Zerodegrees, Cardiff

This was my first experience of the Zerodegrees chain of brew-pubs and overall I was quite impressed. Strolling in on a Tuesday afternoon, I was greeted by a very friendly chap who asked if I wanted to eat or not. With only 30 minutes until my train home, I explained I just wanted a quick drink, so he pointed me in the direction of the bar – no pressure to eat or awkwardness, just a very pleasant welcome. As you enter, you can’t help but notice the large brewing vessels at the front of the pub, behind which stands the servery in a room with a concrete floor and plain walls with a colourful frieze running around it. The overall look is very industrial, which I suppose makes some sense, given that it is a fully functioning brewery, but I imagine the look would leave some people cold. Opposite the bar there is a seating area with some very heavy chairs and a few small sofas, most of which were turned to watch the rugby on the TV screen hanging on the back wall. To the left is an open kitchen with a huge pizza oven, whilst the right hand side of the room has more brewing tanks, each individually numbered. The room curves round past the servery, towards the front windows, providing a second seating area with more brewing equipment on view. The high corrugated ceiling has a large skylight with brightens the bar area during the daytime and prevents the place from feeling too gloomy. The meet and greet bloke was directing diners upstairs, where a dining room looks down over the main bar area. The menu is focussed around pizza and pasta dishes, with most main dishes between 10-12 quid. I counted seven or eight house brews on the various taps around the servery including Kolsch, Mango and Wheat. I plumped for the Pale Ale which was a rather pricey £3.90 for a pint. It was a fairly tasty beer and I wouldn’t have minded trying a few more had time permitted. These industrial style brew-pubs can be very impersonal and devoid of character, but I found this place to be welcoming, with plenty of interest going on and some interesting beers on offer. As I left, the cheery meet and greet bloke bade me farewell and hoped I would visit again. Based on this visit, I’d certainly be happy to take him up on that.

Bizarre place. You drink in the Brewery, there is chrome everywhereand a huge pizza oven at one end. A large semi-circle bar and basic modern seating all in a former car sales room. An interesting experience, very clean, freash, sleek and modern and would not be to everybody's taste. The brew kit is German and it has a feel of German efficiency here rather than English (Welsh) eccentricness. There is a large telly showing sport. There are 4 craft beers on tap which are spot on.