BOA Brewing Tap Room, Stourport-On-Severn

Official site of BOA Brewing Tap Room - www.boabrewingcompany.co.uk

Official site of BOA Brewing Tap Room - www.boabrewingcompany.co.uk

BOA apparently stands for Brothers of Ale. I can't say I've heard of the brewery before but on a Saturday evening the BOA Tap Room was packed. It's a unit next to the River Stour with 6 cask ales from the brewery and 5 ciders from Barbourne. The indoor space is fairly small with the brewery on the right-hand side as you enter and the bar against the back wall. A stage was also set up on the right-hand side with a live music act performing during our visit. With tables in the middle, it was all quite congested around the bar area. It looked like it would take quite a long time to get served but the young barmaids were all quite efficient. I also noticed a TV showing some kind of sport but few people appeared to be watching it. There is also an outdoor area with much more seating. All tables were taken and there was a food van supplying Jamaican food. It seems that the venue is part of an ale & cocktail bus tour. Quite a few people had chosen to terminate the tour here and some had drunk a few too many. The 6 cask ales on were Dripwave, Lock 'n' Load, Peace Out, BPA, Bone Idle & VVD. I tried the VVD, an oatmeal stout, which was in good condition. Ciders are fetched from a cool room to the right of the bar. They were Vumpty, Raspberry Ripple, Fruit Salad, Tangerine Dream & Cherry Burst. Some of the brewery's beers were also being dispensed on keg via taps to the rear of the bar. The taps had some rather unique hands on them in various poses. Children are allowed here. So are dogs, with drinking bowls provided. Toilets are fairly small and queues were forming outside both the ladies and gents. I found the atmosphere here to be lively and friendly. The beer was good. So were the ciders. With live music and interesting food adding to the equation, this was my favourite bar of a day's drinking in Worcestershire. Opening hours are limited to Thursday & Friday evenings, all day Saturday and until 8pm on a Sunday.

Facebook page of BOA Brewing Tap Room - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of BOA Brewing Tap Room - www.facebook.com

A fairly typical brewery tap room, limited opening hours and seating outside and inside next to the brewing vessels. The counter has a more permanent look than some, not a plywood knock up like some places. There are seven hand pumps on here, five in use and six keg taps on the tiled back wall, kegs are listed on a board to the right but the only info given is the name. The pump clips give at least some indication of style and strength, my session IPA looked very like a bitter but had a sizeable dose of US West Coast hops, it wasn’t a bad beer and the condition was fine. A horseshoe and single caters for the keggerati, although I shared a (repurposed cable drum) table with a gin drinking couple, in a brewery tap? Other furniture is tall metal tables and stools or lower wooden ones. Pretentious lighting solution from oil drums.