I had been meaning to get out into Stockport and see what the beer scene was like and I was not disappointed. With Ruth’s sister living in Stockport area, we had a bed for the night and a personal guide. After referring to the Good Beer Guide and also Matt Curtis’ book, I had drawn up an itinerary, both Ruth and her sister are organised machines and like to have an idea of what’s happening and when. Something I’m getting used to with them.

We started the afternoon lining our stomach with a tasty Spanish tortilla, and a glass of red wine and went over our schedule. A short bus journey down into town and we were heading to the Petersgate Tap. Although it was early on Saturday afternoon, the downstairs bar was quite busy so we made our way upstairs, where I enjoyed the always reliable Lagonda from Marble.

Next stop was the Cracked Actor. This is quite a small bar, but what it lacks in size it definitely makes up in character with lots of quirky theatrically themed decor. The Cracked Actor doesn’t have any cask beer but the keg, can and bottled beer offer is wide ranging and I enjoyed a Slow Life stout from Irish brewery Whiplash.

The Angel Inn was the only stop on our Stockport tour that Jane had been to. In fact she’d been there just the night before as they had a vinyl night, which is one of her interests. The Angel is a very comfortable traditional pub in quite a historic buiding and caters for quite a wide ranging customer base. The Market Porter from Thornbridge was spot on.

From the Angel it was a short walk to the Bakers Vaults, where I had my only beery disappointment of the day. I’m glad to say that the staff changed my beer with no questions and the replacement was a very acceptable Road Crew from Cameron’s. In fact we all had the same beer as both Ruth and Jane are rather into rock music. Although the Bakers is a Robinson’s pub it had a good selection of guest beers to complement the usual Robinson’s offering.

The penultimate pub on our tour was another Robinson’s house – The Swan with Two Necks – and another historic pub building. I’m not a particular fan of Robinson’s beers but they are definitely much better in a pub that looks after them well and turns them over quickly. This was definitely the case here and my pint of Unicorn went down very well.

We finished our evening at the Magnet, where we enjoyed some delicious pizza to mop up some of the beer we had consumed. I think I would have to say that the Magnet was my favourite pub of the day and I hope I get a chance to come back again soon. For anyone keeping track, I had a half of Brother Sean from Anspach & Hobday – I could hardly resist the name, but I had also been listening to a podcast just a couple of days before featuring Paul Anspach talking to the host about this beer. It certainly lived up to my expectations.

All in all we had a great day out in Stockport, although there are still several places in and around the town that I want to visit so we will certainly be back again.