A very busy day in a very week! Two nice things to finish. (1) a cartoon that sets me off every time, I don't know why

Clayton McNamara's Drinking Emporium, Riga 🇱🇻 1st visit. Silly name aside, this is a comic/sci-fi bar which will be heaven for any fans. Arcade machines, collectibles, it reminds me of the long gone Fab Café in Leeds. Prices are Ok given the location. 🪄 🚀 👽🍻👍

Starogod, Riga 🇱🇻 1st visit. Institution. Old school brewpub, faux German style. 5 styles. Their lager is very accomplished. Surprised! A Czech wouldn't tell the difference. Malted barley grains to snack on. Hip hop soundtrack not exactly striking the right tone for a quiet Tuesday PM opening👍🍻

Aleponija, Riga 🇱🇻 1st visit. Ok, think I've finally cracked into something here after much digging. No signage outside. Inside, very atmospheric wooden interior and portraiture with Latvian beers. Friendly crowd, fair prices. An essential stop-off. 🍻👍

Möku, Riga 🇱🇻 1st visit. Ok, starting to dig into the subculture a little. Permafrost more like. These guys set up the first bar in Tartu, Estonia. This is a nice spot, set off the street. They could have more lounge furniture and fewer high tables. Fair prices that make a mockery of old town👍🍻

Vinilbars, Riga 🇱🇻 1st visit. On the west bank in Kancielma district known for wooden houses but it should also be known for traffic. Beer from Prusaks in Jūrmala. Vinil=Vinyl and there's a wall of records curated by the bartender. Fair prices and a range of hot snacks too. Go later on than I did👍🍻

Alus Rūme Trofeja, Riga 🇱🇻 1st visit. Nicest spot so far. A really pubby interior of wooden frames, board games and 7 tap beers from Trofeja brewery. Their garden looks good too. The compact interior does a lot to encourage a cosy, social and convivial feel. A clear standout. 🍻👍

Labietis Taproom, Riga 🇱🇻 1st visit. Set in a complex of converted industrial buildings. The outdoor areas will blend into one another nicely in summer. Inside is pretty though, hops, wood and warm hues livening up distressed greige walls. Herbal amber ale with a thyme aftertaste is a delight! 🍺👍

And a bit later it had all gone a bit red!

Another wonderful sunset in Westward Ho!

The Edgar Wallace, London 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 1st visit. Extraordinary interior which makes the horrible cream leather seats a baffling aberration. Friendly and social atmosphere that reminds me of Sutton Arms, but even more central. Central prices sadly too. Still, it's a big standout! 🍻👍

Drei Kannen, Ulm 🇩🇪 1st visit. Historical brewery, now defunct. Beer brewed by Gold-Ochsen north of the city centre. Lack of bar area and minimal social seating counts against it but it is a really interesting venue in other ways and has nice features. Spezial is tasty. Ok for lunch or to kill time👍🍻

Ulmer's Bierakademie, Ulm 🇩🇪 1st visit. Proper kneipe time now 🚬 Ulm lost to Ingolstadt ⚽, fans now piling in to drown their sorrows. 6 taps, mainstream really, but a supposedly extensive bottle selection of different styles. The old cellar type frontage was much better than Sky Sports 🤢🍻

Not Getting any Love of your #Beer #CraftBeer Posts Try #BskyBeer Follow @bskybeer.bsky.social use #BskyBeer in your posts.We would love more like minded Beer people to join 788 Community Members 🍻

Final #beer from GT Ales tonight, one left over from Christmas - Santas Pod, a chocolate and vanilla porter. If you ever get the chance to buy this beer do. It is as smooth as silk and the chocolate and vanilla notes really shine through. #BskyBeer

Next up from GT Ales is their North Coast IPA. A hoppy little number with a dry finish, dangerously drinkable! #BskyBeer

Staying in North Devon tonight with GT Ales Thirst of Many. A fine refreshing session beer. #BskyBeer

And finally, just in time for #Stouterday, back into Devon for GT Ales Atlantic Storm oatmeal #stout. Very moreish.

And now moving from Devon to Cornwall, Korev lager from St Austell, more of a classic Pilsner style. #BskyBeer

@teamutopian.bsky.social unfiltered lager. 1st #beer of the evening. A cracking British lager. #BskyBeer

A joke for the history buffs: Germany’s satirical newspaper @der-postillon.com titles: “Vienna Academy of the Arts offers Trump admission as a student — They don’t want to get blamed again“

Schwerin Christmas Market.

The Lincoln Imps' long lost cousin in Lubeck?

Lubeck, Germany. Stars of the Christmas market in front of a church.

Just here to point out that Currywurst is not just the worst German sausage dish nor indeed the worst German food nor even the world's worst food but actually the worst thing in the world.

'It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense. It would be a description without meaning—as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.' Albert Einstein, from Max Born, Physik im Wandel meiner Zeit (Braunschweig: Vieweg, 1966).

It's International Coffee Day. A moment to put our caffeine-based differences aside and unite against our common enemy: soup.

I'm not sure how happy these two individuals would be to sit alongside each other on a bookshelf, even 2000 years after their deaths. Varus probably didn't know Tacfarinas, but Tacfarinas certainly knew who Varus was - there are a fair few connections between the two... A short #Roman🧵

just read an incredible 13th Century account of a feudal uprising where a duke's son was killed by rebels who used a trebuchet to knock him off the battlements with the only available ordnance: a peasant's decapitated head. apparently it was the first serf-face-to-heir missile no, *you* shut up 😁

Sun setting over Westward Ho! beach.

I think the final proofs of my book on Tacfarinas have finally been signed off & so it will shortly be heading for the printing press. A book about anti-#Roman rebellion in northwest Africa in the early reign of Tiberius. Now available for pre-order www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tacfarinas-A...

Back on the bar reviews soon, but a quick pause to let you know about Dalešice 11° Nefiltrovaný. Every sip I'm muttering "f*k me" under my breath. Don't believe the Jay Rayners of the world who sneer about beer. This is exquisite. Flavour journeys deserve respect, keep an open mind 🍻

Nobody has asked my opinion, but if they did, I would advise the Lib Dems to go all in on education, universities and skills training as the defining subject for the future of the country.

Freudenpark, Nuremberg 🇩🇪 1st visit. Oh my word! Yes!!! This is what it's all about. Intrigued but this is unexpected. Completely brilliant Northside venue. Pétanque court, fish pond, incredible interior, like a road house but done by a European. Friendly service. The best Vollbier I've ever had👍🍻

Great to properly make Würzburg’s acquaintance after often passing by. The Residence of the erstwhile Prince-Bishops was described by Napoleon as ‘Europe’s largest parsonage’. On a warm evening, the old bridge, a mini-Prague Charles Bridge, teems with people merrily drinking local wine al fresco.

🤣

"In many cases the friend is worse than the foe" Trump says. If my friends were Elon Musk, JD Vance, Vladimir Putin and Nigel Farage, I’d probably feel the same way.

Busted!!

A watery sun going down over Bideford Bay.

Very excited just over a week til we open Arcadia. Still time to grab some great offers up to 50% free bonus bar tabs Up to 33% extra free online store vouchers. Many more👇 www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/utopian-ar... Now on "keep what you raise" Opening 6th march

On the one hand this just reinforces that by "free speech" the right actually means "restricted speech for you, free speech for me and people who agree with me only". On the other hand this clearly signposts that Signal works and we should probably adopt it and dump the Meta-controlled WhatsApp.

Where would you play Starmer in this XI?

#RomanSiteSaturday: The Porta Nigra in Trier is the best preserved #Roman city gate North of the Alps. It was built around 170 AD and converted into a church in the Middle Ages. The Porta Nigra was restored to its original state in 1804 at Napoleon's behest. 📷 me 🏺 AncientBluesky #archaeology

Founder Rich Archer introduces how you can help make the next exciting part of the Utopian journey become a reality Like what you see? To support us visit our crowdfunder page here 👇 www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/utopian-ar... We really need your support so likes and reposts also very much appreciated

Wrexham Lager ad spotted in the wild.

What a brilliant scale model to paint! Made by Georgi Stamov. If you don't know what this scene depicts and if you don't know what kind of graffiti you should write on that wall, you need to do some comedy education homework ;)