Drinking in Scotland Road

Ales from the crypt Last night I went to St Anthony's Church in Scotland Road, Liverpool. No, I haven't seen the light ~ I was drinking in the crypt at their Oktoberfest. There were 29 beers and 4 ciders available in the crypt, which is a very atmospheric place for an evening out. 19th century plaques show where former parishioners lay interred and the ceiling is barrel-vaulted; I was told that scenes from a supernatural BBC drama starring Martin Shaw were shot here.

There were 2 bars, one for local beers and the other for the rest of the country. There were 8 beers from Liverpool Organic Brewery, and quite a varied bunch they were: 24 carat is a light dry beer, the best seller, apparently. Also there was Shipwreck, described as a true IPA, and deceptive in that it didn't taste like a 6.5% beer. Mordue All Hallows was a dark beer that had none of the excessive heaviness that some such do. I also enjoyed the Triple FFF Stairway To Heaven. Betwitxt Storr is called a lager, and was very drinkable, but I must admit to a general difficulty in distinguishing the cask lager style from the golden ale style.

This unique little festival runs until Saturday. Tickets £5 per session from Lion Tavern, the Belvedere or the Church Office 0151 207 0177.

From the Liverpool Mercury 4th October 1833:  The crypt beneath the chapel is deep and allotted for vaults, so constructed as to form a cemetery; each vault is calculated to receive a single coffin ; and they are built in rows and tiers, each tier containing five vaults; these rows are intersected with passages and each passage has a corresponding window. Over each of these vaults there is a separate arch of brick-work, so that the coffins placed in them do not rest upon another. The mouth of each vault, as soon as a coffin is received within it will be closed with brick-work , or with a slab of stone on which will be inscribed the epitaph of the person who lies there interred.