TMT Day 5 & 6 - Bristol in Pictures

I'm about ready for a break from cask ale.

22 Nov 2023 — 4 min read

There's no better way to see a city than to walk. No direction, no intent, no objective other than walking. Especially a new city. Your mind is unencumbered with preconceived notions. Every sign, every artifact, every boring detail is anything but boring.

Bristol is just about the perfect-sized city for that. It’s small enough, at least in the center-adjacent parts, that you can do some damage with two feet and a few solid hours on a sunny afternoon. But big enough to see life. And, perhaps most importantly, enough tasty food and beverages you can find when the feet need a break.

It's a good time of year for a walk, too - the underappreciated late fall when some leaves are clinging to their brilliant gold glory, but for the most part, they're squishy, decomposing brown mush, ushering us toward winter with each step.

I must admit, five days in, and I'm getting a little tired of beer.

And I was warned.

I was warned that, despite its novelty on the American palette, the cask ale will eventually start to taste the same. The subtle, naturally carbonated bubbles will wear you down. I don’t know if I’m quite there yet, but I’m beginning to see the argument. Especially for the traditional cask ale styles stocked at most tied houses I’ve been to.

Which is inherently an argument against the pub tie, right? If the publican has difficulty finding beer and ale that’ll keep people interested, the pub will have a hard time. You need variety, constant variety, and in the way that a large pubco or brewery won’t be able to give you. The publican is a curator - curator of the space and a curator of the drinks.

Frankly, it hasn't even been that much beer, maybe just a pint or two a day? But it's enough to be heavy and weigh on the body. The only thing that has kept me somewhat sane, both mentally and physically, is the ~20,000 steps I've averaged each day. Every little bit helps.

Far and away, the day's highlight was grabbing drinks with a new friend.

Elliot is a typographist from Bristol, and he, among many things, runs the delightful newsletter - Typographic & Sporadic.

I can't remember how I came across Elliot's newsletter - but that's the weird, wonderful thing about newsletters (and the internet, when done properly). There are so many passionate people out there who deeply care about their craft. Just reading and/or listening to them is inspiring. Elliot is one of those, so subscribe to his newsletter! He also has a book coming out shortly! Big congrats.

So it was nice to meet up in person and talk shop. Fortunately he knows his beer and took us to a bar in Bristol, Small Bar, for a brief respite from all the cask ale I’d been drinking. It was a nice pub with a wide selection of craft beer from all over the UK.

It was a free house, for sure.

Pictures from Bristol

The next day was a relatively uneventful transit day. I left Bristol, picked up a rental car, met Steph at the airport, and then headed to our first stop in the Cotswolds. When we got to our inn, the Porch House in Stow-on-the-Wold (such a silly name), I managed one pint before bed (that jet lag just doesn’t quit).

-Skylar