cask?"

Pointless. We couldn't tell the difference.

"Where is the best city/town for ale?"

What a question.

Pub: Shakespeares (146-148 Gibraltar Street, S3 8UB)

Rating: 9.5/10

Pint: Christmas Snowball

Brewery: Waen Brewery (Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire) (no longer trading)

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