Cumbrian nights

I just spent a couple of days this week driving up to Scotland and back to pick up my Son from University (and all his stuff) He's finished now and is moving back home pending (hopefully) a job in London later in the Summer. I decided to break up the journey by driving up to Penrith in Cumbria and spending the night there, then the next morning driving on up to St. Andrews to pick him up. I chose Penrith because it's about the right distance up the country and right next to the M6, it also has a well known craft beer bar there that's owned by the Fell Brewery of Cartmel (Lake District) that I was interested in trying. Arriving around 5pm I checked into the local Premier Inn and headed out into the town to explore. 

Penrith is a medium sized market town on the edge of the lake district national park and you can easily walk around the whole place in about twenty minutes. I snapped the picture of the main square (above) just before picking up some fish and chips for supper which were much needed after the long drive up from the South. After food I relocated to the Fell Bar in the centre of town and perused their ample tap list for a couple of beers to try before retiring to my room to watch Scotland in the Euro's.

I chose a stout (left) and one of their cask session IPA's (right) The stout was great, really rich and creamy with plenty of chocolate and coffee flavours, pretty good for only 4% ABV! The session IPA weighed in at 4.3% ABV and although it looks hazy in the picture I snapped this before it had settled out, I'd forgotten that in the North of England the pubs tend to use sparklers to aerate the beer as it's poured, it was actually quite clear in the end. Both pints were very good and as I left I grabbed a can of a beer called "Firebreak" (picture below) to take back to my hotel and drink while watching the football. All the beers I had were very good but Firebreak was probably the best of the Fell Brewery bunch that I tried, a NZ IPA it had a fantastic white wine and citrus flavour, very typical of NZ hops like Nelson Sauvin, one of my favourites.

As it turned out Scotland could only manage a draw against Switzerland but all is not lost as (at time of writing) they have another match in hand. After the tense game, a couple of pints and a tiring drive my thoughts turned to sleep and the Scottish border which awaited me early the next morning.