Favourite pubs of Bristol, part one.

Last night I decided to take the long way home from work and visit a couple of pubs en-route. I drank some of the best beers I've had in ages (that weren't homebrew, of course!) and it inspired me to put some of my favourite Bristol pubs up here. Now, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but when I was deciding which places to go to for good beer on the way home, these were the places I chose.

First off is The Three Tuns in Hotwells. It's an Arbor Ales pub, so it's always got a good selection of Arbor brews, but it also sources some of the best craft brews from all over Britain. Last night I started, perhaps in a foolhardy fashion, with a half of the Double Citra IPA from The Kernel brewery. A truly stunning beer! I followed it up with another great beer from the Moor Beer Company, and a chat with Henry behind the bar. Turns out he's a homebrewer too - always a good sign!

The Hillgrove in Kingsdown is another favourite of mine. It's owned by the Dawkins brewery, so expect a few of their beers on tap. Thankfully, their beers have got much better since they took on a new head brewer, and they've started experimenting with a few more styles too. I had their ruby mild the other day and it was delicious. They also stock local bottled beers as well as having a few guest ales on pump. All the beers are listed on chalkboards with tasting notes too, so picking your poison is a little less pot-luck! The Hillgrove also has a lovely little courtyard garden out the back.

The Hare on the Hill (or on twitter here) has been a favourite pub for a while but, as a Bath Ales pub, they were only allowed to stock Bath Ales beers. As a result I found myself going there less often. I find their beers less to my taste now, though I used to like them a lot. Whether that's down to their beers getting worse or not is a much discussed topic in Bristol (my opinion is that Gem is not a patch on what it used to be). Nowadays, however, the landlord has been given a bit more freedom to stock some good guest beers too, so it was my absolute pleasure to order a Magic Rock High Wire the other day. A lovely pint it was too! It's clear that the landlord here knows his beer, as evidenced by the Kernel Table Beer in the fridge. So it was no surprise to find out he's a homebrewer too!

So, that's the first three pubs in my favourites list. It's great how the staff at these places are embracing twitter and facebook to get the punters involved, and to provide a up to date list of what beers they've got on. A pub should be proud of it's beers! To be continued...

Photos lifted from google images, will be replaced with my own when I remember to take some!