I’ve followed Blues many times to Anfield, Goodison Park and Prenton Park in the past. Our problem was that we would be herded from the Football Special train in the day to the grounds and herded back to the station, rarely ever getting a chance to sample the local pubs. One memorable occasion though was at Goodison, we had the normal over zealous policing that you used to get there, back onto aforesaid Football Special, which were basically the old carriages that were just about to be scrapped. The train broke down at Crewe and the message came down that we would have to find our own way back to Brum. Around 2,000 thirsty Brummies, ready to celebrate a win hit a town where no-one was expecting it, utter carnage, pubs were drunk dry, the Police went into hiding and no-one really bothered to find out how we were going to get home. Me and my mates slept on the station after coming out of some dodgy club sometime after midnight. They put on another special train Sunday morning just to clear the station. Loved the 70’s.
Im surprised im there as no concerted effort .
Keep meaning to check out Carnival. They came onto my radar thanks to a beer they did for the excellent Thee Oh Sees, so clearly have great music taste!
I reckon you were a big fan of Mad Hatter beers Craig.
YNWA
I used to work for company based in Birkenhead right next to the Cammell Laird ship yard. Before I left the company the Glen Affric Brewery opened round the corner. Unfortunately for me it only opened at weekends when I was at home in Lincolnshire by then.
Stayed in hotels on The Wirral a fair bit and also in Liverpool.
I’ve tried 90 beers from Merseyside with an average score of 3.36 with is about average for a uk county.
I have rated 3 beers over 4.0 they are:
- Neptune Amarillo & Citra IPA
- Black Lodge / Alpha Delta Tectonic
- Mad Hatter Double Nightmare on Bold Street
Top rated breweries:
- Neptune Brewery 3.64
- Black Lodge Brewing 3.54
My top rated places are all in Liverpool rather than on the Wirral:
My top rated place across the Mersey is:
Yes a traditional pub and Barber Shop
YNWA
16 Merseyside beers in total.
Cains 5 (out of business)
Mad Hatter 4 (out of business)
Black Lodge and Glen Affric 2 each
Liverpool Craft (out of business), Peerless and Wapping (out of business) 1 each
Highest score was Mad Hatter Hare of Darkness. 4 of the 16 are in the RB top twenty for Merseyside.
The Black Lodge beers were both BrewDog Collabfest beers.
To me, a worryingly high percentage of brewers that have subsequently gone out of business.
Yeah def picked a fair few of them but i wouldnt have expected 1 brewery to push me that high.
But they always had interesting stuff and after Tzaki sour i tried not to miss anything if i could
Just looked and id had more from them than i remembered
Mentioned earlier in this thread but worth repeating is one of the joys amongst Merseyside pubs is The Philharmonic Dining Rooms in Hope Street
https://www.ratebeer.com/p/philharmonic-nicholson’s/12532/
Although it is part of the Nicholson’s pub chain, sometimes it is worth visiting magnificent pubs just in their own right and this one is rather special. It started off as a Private Gentleman’s Club for mostly owners of Shipping Lines, each of the rooms has a character of its own, stucco ceilings and stained glass windows. It is grade II listed. But most of all there are the marvellous, marble tiled Gents toilets, probably the most ostentatious in the UK.
There are many lovely pubs remaining in Liverpool, but this really is a worthwhile visit.
Be careful in the Gents though as once I was in there admiring the marble from close up when a party of Japanese tourists of all genders steamed in, it must have been part of their itinerary 
I have taken my wife and daughter into those toilets, after checking with the staff and making sure there were no customers using the facility of course! Love that pub, it’s my top rated place on Merseyside, found a few rates in there over the years too.
<*))))))><
I seem to remember it as a Cains pub when I first visited it, must have been sold off when they got into trouble I would imagine, or got picked up in the Whitbread package and moved on to M&B, who own Nicholson’s. It’s a pub that you would love to see as a Free House.
Hoptimism have 5 Carnival beers in stock if people are interested.
Well I was going to call my 8 rates of Merseyside beer “pathetic”, but the number does seem to stand up against some of the other posters here. Most ratings is 3 for Peerless. Highest rating is Glen Affric Payload Pale (3.8).
My own records (from 2013), show I have drunk 86 Merseyside beers from 25 breweries. Like everyone else, a lot of these will be defunct breweries. Peerless is top of this list also with 15, followed by Mad Hatter with 14. But I have an unopened Mad Hatter can in my cellar …
Not rated any places in Merseyside – though in the past I have been to most of the ones mentioned by other posters.
Looking at my stats for Merseyside, it’s somewhat surprising that with only 20 beer/cider/lambrini rates I’ve managed 18 place rates!
That’s come about due to a work trip for a training course in 2016 where I managed to fit in a pub crawl, and did a day trip to attend Liverpool beer & cider fest in 2019 (held under the cathedral) which due to running out of ciders to try and them not willing to open any more BIB they had lined up on the shelves clearly visible behind the cider bar I left in annoyance and went on a pub crawl instead.
Most memorable Merseyside beer rate would be a Raspberry & Rosehip Cheesecake Milkshake IPA from Team Toxic which I had in Blackpool and lived up to its name:
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/team-toxic-oscillate-wildly-raspberry-rosehip-cheesecake-ipa/780934/223863/
My favourite Merseyside place would be the Clove Hitch /23 club:
https://www.ratebeer.com/p/clove-hitch-23-club/40337/
Sadly closed, for a small basement bar had a great selection on tap and in the fridges, was empty when I visited, and remember it more fondly than the Brewdog which scored higher due to having a busier atmosphere
10 for me and Black Lodge makes up 30% of my rates. Another county I just haven’t taken a real interest in pursuing.
Only 24 rates here. Nearly all Mad Hatter and one from a now closed brewery “Handyman Brewery” which has Danish top raters 
Mate of mine left London recently for Merseyside so should pick up a few more when visiting next year.
England has 9 official regions with Merseyside part of the North West region along with Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Lancashire.
Total rates top 10 for the region
| Position | Rater | Total Rates |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | @manvsbeer | 3639 |
| 2 | @cgarvieuk | 2251 |
| 3 | @fonefan | 2240 |
| 4 | @madmitch76 | 1632 |
| 5 | @Theydon_Bois | 1505 |
| 6 | @imdownthepub | 1477 |
| 7 | @Stuu666 | 1394 |
| 8 | @mR_fr0g | 1390 |
| 9 | @Leighton | 1345 |
| 10 | @DJMonarch | 1343 |
Greater Manchester dominates the numbers in this table.
Points top 10 for the region
I have also done a points top 10 for the region with each person given points for their place in the top 50. starting with 50 points for the top rater down to 1 point for the person in 50th place.
| Position | Rater | Pts Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | @manvsbeer | 248 |
| 2 | @fonefan | 238 |
| 3 | @cgarvieuk | 235 |
| 4 | @imdownthepub | 218 |
| 5 | @DJMonarch | 215 |
| 6 | @harrisoni | 207 |
| 7 | @madmitch76 | 203 |
| 8 | @allmyvinyl | 193 |
| 9 | @leaparsons | 172 |
| 10 | @Theydon_Bois | 167 |
Very much a region dominated by ManVsBeer, top of all the county totals apart from Cumbria where they are 3rd.
Isn’t it time for the next randomly selected county stat attack from @imdownthepub sorry it’s just that I’m getting a little twitchy.
Never fear, new county attack is every Tuesday. Just about to post the new one, hope you like it.
Update
