Brit's Pub & Eating Establishment

Fuller's London Pride @ Brit's

Brit's Pub & Eating Establishment

Brit's Pub is one of those eating establishments that has a great reputation with a wide range of people.  It seems everyone has been there one time or another.

As a beer geek destination, it doesn't really hold up. While Brit's does have 20 taps by my count, they are the basic UK bar line up: Speckled Hen, Guinness, Newcastle, Boddington's (maybe the prettiest poured pint ever), Strongbow and the like.  I noticed locals from Fulton and Surly as well on this trip.

For many, Brit's is the stop when going to Orchestra Hall for a show.  Today, that was my excuse to have a couple of pints while Gloria prepped with One Voice for the opening concert of Chorus America, which was a great concert for those who like choral music.

For today's stop, I started with the Fuller's London Pride on cask to go with a true British feel.  It was tasty and well served.  It's the only cask engine, but at least they seem to be handling the cask well from this sample.  I had a cask of this at The Blackfriar in London, possibly one of the coolest pubs in the world.

Next was a glass of Stella Artois, the Budweiser of the EU.  A better beer than Bud, but it is a ubiquitous beer much in the same vein.  However, SA likes to maintain a more sophistcated profile, so I guess that's why there's a separate tap for it.  The website, as with most macro websites, was relatively useless in telling me why, but the video of the 9 step process to pour a chalice of SA (SA's word--they are fussy about that as well) points to how serious they are to have a well poured beer.  Or, at least how serious they are about making it look like SA is a high end product.  When I asked the waitress what it did besides keep it ice cold, she shrugged sarcastically and said "nothing".

Can see ice build up on neck of Stella Artois'
own special dispenser.  

Featured choirs, including One Voice, listed
to the right on the sign.  

I didn't eat here tonight, but have generally been very happy with the food and service at Brit's.  The beer is well served and the place is cozy and a generally a great place to have a chat.  Besides the less than adventuresome beer list (though true to their marketing), the only other negative I've had with Brit's is that the bar seems to smell funny to me.  Not sure why--spilled beer stank maybe, but a minor detail and it seemed less pronounced on this trip.  I don't go out of my way to drink at Brit's, but I'm perfectly happy when I find my there, pint in hand.