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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum
Image posted by David Walton
Submitted on Sunday, 11th August 2024
With picture contributions to 996 other pubs
View all this pub's pictures (3 more images)
Detail Pages
Mad Dog Taproom, Brighton
Brighton
BN1 1AG
Served areas
Reviews of Mad Dog Taproom (Average Rating: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Pub SignMan left this review about Mad Dog Taproom
A relative newcomer to Brighton's pub scene, this is a three storey taproom for the Cardiff based Mad Dog Brewery. The bar is in the compact ground floor space, with the servery to the left of the entrance and some standing room and a couple of bar stools opposite. It's a pretty bland space, with mostly whitewashed walls and some blackboards around the top of the bar back listing the various draught options, but visual distraction is at a minimum and most punters appear to prefer heading up the fairly vertiginous staircase to the rear, for one of the upper seating areas. On our visit, the first floor room was hosting a comedy night and available for ticket holders only, so we had to press on upwards to the second floor, where another fairly utilitarian space awaited us. Seating comes mostly in the form of hard benches, so not the comfiest of rooms, with more whitewashed walls space, this time broken up by a few brightly painted cartoon characters, more of which can be seen during the climb up here. The most interesting thing I found was the extensive sticker collection dotted randomly across the walls near the toilets.
There were no less than twelve beers available on tap but no cask ale options. As far as I could tell, the beers were all in house brews and I tried the Stouty McStoutface, which was a passable, if not entirely memorable, example of the style. The bar staff seem to be friendly enough and we had a good chat with a very pleasant and rather bored looking doorman on a subsequent visit a couple of months later. The lack of ground floor seating means that the place always looks quiet on approach, but it's worth persevering as you may find a bit more atmosphere on one of the upper floors.
I quite liked this place on my initial visit, when we sat up in the busy second floor room, but was less impressed upon my return when we loitered in the draughty bar area, so I'm a bit torn as to my overall impression of the place. The beer seems decent enough without hitting the heights of top tier micros, and the service was good, but the place lacks a bit of character and suffers from the disjointed layout across three floors. For me, it has a good location just off the main drag from the beach to the station, so I'm sure I'll be popping in on future visits to Brighton and hope to see the place bed in a bit more over time.
Date of visit - 23rd November 2024
On 10th March 2025
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]
Blue Scrumpy left this review about Mad Dog Taproom
This seemed to be a strange place to find on a shopping street in the centre of Brighton - a craft beer outlet from a Welsh brewery. There are 3 floors, with the ground floor bar area having standing room only and two further floors with seating, along with outdoor seating on the street.
We chose the first floor room where there are canteen-style benches with long tables and a few smaller tables to one side. I seem to recall some artwork of a kind on the wall, including a picture of the Joker.
On the bar, there are no cask ales. All beers were keg and from Mad Dog - Now In A Minute, Hair of the Dog, Marmalade IPA, Stouty McStoutface, Third Eye Blind, Yma O Hyd, Midnight Train To Cardiff, Apollo Freestyle, Plum Porter & Mexican Chocolate Stout. I had each of the last two and both were enjoyable, if not served a little too cold.
A nice addition to the Brighton pub scene. But there are so many good places to drink in Brighton. So, I'm not sure we'll be back in too much of a hurry.
On 27th January 2025
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3040 recommendations about 3038 pubs]
paulof horsham left this review about Mad Dog Taproom
Cardiff brings craft beer to Brighton! You wouldn't have thought it necessary to transport your beers 100 miles up the M4, but they must feel there's a market here.
Entry via the ground floor gets you to the bar, with 14 keg taps offering Mad Dog brews; seating is mostly to be found upstairs, in various rooms over several floors. I selected a room on the first floor (and didn't venture further up). This offered just wooden benches at wooden tables, and they could have done with turning the heating up a notch or two (with only one couple up here, there was little opportunity for a crowd to generate heat).
Based on this short visit, I'm wondering whether this place has a long-term future? There's no shortage of competition round here (not so much on this street), but perhaps it did get busier later in the evening.
Pop in if you fancy a Welsh-brewed craft beer while you're in central Brighton, otherwise......?
On 5th January 2025
- rating: 5
[User has posted 554 recommendations about 516 pubs]
View more reviews of Mad Dog Taproom (4)
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Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 18 July 2024 by paulof horsham
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 10 March 2025 by Pub SignMan
- Beer Garden : Yes - Tables on-street - last updated 20 July 2024 by paulof horsham
- CAMRA Discount : No last updated 27 January 2025 by Blue Scrumpy
- Car Park : No last updated 18 July 2024 by paulof horsham
- Child Friendly : Yes last updated 27 January 2025 by Blue Scrumpy
- Darts : No last updated 10 March 2025 by Pub SignMan
- Dog Friendly : Yes last updated 20 July 2024 by paulof horsham
- Function Room : Yes last updated 10 March 2025 by Pub SignMan
- Hot Food : No last updated 27 January 2025 by Blue Scrumpy
- Jukebox : No last updated 10 March 2025 by Pub SignMan
- Karaoke : No last updated 10 March 2025 by Pub SignMan
- Live Music : Yes last updated 10 March 2025 by Pub SignMan
- Live TV Sports : No last updated 10 March 2025 by Pub SignMan
- Micropub : No last updated 18 July 2024 by paulof horsham
- Pinball : No last updated 27 January 2025 by Blue Scrumpy
- Pool Table : No last updated 27 January 2025 by Blue Scrumpy
- Quiz Night : Yes last updated 31 December 2024 by paulof horsham
- Real Ale : No last updated 23 July 2024 by paulof horsham
- Real Cider : No last updated 23 July 2024 by paulof horsham
- Wheelchair Access : No last updated 31 December 2024 by paulof horsham
- WiFi : Yes last updated 31 December 2024 by paulof horsham
