This Monty Python Member Had a Historic, Boozy Side-Hustle
The various members of Monty Python have all had side projects outside of their work with the troupe. Michael Palin starred in a number of acclaimed travel shows, Terry Gilliam became a famous Hollywood director and John Cleese and Eric Idle have their long-running Social Media Fight Club.
But what about the late Terry Jones? Well, in addition to being a comedy legend, soon to be immortalized by a (possibly nude) crowdfunded statue in his hometown, Jones was also an unsung pioneer in the world of beer. The BBC recently reported on a relatively new English pub known as the Python’s Arms, named after the iconic comedians. Why? Because the pub, located in Herefordshire, not far from the England-Wales border, happens to occupy the same site where Jones once co-founded a microbrewery, back in the late 1970s.
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Jones, along with two other beer experts, launched the Penrhos Brewery in 1977, which was one of the world’s first microbreweries. There he churned out several batches of beer that included the early “Jones’s First Brew,” and later the brewery produced 100 barrels a week of “Jones Special.” The brewery’s grand opening party was “quite a do” according to locals, and included celebrity guests such as Palin and Led Zeppelin.
That same year, Jones promoted his new brewery by appearing at the Great British Beer Festival where he claimed that “real ale” should be judged by how it “dripped over your shoulders and ran down into your boots.” To demonstrate his point, he then poured “several pints of beer over his head.”
While the microbrewery didn’t last long, it was highly influential in the beer community, and now the same location is home to the Python’s Arms, which also provides ales and bitters to locals, minus the visits from drunken ‘70s rock stars. The pub’s owner is adamant that it isn’t a Monty Python theme bar, but there are references to the group scattered throughout the building.
"There is the odd nod to Terry in most of the rooms here,” the owner told the BBC. One of which is the “bowler hat light shades over the bar.” Perhaps not coincidentally, Jones wore a bowler hat in one of the Pythons’ most famous pub-based sketches: “Nudge, Nudge.” Although, asking fellow patrons about their partners’ sex lives is likely frowned upon by the establishment.
One wall features one of Jones’ most famous lines from Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
Clearly the pub has fully embraced the site’s history and its connection to Jones. But whether or not the owners are okay with customers pouring beer over their heads to properly evaluate the brew’s consistency is unclear.
