Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Pub 71, Day 27 – The Wick at Both Ends

By Rob

It's time to name and shame: this post was supposed to have been written by Lucy, who has previously penned a blog for us. However, because she's a total flake with the stamina of a woman four times her age, she went home before we ever reached The Wick at Both Ends. The blog has therefore fallen into the trusted hands of me, Rob.

***

By bringing various people along with us on our journey, and by securing contributions from a number of generous guest-bloggers, Andy and I have sought to demonstrate that we do, in fact, have other friends outside of our dynamic duo.  Being sociable chaps, we often like to go out boozing with these friends and, believe it or not, while every Pubquest session involves drinking, not every drinking session involves Pubquest.

As such, we were out in town one Saturday night with a cadre of compatriots, hopping gracefully from one bar to the next, with no intention of indulging in our elaborate hobby. Moving effortlessly down the alcohol-soaked stretch of West Street, we suddenly found ourselves standing outside The Wick at Both Ends.

"Is this a pub?" asked Andy, looking over at me.

A collective groan emitted from our fellow comrades, who'd clearly been harbouring under the illusion that they were safe from any Pubquest-related talk, on account of us not actually going to any pubs.

Andy's question was a good one, but thankfully it was a quandary we were familiar with, having been confronted with this same conundrum twice before, both times on the same stretch of road (at The Cavendish and West Street Live). Therefore, we knew the drill: if there was even the slightest sliver of doubt as to whether the venue was a pub, we had to assume it was.

"I'm not sure, but I think we have to go in," I announced to the irritated assembly.

Once inside, we fought our way through the tightly packed crowd of revellers until we managed to get to the bar. There, the menus displayed an impressive range of fancy cocktails, some of which sounded amazing. Looking around us, we watched with fascination as the bartenders produced some astounding concoctions. Shots of indeterminate liquors were set ablaze with a match as the flames flew up into the air, while elegant glasses of varying shapes and sizes were filled with vibrantly coloured liquids. The smell of spirits, fruit and mint leaves filled the air.

We watched on as our friends ordered weird and wonderful drinks, each more exotic than the last; this one pink, that one green, this one with a wedge of grapefruit, that one with a strawberry on top. When it finally came to our turn, it was with a heavy heart that we made yet another sacrifice in service to our quest and ordered two pints of Lactose Tolerant.

Yes, that's right, while everyone around us drank mojitos and cosmopolitans and Long Island iced teas, we were forced to slurp our way through a pint of milk stout.

I honestly can't think of any drink that is further away from a colourful, fruity cocktail than milk stout. After all, stout alone is already pretty far removed, being jet black in colour and made from roasted malt/barley. But add the extra ingredient of unfermentable lactose and you've got a truly unsatisfying pint.

Now, maybe a milk stout is nice on a cold winter's night when you're sat by a fire, and maybe it's nice when served in small measures or mixed with another beer, but a full pint of the stuff is too much to handle especially in the hot interior of The Wick at Both Ends, while your mates are sipping on some of Sheffield's finest cocktails.

Feeling left out, we decided that we would quickly down our drinks, head back to the bar, and join the rest of our friends in drinking cocktails. However, downing a full pint of a drink so heavy that it used to be given to nursing mothers proved to be difficult, and there were several points along the way at which I thought I might regurgitate the dairy-laden soup.

Me and Andy, with good old Danny in the middle
We eventually managed to consume the whole pint and, feeling like we'd just polished off a roast dinner, went and got ourselves some cocktails for dessert. I treated myself to a Seven Hills, which to this day is still my favourite drink to be offered at The Wick.

As for the bar pub itself, The Wick was a really smart venue in a great location. In addition to the cocktails, the line-up of ales was pretty good. The entire place was festooned with fairy lights and, although it gets very busy at the weekends, there was still somewhere to sit down. I can also confidently state that, from previous experience, The Wick has been known to make fantastic burgers.

Of course, you could just order a milk stout, thereby consuming the same amount of calories for a fraction of the price...

Pub: The Wick at Both Ends (149-151 West Street, S1 4EW)
Rating: 7.5/10

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