Tamworth Tap, Tamworth

An early evening visit between trains on my way home from Stafford, and as it turned out my train was 10 minutes late so I could have stayed for another half. It was quite busy and I didn't have the opportunity to look around. The bar counter felt a little cramped, with eight hand pumps serving a wide variety of beer styles from mostly well-established independent breweries (Thornbridge, Oakham, Chalk Hill, Twickenham, Beowulf, Uley), plus the never-heard-of Bang the Elephant (from Langley Mill) and just one beer from the premises behind the bar. I went for Tamworth Ale, not realising that it was actually a murky grapefruit pale and not to my taste at all - the first time I have not finished a beer for a very long time. I swerved the beer from Langley Mill (an "alpine snow strawberry pale stout" which I presumed would live up to the brewery's slogan "Subvert the Stereotype", but wasn't prepared to invest the time or money to find out) and went for Uley Harvest Special, a bitter made with fresh hops, and this one went down a treat. As I said, it was busy here with what I took to be a post-work crowd of mainly younger people, but I found myself a seat near the front window and within beneficial distance of the stove and had a little chat with two men of not quite my age who were drinking the Twickenham Yakima Valley ABA (an American brown ale) which they said was very good. As has been mentioned previously, Tamworth is coming up in the world in terms of pubs and beers for the discerning consumer, and I will certainly be back before long.

Look and feels like an upmarket micropub on approach but don't be fooled, there are three storeys to this brewpub (Tamworth Brewing Company) with plenty of little rooms and nooks to be found. The action is on the ground floor in a really nice space which is atmospheric; heated bench seating, dried hops strung around and dimmed sodium style filament lamps. Head up the rear stairs for other rooms, each individually styled. To the rear is a tidy garden area with views of Tamworth castle. Eight ales on, two from Tamworth, Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby, Bathams Bitter, Beowulf Dragon Smoke Stout, Wily Fox Karma Citra, Mad Squirrel Sapling Session, Bristol Beer Factory Mission Bay, plus a load of cider. I tried both the Tamworth brews (NBSS 3.5) and the Bathams (3.5 though no sparkler, oddly). The downside was that the two young staff members disappeared for long periods doing chores so you felt like a lemon standing at the empty bar. That said, the lass asked if I was CAMRA (am I that obvious?). It filled up quickly with a relaxed crowd of imbibers. I really enjoyed it in here and it ended-up being my favourite of the day despite some stiff competition. If wasn’t for the Houdini staff it’d have got close to a 10.