Liverpool Brewing Co Brewery Tap, Liverpool

Visited on Saturday evening. Only two cask ales available (according to my friend who did the ordering) - Red Willow Breakfast Stout and Black Lodge Dizzy New Heights. The Dizzy New Heights was very pleasant, although two cask ales is a far cry from the seven claimed on WhatPub and the bar's own Facebook page - and from reading Al Bundy's review this does not appear to have been a one-off. As he has also mentioned, it is cash only here - which could catch people out who have become used to not having to carry cash over the last 18 months! Keg beers also available, though I didn't investigate as we were just staying for one. Split over three floors, with the ground floor (where the bar is) being naturally busiest, the upper floor empty, and the basement level seeming to be the overflow area of choice. The basement is a bit dark and dingy, rustic perhaps, and is also home to the toilets. Not as good as on my previous visit, and loses a point off my rating accordingly.

Opposite the Vines on Lime St, it’s a decent small bar with 7 pulls, 8 keg founts and innumerable cans and bottles. Big old fashioned counter to one side with bar stools, seating at round wooden tables with dining room chairs down the other, there’s further seating in the basement and upstairs . The beer’s decently kept and the bar is Camra Merseyside best newcomer 2018 and a GBG2019 entry. Madish decor with stuff locked away where you’d expect bottles and cans plus some artfully broken plaster, stairs down have 1930s adverts and the basement gents has very slightly more risqué pictures. Open mic nights. Rock soundtrack. Seems to be linked to the Internet cafe/ tattooist next door by more than just the connecting door.

I was pleasantly surprised by Sanctuary, from the outside it looks like it could be bordering on a nightclub but inside is just a nice bar with seven hand pulls. I have to say it was smaller than I expected, though there is more seating downstairs (with the toilets) and upstairs (not investigated). I was particularly pleased to discover Créme Bearlee (Beartown Brewery) on the pumps as I'd been wanting to try this for a while, and it didn't let me down. A decent enough place to end the night before heading back to Lime Street station to get the train home.