Trembling Madness York

There is something calming about walking around York centre. Yes it is busy, and you are forever being slowed down by groups of tourists, however the old buildings and traditional back street shops have that much character that you can never get tired of.
We popped over to York for no particular reason, just feeling in the mood for a bit of window shopping...and a fat rascal from Betty's!
Cue the exciting look on my face when we walked past a beer shop, not just any beer shop...but the best beer shop in York!
Trembling Madness is situated on Stonegate in York. Walking down the cobbled street you could almost miss it. From the front it looks like just a little shop, but don't let the small shop front deceive you...it is like the Tardis of the beer shop world.
Upon entering you are greeted with a selection of Cider and fridges full of canned favourites from the US & Europe. This room was exciting enough, until we spotted a separate room towards the back. I can not put this room into words so please refer to the pictures! Wall to wall beer, including known brands from all over the world as well as a huge selection of craft beer's from small and local breweries. Their website boats that the store has 5000 different tipples ... WOW !
Not to end there, the stairs downstairs lead to a huge selection of spirits....and upstairs their own bar! How had I never seen this place up until now. Visit their site at http://www.tremblingmadness.co.uk ... or just visit the store!

After about 15 minutes of browsing we finally make a decision as to what tipples we would purchase. Liz went for a cider, not just any cider but Rum & Poached Pear Cider 4% from Blind Pig. The cider had a subtle scent of white rum (reminded me of our 'house' Havana Club from our home bar). The poached pear was quite a subtle but sweet flavour and a welcome addition to the rum. As a cider this was still very refreshing as you would expect. The guys at Blind Pig also do a Whiskey, Honey & Apple Cider and a Bourbon & Blueberry... we will certainly be purchasing these on our next visit.

My choice of beer was a little harder to come across than with Liz and her cider. I think I picked up and put back about 8 different beers before I came to it. I put down a trappist beer, a Thornbridge bottle as well as various different Belgium beers (the reason being I wanted to save that sort of purchasing for our upcoming trip to Bruges). As we were in York I finally decided to pick something local. The York Chocolate Stout 5.9% from Rudgate brewery does exactly what it says on the tin. Sometimes I find that chocolate stouts are a bit too heavy and should be saved for a day when you are 'just having one'. This however did not sit too heavy, even with the strong flavour. It had a good mix of sweetness and bitterness that is found in good quality rich chocolate. For a city with such a long chocolate heritage, this really hits the spot.

Next time we visit York we will be taking a bigger beer budget! One thing for sure we will not eat lunch first, as their pub is on our list of places to lunch!

-Sam

n.b following our visit to Trembling Madness it turns out that the Blind Pig Cider is actually made my Heineken...surprising !