TOPIC:

hi all,

Quick update on my trip to Belfast last week.

The good:

Bittles I think got the award for best bar on the trip.
It had a lovely atmosphere, friendly staff and an interesting selection of draft and bottle beers.

Another lovely spot was the taproom at the hildon brewery. They had all of Hilddon's regular beers and the food was really good.

We also paid a quick visit to the Observatory in the Grand central hotel.
Had a pint of Estrella Damm Inedit, developed in cooperation with the chefs involved with the El Bulli restaurant.
They also had an IPA exclusively brewed for them by Whitewater.

Both beers were lovely, though probably not worth the 8 pounds price tag ...

The John Hewitt was also a nice spot with a decent beer selection.

the not so good

Bootlegger is a place to avoid if you are looking for good craft beer on tap. The website gives the impression they have lots of stuff but in reality they just had Chieftain IPA and also the Citra ale from OpenGate.

Wasalso a bit disappointed with the Sunflower, especially given all the good things I'd seen online about them.
They only had 4 or 5 beers on tap, and nothing all that exciting.

I was struck by the fact that the vast majority of craft beer on tap came from Northern Ireland and the Republic. I expected a lot more beers from the big hitting UK craft breweries but perhaps we were just unlucky with our timing.

regards,

Tim

"tim.culhane":1xxdaqon wrote: I was struck by the fact that the vast majority of craft beer on tap came from Northern Ireland and the Republic. I expected a lot more beers from the big hitting UK craft breweries but perhaps we were just unlucky with our timing.[/quote:1xxdaqon]

The Woodworkers and Errigle will often have English craft in, but the standard tends to be lower than the Irish stuff. I'm not sure if they're just buying it based on cost, but it's only occasionally the English stuff is worth it.
Still the best spot for British craft is Wetherspoons.

Nothing decent in the Grand Central? I used to work it that building when it was an office. An absolute dump of a place that we all reckoned needed torn down. Funny that it's now home to the most expensive bar in Ireland.