SIBA beers on tap We celebrate the return of taprooms and pubs

The SIBA Team could not WAIT to get back to their local pubs and taprooms in April and May as the industry finally began to reopen and the draught beers began to flow once more.

We have of course all been enjoying a variety of genuine independent UK craft beers in small pack at home during lockdown and have mentioned a selection of them here on our former ‘Desk Beers’ pages over the last few issues of the magazine. However, nothing can beat a sip of your favourite craft beer in a sunny pub garden or taproom yard, or inside in a buzzing bar or bottle shop. So in honour of these first steps to a full re-opening of the craft beer retail scene, here we bring you a selection of the beers SIBA Staff have enjoyed when they were first allowed ‘out out’ at last (some of us even found enough time between sips to take a photo of the momentous occasion)…

“My first post lockdown "in pub" pint was actually in our [Rooster’s] Brewery Taproom - it was a pint of our current limited edition Golden State - our California Pale Ale. And my first proper pub pint was in my local - the Half Moon Knaresborough - where I savoured their best-selling beer, a pint of Rooster's YPA - aka Yorkshire Pale Ale! It's particularly good to be back inside as we have suffered an Arctic spring in Yorkshire this year.”

“The first pint I had back in the pub was an Elusive Brewing Level Up, at the Charlton House Green Goddess pop-up. Charlton House, up until the week before, was being used as a vaccination centre. Once they’d done the priority groups in my area, they shut it down and converted it into this pop-up pub. There was some poetry about that. It was excellent!”

“What better place to enjoy my first pint of cask after lockdown that the actual brewery tap! I chose a pint of Five Points Best at the brewery’s Tap Yard in the heart of Hackney, and the weather held out for me and everything. The beer remains one of my favourite session beers. A classic singlehopped Best Bitter, brewed with different British grown varieties. #CaskIsBack.”

“I enjoyed a pint of Thoroughbred IPA at the Aldwark Arms, in Aldwark near York. It’s lovely being out in the sun drinking a real pint of cask beer again! Cans and bottles have been great through lockdown – but nothing quite beats a well kept cask beer!”

“I enjoyed a pint of Pennine Hair of the Dog at my parents’ local – The Nags Head in Pickhill. It’s a lovely refreshing dark blonde, brewed locally. What a relief to be back at the pub, drinking some delicious cask beer!”

“The best pint of cask I've had since pubs re-opening was a pint of Twickenham Brewery Grandstand Bitter. It’s hoppy and incredibly flavoursome and complex for just 3.8%. A perfect cask beer and in sparkling condition from The Mute Swan in Hampton Court.”

“I joined the exodus from London during lockdown and was absolutely delighted that in my new house in Sussex I had the Engine Room Brewery Tap & Bar right on my doorstep. Needless to say I headed straight down to their quirky cellar bar once it re-opened in May and celebrated my first indoor bar experience in far too long with a pint of Orange Crush from Kent Brewery, just over the county border. A great balance of sweet and bitter orangey flavours means I may not have stopped at just the one…”