Top brew pubs?

Nothing in London. The Pimlico Brewery is no more and of course Young's has gone...

Indeed - is there none now? Of the top ten I know only the Evening Star in Brighton, and the Dark Star brewery is named after a beer from the Pitfield brew shop in London, which was near me and alas not there now.

The comments on the item give other reccs - the Fat Cat in Sheffield seems to a big omission.

E.

Has no one mentioned the Black Bull pub of the Coniston Brewery?? Coniston Old Man is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

Also the Alexandra Arms in Rugby, which brews for itself and Atomic Brewery, who tap is the nearby Victoria.

The link refers to an article about micro breweries. Consiton, whilst being behind a pub, is hardly that, with "...1600 gallons brewed a week for distribution to 100 customer outlets..."!

Plenty of other genuine micros in pubs in Cumbria!

In article , eastender writes

A new pub brewery worth visiting is at The Cross Keys, 1 Park Street, Thame, Oxfordshire.

Until about a year a go this was a rather uninspiring Pubmaster house with no real ale and under threat of closure. It was bought by Oak Taverns and re-furbished in a very comfortable and friendly style, and a brewery, known as the Thame Brewery, was opened there earlier this month.

I visited the pub last week, but the beer had proved so popular that there was none available, but they had three beers from The Vale Brewery on tap and I enjoyed an excellent pint of Black Swan Mild.

Definitely a place to keep an eye on.

Roy.

But what's your definition of "micro"? 1600 gallons a week may mean a

-- Pat Ricroft, City of Salford, UK ===============================

Pub breweries in Cumbria: Barngates Blackbeck Foxfield - why wasn't that in the top ten list????? Great Gable - but not for long because the new lease holder does not want the brewery there ... HardKnott Hesket Newmarket Strands

The Loweswater, which was at the Kirkstile Inn, has moved to bigger premises (the former CLA brewery in Hawkshead) and the Bitter End has moved to a unit on an estate Watermill

And lots of other breweries as well, none apart from Jennings, which are big time breweries!

Is there an official one?

I expect a small - max 5 barrel plant, usually less, which can only supply itself apart from the odd beer festival. That is micro to me!!

That's big - when a breweries beers are commonplace, they are no longer micro, to me!

Many micros start at 2.5bbl brewlength, then expand, to me they're still micros - others like Saltaire & Sambrooks started at 20bbl brewlength - still micros to me.

Copper Dragon can now brew 480 firkins a day! (set up to double brew on 60bbl plant) - to me that's amazing growth, but still micro. I think HopBack & Oakham, Wye Valley are all pretty big now, but still micro, to me.

My definition of micro is a stand alone, un-massive brewery, but it's also about a more modern ethos of craft-brewing. (that generally eschews corner cutting, parti-gyling, cheap ingredients, adjuncts, artificial colouring, etc).

Barngates is I think 10bbl, Hawkshead is now 20bbl, Tirril is now

Another definition might use the upper volume limit of the UK small brewers duty relief scheme

- 30,000 Hl/yr = 18330barrels/yr / 50 working weeks = c.366brewers barrels / week = 1466 firkins/week

Now that's a lot of beer, but a hell of a lot less than many regionals

- e.g. in 2002, when Brakspear's closed in Henley, I think they were brewing c.1000bbls/week (4000 firkins) & they were not the largest of the regionals.

Cheers, MikeMcG

Interesting to see the Sair in the list. My understanding is that it's no longer breweing, getting its beer from other local sources such as Elland. Does anyone know the current position?

Enoch's Hammer certainly hasn't been brewed for many years and the article misspells English Guinness - it is, of course English Guineas to avoid any unpleasant litigation!

Talking of good Yorks brewpubs (I've yet to make it to the Sair) we recently broke our return journey from York & dog-legged off to Marsden for some great pretty posh food & lovely fresh beers at The Riverhead - the yum smells drifting up from the brewery on brew-day only added to the charm of the place - really impressed all round.

Although technically not a brew pub the Belvoir Brewery has a visitor centre called the Sample Cellar which is a pub to all intents and purposes.Brewery visits are popular and the food is good. It's just off the main road between Nottingham and Melton Mowbray.

MikeMcG ha scritto:

no... but a friend of mine visited the pub last March. He tried their "homebrewed" beers; he found them "correct but without much character".

ciao max

yes but was it Camden brewery then, I went to the horseshoe a while ago when it was disused, new management maybe ?

Probably more interesting would be top 10 worst, as there are a lot of bland or ropey brewpubs. My contribution would be the Lord Raglan at Nangreaves.