Tamworth Tap, Tamworth

Absolutely pointless trying to describe something different to the previous reviews so I will just answer the question "is it really as good as everyone says it is" by saying Yes. Beerwise, I found their own brews interesting to sample but not ones I would reorder. The Black Iris Sabbath Mild however was nectar. And I did.

We finally paid our first visit to the much revered Tamworth Tap yesterday. With 7 cask ales and 43 ciders, you can see why this pub has become so popular with CAMRA who have made it their national Pub of the Year multiple times. On our early Saturday evening visit, the queue for the bar was almost out of the front door. It at least gave me time to study the cider list which can be found on a blackboard on the right-hand wall. There are a number of tables on the ground floor. Quite a few individuals/groups appeared to be sharing these. What was left of our party headed upstairs. Rooms are all nicely furnished. Cask ales on our visit were Crossed Anchors APA, Silent Brew Daybreak, Simple Things Fermentations Toledo, Batham's Best Bitter, Bays Afloat, Otherworld Tuesday's Mild & Tamworth Castle Black. Turnover of ales must be high, as North Pier Citra was also on when I returned to the bar for another round. Of the 43 ciders, I believe there were 9 I hadn't previously had. I managed to get through 6 of these before we had to move on but I could have spent all day here. The full list of ciders was Venton's Sweet Maid & Thirst Responder, Burrow Hill Medium & Alf and Alf, Seacider Hardcore, Sting Tuck's Tipple, Dowding's Tower Brue Medium & Sweet, Appletreewick Medium, Seidr Ci Ddu Scrumpt & Joost, Old Monty Kingston Black, Beardspoon Ciderfect & Undecider'd, Seb's Medium, Chapel Brink of the Hill, Gwynt y Ddraig Farmhouse Pyder, Kentish Pip Craftsman, Temple Medium & Hendre Huffcap, Fletcher's Original, Ross-on-Wye Suzie's Catch & Helen's Single Varietal Perry, Heck's Farmhouse Medium, Williams Brothers Biffyn & Perry, Sisson & Smith Ellis Bitter, South Hams Vintage & Double Apple, Iford Somerset Sahara, New Tradition & Windfall, Hogan's French Revelation & Lonely Partridge, Udders Orchard Yarlington Mill, Nightingale Tenterden, Lilley's Bee Sting Perry, Pineapple Cider, Mango Cider & Cherries and Berries & Broadoak Pear & Chilli Cider, Sloe Gin Cider & Purple Haze. If all of that wasn't enough, there are also some craft beers - Verdant The Doorway Effect, Vault City Brainmelting Fluid & Face Froster, Low Key From Here to Forever, Cloudwater Chubbles, Left-Handed Giant PVA, Deya Summer Ale & Steady Rolling Man & Anspach & Hobday London Black. Service was efficient and knowledgeable and a CAMRA discount is offered on halves and pints and on both ales and ciders. Other customers seemed a friendly bunch. We got talking to quite a few. This isn't going to be the cheapest place in town. It has earned itself an excellent reputation and can choose to dictate the pricing itself. The sheer number of customers would suggest that it is still affordable. As pubs go, the Tamworth Tap has it all - a good range of beers and ciders, all in good condition, great service, nice surroundings, a relaxed atmosphere and some friendly fellow customers. Where it falls down slightly for me is the wait to be served. The size of the bar dictates how many staff they can fit behind there. They are quick but demand is so high that you can easily wait 10 minutes for each round. For that reason alone, I cannot give it a maximum 10/10. It has inevitably become a victim of its own success. Nevertheless, I sincerely hope I can return here one day.

This award-winning venue is, in my view, far too big to be any kind of micropub, with most of the nooks having more seats than the entire Butchers Arms where it all started. Hops, old photographs and beer signs (many of them Belgian) hang on the walls. On the ale front it's all indie, with the legendary Bathams (Best) as well as Uley, Round Corner, Windsor & Eton and more on the 8 pumps. Keg stuff, meanwhile, seemed relatively mainstream from my brief glance at the taps. Not for the first time in Tamworth, an unsolicited CAMRA discount was offered (I clearly look the part). A good range of beer, though the seats aren't the best, being a little bit too narrow to comfortably park a beer drinker's backside. Nevertheless, an essential stop for the Tamworth pub crawler.

Official site of Tamworth Tap - tamworthtap.co.uk

Official site of Tamworth Tap - tamworthtap.co.uk