Moscow under a degree: the center of the capital through the glass of a beer bottle

Do you know how a good excursion differs from a regular one? The good one is interrupted by pauses in which people can digest what they have heard by drinking a glass of beer. It was in such an event that we participated. The format is tried and tested: the debut beer course in the capital came out to glory. Therefore, the continuation of the banquet was inevitable.

Just like last time, Alexander Usoltsev, the founder of the Walking in Moscow project, became our pastor. This man seems to know something interesting about every downpipe. Drowning in Alexander's amusing stories and April puddles, we marched from Kuznetsky Bridge to Sukharevskaya, stopping at four bars along the way. Everywhere we were greeted as dear guests and mercilessly brought new and new mugs. The journey became more and more exciting.

(11 photos in total)

The largest table in the English pub White Hart Pub (Neglinnaya str., 10) was announced as the gathering place. This table was large enough to take on two dozen mugs of Shaggy Bumblebee ale in addition to snacks. They say his recipe was personally developed by the chief brewer of the Moscow Brewing Company.

Towards the end of our tour, we argued about who the target audience of this drink was. And we came to the conclusion that it is drunk by those who appreciate in beer not only its consequences, but also the taste itself. "Shaggy bumblebee" during a feast can be not only a means, but also a topic of conversation. With him, it's easy to imagine yourself a sommelier and come up with some poetic epithets about the bright hop taste and rich aroma.

We didn't stay long at the White Hart Pub. Usoltsev could not sit still, he was bursting with a desire to quote Mayakovsky: there was a house on our way where young poets gathered before the revolution, and Vladimir Vladimirovich used to shock the local audience a lot.

We moved up Neglinnaya towards Trubnaya Square. There was an even more significant house. The building, wrapped in scaffolding, turned out to be the place of the invention of the famous Olivier salad. In the middle of the XIX century, French chef Lucien Olivier kept the Hermitage restaurant in Moscow and one day came up with a salad that became one of the symbols of Russian cuisine. However, Olivier in the modern view has nothing to do with Lucien's novelty. Unless, of course, you add grouse to olivier.

We walked to the Elephant bar for some 15 minutes, but by the standards of the same XIX century, we managed to go beyond the main part of Moscow. In Olivier's time, the Boulevard Ring was about the same breakwater as the MKAD is now. Outside of it, mostly poor students and lower ranks settled.

"Elephant" lurked in the depths of the courtyards at the address 2nd Kolobovsky Lane, 12. We did not meet Stirlitz there, but we met the most benevolent cloakroom attendant in the world.

Our guide sat at the head of the table under the ship's steering wheel and, after drinking a "Shaggy Bumblebee", started a conversation about shot glasses. Now such establishments, in fact, are an anachronism, but in the old days they were wildly popular. Which was built, as marketers would say, on the basis of impulsive purchases. For example, a person was returning from work, and the way home was blocked by a glass-maker, who with all her appearance called casually to skip a cup or two.

Here we couldn't help but wonder where in Moscow you can mentally sit in an old-school style. So that without any frills and for a classic snack. We share the obtained information: cheburechnaya Druzhba near the Sukharevskaya metro station, pelmennaya on Krasina and ryumochnaya on Bolshaya Nikitskaya.

After leaving the Elephant, we directed our steps to Tsvetnoy Boulevard and, having reached the circus, plunged into the darkness of the alleys. This area, which was called Grachevka in the century before last, enjoyed a bad reputation. Even after the city had grown far beyond the Garden Ring, Grachevka remained a very dirty and dangerous place. There were bandits operating here, who were afraid not only of their colleagues from Khitrovka, which thundered all over Moscow, but also law enforcement officers. Having done business on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, the farcical people dived into the thickets of Grachevka, where the policemen did not dare to go.

Following the stories about Grachevka, the road to the bar "Shaggy Bumblebee", which can be easily found at the very beginning of Daeva Lane, flew by unnoticed. In a bar with that name, we had no choice but to increase the dose. Moreover, here we were offered to diversify the menu with white ale "Shaggy Bumblebee". In the production of malt in this case, not traditional barley is used, but wheat. As a result, the ale acquires a yellowish-white hue and a milder taste. By the way, under the watchful eye of a stuffed fox hanging on the wall, there was a dispute regarding the target audience of the beer "Shaggy Bumblebee".

We left Dayev Lane in an extremely complacent mood and with a very low ability to perceive the words of the guide. While we were moving to the final destination of our walk — the Hooters sports bar, Alexander told about why Nadezhda Krupskaya had a monument erected on the Sretensky Gate Square, how it happened that Armenian Lane did not burn down during the fire of 1812, and why the streets are straight in St. Petersburg and winding in Moscow. However, the answers to these, of course, important questions, unfortunately, escaped the attention of the author of these lines.

The inimitable Usoltsev was finishing a story about his research "Classification of pies in refectories at temples and monasteries" when we approached the ninth house on Zlatoustinsky Lane, where Hooters is located. Here they drink good beer and show football. At the time of our appearance in the match between Manchester United and Manchester City, the account was not open. We sat for a long time, almost missed the subway, and the British did not score a single goal. But no one cared anymore.