71 Tap & Bottle, Dundee

We were not on an organised tour but after visiting the Dundee Law we took the opportunity to take a detour on the way back into town to visit this small brewery tap room which was shown on google as being open daily. Perhaps I am being harsh as I am more used to the tap rooms of the burgeoning London craft scene, but this one had more of a Heath Robinson feel to it and especially the additional snug room past the toilet which has an unfinished feel to it. The tiny counter in the main room features ten taps for key-keg on the bar-back plus a couple of handpumps on one side but sadly these are only operational on a Thursday to Sunday and therefore dry for our visit. But we were able to sample a couple of their beers from cans and fortunately their cask Pale and Significant was on in the nearby Speedwell Bar which was our next port of call. The guy working the bar did tell us that their continuing success will allow them to make improvements and have the tap room functional all week. And as I subsequently kept bumping into both their cask and craft offerings in establishments in Dundee and other towns about I assume this won’t be too long. And I sincerely hope this is the case as a major city like Dundee is batting well below the average for decent places to enjoy craft and cask ales and although the St Andrews Brewing Co bar in the centre of town is a welcome addition, there is certainly room for more.

Small brewery tap, and although mostly used by organised tours it is also open daily as a bar for locals and casual visitors. The tiny counter features ten taps for key-keg on the bar-back plus a couple of handpumps on one side, and when we visited there were also two further beers being dispensed on gravity from casks in the brew hall itself. All four of these were sampled, and although the bulk of production is its Pilsner, the quality of the various real ales was very good too.

Official site of 71 Tap & Bottle - 71brewing.com

Official site of 71 Tap & Bottle - 71brewing.com