The Foundry, Canterbury

If we all agreed on everything life would be boring and this site rather dull. I really liked this place and found the staff helpful and friendly (they asked if I was a CAMRA member). On my early Tuesday afternoon visit most people seemed to be beer tourists apart from the room upstairs which had a coach party of Oriental tourists who had presumably booked a meal. I spotted a man with a beard slaving away in the brewery to the right of the bar. Cider was available but I didn't note how it was served. The six hand pumps just had beers from Canterbury Ales, Harvest Night, East Kent Red Rye, Seriously Saison, Foundryman's Gold, Le Petit Belge and GB Pale. I went for the Harvest Night and Red Rye (£3.70 discounted to £3.33). Both were in first class condition but the Harvest Night wasn't much like a Black IPA to me. I would gladly return here especially as with the CAMRA discount it's reasonably priced.

Home of Canterbury Brewers, this small converted building houses a compact, rustic main bar and an upstairs seating area with another small bar (not in use when I visited). More patio seating is available in the side alley. Part of the brew plant is visible from bar, and a good selection of their beers was available from the seven handpumps downstairs. These included three seasonal green-hopped beers, with the Seriously Saison (£3.83) being the best of this micro-brewery's beers that I have tried to date. With the friendly staff on duty, I quite enjoyed my brief visit here.

In a quiet backstreet off the main drag. A converted foundry (as the name implies) which originally made lampposts so I’m told, this is now the home of the Canterbury brewery and has a pub area for you to sample their wares. The bar is a fairly spartan high-ceilinged room with a flagstone floor. An upstairs room was roped off so remained unexplored. Some simple outside decking also available. The brewery is to the rear. Seven Canterbury ales available across a range of styles, I opted for the porter which was in decent shape. Also some stuff on keg. I didn’t notice any cider but reviews elsewhere assure me that there was some. 10% CAMRA discount available. Decent whisky selection though Mrs Quinno's choice from the bar list turned out not to be in stock so a health & safety bothering tiptoed stretch from the barmaid in order to get down a bottle of Laphroig. WiFi available and food offered. Decent little ale stop though it didn’t do a huge amount for me as a venue.