The Deer's Head, Belfast

Corner brewpub that I'd not previously visited. To enter and exit, there appears to be a Covid era one-way system still in place. You enter into quite a large room used for dining with the brewing equipment to the rear. The bar area is long and thin with a small booth at the far end, supposedly reserved for ladies (the Blouse Snug). There was a bit of a queue at the bar when I initially arrived, but after around 5 minutes it came to my turn and the barman asked who was next, with another guy who had just arrived at the bar claiming he should be served first. I was not too impressed. Despite having its own on-site brewery (Bell's), all of the options are keg - Katy Daly's Pale Ale, Morrison's Vanilla Porter, Drury Lane Sour, Capstan, Elephant, Black Bull Stout, Monkey Shaving The Goat, Sign of the Peacock & Red Cow. The only non-Bell's beers were Guinness & Our Brewery Do You Wanna' Funk. My Vanilla Porter was quite pleasant and this place certainly offers a nice, traditional drinking environment, but the poor bar service left a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. I'll hopefully return one day and suspect that service will be a bit better.

Through the Deer’s Head entrance is some open plan seating and to the left is the in-house microbrewery that is viewable through floor to ceiling windows. Raised booths run midway down the right hand windows and then three large staple shaped booths continue up to the rear wall. The bar faces these three booths and at the end of the bar is the ‘Blouse Snug’ which is for woman, or men if they are invited. Apparently this is an old Victorian feature that many bars had back in the day. There are televisions that were showing muted greyhound racing whilst some background music played. The bar supports standard and premium keg, including the pub’s own products brewed in-house. Food is available until 18:00 so the kitchen was closed before my visit. I found the service to be polite and I thought this was a decent pub worthy of a revisit.

Official site of The Deer's Head - www.bellsbrewerybelfast.com

Official site of The Deer's Head - www.thedeersheadbelfast.com

Official site of The Deer's Head - www.bellsbrewerybelfast.com

Popped in here as it was next on the list after a pretty underwhelming 30 mins in the John Hewitt. What a contrast here – clean, bright and rammed full of the local ukulele group having a practice night. The interior is P shaped with booths running along the leg of the P; we took a booth seat opposite a large troupe of strumming musos who were belting out an array of pop tunes and the odd traditional standards. Then the icing on the cake, a menu of beers brewed-in house (Bell’s) across arrange of styles (though all keg, but this is Belfast...). The homebrew beers were plentiful, flighted and amongst them were some genuinely quality brews – Horse Fair, Widow Partridges and Black Bull were particularly good, though not cheap. We decided to sack off the rest of the evening and stay here, such a good session we were having. Occasionally you hit a place just at the right time and this was it but even so there was definitely enough to make it a destination pub in the city with or without the music.

Official site of The Deer's Head - www.thedeersheadbelfast.com