The Bath Brew House, Bath

Very good beer house in an interesting old building. Six hand pumps with a cider and five beers brewed by the house brewery. I went for The Mo (a seasonal best bitter for "November" which was very good (NBSS 3.5). The music was eclectic, well curated and at a reasonable volume. If this pub was in my home town I reckon I would be here once a week at the very least.

Contrary to the previous recent reviews, I quite liked this place. It's certainly much larger than it initially appears. As you enter, the brewing equipment can be seen off to the left-hand side. The bar can be found to the right of this and takes up most of the space in the large front room. To the rear, the building opens up and there is a much larger drinking/dining space where there is also an open kitchen. Further beyond that is a spacious outdoor area. Toilets can be found upstairs, along with a function room called the Tank Room that wasn't open on our Friday afternoon visit. Handpulls at the bar stocked only Bath Brew House beers - Carpe Noctem v14, Gladiator, Emperor, Warrior & Barbarian. A few handpulls were unclipped, one with a prominent "card only" sign on it. It seems that the majority of pubs and bars in Bath have gone down this route. The Carpe Noctem v14 was described as a "German Dark Beer". I'm not normally into German-style beers and wasn't sure whether I'd made the right decision when ordering it. But in actual fact, this ended up being my favourite beer of the day in Bath. It was a glorious coffee stout that was full of flavour. Incidentally, there was no real cider here. The solitary barmaid was keeping herself busy during what must have been a quiet period of the week. One customer arrived and commented how quiet Bath actually was on that day. Perhaps we were lucky to have found this place so relaxed. Other customers were asked whether they were students, as a discount is offered to them.

Large open-plan and echoey place which, as the name suggests, is a brewpub. Modern music, open kitchen, wood plank flooring and walls, uncomfortable seats – a very mid-teens feel. To the rear is a decent enclosed quasi beer garden. Six of their cask on the go, we went for the Deus, Emperor, Lupulus and Gladiator. Cask quality between NBSS 2.5-3 and brew quality pretty variable – the Lupulus was the only one I’d be tempted to try again. Expensive, too and of course card-only. Worth a nose to say you’ve been but I can’t imagine myself re-appearing under my own steam. Inevitably it’s GBG’22 listed.