Regular Beers
Below are some of our main beers with write-ups by beer writer, Steve Hobman. We have a constantly changing line-up of ales from small brewerys around the country so please pop by or ring the pub to find out what we have on today.
The legend of the Cheshire Cat goes way back in time and was featured in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
And this beer has enjoyed a bit of a fairytale success. The grinning cat pump clip couldn’t be better suited for a beer that gives you a ‘got the cream’ sort of mouth feel.
Light and fruity blonde ale that offers hints of lemon and grapefruit and a gentle, dry, hop bitterness Cheshire Cat began life as A Blonde for Christmas in 2005. Such was the magic, it quickly became a regular brew. That popularity can be witnessed daily in Harker’s, as the staple quaffing diet for the cask-ale-loving fat cats there. Blimey, do they shift some stuff. Greater praise for beer is hard to find.
Weetwood Brewery (see Oat House Gold) set up in 1993 near Tarporley and has garnered a strong following. The beers regularly show up in Brunning & Price pubs. A bit like Alice’s cat.
One of the classic brewers of pale ale, Timothy Taylor is an independent family-owned company established in 1858 at Keighley, West Yorkshire. Landlord, often called the Prince of Beers, is a four-times winner of the Champion Beer of Britain, and has won more awards nationally than any other beer. Instantly recognisable, a dry bitter finish complements the fruity hop character of this fully flavoured and well balanced beer.
A Brunning and Price signature beer, it has a permanent listing at the Dysart Arms, Glasfryn, the Pant Yr Ochain, the Corn Mill, Pen-y-Bryn, the Combermere and the Fox.
It is a very odd beer to condition, and the brewery themselves recommend kicking the barrel about a bit – if you don’t, it has a tendency to blow its top when tapped (great fun when training new cellar staff).
Daniel Thwaites have been brewing at Blackburn in Lancashire for 200 years, and have some 455 pubs of their own. This is a well-hopped refreshing session bitter combining bitterness and nutty flavours, with a lingering bitter finish. Thwaites Bitter benefited in our pubs from Interbrew's decision in November 2003 to relaunch Boddingtons (qv) with a new recipe and an increased abv, up .3% to 4.1% from 3.8%. This resulted in several of our freehouses looking for a new session bitter, despite Interbrew's insistence that Boddies remained a session beer even at 4.1% abv (our customers disagreed.) The upshot was that Thwaites Bitter now has a permanent listing at Pen y Bryn, the Pant yr Ochain, the Dysart, Glasfryn and the Fox.
