Scale & Feather, Hull

Facebook page of Scale & Feather - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Scale & Feather - www.facebook.com

Having not thoroughly researched my Hull pubs before setting off, I was thinking this was a new pub, or at least a new pub for me. Neither of those is true, as I had been here in March 2016 when it was the ninth pub of a crawl - no wonder I didn't remember it. Except that I did, as soon as I walked through the door. The bar is in the same place, and had six hand pumps rather than 10. Two had ciders on, with four cask beers (see photos). I went for Brew York Merchant XPA - I'm a little prejudiced against this brewery, as their beers seem to mostly have fruit or chocolate adjuncts, sometimes lactose, and very often unamusing puns on the names of celebrities. This one had none of those, but I discovered that XPA stands for extremely pale and bland, though it was in decent condition.

Looking more like a wine bar from the outside than a pub, the interior is much more pub-like. I arrived on a quite Tuesday lunchtime to find just the landlord, a barmaid and one other customer. There is a small seating area containing the bar at the front. That was all that was needed when the pub was quiet, but the room does extend someway back for busier periods. Cask ales on were Salt Suede, Riverhead March Haigh, Abbeydale Moonshine & Ilkley Blonde. Ciders were Thistly Cross Whisky Cask & Lilley's Rhubarb Cider, whilst craft beers were Verdant Neal Gets Things Done, Vault City Strawberry Banana Milkshake & Yonder Smore: Chocolate Covered Biscuit & Toasted Marshmallow Stout. I ordered the Riverhead beer and quickly realised that it wasn't anywhere near right. So, I returned it to the bar. The landlord was really apologetic and offered me another beer. I chose the Ilkley Blonde, not normally my kind of beer, but in absolutely perfect condition and ultimately my favourite beer of the day. It wasn't long before the landlord disappeared down the cellar and was pouring through a new cask from Otter. I was impressed by the professionalism shown here, something that is so often missing from many outlets serving cask ale. I was pleasantly surprised by this pub. It certainly warrants its place in the Good Beer Guide.