Beer Riff, Swansea

This is a relatively new brewery taproom with an excellent location on Swansea’s redeveloped marina. The brewery seems to occupy the ground floor of this building, with customers directed up a fire-escape style staircase on the side of the building in order to reach the taproom. At the top, you enter into a rectangular room with bare boards, plain white walls that have been liberally covered with bright cartoon/skater style graffiti, and a row of windows down one side which afford some great views out over the water. Tables and low stools have been arranged beneath these windows, with large potted plants between each table, whilst high tables and stools run down the other side of the room, supplemented by a couple of drinking ledges with more bar stools. The bar is to the right on entering and has a pallet-style counter front, a dark painted bar back decorated with a neon Beer Riff sign and blue fairy lights and a very attractive green glazed tile side wall – a strange traditional feature in an otherwise contemporary setting. A TV to the rear was out of action during our visit, with an excellent little punk and indie soundtrack chugging away on the background instead. At the bottom of the staircase, there is a nice part-covered garden area with a good amount of seating, views of the marina and a large beer board listing the full range available back up the stairs. The board implied that there were fifteen keg beers available, many from the likes of Lervig and The Kernel, but also three Beer Riff brews. I felt I had to try one of the house beers out, so opted for Beer Riff Strutter, which I thought was a tasty beer that went down very well as we admired the views and enjoyed the music. This is a nicely done brewery tap, with a clear distinction between brewing operation and taproom – none of this drinking-between-the-brewing-vessels nonsense here. The beer was good, the service friendly and the place felt fun, vibrant and welcoming. The place is a bit out of the way and takes a little effort to find, which means it should discourage the Wind Street crowds from descending en masse, making it a good option for a few quiet pints of interesting craft beer.

Brewpub in a new and modish building in the upmarket Swansea marina redevelopment. Not immediately obvious how to enter (round the back and up the stairs) but once you get there you’re presented with a fairly straightforward modern open-plan room with some decent views across the water if you can grab a window seat. No cask here but there are 15 keg lines and a fridge by the green-lit servery, on my visit offering a small amount of the brewery’s own wares. I sampled their Double Espresso (rather good) and Citra Pop (meh), Tenby’s No Way Gose (superb) and Verdant’s 300 Laps (meh). They also do basic food, our pizza was perfectly acceptable for the price. If you’re doing the Queen’s, this one is worth a trot over to check out.

A bit of a trek to get to but as mentioned 15 beers on tap with an ample sized outdoor seating area.The bar is situated upstairs but did not notice if there was a lift or not for anyone with walking difficulties