Left Handed Giant, Bristol

A recently opened brewpub by local micro Left Handed Giant in what was at one time the site of the historic George’s Brewery, it’s great to see the building back in use after many years of being derelict. It’s in a prime spot alongside the river and this was our second attempt at a visit, with the venue being full to capacity the first time and a bouncer on the door operating a “one out, one in” policy. Internally it’s quite industrial in style with some type of concrete screed on the floor and visible cable trays and air conditioning ducting covering the ceiling, although these were partially obscured by a number of colourful suspended panels and some suspended wire racks that had been turned in to plant troughs. Walling was a mixture of styles with pale blue painted breeze block at the rear, and very rough, dilapidated brick walling to the right, whilst glass walling to the left gave good views in to the adjacent brewery. Seating was mostly high wooden tables with grey and blue chairs. A good sized, semi-enclosed patio area at the front of the pub with brick paving on the floor was a pleasant spot. We didn’t check the menu, but a tiled pizza oven was something of a feature, and I believe that the food is provided by “Mission Pizza” who cook purely vegetarian dishes. There was an extensive and eclectic selection of beers on tap, with many being brewed by LHG as might be expected, although they were only served in ⅓, ½ or ⅔ measures. The barman gave some guff about this being because the brews were mostly small batches, and serving smaller sizes meant that more people could experience them. Chalk boards above the bar divided the selection in to Pale, Sour and Dark/Stout and percentages ranged from a light 2.8% to a whopping 11%. Their own brews consisted of All For Myself, Something I Said, Dream House, Portrait Outtake, New Best Friend, Unity Distinct Phases, Outer Peace, Back & Forth, Deeper Water, Woodland Creatures, That Life and Thungs We Summon. In addition to this there was The Kernel, Burnt Mill Green Path, Duration Dripping Pitch, Dry & Bitter Double Dippy Doo, Pressure Drop IDA, Lervig Sour Suzy, Alvinne Omega and Kees Export Porter. After that lot, the cider choice was distinctly disappointing with Hallet’s being the only option. Overall, whilst they’ve done a good job in renovating an old building, I thought that the small measures, lack of cider choice and no cash policy all detracted from the overall experience, and it’s not anywhere that I’m likely to rush back to.

Official site of Left Handed Giant Brewpub - www.lhgbrewpub.com

Official site of Left Handed Giant Brewpub - www.lhgbrewpub.com