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.
Justifiably voted the CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain 2002, this has always had a strong following in our pubs. Established in Edinburgh in 1869, the brewery was bought by Vaux in 1919, then saved from closure in 1987 by a management buy-out. Our point of contact is Peter Squires who many will remember as an England and British Lions International, at a time when rugby teams trained on beer and steak rather than isotonic drinks and pasta. Deuchars is a brilliant blend of malt and hop character. Solid gold in colour, the lingering aftertaste is delightfully bitter and hoppy.It has a permanent listing at the Grosvenor Arms.
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.
