Part II - Chesterfield (the town)

After lunch at Mama's & Leonies with Debra (more soon) and dinner at Phil's and Amanda's, Phil and I met Will at the Rutland Arms in Chesterfield... 

As he prefers darker ales, Will was a bit put out by the lack of beer to his taste at the Rutland, though hard to see why, he tried a half of The Brew Company's Crystallised (5.5%) but said it was too much to my taste for him... I tried the Idle Brewery's Idle Tongue (4.3%), a pale and bitter ale, as did Phil. They also had Doom Bar, Abbot Ale, and The Tap House Dark & Dangerous (5%).   

From the Rutland we chased behind Will to the Gardeners, where we watched the football, well, the second half of it. Tried the Ringwood Boondoggle (4.2%), their only real ale on, though they can have two ales, and another ale was coming on the other pump very soon. The Boondoggle is a very easy to drink pale ale, not too bitter, and the lad behind the bar, a great bloke, and I had a bit of a chat about ales, food and blogging, he also gave us a free drink each, I think he was just glad to have people in his bar that appreciate and like to drink real ale... 

Our final stop with Will was Joplins, where Will complained about the loud music on the speaker, well, apart from us three, the only other person present was the barman (a couple were leaving as we entered, not sure of the loud music drove them out or not). Hook Norton Hooky and Old Hooky were on sale, together with Hopback 25th Celebration Ale (4.6% and 35 years behind the times ;-), a pale dry bitter.

Will went home from here (to catch the train back to Sheffield), as I was staying with Phil and Amanda in Chesterfield we headed for the bus stop on leaving Joplins, but had enough time for another pint at the Rutland, where we had the Crystallised, and it was the best ale of the evening!  In my humble opinion... 

Cheers!