The Head of Steam, Cardiff

David Walton left this review about The Head of Steam

Visited 09/10/25. Visited previously 26/10/23.

Cask was disappointing on my visit and the bar manager confessed that Thursday is not a great day to visit for cask as they take delivery of new cask that day and so its standing to be ready for Friday and the weekend. Had a pint of the Oystermouth Stout from the Mumbles Brewery as the BrewYork Blonde was way past drinkable, the other one on being Motörhead APA from Road Crew. The other hand pumps had clips turned round so generally four or five cask beers is their offering. The keg offering on the other hand was monumental, comprising Kasteel Tropical, Krusovice pilsner, Peroni, Asahi, own branded Head of Steam lager and session IPA, Sagres, Aspall, strawberry & lime flavoured Rekorderlig cider, Jubel peach lager, Guinness, Prioritise Pleasure passion fruit sour from Arbor , Heathen hazy IPA from Northern Monk, a radler – but couldn't see the brewer, Rebel IPA & Clwb Tropica from Tiny Rebel, Verdant Helles lager, Lucky Saint, two from Tooth & Claw - a pale ale called Jellyfish Nebula and a tropical IPA called Cat Amongst, the blonde and the dubbel from La Trappe, a NEIPA called Juicy Lucy from Uiltje, the Juice Forsyth and the stout from BrewYork, the Delirium Red, Erdinger Weissbier, Little Faith hazy IPA from Northern Monk, the Kernel table beer and the Freudian Slip Vienna lager from Closet Brewing.

This is a good beer destination, but, as noted above, the cask offering was disappointing on my visit. There is seating out the front that was fully occupied on my visit. Inside, the bar counter is an island affair but with no service on the right-hand side. It is generally tiled with the odd patch of carpet. Some booth seating on the right-hand wall, mixture of regular and tall tables in the front left-hand corner, the area also taken up by a couple of singer / guitarists on my visit. Seating over in the rear left-hand corner (where tiles turn to boards) was a mixture of styles and there is a rear wall drinking ledge. There is a pool table in the front right-hand corner and an upstairs seating area that I didn't check out. Clearly worth checking out, but maybe one for the weekend!

On 30^th December 2025 - rating: 6
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