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| This is why I forgot to take some interior pictures. |
This small, yet perfectly formed, bar is perched above a Stonegate off-licence (called, rather appropriately, the Bottle Shop). It's not somewhere you're likely to stumble across by accident. In fact, even if you do know where it is, it may still take you some time to stumble across it - and when you do eventually find it, you may well find that it's already full to the brim.
Nevertheless, the House of Trembling Madness is a desirable new member of York's growing Belgian beer selling pub menagerie. Delerium tremens (the trembling madness) is a condition that results from cessation of drinking following from excess alcohol intake. Presumably the bar's name is a warning that you shouldn't suddenly stop drinking after visiting this place, since consumption of Belgian beer is generally tentamount to excess alcohol intake.
The interior resembles a Germanic hunting lodge, with plenty of wooden beams and various animals of the pushing-up-daisies variety. The bar itself is miniscule, yet houses 8-or-so pumps, a fridge full of bottles, a kitchen, and three bar staff. The pumps are mostly of the Belgian variety. La Trappe double (a moderately strong, dark, well-balanced Trappist brew), Triple Karmeliet (strong and sweet), Barbar (honey beer) and Timmerman's (fruit beer) have all featured thereabouts. The fridge has an eclectic selection of Belgian, British and Other beers. Last time I visited, this included, amongst many others, Bush de Noel (lovely Belgian winter beer, 12%), Aventinus eisboch (strong yet well balanced German beer, also 12%), and Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (an unusual German smoked beer).
The food deserves more than a passing mention. Given that the kitchen seems to consist of an oven, a microwave, a fridge, and a chopping board, the range and quality of food is pretty amazing. A number of the dishes are platter-based, and consist of various morsels of locally-sourced produce. I can heartily recommend the cheese and bread platter - at least two of the cheeses contained beer. The portions aren't enormous, but are sufficient to extinguish the ravenous hunger produced by excess Belgian beer consumption. For future visits, I have my eye on the enormous pie platter.
The toilets (well, I can hardly review a pub without mentioniong the toilets) are somewhat unusual. They're located under the aforementioned off-license, in front of a large spirit display cabinet - something to admire if there's a queue.
Finally, the aforementioned off-license is well worth further perusal. It sells a pretty extensive range of European, American and British bottled beers. At Christmas time, this included a a good selection of Belgian Christmas beers, something that's pretty hard to get hold of in the UK.
Addendum 12/12/12: It was recently drawn to my attention that you can buy beer downstairs in the off-license to drink upstairs in the bar, subject to a small corkage charge. Livers beware! Unfortunately they no longer stock Linderman's Faro, my girlfriend's favourite tipple, so I'm no longer allowed to drink here ;)
