Swan Hotel, Maldon

I was looking for a place to celebrate my 50th birthday, the first weekend of May 2008. Requirements: A pub with accommodation facilities, a decent meal for a party of app. 20, a place with some selection of real ale, situated in a not too big and not too small town, not too far from Stansted, since most of the party of ale lovers from Norway, would arrive there. I ended up booking at The Swan in Maldon � which all in all matched fairly well with my requirements. Then I came across the comments about The Swan here in BITE, and I really started to become worried: �Dirty dingy hotel�, �a horrible pub�, �rude staff - don�t go in�. U�oh. Was my birthday weekend going to be a sorry experience?

I am very pleased to say that all my worries were ill founded (as Rune has commented below). The party in the Tudor room was a very nice time; the food very nice, the staff did a tremendous job serving us, and the ale was OK. The hotel rooms were nice and clean, and the full English breakfast was perfect. And Maldon was a really nice town. I thank the hostess Claire and her staff for a very nice weekend. I have no problem recommending The Swan Hotel in Maldon.

11 Jul 2008 22:22

Cafe Tekehtopa, Oslo

One of the few places in Oslo, where you find bottle conditioned ale: India Pale Ale (7,5 abv) from the excellent Norwegian microbrewery N�gne �. Also some belgian beers, and worth mentioning, Frydenlund bayer, a m�nchener type, dark lager. Crowded at my visit (Jan 26, 2005); nice athmosphere.

4 Feb 2005 19:44

Oslo Mikrobryggeri, Oslo

Top (warm) fermented, non-filtered and non-pasteurized ales. Some periods they have served their ales too cold! But at my last visit (Jan 26 2005), it was just perfect. The bitter is nice. So is the porter, but that is too carbonated. A nice and quiet place in the afternoon. More noisy in the evening.

4 Feb 2005 19:38