The Brunswick, Hove

A stone's throw away from the seafront, the Brunswick is quite an imposing building from the outside. You enter into the main bar area, with a large events space off to the right-hand side, used for live music and known as The Venue. I hadn't been expecting much on the beer front, but was very pleasantly surprised. 3 cask ales were Only With Love Wishbone & Goblin & Downlands Best Bitter. In addition, there is a large craft beer selection with the full list and their styles listed on a blackboard behind the bar. Apparently they had had an Azvex tap takeover recently, which explained the large number of their beers. The list was Anspach & Hobday London Black, Burning Sky Pale Ale, Azvex Zombie Squirrel Lives, Range 4 Harry, Scirocco, Swedish Buzzsaw, Demon Particles, Highlands Forum & Cacao Demon II, Only With Love Winding & Abyss Nano. The keg cider was Ascension Pilot. It looks like they often have a bag-in-the-box cider or two, but there were none on this occasion.

A beer forward pub tagged onto a live music/entertainment venue.Two beers were on, Downlands Brunswick Bitter and Arbor Shangri-La with a turned clip on the third handpull which was Burning Sky Waves Away, there was a good range of craft beers on tap but mostly in the upper strength bracket. A decent place but not outstanding.

This is a top beer destination pub, with three cask ales and nine craft beers. I went for Big Hug Brewing's Awakening, a 4.7% black IPA. This was an astonishing £4.40/pint on the blackboard but my half was an un-arithmetical £2.25. After paying considerably more in many of Brighton's pubs I was pleased to discover Hove pricing. This was a most unusual black IPA, with a hint of pepper about it. Interestingly, the same beer was available in it's craft keg form, this time priced at £6.05; ok, I wasn't that interested. This pub, which previous photos show in off-white, has succumbed to the fashion for black or dark grey paint - inside as well as out. I'm prepared to forgive on this occasion and would be happy to return.

Approaching the Brunswick, I was struck by the sizeable beer garden. Entering the pub, I found a cool, laid-back, big room. The bar offered craft cask & keg, plus Peroni, Kozel, Urquell & Orchard Pig cider. My half of cask Downlands cask should have been returned but, to be fair, they did turn the clip after I drew the poor quality to the attention of the bar staff. I opted for craft keg for my next drink. Both cask & keg featured a strong local emphasis. I found The Brunswick to be a pleasant place to hang out for an hour or so, but they need to watch the beer quality to make it a must-visit.