That Beer Place, Chester

That Beer Place is the current (2024) CAMRA National Cider Pub of the Year. So unsurprisingly, it was the pub I was most looking forward to visit on our day trip to Chester. This bar can be found at the end of one of Chester's main shopping streets. With it being a reasonably warm days, windows were open onto the street with a little more seating on the pavement. It is a cafe-style bar with the bar itself to the rear left. Bench seating makes it good for groups. There appeared to be some kind of beer tasting session in progress during our visit. It was lunchtime and already very busy. There is a larger room upstairs which was almost empty. There are just a couple of cask ales - Salopian Escalation & Farm Yard Haybob. I was expecting more ciders on draught, but there was just one - Nightingale Love Bird. Although, there were a couple of perries - Ross-on-Wye Hellen's Early Single Varietal & Little Pomona Table Perry. It seems that the vast majority of the real ciders offered are in fact in bottles, with some very unusual ciders found across the various fridges. I opted for the Ross-on-Wye perry, which was much sweeter than I would expect from this producer, with a dry aftertaste. There are plenty of craft beers on offer too - Rivington Fall Out of the Sky & Never Known Fog Like It, Salopian Escalation (keg as well as cask), Factory & Friends Common Factor, Hudson Valley Blackberry Peach Glycerin, Tartarus Chocolate Brownie Stout, Factory/Track On Track & Donzoko Donnie's Nitro Dark Beer. There were plenty of other bottles and cans of beers in the fridges too. Staff were coping well with the number of customers. This is certainly a place that I'd like to spend a little more time in with some really interesting beers and ciders, but without the wow factor that I was expecting.

Similar to its previous location, this is keg only but with 10 or 11 taps plus an additional 4 for cider, you are certainly not going to struggle to find something to your taste. I stayed for two halves - one by Anspach & Hobday and the other by Polly's, setting me back £6.25 in total which I think seems reasonable for craft. Inside there are four large orange canteen style tables and benches, with some individual chairs too. There is one high level small round table. Weather permitting, a seating area is also provided outside. Several large fridges are filled with bottles and cans and I decided to treat myself to a small selection to enjoy at home. Glassware is also sold. Board games are available and a selection of leaflets mainly advertising local events and activities. Toilets are upstairs and although I failed to make a note of it, I am pretty sure there was a further seating area up here too. Well worth a visit and this new location means its hours aren't restricted to those of the market, which will surely be welcomed by those wishing to pay an evening visit.