Commercial Inn, Dunfermline

I've been to this one many times since my daughter moved to Dunfermline in 2015 - there's scarcely another pub in town worth going to if you're into real ale. They're undergoing a refurbishment, and the exterior is largely covered by scaffolding at the moment. It's noticeable that the toilets have been thoroughly modernised, so the trip downstairs is less trepidatious than it used to be. Our Saturday afternoon visit found almost every table taken, but one became free quite quickly. After taking a few swigs from my pint of Stewart 80/- I was surprised when one of the lasses behind the bar asked if I wanted to change it, as it was from the bottom of the barrel. Indeed, the pump clip had been turned around since I'd sat down, but in fact the beer was pretty good. None of the options appealed, to be fair, with Exmoor Beast 6.6% too strong and the others not beers that I fancied; and anyway, what I had was fine. It was nice of her to offer, though. Top pub.

This one has been well described below. It's basically a square room with wooden floorboards and rugs. It was fairly quiet on my early Wednesday evening visit. Annoyingly the toilets are down some stairs. The bar has eight hand pumps which had one unused, Tryst Peach Pale Ale, EKG & Blathan, Kelburn Dark Moor & Goldihops and Redcastle Nobleman & Red Lady. I went for the Dark Moor (£3.30) which was in good nick. I don't mind seeing low ABV beers in pubs but when a range of seven has five at 4.0% or less and the other two are just 4.2% and 4.5% then I start to get the hump. I thought that let this one down badly and preferred the JDW. It's GBG 2017 listed and was a big disappointment for me.