No. 64 The Fat Cat

Visited on 7/7/11. Heading into town but still on lower Watergate street, we arrived at ‘the Fat Cat’, a wine bar-cum-bistro sort of affair. I seem to recall that it used to be more of a drinking venue, but now very much has the feel of a restaurant about it. In fact, the first thing we were asked (very courteously by the way) was whether or not we’d be eating. We said no and ordered up a round of the only real ale they had on, despite there being three handpumps on the bar. The ale in question was Marstons EPA – an interesting brew. Interesting in that it’s almost completely devoid of taste, despite being described in various notes as ‘hoppy’, ‘zingy’ and all sorts of other such rubbish. Fact is, it’s a real ale brewed to simulate lager, with a view presumably, to winning over customers who prefer severely uninteresting and mass marketed beer styles. Not quite us then. It was as hot as hell in there as well. Gawd knows what it’s like in the summer. Oh hang on…