Formartine Pub Crawl by Bus
On Saturday 23rd March, 7 members of the branch took #35 Stagecoach bus at 11:15 from Aberdeen bus station to Oldmeldrum. Arriving at 12:10, it was a short stroll to the Redgarth, where we had an appointment to meet our host Stuart Singer for the presentation of Shire Pub of the Year.
He served us all a pint of Six Degrees North Apex, an unfiltered 3.4% session Pale Ale. Initially it looked like there was only one Real Ale on the bar, an unexpected occurrence for a pub with such high standards; Stuart explained that he wanted to set us a little blind-tasting challenge, and disappeared into the cellar to return with Mystery Beer #1. This was a very pale and refreshing beer with a floral aroma. Stuart returned to the cellar, up next was Mystery Beer #2, a beer that was definitely in condition but with a little haze which Stuart said wasn't the best example he had seen. Heads scratched, we guessed at Loch Lomond and "an Orkney" for the two mystery beers. Stuart then invited us to inspect the labels on the casks in the cellar and we were pleased to find that they were a Loch Lomond beer called "Why So Serious?" and Swannay "Scapa Special".
Fortified by our first 3 pints and a few sandwiches (thank you Stuart), and joined by a further two branch members who live nearby, we departed for the 14:18 bus on the main road directly to Pitmedden.
The Craft Bar is fabulous village pub, wine bar, meeting place and off license. We enjoyed lovely pints of Broughton Greenmantle and Cromarty Kowabunga while chatting with Paul the owner about the challenges of the pub trade in a rural community. Sustenance came in the form of a pub-pie; Paul is on a mission to find the best Aberdeenshire pie-bakery and he has a shortlist of 22 to try!
Returning to the bus at 16:13, the lady bus driver recognized us from the previous leg of the trip. She was happy to transport us to Ellon for our last pub of the day, The Tolbooth. Here there were 3 choices, Timothy Taylors Landlord, Broughton HOPO and Broughton Wee Jock. Our preference was for the Scottish beers, and it says a lot for the quality of these country pubs that our favourite pints of the trip were not from the Redgarth! Sorry, no photos of the Tolbooth.
Anyway, although the heavens opened, after 7 pints in total we decided to get the final bus back to Aberdeen after a visit to the local chipper, returning back in Aberdeen by 8pm.
