Zerodegrees, Reading

I thought Quinno was taking us to a Metro Station on first approach. After walking down from the Hopback, on such a hot day I found it quite refreshing to get a cool pint of their Wheat Ale. I didn't receive a slice of orange on the side of the glass, which was good as that wouldn't have been to my taste or street cred. I thought this pub to be fun and maybe these craft pubs are a good way of starting the kids on beer and then they can find their own way in life to a pint of real ale.

Zerodegrees is an open plan minimalistic modern bar with fake pipework to give the feel of a boiler room. I’m not sure why. I went for a Pilsner which didn’t go down very well after an afternoon on the ale. I’m not a fan as I prefer a proper pub with some real character.

A modern, futuristic bar with patio area. The building is effectively metal and glass and looks like something that i cobbled together with my Meccano set in 1972 - in a nice way! The open plan irregular shaped interior has red and white walls, with red flooring. Copious comfy chairs and pouffes are around so you can relax as you look at the metal ducting, brew tanks and ostentatious taps - which to be honest would really only excite the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. There is a TV, which was silent and the music was general and at a decent level. The service was fine and the clientele mixed. Beer; consisted of Pilsner, Pale Ale, Wheat Ale, Black Lager and Mango. I tried the Black stuff and the Mango, which was very refreshing. In all seriousness, it was a different experience. Not my kind of place, but happy i went. It prompted a lot of discussion amongst the PG'ers, more so about about the row of 'ladies' in the gents to be fair - where clipboard girl came out on-top (not literally), mainly as tapemeasure girl made me feel inadequate and I postively couldn't go in front of cleaver girl.

Not the kind of place I would normally seek out, however as part of a beer crawl it was worth a look ,open plan and modernistic as described below.My choice of the pale was very cold and hazy but drinkable and welcome given the high temperatures of the day ,that said there are much better places to spend time in Reading and as such are not likely to return on a regular basis.

Always likely to divide opinion,this modernistic bar has an open plan kitchen and brewing equipment on full view.At the rear there is a large restaurant while the drinking goes on around the stylish front area which opens out in hot weather.The taps offer a range of styles with Pilsner,Pale Ale,Black Lager,Wheat Ale and Mango available on my trip.The beers are served cold but also poured quite hazy .It can be described as home brew and it certainly tasted like home brew.To maintain the modern vibe, there is a lot of exposed ducting attached to the ceiling but if you follow this around the interior you quickly see that the ends dont connect to anything ,it's all for show and quite offensive for those seeking an engineering rationale for so much pipework. Worth a visit just for the novelty value,having done so I would give this one a miss next time I'm looking for a decent pint in Reading.