Date

02.06.26

CASK ALE WHISPERER

Blog by Nigel Walsh

Footie and Real Ale – Where I will be watching the World Cup

Shameless plug this week.

The title of this post may be a little optimistic as well, as it will all be dependent on my availability and stamina; you know, dog duties.

It hasn’t always been a conflict between work and football viewing.

I plan ahead every four years to try to watch as many World Cup matches as I possibly can, and yet somehow manage to get in only a handful of games.

It is definitely the stamina thing.

We haven’t had a TV in Whispering Acres for over thirty years, so I have always had to go find my football outside on the mean streets of New York City (or DC, or Baltimore, or Deerfield Beach, or even Niagara Falls).

It was easy back in the nineties when Nevada Smiths was in its heyday; it cost a few bob (thanks Setanta), and the acceptable beverage options were Carlsberg and Stella (you had to), but I was young (well, younger) and managed to spend entire days in the boozer watching match after match, at all hours of day and night.

Cask wasn’t an option back then and wouldn’t be until the 2014 World Cup, when I spent my time travelling between NYC and DC for work, and somehow still managed to watch 27 different games in three different cities/states (including Baltimore MD), all in pubs serving real ale, and finishing with the final spent at the bar in the venerable Ginger Man.

By 2018, I was spending more time in Florida for the annual vacation, than I was at either end of my long-distance commute.

So yeah, I did get to watch a handful of games, but only three of those were in a venue that served cask; that year I remember being crammed in at the Dive Bar on the UWS drinking Snake Dog 20^th Anniversary pints while watching France (boo) beat Croatia (even bigger boo) in the final.

2022 was not much better, but I did get out to JWF for maybe a dozen games while I wasn’t stuck down south, and I did get to experience the glorious final between Argentina and France in there, all while supping down way too many pints of Seneca Lake Saison; well, it did go to penalties.

I also got out to Fifth Hammer for one of the earlier round matches, and plan on doing so again this year.

I will also be heading out to Wild East for a game or two.

I am thinking that both breweries would be good places to catch any home team (USA, Mexico or Canada) matches, without being bothered by bros and wahoos.

Atmosphere over attitude is what I am looking for.

Eckhart for the Germany and Czechia games?

That may work.

And rumor has it that Rough Draft is planning on highlighting the Australia matches, so that has to go on my watch list too.

And while I am at it, I should probably drop by Drop Off Service and Shakespeare to complete my rounds; I just need to pick possible entertaining contests.

But for all of the England and Scotland games, there is really only one bar that I want to be standing at (you have to be standing), and that is JWF.

It was good enough for Nike for the official England shirt rollout.