Bristol Beer Factory Tap Room, Southville, Bristol

Black and white stencilled exterior. Inside is a straightforward rectangular room with a mezzanine, done-out in dark green, sodium lights and a canteen furnishing vibe, maybe a bit ‘utilitarian-by-numbers’. Sat by the large plate glass front window which made for decent people watching. Four BBF cask on, the Notorious was shifting quickly and the quality (NBSS 4.5) reflected that. Whilst the venue itself is a bit self-consciously hip for my liking, it is at least honest about what it is and serves a cracking pint. 7.5

This is a smart bar, not too far from Bristol City’s Ashton Gate stadium, set up to showcase the beers from the eponymous brewery. The place has a slightly corporate feel to it, which I thought was a shame as there was an opportunity here for BBF to really stamp their identity into this place. The single room interior has been set up in the manner of a typical modern beer-led bar, with light laminate flooring and a dark paint scheme offering some contrast in the otherwise rather one-dimensional colour scheme. The servery runs along the back wall and the bar has a nice cut-out of the Bristol skyline on the counter front plus a plain bar back topped with the brewery logo. High tables and stools stand opposite the bar and under the front windows, with benches through the centre and chairs and sofas over to the right. The left hand wall is one giant promotional display, with selves full of BBF products plus various beer themed magazine. A few bits of breweriana line the walls and I spotted some old jazz band statuettes above the entrance, but aside from that, it all felt a little bit plain. A few benches were positioned out on the front pavement, allowing you to watch the various street artists who were painting murals on several surrounding buildings. A cool soundtrack played throughout my stay and as I was leaving, I noticed a large board on the right hand wall detailing the history of the brewery. Bristol Beer Factory beers are obviously the main component of the beer offerings at the bar. The handpulled options on this visit comprised Nova, Fortitude, Long Summer Days and Hawaii Juice-O, with various keg and bottled options also available. I tried the Nova which was good value at £3.50 a pint. As you would hope from a brewery bar, this was a great pint and I found the bar staff to be excellent as well. I like this sort of brewery showcase bar, but thought these guys had missed a trick by creating a rather formulaic feeling venue with little in the way of character. However, there was a good atmosphere in here on a match day without it being over-crowded, the staff were very welcoming and the beer tasted great, so sometimes you have to forgive the odd stylistic misstep and just get on with drinking great beer.

This is a recent opening on the popular North Street strip, and whilst the adjacent beer factory has been established for a number of years now, the tap room is a new venture. Opening hours are limited however, so do check before making a special journey. Internally it’s all one open plan room and perhaps has something of an industrial look cable trays in evidence and bare breeze block walls, but these have been painted a very dark grey and the overall effect was pleasant enough, if somewhat utilitarian. A mezzanine level floor has also been constructed meaning that the majority of the pub had a lower ceiling height with suspended black tiles. The flooring was pale wood strip and the left hand wall was taken up with various merchandise for sale, primarily crates of beer but also a selection of tee shirts and so on. Seating was primarily long wooden tables and benches, although there were also some Chesterfield arm chairs and a couple of beer barrels for vertical drinking. A beer tasting evening was in progress when we visited, and this seemed very popular with most seats taken. Beers on tap were entirely from the Bristol Beer Factory as might be expected and on this occasion were Seven, 12 Apostles, Sorachi and Nova. Unfortunately there were no ciders on tap, although they did have Orchard Pig Reveller in bottles.

Official site of Bristol Beer Factory Tap Room - www.bristolbeerfactory.co.uk