Corby Pub Safari - The Contractual End Of Year Awards Post

Does anyone actually read these end of year roundup posts?... Anyone?... No, thought not. I'll keep it very brief then.

Pub/Bar/Club of the Year

So many to choose from (8), and the standard this year so high. Strong showing from the flat-roof estate boozers as ever. Not to everyone's taste it's true, but these are the very properest of proper pubs. Heritage pubs that deserve our support too because we've already lost so many and you'll miss them when they're gone! Paletto Lounge has been joined by the Steelmen Social Club as two of Corby's better beer options, and with super friendly service too. But for all round pubbiness it has to be The Domino, as good a village local in town as you'll find anywhere in Corby, and with a traditional Northamptonshire Skittles Table, which absolutely hasn't swayed the result at all. No-no, definitely not... Honest!

Beer of the Year

Now that drinking experimental woodland forage beers in 16-tap converted lock-ups is finally coming off-trend, beer is starting to get back to normal. The unstoppable rise of Heritage Keg and the long overdue 'Session Brown' revival is shifting the focus away from 'Sniff, Swirl & Pontificate' to a more sustainable 'Gulp & Natter', praise-be! Corby stands well poised to take advantage of this new/old appreciation of beer as social lubricant rather than mere conversation point, a kind of 'Drinking without Thinking' if you will. With this in mind the coveted Beer of the Year goes to the most memorable beer drinking experience rather than the best actual beer as such, and for that we go back to our big day out at the Footie. Foaming pints of craft-ish West Coast IPA From a tiny micro in [checks notes] Bury St Edmunds, skilfully and cheerily served in terrace-friendly plastic at the Steelmen Social Club, and enjoyed on what turned out to be the very last day of Summer. Such a pleasant surprise for a sports club bar, it left us with a lasting memory of the day, and that's what it's all about isn't it, lasting memories of good days out with mates, and beer. Cheers then to Corby Town FC!

Other Pub Blogs About Corby

No blog was deemed to have met the exacting criteria for this category, notably a blog post about pubs in Corby, and in the necessarily tight 2021 time frame. However, this post from the multi-award-winning pub blogger retiredmartin, formerly of Camberwell now Shifnal, had a jolly good stab at the subject back in 2020, and was therefore considered under the new Duckworth Lewis COVID-era Rules. Whilst the judge considered it a fine appraisal of the town, featuring as it does a pub, located within the environs of Corby, it fell just short of the standard required for the coveted 1st prize. Instead it's been awarded the somewhat less coveted 'Moderately Commended' title. This category remains wide-open for the historic 2022 'Pole Fair' season, so come on you blogging folk, it's yours for the taking...

Blogging Fail 2021

Still no sign of Younger's finest. The Heritage Keg Ale every beer ticker is talking about, albeit very quietly and certainly not in any kind of published form. I don't even know whether Tartan Bitter is still being brewed, but if this 70's near-beer classic can be found anywhere then surely it must be available somewhere in Corby. I'll be honest, I'd settle for a bit of old breweriana tat on a bar-back, or a dusty Party Seven (ask your grandparents) in an off-license somewhere. I've set my heart on it now, someone knows, they're just not saying!...

Sadly Departed

Hopefully a front-runner in the 'Back With A Bang 2022' category, hats off and respects paid in full to Danesholme's finest, The Talisman, which we think will be a bit of a goer if and when it reopens next year.