Barley Twist, Nottingham

Official site of Barley Twist - www.castlerockbrewery.co.uk

Official site of Barley Twist - www.castlerockbrewery.co.uk

Barley Twist is a small Castle Rock bar with some seating and a short bar counter on the rear wall where many craft keg fonts have been crammed in. There are also two hand pumps that were drawing their own Preservation and Our House, the latter of which was past its best. There are lots of fridges stocked with craft cans making it feel a bit like a shop. This place is not for me.

As a former shop, I guess this could be billed as a micropub. Although it has more the look and feel of a modern bar inside. There is one fairly long and thin room, with the bar at the rear. A couple of handpulls both had Castle Rock beers (Harvest Pale & Preservation). In fact, I believe the pub is owned and run by Castle Rock. 4 ciders were on - Snail's Bank Mango Cider, Weston's Old Rosie & Lilley's Tropical Cider & Cherries & Berries. Craft beers were Castle Rock Session, DDH Pale & Oatmeal Stout, Northern Monk Faith, Pomona Island Tamaki II, Wander Beyond Wah Donka, Dark Revolution Fabric & Burning Soul Coconut Porter. Seating faces some train departure boards. My Preservation was enjoyable, but the departure boards worked the opposite the way should have done for me. They made me decide to hurry up my pace, as I worked out I had just enough time to fit in another pub before my train was leaving! I wouldn't rule this one out, due to its proximity to the station. But there are better pubs not too far away.

Thin shop conversion (from a sweet shop - geddit?) with bench seating down one side, a raised area in the front window and a rear half width counter. Much of the space by the counter is taken up with large fridges of bottles and cans plus a wine cupboard. There are two pulls, both not with owners Castle Rock’s beers on, as well as 10 keg taps on three mounts, traditional ciders are also listed. I had Lenten Lane Black Velvet (cask) which was in average nick. Industrial fittings, exposed brick walls, so you can guess the market aimed at. They succeeded on my visit, except for me of course. A useful feature is the real time departure board for the station up the road.