Taw Valley Brewery

Back in Devon, this time pretty much slap-bang in the middle of the county in the small town of North Tawton.
I was aiming for a Beer Guide pub and a rural brewery tap with very elusive opening hours.

This was Saturday  9th September (I'm behind) - the hottest day of the year in that remarkable week when summer finally got started then made way for autumn six days later. 

The North Tawton Beer Guide regular is about a mile south of the town, situated next to the one-time railway station.
Trains began arriving here in 1865, then stopped 103-years later in 1968.  The Exeter to Okehampton line, on which this lies, has recently reopened, but the trains now race past North Tawton.

I'm surprised many people find the pub.  Along with the old station, it's located up a potholed track, hidden from the A3124 by farm buildings, the pub sign long gone.
An unassuming building, the picnic benches in front were empty and the lights were off. 
I feared a closed pub.

Railway Inn (Whiddon Down Road, North Tawton, EX20 2BE)

Timidly entering through the front door, I realised the lights were off in a lounge to the side whilst the bar was at the back of the pub with the sound of chatter and laughter emanating from it.

The locals propping up the bar promised the landlord would be back soon, but eventually took pity on my long wait and went to find him.

 

Turned out he'd been sat in the other room musing over a card the postman had delivered saying there was a letter that required £2.50 excess postage paying.  A yellow letter, apparently.
"Well you wouldn't it to be a brown letter - never anything good comes in a brown envelope. 
"Or a red one - that'd be a final demand".
"It don't matter if it's red, white, brown or pink - he's not expecting nothing so he don't want to be paying £2.50 for it."

It was that kind of pub where you didn't need a TV or music - just sitting and listening to the next debate about supermarket self-checkouts was all the entertainment you needed.

It's also a pleasing, basic and comfortable bar, with some good decorations and pictures of the railway station in its heyday hung on the walls.
Two cask ales available: Teignworthy 'Reel Ale' and Exeter 'Avocet'.
I've had a few very average pints of Avocet but this was gorgeous - a NBSS 4 recorded on the CAMRA beer scoring thing.
A wonderful pub.

Which also provided something a bit different for the mild smut collection.

Ah, that'll be the pub sign that was missing at the turn-off from the road.

I headed back into North Tawton itself - a pleasantly peaceful place that's home to some 2,200 people who get to enjoy three pubs, a chip shop, and a cheese factory.  Probably some other stuff as well, but beer, cheese and chips are things that stick in my mind.

The market square is the focal point, the parked cars and scaffolding around the clock tower scuppering the picture.
So I snapped a photo of a characterful old building instead...

And St Peter's church with its witches hat of a spire...

In the centre is an unexpected ice cream emporium called Barzotelli Gelato.
So good I considered just ticking ice cream flavours for the rest of the afternoon instead of visiting pubs and breweries.
This was the Turkish Delight flavour.  Stunning...

With remarkably no ice cream dripped down my t-shirt, I wandered down the hill towards the River Taw and decided to pop my head into the Copper Key Inn.

The Copper Key Inn (Fore Street, North Tawton, EX20 2ED)
This was a pub experience.  Inside was a cornucopia of bric-a-brac and odd decorations.
The room in front of the bar looked like someone's front room from a bygone era: big brown leather sofas around a coffee table - a TV in a cabinet, tuned into the rugby World Cup, busy bookshelves, retro wallpaper, glass display cabinets full of mysterious oddities.

The landlord was sat with a Guinness watching the rugby, the only other customer a lady settled into the sofa with her Peroni and pint of water.  If it weren't for the bar I'd have thought I'd just managed to walk into somebody's house by mistake.

The pub dog enthusiastically jumped up my leg whilst I ordered a Holsworthy 'Sun Shine', brewed not too far away on the Devon/Cornwall border.
An above average golden ale, which went down very well.

The landlord chatted local beer and September heatwaves, taking his food temperature probe outside to settle our guesswork about how hot it was.  Spared the rugby talk, I had a fine discussion about football covering everything from the Saudi League to Macclesfield Town. 
I could have , and maybe should have, stayed all afternoon.

But someone spoiled the moment by chewing the strap of my rucksack and making quite a mess of it.
Not him...

That'll be the culprit...

And to be honest, they were probably wondering who this weird bloke was who'd sat with them for half an hour, waxing lyrical about non-league football and trying to take a picture of the dog.
They waved me farewell and checked I'd got water for the trip to the brewery on this hot day.  What a nice place.

Taw Valley Brewery is just over a mile out of town in the middle of nowhere.

Making the most of some historic outbuildings at Westacott farm...

Taw Valley Brewery Tap Room (Westacott Farm, North Tawton, EX20 2BR - web)
The tap room is located in the barn which is set on a significant downhill slope, making the level benches and tables a feat of furniture engineering.

One big round table was located at the bottom, occupied by the brewer and his buddy, the beer barrels propped on a rickety table against the far wall..
Just the one ale was available - 'Copper Best' - a no-nonsense brown bitter than was exactly what I wanted at the time. 

This was quite a satisfying brewery tick, as they only open 3pm to 6pm on Saturdays, July to September.

I took my pint to the characterful makeshift tables under the cover of the building at the top of yard where you get to balance your beer on pallets and sit on hay bales.  Much as I like a hay bale, it was stiflingly hot, whilst the barn was a cool refuge from the mini-heatwave. 

The Taw Valley Brewery has very rustic loos...

"Do you want to see the brewery", asked the boss, obviously aware that I was in a need of a shiny brewing kit picture for September for the blog...

I weighed my bag down with a few takeaway bottles and departed from Taw Valley Brewery.
I've no idea how many people make it here.  It's not signposted or widely advertised, although there were a few cyclists in, and the round table was getting full of the brewers local acquaintances by the time I left. 
Well worth a visit - although you'll have to wait until next summer now.

Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink

 

An early September visit to Bridgwater, featuring two Somerset beer guide pubs, a Coleridge diversion, a muddy river, and a timber framed 'Spoons.

Mid-afternoon, I made my way to the village of Nether Stowey, 8 miles west of Bridgwater on the Minehead road.

The Exmoor tourist information website provides five 'top highlights' for Nether Stowey. 
One of which is free parking and public toilets. 
Another two of which involve getting out the village (exploring the Quantocks or heading off in your walking boots on the 51-mile Coleridge Way).

So it may not be packed full of highlights, but it is a peaceful and charming village, home to around 1,400 people, the remains of a Norman castle on a hill, and two pubs. 

The George (1 St Mary Street, Nether Stowey, TA5 1LJ - web)
The George is located right at the centre of the village opposite the 19th century free-standing clock tower.
It traces it's history back to 1616 whilst the current building was erected around 1843. 
Strikingly red and brown, piano in one corner, old maps and pictures of the village hanging on the walls.

The two sides of the front room were bereft of any customers, but the rear room (moodily lit and even redder) was reasonably busy with a local crowd.
Loud and sweary - perhaps I'd misjudged the genteel nature of Nether Stowey.

On cask was Salcombe 'Gold', Exmoor 'Ale' or Stans cider.
I took an Exmoor Ale to a table in the corner of the front room where I could earwig the banter from the other side of the bar, admire the tiffany lamps, and tap my foot along to 'Living on the Ceiling' by Blancmange.

Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived in the village in a cottage now owned by the National Trust, so I figured I'd go and have a look at it after finishing my beer.
I have to admit I felt a little bit fiddled when I read the plaque in front of the cottage and discovered Coleridge only lived there for 2-years (1797-1799).  Although it was where he wrote Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

I'd love to claim my knowledge of Rime of the Ancient Mariner is due to my education in the Romantic Movement, but the reality is it's all down to Iron Maiden.

The pub, directly across the road from the Coleridge Cottage, should really be playing the '84 'Maiden track on repeat, but they weren't. 
'Suspicious Minds' followed by 'Summer of 69', actually.

The Ancient Mariner (42 Lime Street, Nether Stowey, TA5 1NH - web)
And it was completely empty when I wandered in.  Not even a soul behind the bar and I was just about to give up when someone bounded out asking what they could get me.

A choice of Otter 'Bright' or Dartmoor 'Jail Ale'.
The Bright was just about passable and almost certainly would have benefited by a few other pints being poured before mine.

The front room of the Mariner made it worth calling in to - a timber-framed hall-like space with a grand fireplace in this 16th century building.

Whilst the other two areas to the left-side were a bit less pubby, with those chunky high-backed leather chairs that belong in restaurants not pubs.
Just as I was leaving there was an influx of customers.

I made my way back to Bridgwater, although the sole Good Beer Guide entry turned out to be 1.3 miles from the centre out in the residential suburbs.

West India House (101 Durleigh Road, Bridgwater, TA6 7JE)
The name of this large 1936 pub harks back to the time when Bridgwater was in full swing as an inland port.  The land on which it stands is said to have once been owned by a West India Trading Company merchant.

Through the front door you've got a choice of Saloon to the left or Bar to the right.
Two local ales on cask in the bar: Cheddar Ales 'Totty Pot' or 'Wild Thing', plus Butcombe and St Austell 'Proper Job' round the corner in the saloon.

A 'Totty Pot' for me, probably the only person on the stout on a balmy T-shirt weather evening.

The West India House was doing a decent Friday evening trade: local workmen perched on the low wall under the tree out front drinking Pravha; folks putting in big complicated orders at the bar and forgetting if Maisie wanted Elderflower or Rhubarb & Raspberry tonic with their G&T.

I'm still none-the-wiser as to why sitting out front watching Durleigh Road was so popular when there was a big grassy garden to the rear.

No time to settle in the garden for me, as I made my way into the centre of town.
Bridgwater is a mixed-bag of old and new, perhaps not quite meeting the rose-tinted expectations I'd inexplicably built-up. 
There were certainly plenty of lively town pubs - a Friday evening crawl around them would be more in Evo Boozy Saddler territory than Prop Up the Bar's usual genteel excursions pointing out heritage pub features.

The River Parrett was a bit of a letdown with discarded shopping trolleys wedged in the muddy banks.
The view of the West Quay, from the Eastover Bridge, was probably the highlight with its Dutch influences...

In hindsight, I do wish I'd called in to the Fountain pub, to the left of that pic.
But I hadn't really done my research of Bridgwater pubs, so ended up in 'Spoons.
A fine location on the historic St Mary's Street, facing the church.

Next door neighbour, the Bridgwater Arms, hasn't fared so well - closed since 2010

Carnival Inn (37-39 St Mary Street, Bridgwater, TA6 3LX - web)
The pub name is derived from the famous Bridgwater illuminated carnival marking Bonfire night, some of the pictures on the walls showing the floats and firework celebrations.

It may have a photogenic black and white frontage, but once inside it's Spoons-by-numbers.  A vast single-storey room stretching back a long way: pillars, lots of stools and high tables up front, booths and larger tables to the back.
Toilets in a sorry state that weren't about to win any best loo competition.
And a disappointing Spoons carpet.

The cask selection on the bar was pretty uninspiring too, with a Dartmoor 'Legend' as the sole guest beer, the quality of which was debatable.

I took it to a high table at the front which the staff hadn't managed to reach with their cloth and magic spray.
Or was that me spilling my beer?

The locals sat on the high tables by the window were discussing whisky and what was for tea.

Which reminded me that I really needed to go and stock up on supplies in Morrisons.
Perhaps I missed some gems of proper pubs in Bridgwater but I called it an evening at this point.  But I'll aim to come back, as I realised that the Quantocks is a bit of the world that I know little about and really must explore.

Reading Festival

Can I get away with a post with a bunch of pictures of Reading Festival, rather than pubs?

I'll stick a picture of the Nags Head part-way through to meet the Prop Up the Bar modus operandi.  We ended up there on Sunday lunchtime when nothing on the stages took our fancy and we were in need of some decent beer.

Beer on offer in the Reading Festival 'craft' bar included a keg Hobgoblin with a strangely scuzzy head - yours for £7.30.
But I mostly splashed out the extra 20p for Brookyn Brewery's 'Defender IPA'.

I've dug out a picture from 10-years ago, when you could buy genuine real ale straight from the cask in a small kiosk to the side of one of the regular bars.
Look how it's appealing to the youngsters...

I think the cask lasted a year or two after that - after which the stewards looked at me blankly when I once asked if there was any real ale on site and pointed me in the direction of the Carlsberg bar.

Every year I say I'm too old and I'm not going again.
But we had to go this year when Imagine Dragons were announced as one of the Sunday headliners.  As far as Mrs Prop Up the Bar was concerned, Foals, Sam Fender and The Killers were just their support acts.

Friday offered a pretty superb run of bands for me.
Yard Act ("from a recently gentrified suburb of Northern Leeds") brilliantly opened up the Main Stage East, whilst Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls followed them with a rousing performance on the Main Stage West (?? I'm still not getting this two main stage lark - bring back the NME tent).

The Last Dinner Party provided another mesmerizing early highlight in the Festival Republic tent. 

Despite all the newspaper previews sending parents into panic with tales of feral teenagers celebrating or commiserating their GCSE results, the 2023 crowd was quite varied and I didn't feel quite the old bugger I thought I would.
Although the fact that I was in the 0.05% of punters sensible enough to tie a waterproof around their waste gave away that I haven't just done my GCSE's.  That and the grey hair.

Wet Leg drew a big early evening crowd, treated to a bit of sunshine on a day of unpredictable weather.

And I can be well and truly trusted to be present when the noisiest bands take to the Festival Republic tent...

Knocked Loose instigated the most fearsome mosh pit I witnessed over the weekend. 
Scowl, all the way from Santa Cruz, delivered some proper punk rock.
High Vis did the business with their take on trad hardcore and are a band I'll look out for in the future. 

Three days of trekking back and forth to Reading was exhausting (Camping among'st the teens? - we're not that crazy).
And on Sunday loud guitars were in a minority in a day dominated by alt pop.

So we took it easy and diverted to the Nags Head on Sunday lunchtime.

Getting our fill of fine ales and watching a bit of Sunday Premier League footy.
Of course I'll probably discover that I missed the 'next big thing' playing early on a stage on Sunday, but never mind. 

Eventually making it back to the festival site, I was very contented sat in the sunshine with Rina Sawayama entertaining us from the main stage in the distance.

Mrs Prop Up the Bar raced off to get a prime viewing spot for when the bloke from Imagine Dragons inevitably whipped his shirt off.
Leaving me to enjoy a pleasant half hour in front of the BBC Music Introducing stage watching Matilda Mann, as recommended by online influencer Retired Martin.
And very good she was too.

And here's the ticker-tape explosion during Imagine Dragons - every headline act insisting on launching streamers or bits of paper into the air at opportune moments.

And that was the end of the weekend.  Except for Billie Eilish headlining the other Main Stage, but we wouldn't know about that kind of thing.

Berkshire Brewery Bonanza

In which we travel from Wokingham to Reading, taking in a quartet of breweries along the way.
Hopping off the train at midday we braved the walk through a sudden deluge of rain, making our way to the centre of town and the Outhouse Brewery. 

Outhouse Brewery (Unit 4, Southgate House, Alexander Court, Wokingham, RG40 2SL- web)
This brewpub opened on the 9th July 2021 - rather inconveniently for me as I was standing outside it two days before that date the last time I was in town.
It's owned by a chap called Peter Rhodes who starting brewing beer in the cellar of a Chichester terrace before moving to Wokingham and locating the brew kit in his outhouse.  Hence the name.  And - as you can see - he's now upgraded from the outhouse to a brewpub.

Top marks for the bright and enthusiastic staff who were keen to tell us which of the ten beers were their favourites, chatting cheerily to us and offering us tasters.
I picked the 'Big DIPA' - a dangerous 7.3% ABV to start the day.

We settled into the spacious side room, sat in front of bits of brewing kit, entertained by a soundtrack of Blur, Oasis and the Manics which was pure Q Magazine best of the nineties.

Wokingham has previous form in expanding its boundaries for Good Beer Guide entries listed under the town name.
The Oakingham Belle in 2022 as far out on the edge of town as you can get.
The Crooked Billet in 2021, a mile beyond the Welcome to Wokingham sign, surrounded by fields and farmhouses.
But Elusive Brewery is really taking the biscuit...  

It was a 5-mile, 30-minute trip from the town centre to somewhere that could more justifiably be listed as Arborfield, Finchamstead or Farley Hill. 
To get there we caught the Leopard 3 bus to the Robinson Crusoe stop - names which make it sound like a way more exciting journey and destination than it really was.

A few minutes walk through the twists and turns of the Hogwood Industrial Estate, the Elusive Brewery banners pointing us in the right direction, and we found ourselves here...

Elusive Taproom (Unit 5, Marino Way, Hogwood Road, RG40 4RF - web)
At a proper brewery tap, with an open shutter, brewing kit on view, and German beer garden style bench seating under gazebos.
Inside there are a handful of tables and a couple of video game consoles, the bar on one side with a plethora of framed awards hung above the beer taps.

I picked the tasty keg 'Assassin's Trail', brewed in collaboration with Roosters Brewery. 
Then thought I should really try the solitary cask ale - 'Serano Pale Ale' - being as you don't often find a hand pump at an industrial estate brewery tap room with limited opening hours.

Straight across the road from Elusive are the big boys of Berkshire brewing...

Siren Taproom (18 Marino Way, Finchampstead, RG40 4RF - web)
It was winter 2018 when I was here last during the Beast from the East, huddled against the chill clutching a stupidly strong DIPA.  
Marginally better weather this time, although don't bank on it in the summer of '23.

Inside the Tap House there were a trio of long social tables, with a decent crowd and a small queue to the bar when we arrived. 
Ten beers listed at the back of the bar, offering a great, varied selection, and Ricky Martin's 'Livin' La Vida Loca' playing in the background while we made our choices.

I ordered a trio of  beers:
A modern pale ale brewed in collaboration between Verdant and Rivington: 'Never Known Sharks Like It'.
The Siren/SALT collab 'Birthday Bourbon' - a great stout at a sensible strength.
And Siren 'Send Me More Sunshine' - a "massive mango sour".  Worth it for the craft photo opportunity...

We did much clock-watching, not wanting to miss the hourly bus for our onward journey to Reading.

Where we made a quick stop in the Alehouse - thereby spoiling the brewery theme, but worth it for a fabulous pint and the usual heavy prog rock soundtrack.

 
Then we set out on one last bus ride to reach the fourth and final taproom of the day.

To get there we took a bus up Oxford Road, hopping off at the Pond House pub.
Better pub bloggers than me would have called in to investigate...

But we had not time to stop for the £2.80 Fosters.

We strode on, taking a right at the roundabout and following the hubbub of conversation emanating from a dull-looking industrial estate.

Double-Barrelled Taproom (Unit 20 Stadium Way, Tilehurst, RG30 6BX - web)
Wow, this was busy.  Families, young folk, couples, craft beer geeks, loads of excitable dogs.
Lots of happy people.  In Tilehurst.

Double Barrelled are another brewery that started on a small scale in a Caversham garage.  They've made a fair leap in size as they now brew 1.3 million pints a year at this site.

There were 12 beers on offer, 9 of their own creations plus guests from Yonder, Bristol Beer Factory and Napton Cidery.
I picked a 6% ABV West Coast IPA called 'What's Your 20?'
What's that beer name mean?

We accompanied the ale with a pretty superb and wickedly spicy paneer wrap from the Desi Infusion food truck parked outside.

I'd wanted to hold on for food at Oxford Road's Polish pub, The White Eagle.
But it didn't seem to be serving the most traditional of Polish cuisine... 

So instead we predictably ended up in the Nags Head where I sampled the very peculiar 'Tzatziki Sour' by Orbit.  And several more besides.

A nice day out: three breweries in industrial units, a brewpub, and two top-notch Reading pubs.