Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Halifax

  • Halifax – Kobenhavn Bar

    Halifax – Kobenhavn Bar

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    I didn’t realise at the time of visiting, but this is the sister bar of the Victorian Bar Cafe, which I’ve visited before and both of the venues are listed in the Good Beer Guide. The venue is positively reviewed on-line although one person was angry at the lack of Danish beer noting:

    “Not a Scandinavian Beer on offer , not even a basic Calsberg or Tuborg”

    There is certainly an argument that there should be a Scandinavian beer available, but a rather more limited debate about whether Carlsberg or Tuborg should be there. In my view, no, it shouldn’t.

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    There are two entrances to the bar, this is the former Blue Mountain cafe which they extended into in 2024, but they have a larger entrance on the Westgate Arcade which had opened a year before that.

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    The beer list is located near to the end of the bar.

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    The list on the wall isn’t the easiest to read, but fortunately, there’s a printed version as well. The downside of these, especially with 24 keg options and 6 cask options, is that they must need to be reprinted on a very regular basis. It’s a well curated list of options, but I note the review saying:

    “Expensive, and serving bland, yellow beer, suitable for lager drinkers. Poor child.”

    This is likely some sort of sneering about keg hazy pales and ironic that it is has one of the widest ranges of beers in the town. And:

    “Not known drinks very student pub”

    I think this means, not Stella.

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    The interior of the main part of the venue, which has very much of a cafe bar type atmosphere and they sell what looked like artisan coffees and the like. The service was notably engaging and welcoming, I rather liked the informal and laid-back nature of this whole arrangement. And the member of bar staff was positive about my faffing about on Untappd before ordering.

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    Beer one was the cask Shifty from Drop Project, a fluffy, gentle and soft pale ale which was nicely balanced.

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    Beer two was the keg Hecate from Tartarus Beers which was listed as being a chocolate and coconut stout, but I thought that it needed more coconut for my Bounty taste expectations. But, it was smooth with nice roasty and chocolate flavours. The Monster Munch helped with the flavour though and made up for the coconut deficit.

    Overall, I felt that this was another excellent addition to the Good Beer Guide and I’m not sure that I would have visited otherwise as the door I walked by made it look like a cafe rather than a bar. I’m not sure that they’re doing food at the moment, or there weren’t any menus visible at least.

  • Halifax – Vocation & Co Taproom

    Halifax – Vocation & Co Taproom

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    I’m a big fan of Vocation brewery and I was pleased to see that their flagship new taproom has opened in Halifax since I last visited the town. I also noticed that one of the two JD Wetherspoon outlets has gone, but this more than made up for that as this venue is listed in the Good Beer Guide so that’s another one ticked off.

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    It’s a decent space and they have additional floors and space, along with a rooftop terrace. It’s all very on-trend and seems to be attracting a younger demographic. And me. They serve pizzas, which are a little punchy in terms of the price, but it all looks of a high quality.

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    I very much like the darker beers that Vocation brew, although there was nothing new available to me in that regard, so I went for some different beer styles. This is an excellent range of beers though and covers numerous beer styles. I didn’t have any cask options, as I tried them before, but they have keg and cask available to choose from. The beer list is also on Untappd which is handy, along with their wide range of cans which they have available.

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    This is the Spring Zing from the brewery, a balanced sour which wasn’t overly sour but had lots of rhubarb and was suitably agreeable.

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    And my second beer, both of which were just thirds, was the Afterglow from the brewery which was punchy and zesty. Coming in at 8% ABV it had a heap of stone fruit, lots of hops and a feeling of complexity around it.

    I liked this venue, it was clean, comfortable and felt welcoming. The prices were towards the higher end of the scale, but there’s clearly been some considerable money invested here and I’ve a lot of time for what they’re trying to achieve. I’m not sure when I’ll next be back in Halifax, but I’ll likely quickly pop in here when I am as it feels like the equivalent of a friend who always has biscuits in the cupboard, somewhere worth dropping in whilst passing.

  • Halifax – Victorian Craft Beer Cafe

    Halifax – Victorian Craft Beer Cafe

    On the way back to Bradford, I visited this Good Beer Guide listed pub in Halifax and it’s a relatively short walk from the railway station (which is handy as that’s where I was coming from). The pub opened in 2014 with the aim of bringing continental style drinking to the residents of Halifax.

    The lighting in the pub was quite dim, but that suited its character and decor, although it made it difficult to capture in a photo. I think these capture the charm of the pub though, somewhere very cosy and comfortable.

    The beer board and that’s a well put together set of options, I was suitably impressed. There are usually 10 or so ales, 18 beers on tap and 100 bottled beers, I’d suggest it’d be hard for a beer drinker not to find something appropriate. Although not the man who reviewed the pub saying “pretentious, overpriced and dire beer”, although nearly every other review is quite rightly positive.

    Some news which I saw on the pub’s web-site is that they’re starting brewing themselves, under the Second Sight Brew Co banner and it looks an intriguing little set-up, with more at http://www.secondsightbrew.co/.

    I had debated going to get something to eat elsewhere, but the chorizo pork pie met my needs instead of bothering with anything else. The beer was refreshing and had the pineapple and apricot flavours that it promised, although not to the same depth as some of the other ones I’ve had from Brew by Numbers. Still a very pleasant way to end the night. Oh, and the pork pie was delicious, with not too much jelly for me to scrape off (it’s too decadent for me).

    As an aside, one thing that slightly confused me is that the Brew by Numbers brewery (one of my favourite) have several 55 Double IPAs, but I was able to check the pump clip to see that it was the El Dorado & Idaho 7 beer. Precision is needed for Untappd, a reminder really that I need to get out more….

    The service at the bar was friendly and engaging, this feels like a pub that the community is supporting. The decor is something else by any definition, a far cry from when it was an Italian restaurant, and I think they’ve done a great job with that. This really is one of those pubs that you could bring a book along to and spend a few hours here, or equally, find someone to talk to. I’m delighted that the Good Beer Guide directed me here, as although it’s a little bit trite to say that a pub can help you escape normality, I’d say this one can pretty much achieve that in the nicest of ways.