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.
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).
Fans of Flowers Original swear by it, but it’s an increasingly rare find. Traditional copper coloured English ale with a creamy head it delivers a fruity aroma with a touch of caramel. Then, a sweetish malty mouthful followed with gentle bitter notes.
Easy drinking it’s also a great match for traditional British grub such as pies and game casseroles - as befits a brew that made its debut in 1831 when Flower & Sons opened in Stratford-upon-Avon.
For 130 years it served the Bard’s hometown well. But then, enter stage left the mighty Whitbread. Seven years later the curtain fell. Since then Flowers has been a wandering minstrel as, victim of the merger freefall It’s now owned by InBev, the world’s largest brewer. Drink it while you can at the Pant yr Ochain.
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.