Back in Des Moines this evening and I wanted to go somewhere that I would not have to put up with the amateurs out for Cinco De Mayo, so I am deciding between Royal Mile and Hessen House. I chose to go to Royal Mile http://royalmilebar.com/ and leave the Hessen House for some other night. The Royal Mile is a English Pub style bar. Once you walk inside it is floor to ceiling wood and English beer signs. As my usual I sat at the bar and was attended to fairly quickly by the bartender asking me what I wanted to drink, unsure I ask for a beer list. They have over 20 taps and over 100 bottled beers as well as a wall of scotch over 80 different scotches. Once I perused the beer list I went with a Fuller's London Pride. For those who may not know this is a classic English Pale Ale. I have had it from the bottle but the bottle pales in comparison as a beer from the tap.
Next as you would figure the food menu is themed towards English food, so the typical bangers and mash, fish and chips, shepard's pie and more of the like. I went with the Eubank a burger with white cheddar, stilton and bacon on it. Delicious! During dinner I order another beer Fuller's London Porter. This is a little bit reminiscent of the Old English Porter from New Glarus I had last night. Fuller's version is no where near as sour as the New Glarus version, but it is more roasty than New Glarus' version.
All in all this is a cool English Pub in Downtown Des Moines and worth a trip when you are in Des Moines. As an aside upstairs is the Red Monk which is the only Belgian Bar in Central Iowa, so when you tire of English beers there is all the Belgians you might want just up a flight of stairs.
In the I can't believe this happened twice to me department. I was in the Map Room in Chicago with a friend and some moron ordered a Chimay by saying Chi- may instead of the proper Shi-may. Tonight in Royal Mile another moron asked the bartender what is the difference between the Chi-may red and blue. The bartender did a good job explaining the difference between the two. My point is if you can not say the beer correctly you do not need to be ordering the beer!
QC Beerguy
If you don't know the difference between "quite" and "quiet", then you don't deserve to have that kind of evening. Check your last two posts. Easy on the beer snobbery son.
ReplyDeletehey chum,
ReplyDeleteeasy on some one with dyslexia, written English is not overly easy for me. As far as what you call "beer snobbery" just stating my opinion. Next time please do not call me son, that is rather offensive to me since both of my parents are dead. Have a good day Chum!
Perhaps pronouncing a foreign brand name such as "Chimay" doesn't come so easy for others? Look, I've enjoyed your blog. I'm from the area. I was just a little surprised to see you looking down your nose at someone who lacks your beer knowledge. We all have to start somewhere. I've enjoyed brewing and sampling craft beer for over 20 years and I'm sure I still butcher the hell out of beer/hop/style names. I can live with chum, btw.
ReplyDelete