The Jolly Brewmaster, Cheltenham

A worthwhile walk from the town centre for this lively residential pub. A blueprint for how pubs should be. Very good Betty Stoggs among the choice of up to 7 ales and an equal number of ciders. Photos at my blog - http://bit.ly/2d1vJ0u

A long standing CAMRA local pub of the year,the awards are displayed on one wall,an almost continuous role of honour with the noteable exception of the 2014 award which went to the new Sandford Park Ale House.The sense of dissapointment is palpable. The interior is quite traditional with a raised section to the right of the entrance,a carpeted tap room around a U shaped bar,Victorian fireplace and a drinking ledge with free newspapers.There is a decent beer garden outside.Of the 13 handpumps,6 are dedicated to real cider and perry ,so the ale selection was Wickwar Cotswold Way,Fullers Chiswick,Salopian Oracle,Malvern Hills MHB,Sambrooks Wandle,Buxton Moor Top and Exmoor Fox.Looking around at the collection of handpumps I spotted ones from Marble,Dark Star,Burning Sky and Bathams and was left reflecting that had any of these been on during my visit ,higher marks would have been awarded.I got the impression that the pub has rested on it's real ale laurels and has been overshadowed.Still worth a visit on any real ale crawl,and popular with a good band of locals.

The Jolly Brewmaster was the local CAMRA Pub of the Year and runner-up 2012 South West Regional Cider Pub of the Year, and it’s not difficult to see why. The bar supports 7 hand pumps which feature a regularly changing range of ales from Gloucestershire and beyond. And alongside these Black Rat cider & perry and a choice of local ciders is usually available. Butty Bach from the Wye Valley Brewery, Uley Brewery Pigs Ear, Stroud Brewery Big Cat, Thornbridge Kipling, and XT 13 were on alongside Castle Rocks Harvest Pale Ale plus the Black Rat Perry and Ashridge Devon Cider. All the ones we tried were in excellent nick and the XT 13 was superb. It’s tucked away in the Montpellier district of Cheltenham but is worth the extra walk beyond Montpellier Gardens to search out. A decent enough terraced exterior with original etched windows, inside you enter into two comfortable bare wood floored seating areas around open fire places before dropping down to the sunken horseshoe bar . And then outback there is an attractive beer garden which we were able to utilise on the decent bank holiday weather weekend. Cheltenham isn’t endowed with top class Ale pubs and the Jolly Brewmaster would certainly qualify as a should visit when in town, and can be combined with the nearby Beehive and Royal Union for a very pleasant crawl taking in the fine architecture of the Montpellier District.