Yeah, I normally go to the Harlequin myself. They often have local musicians in playing, some are okay, others less so, but beers always good, and Mondays are tres cheap (plus its actually in the direction of home for me).The Riverside doesn't seem to be open on weekday evenings since xmas. Occasionally go to the Fat Cat. It'll be interesting to see how the Gardener's Rest turns out after the refurbishment.
Went into what used to be my local offy the other day and discovered they now stock Brooklyn - score! they also had the porter and IPA, not tried these yet but will report back. Also walked out with:the Lucky is an aussie rice beer - fairly forgettable to be honest, but the bottle makes it worthwhile! Not yet drunk the others, but especially looking forward to the Flying Dog IPA, the blurb implies a bit of a hop monster (and any brewery with endorsements from Hunter and Steadman must be doing something right!).
Had a pint of this in the Harlequin last night...Quite tasty, although both the cats were asleep when I got home (perhaps they need to drink it to benefit from the perk )
Good skills there Moose - having just moved up and got settled I was wondering where to go for my independant beer shop fix. It would appear the latter of your recommendations is 5 mins from my work...alllright!
'tother half came back with this for me today:Rather good really - more body than most pale ales, and decent hops too. Worth a go.
The small print on the label is some great German blurb about why this beer is great: it's just water, malt, hops; simple cap; no gold paper over the cap; no flash TV ad's or magazine ad's etc.. really goes to town on it - not that they need to - you can't argue w/ 40p a half litre