Buxton Brewery Tap House, Buxton

Conveniently located just a short stroll from Buxton’s crescent, this is, as it’s name suggests, the tap house for the Buxton Brewery and is housed in a slightly odd shaped building with very limited outside seating, just one picnic bench and a couple of stools next to a beer barrel. Internally it’s a clearly been renovated at some point and now has a fairly contemporary feel to it, albeit with a few traditional touches as well with some parts of the wall being fresh plasterwork, but also some good sized sections of exposed stonework which had been nicely cleaned up. Flooring was a mix of sanded wooden boards and slate style tiling, whilst the colour scheme was the usual Farrow & Ball shades of cream, green and taupe. A wooden shelf around the top of the wall held a few of the brewery’s branded jugs which were presumably available to purchase, and there were a few bunches of hops and some fairly lights strung from the ceiling, but little else of any note. A couple of blackboards highlighted forthcoming events such as a live music and a quiz night. Beers on tap were all their own as might be expected and on this occasion consisted of Right to Roam, Plan Bee, Let There be Light and Monsal Mild. Several more keg options were listed on a board including Nuts & Crosses, a peanut butter milk stout which sounded intriguing. I subsequently bought a can in a local shop, but have yet to try it. The solitary cider meanwhile was Hogan’s.

Official site of Buxton Brewery Tap House - buxtonbrewery.co.uk

Official site of Buxton Brewery Tap House - buxtonbrewery.co.uk

Buxton Brewery Tap House is an L-shaped bar with large tables to the left of the entrance and a wooden floored open plan seating area made up of café type seating to the right. A flagstone bar area with L-shaped serving counter is found up the left where craft keg is supported alongside four hand pumps that were drawing Buxton Ales’ Super Blend, Hatchet (decent), Mug Shot and Steal a Moment. There was some background music playing and the service was very friendly, but I found this space to be very functional and not very comfortable. That said, this was the busiest place I visited during a recent Wednesday crawl of Buxton so what do I know. Unfortunately the adjacent Buxton Brewery Cellar was advertised to be open, but it wasn’t.

Pretty much unchanged since previous visits, except now there are four hand pulls for cask ale, in addition to 16 keg taps (split across two banks of 8). There are also cans available in the fridge. A lack of choice is not going to be a problem here. Food is served. Always a reliable option when in Buxton.

This is a modern taproom from the Buxton Brewery, who also operate a separate cellar bar in the same building. You enter into the main bar area with the servery running along the left-hand wall. The bar has a rustic counter and bare stone bar back, with the full draught range helpfully listed on boards above. Quarry stone flooring and plenty of exposed stone walls add a bit of character, but seating is strangely limited, with benches and stools to the front but the majority of options confined to a bare boarded area to the right. Large windows along the front allow lots of light into this contemporary drinking space, with tables and chairs through the front and middle and some very hard, fixed benches in the far rear corner. The walls have been plastered, but one section has been randomly cut away, revealing the stonework underneath. A huge, mural of a Buxton beer bottle label adds a splash of colur to the back wall and looks quite cool too. There are tulips in vases on each table and indie tunes were playing quite prominently on my mid afternoon visit. On the handpulls, a choice of Buxton beers - Monsal Mild (£4.70 a pint and in fantastic condition), Right To Roam, Buxton Spa and Wild Boar. The barman was a really nice bloke and confessed to me that he'd never tried Mild before, so pulled himself a tatster and was duly underwhelmed! I thought it was a cracking beer and it didn't stay in the glass for very long. I quite liked this place, which I thought nicely showcased the beer from one of my favourite breweries. If I have one complaint, it would be that it's not exactly the cosiest of spaces, and in that respect, I preferred the otherwise inferior basement bar. But I could still imagine enjoying a decent session in here, as the beer was glorious and the service top notch. Date of visit - 17th January 2024