Brew York Tap Room, York

The downstairs part, next to the old brewery fermenters, and benefitting from a yard and decked area out the front and a smaller semi-outdoors area overlooking the river at the back. The little bar in the middle boasts 6 handpumps and 10 wall taps, serving mostly their own beers and a cider. While some of the stronger brews reach silly prices, the session level ones are quite reasonably priced. The place feels a bit earthier and more connected to the brewery than the upstairs beer hall.

Enjoyed our visit to this 2019 entry in the Good Beer Guide while visiting York last month. There were a good range of their own beers on around half a dozen cask handpulls, and Swedish brewery Beersmiths had 10 keg taps. We had a great evening sat in the outside seating area overlooking the river Foss tasting the Swedish beers. We also had half pints of Brew York Central Dark and the strong Imperial Tonkoko which went down very well. Friendly staff and great atmosphere.

Just outside the town centre and well worth the walk is the Brew York Brewery Tap. It's based in a large, high-ceilinged, unpromising shed and takes up a space to the right hand side of the building from where all the brewing kit can be easily seen. Despite the utilitarian surroundings and it being a relative quiet and chilly night they had managed to generate a decent and warm atmosphere helped by clever lighting, efficient overhead heaters, very good beer and plenty of chat and laughter. As expected, the cask offer was exclusively from Brew York: American Pale Ale, Viking DNA, Maris the Otter, Little Eagle, Jarsa and Tonkoko. Everything I tried was in superb nick and I was also persuaded to try some of the various keg offers which were generally stronger and more experimental. The Imperial Tonkoko Stout really stood as being excellent. A superb spot and a great addition to York's already healthy range of establishments. I won't visit York again without dropping by.

Part of the back-street industrial unit where Brew York do their brewing, this fairly basic and badly designed bar doesn't really do it for me. If you like to drink your beer within sight of the vessels in which it is brewed, then this is the place for you; personally I prefer to have somewhere comfortable and publike to drink in. And preferably not to have to use my elbows to get near the bar. This place is obviously very popular with beer tourists and pub crawlers and was very busy on my Saturday afternoon visit. My beer was in good condition and I was able to find somewhere to sit while I drank it, but to be honest I wouldn't be hurrying back. Good marks for the beer, not so much for the experience. Date of visit: 21st October 2017