As part of our busy Father’s Day weekend the Crazy Pandas met up with MJ’s dad JA and brother AJ for a trip on the Great Central Railway, which was hosting a 1940s themed weekend. As both Pandas are fans of steam trains this wasn’t just a treat for JA, especially as the pamphlets for the 1940s weekend indicated that there was a good chance of turning this into a Rail Ale style trip.
Starting off at the WW2 home-front themed station, the group rode the train the entire length of the line to the station that had small American and French Resistance camps set up and had a quick wander around those, which had a few interesting vehicles scattered around. The first really interesting bit came next when the return train deposited the Pandas et. al. at the station that had been captured by German invaders, who rather thoughtfully brought along some beer, which was being sold from a small bar set up on the platform. As MJ would be driving later on, he and AR shared a bottle of Salvator, which at 7.1% is the original beer by the Paulaner München brewery, first brewed by monks 1773. From its sweet and sticky taste it is quite understandable that this beer was used by the monks who brewed it as a substitute for food during lent, although with its high strength it would be interesting to see whether they could stand upright after a couple of pints on an empty stomach! Also at the German bar AJ had a bottle of Hefe-Weißbier Naturtrüb, also by Paulaner München, which was a pleasant cloudy wheat beer with the typical banana character that you would expect, and is the brewery’s best selling beer. Enjoying our continental drinks we then wandered around the German army camp, which had a few machine guns, tanks and sentry boxes set up, along with a small model railway that didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the camp, and was actually a fixed attraction of the railway that had also been captured.
After this it was on to the next station which housed the main Allied camp, complete with tanks, guns, food (which the Pandas were very happy to see), traction engines and the best thing of all – a beer tent! Several local breweries had brought their wares to taste, and the back of the tent had a well looked after rack of ales. AJ, being a fan of fruity beers, had a pint of Plum Porter by Titanic Brewery, which is a pleasantly sweet beer, while AR and MJ shared two Nottingham Brewery ales – Rock Mild and Dreadnaught; a smooth, dark, biscuity mild beer and hoppy, ruby bitter respectively. These drinks made a very fine accompaniment to the big band style singer on stage in the tent, and passed the time well until we went and caught the train for the final leg of the return journey to the top end of the line. While this station didn’t have a bar, it did have a gift shop that sold bottles of beer made exclusively for the railway by Hobsons, of which MJ bought one and shared it with AR later at home. Both Pandas found this golden ale very crisp and refreshing, and wish we’d bought more bottles to finish off a very fun day.
MJ
Crazy Panda Pubs 