Psychogeography: Barman's Knock

Saturday saw SHOP undertaking another Psychogeographic adventure in the form of Barman's Knock. This experiment consists starting at a favourite pub or bar and ordering your own favourite drink. You then ask the barperson who serves you what their favourite pub or bar is and what they drink there. You then proceed to that pub or bar and order their recommended drink and repeat the exercise with whoever serves you.

So, KNOCK 1: SHOP started at The Colston Yard and ordered our favourite drinks there:

KNOCK 2: Dean served us at Colston Yard and his favourite pub is The Hatchet, where he said he'll drink anything, but usually cider. So, we proceeded to the Hatchet and partook of the appley alcohol:

KNOCK 3: Basically, it more or less went down hill from here! A japester of a barperson, Jenna at The Hatchet, decided to stitch us up good and proper by 'claiming' her favourite drink was absinthe and she drank it at Elbow Room. We were pretty horrified so decided at this early stage to cheat and go to The Woods as they are owned by the same people apparently. Well, cheats never prosper, as it was closed for a refurb. So to Elbow Room it was, and to a chorus of 'gayboys' from it's charming and eloquent patrons, we walked in and up to the bar. Brett was extremely gallant in his offer to down a shot of absinthe if it meant we could get out of there as quick as possible:

I'm the gween fwairy!

Down the hatch...

A satisfied customer.

KNOCK 4: Lorraine at Elbow Room took us from the ridiculous to the...? In the form of vodka and cranberry juice at Goldbrick House; her favourite poison at her favourite place:

KNOCK 5: Emily at Goldbrick House hadn't been in Bristol very long and she liked Paintworks best as it was near her house, but another (closer) favourite of hers was Browns and she liked Stowfords and lemonade there, which quite frankly sounded gross. Especially after a succession of similarly sweet drinkies. However, true to the rules, we gave it our best shot by buying a can of lemonade and retiring to the Bristol Uni PhD offices above Browns (we have connections you know).

KNOCK 6: There we found a saviour, Pawel who joy of joys didn't like cider or juice or 90% volume spirits, he liked a nice pint of .... Dark Side! Which is a stout. And he liked to drink it at Eldon House so that's where we went:

At Eldon House we were served by two people to make things a little confusing. Maya and Maddoc liked drinking OVD and ginger beer (think that's what she said) and Janet (think that's what he said) at The Lanes and The Apple respectively. Midway through the Dark Sides though, the Death Knoll sounded in the form of last orders and so ended our game. Not without some relief as another pint of cider would have caused considerable reflux and a pint of OVD just sounds like a sexually transmitted disease.

In conclusion, SHOPsters were not overly impressed with this experiment, but that's okay because Psychogeography is all about discovery, good and bad. We reckon it would be better in a city you're not so familiar with, as when some starts their answer with 'my favourite bar is Elbow Room' you cannot help but have a sinking feeling in your stomach. And that was only Knock 2.