On a truly wet and miserable night an intrepid band of ale seekers set off for a night of Bryson’s, butties and music. The destination was Holme Social Club on the outskirts of Holme village. The club started to stock Bryson’s some time back and now is the only beer to flow through their single handpull. The club itself has just one main room with a small corner bar. There’s a small dance floor and a pool table (doubling up nicely as a food table for the night).
The assembled drinkers were there as a result of an invitation from the Steward, Trevor (TT) Woodend, following a meet the ‘meet the brewer’ night a couple of years ago, and was a similar sort of evening, Â except that the assembled throng were spared a repeat talk on the joys of brewing.
There were four beers on offer, Hurricane, Net Buster, Westmorland Bitter, with Lifesaver making an appearance late on in time for the last pint. All of the beers were very well presented and in perfect condition, a credit to Trevor and his staff and more impressive still when you realise that there are no full time staff, TT included. The visitors presumably agreed with the assessment of the beer quality, with the 25 or so (later with the help of a couple of regulars) getting through 3 firkins in about 3½ hours.
TT and his staff put on an impressive selection of sandwiches and sausage rolls, all free of charge. An additional donation to the table was a Bryson’s porter cake, made by Caroline Palmer with Patrick’s Porter added in liberal quantities at various stages of the baking. Overall a good selection with nothing spicy or too strong flavoured, to enable the taste of the beers to be savoured.
On the first visit, TT had asked “a couple of guys with guitars” to play a tune or two. A bit of an understatement for an assembly of some of the best folk artists in the area. A slightly altered line up provided very appropriate entertainment in a very fine manner. Included in the programme was the ‘Bryson’s Song’, an adaptation of a folk song to fit the occasion. A great band playing great music.
Yet again it was one of those evenings that shouldn’t have ended. I’m sure the bus driver only dropped us off half an hour before he picked us up. The sign of a good night when time flies so fast. Just one question.....When can we come back Trevor?