Krakatoa, Aberdeen

A little different, brightly lit and ecclectic trendy interior, a little too hip and theres a feel you have to be the same to fit in, its not over friendly.

Something a bit different! This portside bar reminded me immediately of the Purple Turtle in Reading but happily with far more beer which is in better shape and with fewer, ahem, ‘agitated’ punters. Another long and narrow Aberdeen bar, the place is handily lit with neon to create an almost psychedelic feel. Music-driven, gig posters adorn the walls and there is a stage at the rear. There's a pinball machine too. Brilliantly unique are the three banks of taps at the bar, each with their own LCD labelling; World Beer, Cask Ale, Cider and Belgian. A jumble of clips sat atop the cask one - I counted seven which I assumed to all be on. My Highland Brewery Munro was in ok shape if perhaps a little aspiratored round the edges with a faint cardboard lilt – too many beers on? Something different, maybe not to everyone’s taste but I think a worthy stop on a crawl.

This is a rather madcap, eccentric bar and live music venue opposite the harbour. You enter into a relatively narrow but surprisingly long room with exposed floorboards and a servery along the right-hand wall. The bar has a pretty hefty counter with big fonts along it which have digital displays denoting ‘World Beer’, ‘Cider’, ‘Belgian’ or ‘Cask Ale’, which was pretty helpful and I imagine a bit of a lifesaver when it’s packed at the bar and you’re trying to figure out what beers are on. The bar back is illuminated with blue lights and has been stuffed with all sorts of random stuff including loads of music memorabilia, old typewriters, beer bottles and various models. The stand-out feature had to be a lovely mirror for ‘Moorings Bar’, which I figured may well have been a previous name for this place. Two brash neon signs fill the front windows, where some button backed banquettes can be found beneath. As you might expect, various nautical themed items are on show to the front along with lots of gig posters. Down the left-hand wall, opposite the bar, banquettes and low stools run under more posters, bits of breweriana and some odd totem-pole style pillars. There is also a rare sighting of a pinball table and some more neon signs including one that reads ‘Live Nude Bands!’. The rear part of the room is relatively empty, with a stage on the back wall and an open dancefloor area in front. The wall to the left of the stage is mirrored and there are yet more neon signs on display back here. A trip to the toilets revealed some pretty amusing toilet door signage, whilst the urinals had instructions on vomiting etiquette! Quite loud music played for the duration of my visit, as I’d expected, with pauses in between some tracks, which suggested they were playing from a juke box, although I didn’t actually spot one. Live music venues aren’t generally associated with good beer, so it’s always nice to find one with a decent ale range. Here, there was a choice between Duke IPA, Fyne Jarl, Cromarty Brewed Awakening and Atlantic Drift plus a couple of others from Scottish micros that I couldn’t make out. An extensive cider range was complimented by a wide selection of Belgian and World beers, all on keg, plus a decent bottled range too. My pint of the Duke IPA was pretty good and the friendly barman gave me a CAMRA discount on trust when I realised I’d left my CAMRA card in the hotel. This is a pretty unconventional pub and not really what I was expecting to find from a North Sea port pub. I can imagine there being a great atmosphere in here when there is a band on and I thought it was a quirky spot to stop off for a couple of pints.