Ad Astra Taproom, Axbridge

Blackthorn _ left this review about Ad Astra Taproom

A relatively recent opening by the Ad Astra Cider company, like many brewery taps this is somewhat industrial in appearance rather than your traditional pub as well as having limited opening hours, so do check before making a special visit. Unlike most brewery taps that tend to be on industrial estates though, here the raw ingredients for their product are grown right outside the door, and hence the location is a bit out in the middle of nowhere, down a rutted farm track. The name comes from the RAF motto, as the company was founded by an RAF veteran and this is also reflected to some extent in the pub’s décor.

Internally it’s one large open plan room, with long bench tables down the left-hand half and the bar counter at the far end. The flooring is rough concrete, the walls are painted breeze blocks and the roof is bare boards and joists. Festoon lights were strung from the rafters, and a number of games were scattered around the bales, including Jenga, chess and Connect 4. A few old advertising signs were on the wall, as well as various awards that they have won, a large world map and a framed rugby tee shirt, whilst several regimental flags were hung from the ceiling. The bar counter was a rustic affair made with old planks of wood, and there were some bar stools made from old tractor seats. The right-hand part of the pub included a table tennis table, but was mostly given over to the production side of things, with a number of large storage vessels and an apple press, although much of this was obscured with camouflage netting.

Outside was a large marquee that I believe is available to hire, as well as a couple of Portaloo’s. Somewhat unusually for this type of establishment, there is hot food available and this looked to be a hearty selection of home cooked dishes including chicken Jalfrezi, Chilli, burgers and a salmon wrap, with most options being somewhere around the £12 mark.

I’m not entirely clear if they had any real ales on or not – certainly there were a couple of pumps on the bar, but no obvious sign of a pump clip so I’m not sure if they were in use or not. I did notice they had Butcombe Original on keg, but obviously this is more of a cider venue and their range was all their own as might be expected and included Nimrod, Typhoon and Vulcan. Overall I really liked this, the staff and locals all seemed friendly and it’s in a lovely spot.

On 17^th June 2024 - rating: 7
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