Oakes Weekly

First impressions about England

This August marked my return to England after an 8-year absence, just in time to take in what appears to be something of a resurgence in the UK brewing scene. The first stop, of course, was London, and it didn’t take long to notice that the capital has a number of new breweries, and more good real ale pubs than it has had on any of my previous visits.

Once upon a time, the beer lover visiting London was told that all London pubs were shite, but that Michael Jackson had recommended the White Horse on Parson’s Green as a good one to visit. Well, last time out I tapped that White Horse of all its new beers, which is not a good sign for a serious beer bar in a country in which I do not live. But this time, there was no risk of that at the Rake, a much better situated pub. I had expected the usual American and Belgian suspects – nothing exciting for me in other words – but was wrong about that. The selection was very good, with a lot of beers I hadn’t seen before. Especially heartening was the presence of some interesting beers from England. I don’t normally get so excited about barrel-aged imperial stout, but for the English to make – for the domestic market – was pretty exciting to see.

In between the Rake and the now-legendary Market Porter lies Brew Wharf, a new brewpub. I’d already had beers from the new Sambrook micro and the next day I was able to hit up some bottles from the Kernel, another new micro. London – which once was home only to Fuller’s, Young’s and a handful of crappy brewpubs – is starting to put together a bit of a brewing scene for itself.

After London, our trip into England takes us to the Southwest, where we based ourselves in Bath. The town is beautiful and historic, dating to Roman times, and has a lot to offer the visitor even for a two week stay. The city is blessed with seemingly no end of quality pubs. It is rare, indeed, to find a pub in Bath that actually sucks. There are small characterful pubs like the Coeur de Lion, the Old Green Tree and the Volunteer Rifleman’s Arms. There are more modern, open pubs with racks of casks like the Royal Oak, the Raven and the Bell. You can get Bass served from the gravity barrel (“from the jug”, they call it here, in reference to the pitcher that the use to transfer the beer from the barrel to the glass) at the Star Inn, another great historic pub.

The local Abbey Ales can be sampled at the Farmhouse Inn, which adjoins the brewery. Another budding pub crawl is emerging in the Bathwick district with the Pulteney Arms – a rugby pub, the Barley and whatever that loud pub across the street is called. You can try Hobgoblin on cask at the eponymous rocker pub and see just how different that beer is when sampled in its proper, live format (the same can be said for the aforementioned Bass at the Star Inn, too).

Add to this some impressive pubs in the outlying towns, villages and rural areas. The Cross Guns in Avoncliff is stellar, as is the George Inn in Croscombe, the City Arms in Wells and there a couple others we haven’t been able to check out yet that would almost certainly make the list of great pubs in the area.

It’s easy to track down good pubs, of course, as the English take this stuff seriously. In addition to CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide, there is also the Real Ale Pub Guide, and any pub that carries a Cask Marque sticker is also a fairly safe bet for a decent pint. Around the Southwest, it appears, there is no shortage of great pubs and small breweries to serve them.

And then there’s the bottled beers. Many small towns have well-stocked beer stores, although curiously Bath seems to lack a killer beer store. When you visit such stores in other towns, however, you can find not only some interesting beers (Moor Fusion, Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout) but also barrels of cider sold bulk and on the cheap. Did I mention the cider here? Crazy good. Except in Bath – it seems to be a country thing. Which is too bad, because some of the stuff we’ve come across has been exceptional.

All in all, I see many new breweries opening up in England, hopefully enough to replace ones closing down. I also see a lot of good pubs (yes, I’m sure there’s a lot of crap out there still) but my impression as someone who doesn’t spend much time here is that the scene is improving. As Britons take a greater interest in local food, they seem to also be taking an interest in local beer and cider as well.

Incidentally, Ratebeer has an excellent discussion ongoing about the English beer scene, with input from people who know it quite a bit better than myself – actual English (and Scottish) people!

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