After that last sketchcrawl, it was raining on and off a lot. My legs were in need of more rest after that 7k run, so I popped into the Davis Beer Shoppe for a nice beer and a sketch, while outside the day flitted between heavy rain and spots of sunshine. We were off to Utah next morning, I was already packed so not really in a hurry. The Beer Shoppe was fairly busy, and on the TV screen they were watching the end of Life of Brian, a film I know word for word pretty much. I found myself mouthing along to it all, “…Swedish separate from Welsh…” “…I’m Brian and so’s my wife…” “…you silly sods…”, it’s been a while since I last saw it but I did watch that film a lot when I was a teenager, that and Holy Grail. I settled into a beer and just started sketching the scene, because I can’t stop drawing for a minute can I. I last sketched inside this bar about ten years ago, a similar view, some of the details on the wall have changed but otherwise it’s not really different. After the film was over some people started playing video games on the big screen, Mario Kart 8 I believe, looked like a fun way to spend the afternoon. The couple nearby me were playing chess. Got me thinking, chess, Mario Kart, Life of Brian, beers… sounds like a typical night with my older brother. If there was a game of pool and a Spurs game on, that would be it.

Here’s that one from before, it was actually August 2013, a long old time ago now. I remember coming in here once and saw that they had it as the screensaver on their computer screen, which was funny. I don’t come in here very often to actually sit and have a beer, I usually only come in to buy from the shop, they have a really good selection of beers. I’ve become a bit unconvinced about beers lately, so many of them just taste very samey, or are getting too silly and gimmicky chasing the craft beer craze with new names and labels every season, it is a bit like the football shirt fashion trends in a way (though I still keep buying those football shirts). I am still sad that Anchor Steam is gone. Still it is nice to come to a local bar that has a good atmosphere and have a two or three pints while it’s raining outside. Shame they didn’t have any of the Holy Grail Ale, that’s a Python-themed beer I used to really like.