Bristol Beer Factory, The Seven Stars and Beyond

This day started on a crisp, clear morning with a long bike ride down the hill from Clifton, over the river and into Southville where the Bristol Beer Factory is located. Assistant brewer Brett was working on a mash when I arrived, and head brewer Chris was in the kettle, cleaning and preparing it for the day's brew. Brett was able to take the time to give me a quick tour around this tiny brewery that produces so much beer. An independent award winning brewery since 2005, BBF produces some 11 different brews on their 10 UK barrel (16 hectolitre) system, and then some seasonals as well. They source British malt and hops and use a traditional single step infusion mash and open fermentation tanks to create their tasty beers. Once fermented, yeast is skimmed off for reuse, the beer is cooled for 2 days, then transferred to conditioning tanks where finings are added. They spend a minimum of 7 days here before being transferred to casks and delivered to pubs. All of their products are unpasteurized, unfiltered and naturally carbonated, though they do send out a small percentage of their best selling beers to a contractor to bottle for specialty liquor stores. They are also working on bottle conditioning some of their beers at their own facility, though up to 90% of their production ends up in casks for real ale pubs around town and beyond. They have two locations in Bristol of their own as well, The Barley Mow and the Grain Barge, where you can find a full range of their beers. Brett also told me about the first home brew competition BBF sponsored earlier in the year. Some 40 local home brewers stepped up to the plate and entered their British style ales for judging. The winner was honoured with a full batch of his brew being produced at the brewery and was available as a hand-pumped real ale. Pretty special, I'd say. I thanked the busy brewers for their time and continued on with my own day's busy schedule.
My next stop was the historical Seven Stars, one of Bristol's premier real ale pubs since changing hands in 2009, and one of the oldest, dating back to the late 1600s. Landlord Paul Wratten has worked hard this previous year and had just won the prestigious local CAMRA chapter's Best Pub in Bristol award for 2010. Rightly so, with 8 ever changing taps, it is absolutely incredible the variety of real ales that passes through this premises. Paul even has a list in front of the bar where patrons can mark down beers they'd like to see at the bar. I made it back here a number of times during my stay and was always astonished to find a totally different line up on each occasion. This day, however, found me meeting cheese guru Todd Trethowan for a pint. This is his local you see, as his office is right next door in the bell tower of the old congregationless St. Thomas Church. We talked of beer, cheese, the history of the pub, the church and Bristol itself, and had a pint of Boogie Woogie (4.2%) from Blackwater Brewery in the West Midlands. This was a lovely fresh hop nosed pale yellow brew, with hints of grapefruit on the palate spread over an even bready malt base. Todd took me on a brief tour of his 'cheese church' (as I've jokingly started calling it) and then I was back at the Seven Stars for something I had my eye on earlier, a tasty pint of Old Slug Porter from RCH in Somerset. Smooth, dark, roasty and full bodied, with hints of coffee and dark dried fruit, beautifully balanced, creamy mouthfeel, rich and complex. The pub was filling up by now, as on Wednesdays, all of the ales are discounted, a real deal indeed. I finished up with the delightful Kelham Island Are You Lonesome Tonite (see Beer of the Day, Oct. 21) then carried on to a few other great little pubs in the area.
The Cornubia, barely two blocks away, had been recommended to me by several beer lovers, and indeed, was another great traditional pub. They have 7 real ale taps, and also featured 3 casks of fresh rough cider that day. I opted for Quantock Brewery's Sunracker (4.2%) a beautiful light clear gold coloured bitter, presenting a floral hop aroma leading to a well balanced malt based palate with clean, dry finish. Northumberland's Hoof Harted (3.8%) was next, bright and gold coloured, deep hop nose, good malty backbone, smooth clean mouthfeel and a wonderfully dry finish. Yummy! Around the corner and over the canal is The Bridge Inn, basically a Bath Ales pub, where I tried a cask conditioned SPA (3.7%). This light bodied dry bitter has a fruity aroma and palate, is hop accented with citrus notes and delivers a long malty and dry finish.
My last stop was the classic King's Head, dating from pre-1660, and listed in CAMRAs Historical Pub Interiors Index. A narrow long bar leads to a tramcar-like snug in the rear. Pictures of old Bristol decorate the walls and an earlier landlady is said to haunt these premises. The bar seemed to be populated by a few eccentrics this day, but 4 real ales are always on offer, and between bits of intriguing conversation I enjoyed the Sharp's Cornish Coaster (3.6%), a smooth, easy drinking bitter, golden hued with a fresh hop bite and dry malt on the tongue, finishing smooth and full. One more for the road, Butcombe's Gold (4.4%) a decent bitter with a fruity pale malt nose featuring citrus hops and a good bitterness on the palate, slightly sweet, but finishing nicely dry.
All of these great pubs were within easy walking distance of each other, but now I had a long uphill bike ride back up to Clifton on the west side of town. No matter, as it had turned into a beautiful warm autumn day and life was good.