Sips, Salisbury

Craft beer bar somewhat hidden away in a narrow-fronted unit off the covered passageway above the roaring water that once powered the former Bishops Mill. Two-part interior, with a seating area by the front windows and bar / bottle-shop area further back. With 12 of the 14 keg taps in use, there was in good selection in a range of styles from different breweries including my Polly's Quiet Hour (£3.40, half).

Sips is a craft bar and bottle shop with a mix of seating at the front and a serving counter up the right wall towards the rear where it faces shelves of cans and bottles up the left. The large beer chalk board on the wall to the right of the counter has 14 spaces, 13 of which were filled with keg options that range from Arbor Ales’ ZZ Top at 4.3% to Tartarus Beers’ Abaddon Imperial Stout at an eye watering 17%, £9.90 for a third. Unwisely I went for a Raspberry Chouffe, £6 for half a 7%er, I would feel it later in the day! Lots of keg clips across the ceiling show an ever-changing crafty keg range that is available from the friendly staff. There’s a single toilet cubicle at the rear next to a small window with a nice view over the River Avon. The lack of cask will turn many a visitor off, but I enjoyed boring everyone who’d listen about how much cheaper the Chouffe is in Tesco, although I’m actually banned from drinking it at home. This is a decent crat bar that I’d visit every now and again for a change if I lived locally.

As modern Craft beer bars and bottle shops go this is a fairly decent one. A conversion from a former shop in the Maltings development, there have been quite a few attempts to give the place some character, although I did prefer the growing collection of craft beer clips that adorn the ceiling (as I could play the game to see if there was one I actually recognised) to the somewhat questionable artwork and squiggled graffiti art on the walls. It does have the benefit of being located next to the River Avon as it flows through town and benefits from an outside undercover terrace where some external high tables are erected to enjoy vertical drinking around on warmer days than the one we were blessed with. Twelve of the fourteen taps were in operation for our visit which sounds good, but my issue here was that there was very little at what I would consider a sensible ABV with most being the wrong side of 6%. I ducked the 17% Tartafus Abaddon Imperial Stout at £9.90 for a 5rd measure and went for a half of the 4% Pollys Quiet Hour at £3.40 which was reassuringly chilled and had to be nursed to get the flavours. As Mr Fastard says below a venue to be best enjoyed when you have the time and not the 30 minutes we had on our crawl. Next time I will summon my inner Hipster and go for one of the 7% dark beers and try to blend in with the target demographic by taking 90 minutes to consume it

Tucked away in a former small shop unit,this is a keg only establishment with a hipster vibe.Seating at the front,the bar at the rear right with racks of bottles and cans opposite the servery and a unisex loo beyond.There is an informative indie beer list on the wall with room for 14 keg options from the taps,on my visit there were 13 available.The beers are priced in thirds,halves ,schooners and pints and there were many high abv's. I could choose from Yonder Coconut Cream Cortado Pastry Stout and their Passion Fruit Nectarine Sorbet Sour,Beak Dest,Beak x Two Flints Early Pick 7%and Late Pick 7%,Arbor ZZ Hop,Pipeline Hollow Moon Stout 7% ,Tartus Abaddon Imperial Stout 17% !,Schneider Weisse Eisbock 12%,Rodenbach Vintage 7% ,Chouffe Raspberry,Oud Beersel Grape & Lambic 8% and Polly's Quiet Hour a relative lightweight Pale at 4% ,hazy,not overcarbonated nor too cold and therefore decent. A place to come to sample some strong and unusual brews across a range of styles.Not somerwhere for a session but more for a big finish lastie at the end of an evening's boozing. I would be tempted to pop in again the see what obscure beer was being offered.

A house of bottles, keg fizz and vinyl (with list on wall, see photo) then childish scribbles on the walls to appeal to the Club 18-30 hipster brigade, despite the average customers' age being old enough to have sired this generation. With no cask, I had a dry 20 minutes.

As described by Moby, below, this is a one room bar with many of the qualities of a good micro, though there is no real ale or cider. It’s housed in a former furniture shop, and one nice touch is the sign at the back which faces the GK pub next door, and says “better beer here”. Very true. Still 14 beers on, including one each from Germany, France and Belgium, and 2 low alcohol. I had a pint of Verdant Light Bulb, which was a decent enough beer, but it didn’t really stand out from other craft beers, being chilled enough to stop any rogue flavours making themselves known. The young barman was a decent chap, and the customers were a civilised bunch when compared to some of the nearby pubs. It was a bit noisy, as the soft rock on the stereo was competing with the noise from the adjacent mill race, but otherwise it was a calm, comfortable place to spend time. It’s a very modern pub, in a good way, and it complements well the better pubs in Salisbury. Worth a quick visit or including in a crawl.