With some relunctance, GAVIN AITCHISON spills the beans on a great little hangout in York to drink beer.

AH, the beauty of the hidden gem. The splendid solitude of the secret spot. I’m about to kill it, I fear.

In amid these soirees of ours, I’m sometimes tempted to hold back a few snippets; to keep the odd wee nugget of information for myself. Some things are too good to share, yet I must – for what kind of drinking buddy would I be if I weren’t honest with you? So here goes... we’re off to The Attic.

Don’t be fooled by what you see. From its appearance, you would never think this place sold some of the best beers in York. Not if you viewed it from the outside, in King’s Square. Not if you walked through the door. Not if you wound your way up the winding staircase. Not even if you were in there, looking around, taking it all in.

But go right up to the counter (for it isn’t even a bar), peer down into the fridges below or the shelf above, and you will see the treats that lie in store.

If you were unaware of The Attic, then don’t beat yourself up. Many are, and no wonder.

It’s hidden away above a genteel café that holds, on the surface, no appeal to beer lovers whatsoever but which offers, on its top floor, a tranquil place to enjoy great bottles in peace.

The opening hours are limited, it must be said: noon til 6pm on Thursdays and noon til 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays. But those hours seem cleverly calculated to catch a key target audience – those who are in town but who want to avoid the hordes.

It was a Friday night when I visited, with just such intentions. I was meeting a friend for a long-overdue beer and catch-up, but the city-centre was heaving. The Duke of York, the new Leeds Brewery pub, was bursting at the seams so we turned instead to this place, just across King’s Square, above Café Harlequin.

The main café has been here for several years and The Attic was added two years ago, when owners Gordon and Marie Howell decided to diversify. Make no mistake, The Attic is absolutely not a pub. It’s hard to even call it a bar.

It has not a single hand-pull, no juke box, no quiz machine, no bar-games, no beer-mats. If you want any of those things, then you’ll be disappointed here but if you want a quiet spot with a fine selection of bottled beers, you’ll be as happy as Larry.

There are around 10 to 15 bottles to choose from, including outstanding options from North America, mainland Europe and the UK. On top of that, there are phenomenally good coffees, simple snacks, a few whiskies, and some quirky art on the walls. A “specialist drinks café” would be the fairest description of the place, pretentious and wordy though that unavoidably sounds.

St Lupulin from Odell Brewing Company in Colorado was my first choice. This is marketed very much as a summer beer, but if it was out of season in mid-winter, it was still out of this world. The hop level is restrained compared to some American West Coast pale ales, but substantial by most UK standards and the body is dry, with prominent pine and orange flavours.

Buxton Brewery’s Moor Top, my second selection, was a much paler, mellower beer from closer to home, but still using American hops and still packing a tremendous, refreshing flavour with some grapefruit in the taste.

My companion, who has less bitter tastes than I, declared it sensational and ordered a second but I fell for another American option: Stone Pale Ale from San Diego, a strong, amber ale with a potent hop aroma.

Others were tempting. The wider Odell range is one to cherish; Redchurch and Camden breweries in London offer edgy new English beers; Jever and Augustiner Bräu are continental classics; and Flying Dog and Brooklyn give American swagger.

All will draw me back, without doubt, for this is a hidden gem to cherish. Just do us all a favour – don’t tell anyone else about it!

Twitter: @pintsofview