Barley Twist, Nottingham

Barley Twist is a small Castle Rock bar with some seating and a short bar counter on the rear wall where many craft keg fonts have been crammed in. There are also two hand pumps that were drawing their own Preservation and Our House, the latter of which was past its best. There are lots of fridges stocked with craft cans making it feel a bit like a shop. This place is not for me.

As a former shop, I guess this could be billed as a micropub. Although it has more the look and feel of a modern bar inside. There is one fairly long and thin room, with the bar at the rear. A couple of handpulls both had Castle Rock beers (Harvest Pale & Preservation). In fact, I believe the pub is owned and run by Castle Rock. 4 ciders were on - Snail's Bank Mango Cider, Weston's Old Rosie & Lilley's Tropical Cider & Cherries & Berries. Craft beers were Castle Rock Session, DDH Pale & Oatmeal Stout, Northern Monk Faith, Pomona Island Tamaki II, Wander Beyond Wah Donka, Dark Revolution Fabric & Burning Soul Coconut Porter. Seating faces some train departure boards. My Preservation was enjoyable, but the departure boards worked the opposite the way should have done for me. They made me decide to hurry up my pace, as I worked out I had just enough time to fit in another pub before my train was leaving! I wouldn't rule this one out, due to its proximity to the station. But there are better pubs not too far away.

Thin shop conversion (from a sweet shop - geddit?) with bench seating down one side, a raised area in the front window and a rear half width counter. Much of the space by the counter is taken up with large fridges of bottles and cans plus a wine cupboard. There are two pulls, both not with owners Castle Rock’s beers on, as well as 10 keg taps on three mounts, traditional ciders are also listed. I had Lenten Lane Black Velvet (cask) which was in average nick. Industrial fittings, exposed brick walls, so you can guess the market aimed at. They succeeded on my visit, except for me of course. A useful feature is the real time departure board for the station up the road.

One narrow room with bar to rear left. Fridge to right. One weak real ale pump, rest craft. As per normal - way too cold. Could be better.

Pretty much agree with everything Will has stated although my judging criterier is slightly more leeniant than others if a well kept cask ale can be found. this is a Micro style pub/shop conversion but without the beer. about 8 craft keg beers that do not interest me in the slightest to choose from and a solitary hand pump selling a rotating Castle rock beer (Elsie mo £3.50 and more than any of their other pubs at that price). The interior is a little dark with hard fixtures so not the comfiest place to sit. Will appeal to more of a younger crowd/women but really doesn’t do it for me. Usual hard wood floor/exposed brick fixtures like all these modern places. With the Vat and fiddle (Castle Rock’s tap) and Beerheads closer to the station it’s not going to win over commuting beer lovers. The Elsie Mo was kept in good condition as it should be but i feel they have missed a trick not focusing on their speciality in cask beer and making this more along the liens of a traditional micro pub. I understand that new things need to be tried but feel this has slightly missed the mark. Can’t really see myself in here again with the nearby and better competition competing for my pre/post train cash.

A keg bar with a token hand pump, which would normally get a scathing review from real ale lovers on this site. And I am not minded to make an exception in this case. I wouldn't normally even go into a city centre bar on Saturday evening when there's a bouncer on the door (though this one was very friendly); the fact that it's a Castle Rock outlet allowed me to make an exception. Having been criticised for not being open-minded enough about modern craft keg, I eschewed the hand pump on this occasion and went for the Tiny Rebel AK-47 "craft keg". As well as being cold and fizzy, however, this beer also proved to be disappointingly bland; or perhaps that should read "because of being cold and fizzy". This is keg beer, after all, and I suppose I was only disappointed because I had allowed my expectations to be unreasonably raised by the blurb about superior ingredients and the hipster hype about vibrant new flavours. I can't think of any reason why I would make a return visit.