Easter Weekend - A Review - Beer

OK, so Beer. Bath is renowned as a Real Ale City and I was wanting to take the opportunity to sample a couple.

First up on the Saturday was lunch in a country pub somewhere in the wilds of rural Somerset (We were on the way to Montacute House, and apologies for not knowing the name of the pub or its location). I took the opportunity to sample a pint of the 'Gem' by a Bath based local Brewery. Delicious, nice and heavy (perhaps a touch too much for a normal lunchtime pint but hey) with a chocolatey, caramely overtone and a perfect bitter finish. I will most definately keep an eye out for this in future.

Next was a bottle of Nepalese Lager (we were eating at Yak Yeti Yak, a Nepalese restaurant) which was, as far as lagers go, perfectly pleasant and a reasonable accompaniment to the food. It was quite similar to Tusker lager from Kenya in my opinion, I suspect due to the levels of barley.

Moving on from dinner we went into town to the The Old Green Tree. Great little pub tucked away down a side street with 3 different rooms and always a good range of real ale on tap. I went for the Pubs own Bitter 'Old Green Tree Brewery Bitter' which was pleasant but a bit of a disappointment - not nearly enough flavour for my liking - I even managed to persuade a lager drinker 'what should I order, they don't have any Stella?' to go for it on the basis that it was a bit like lager without any fizz. Given he then agreed I think that tells you all you need to know!

After that I went for the Pitchfork - a much more complex beer which was overflowing, perhaps a touch too much, with hops but with a good overall structure and taste.