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The Rocket, 120 Euston Road.
The time is 16:30, I'm off the train at St. Pancrass and I'm on the dog and bone to my Fruli trailing friend. He suggests we get on with it immediately visiting the nearest pub that serves the fresh fruity delight.
The nearest establishment turns out to be The Rocket, which unlike it's exterior may suggest is a Scream pub.
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Much to the amazement of the barman I order 2 pints of Fruli. He makes sure I am fully aware the price shown on the blackboard is for half a pint (£2.40).
I confirm that I am not only aware of the price, but I am also quite used to handing over a £10 note and receiving change that consists of no pound coins when asking for my favorite drink... You want the best, you have to pay for it.
Although the exterior to the pub is distinctly non-scream like. The inside is more what you expect. Students are ever present, waving around their yellow cards and drinking Carling, because number 1 they don't know any better, and number 2 they can't afford to know any better.
The Rocket was worth a visit and like any scream pub it was cheap and cheerful. It was close to the train station and it served Fruli... Job done... even though as you can see it wasn't done in official Fruli glasses. Time to move on
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The Albany 240 Great Portland Street.
After a quick change and a bite to eat, we're looking at 19:00 and its time to get on the serious central Fruli trail. We check out our well crafted map... click here to download.
The second stop on our trail is The Albany on Great Portland Street. It took a while to get too (its a long road) but it was worth it.
A cracking pub with a downstairs venue for music, we entered, had |
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service with a smile, and was told to sit down while they prepared our fruity beers... happy days.
The Albany had a good mix of people and I'm guessing for people heading into town from this direction it was a cracking meeting point.
We commandeered ourselves a couple of seats, sat back, relaxed and soaked in a bit of the atmosphere. Usually I like to stand in pubs, but I had a funny feeling I better save as much leg power as possible for later.
As we supped the remains of the Fruli (served in proper glasses by the way) we considered simply staying here and saving the rest of the trail for another day... We could have done, but we had to show commitment... onwards. |
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De Hems, 11 Macclesfield Street.
A good walk from The Albany but that was to be the longest distance between pubs according to our map so we were expecting it.
On first inspection we thought this place looked a belter. Loads of people inside and even more spilling out onto the street enjoying their beverages. What they weren't enjoying however was any Fruli...
Disaster struck We scouted out the bar with no joy. We asked with fear in our hearts and panic stricken looks on our faces "Do you serve Fruli", the answer..."Not anymore". However we had walked a long way, we had built up a thirst and it did seem a lively, quality pub. So we decided to have a drink anyway.
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| We didn't want to venture too far off our fruity trail, so we asked for an alternative fruit beer. We were given a Floris passion fruit... it wasn't Fruli, although it was apparently brewed by the same people... unconvinced and with a slightly strange taste lingering in the mouth... we moved on. |
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The Porterhouse, 21-22 Maiden Lane
Approaching The Porterhouse we felt a Dajavue feeling. Again it looked a beauty, a place to mingle, enjoy some laughs and soak up the bustling atmosphere. Again it had people rammed inside and others outside drinking and enjoying the strangely hot weather for this time of year. Unfortunately however, there was again... no Fruli. |
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Even though that was the case on this particular night, don't let that put you off. When we approached the barman to ask for a Fruli, the reason they were not serving it was due to a German Beer-Fest month.
1970 Germany 3 England 2, 1990 Germany 4 England 3 (pens), 2006 German Beer-Fest 1 Fruli hunters 0... Robbed by the Germans again!
We once again had to settle for a fruity alternative. However, I'll hold my hands up and freely admit I have totally forgotten the name of the beer. That said it tasted awful anyway.
So far only 2 out of the 4 pubs had come up trumps. We needed the last 2 pubs to serve fruli, otherwise this trail would be classed a failure! |
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Bierodrome, 67 Kingsway.
The final pub on the trail and what a beauty to end things in.
The slightly uneasy feeling that the last pub on the trail may let us down quickly descending as we headed through the door and saw the familiar site of the Fruli tap.
The atmosphere was good with people enjoying a range of beers, as you would probably expect from a pub named Bierodrome. Although there were plenty of seats there was a good crowd of people standing chatting and generally having a good time.
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On ordering our Fruli what better way to have it served than by a red headed barmaid. She did the business, we took our pints and headed into the crowds to have a chat with fellow drinkers.
The Bierodrome was not only unique in the sense it had a red headed barmaid, but also in the fact that we were not the only ones drinking Fruli.
We chatted away to fellow fruity followers and started to gather a bit of local knowledge on where to go next.
The London Fruli trail was over, and although I'm sure there are many other pubs in the capital that serve Fruli, we had a good one... and so can you!
If you know of any, don't keep it to yourself. And don't forget to take pics of you and your friends enjoying Fruli... send them to metastingfruli@frulibeer.com.
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