First stop was West Brewery. The brewery is located in an old carpet factory that was modeled after the Doge's Palace in Venice. West is the first brewery in the UK to brew its beers in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law. This means that they only use the four core ingredients, water, malt, hops and yeast in brewing all of their beers. The bartender let us try all of the beers, but I settled on the Munich Red. I had been confused during the trip as to why every time I ordered a beer, the bartender would ask me if I wanted a pint. I finally asked the bartender at West, "Is there a bigger size?" He explained that most places also served beer in half pints. Ummm...why would you order such a small beer. The Scot told me that a half pint is known as a "girl pint." I take offense to that.
The next stop was Nice n' Sleazy, the Scot's favorite. It's your run of the mill punk / hipster bar where bands that hurt my brain play. The Scot regaled me with tales of how his band used to play there and he would go there to watch kung fu movies and see artists paint things. I choked back the laughter and enjoyed my organic beer. I am sooo glad he grew out of that pretentious phase. I think the shining star of Sleazy was the food. I had a halloumi sandwich with spicy curly fries. (Halloumi is a cheese unique to Cyprus for which I developed a mild obsession after my Cyprus vacation last year.) If you haven't had halloumi...you haven't lived. Apparently, there were olives on the sandwich. I hate olives. However, the oven dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, dates and yogurt made me ignore the repulsive little green things.
The next bar was my specific request. I don't know any bars in Glasgow, but I asked to go to a bar in an old church. Oran Mor was chosen for me. I had heard that Glasgow has a habit of turning their churches into bars. Apparently, the people of Glasgow decided they needed more places to drink than pray. Well, I have to say, a church makes an excellent bar. This place was absolutely stunning and probably would have fallen into disrepair if it wasn't taken over by a bar.
Our last stop was Brew Dog, the bar I had been anticipating the most. The guys at Brew Dog started their brewery in 2007 after growing sick and tired of all the crap on the market at the time. They describe themselves as "a post Punk apocalyptic mother fu*ker of a craft brewery." I like the way they think.
Brew Dog is home to the world's strongest beer: Tactical Nuclear Penguin, with a staggering 32% ABV. It used to be served out of a bottle inside a taxidermied rodent of some sort, but now that's just a prop. The Scot ordered some and I think I burned my nose hairs when I smelled it. For obvious reasons, each order is only about a mouthful.
So, that sums up my 4 hours in Glasgow and the Scot's trip down memory lane. Oh, and in case your eyesight is terrible, the other dudes in the photos are obviously the Scot's brothers.
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