There are a few events on the horizon that I’m excited about – some places I’m visiting and some info I wanted to give you all:
First off, the sad news of Pint Shop closing I think will make a lot of drinkers in Oxford shed a tear. Pint Shop has always caused a bit of controversy around Oxford on the drinking scene. Many people have said “it’s too expensive” or “it’s not a real pub though is it?”. I’ve even had “it doesn’t do true craft beer as most of their stockists are mainstream”. Love or hate Pint Shop, I still take it as a great loss to the Oxford beer scene, the selection it had available was unrivalled in central Oxford and I expect it provided a lot of drinkers with great memories of beer they’d never heard of.
The Jolly Postboys have a craft beer festival, running from Thursday the 21st of Feb to Saturday the 23rd. They kick this off with Siren Craft Brew and have Nick from the brewery talking about their core range, as well as some specials. The selection, which has been published on their Facebook page, has a great choice of lagers, IPA’s, pale ales, ciders and more. I’m looking forward to the ‘Sequoia’ from Thornbridge and ‘Suspended in Chinook’ from Siren. Beers will rotate over the 3 days, so I expect everyone can find something they like.
Recently, Oxfords CAMRA branch announced The Masons Arms in Headington its ‘Pub of the Year’, and The Brewery Tap in Abingdon its ‘Town and Village Pub of the Year’. I’ll be visiting these soon, so will give more of a feel for them if you haven’t visited before.
News that the old Somerset pub, on the Marston Road, is now under the management of Oxford’s Dodo Pub Co – who runs The Rusty Bicycle and Rickety Press – is great. The pub will be renamed The Up In Arms and opens in April. So good to see pubs reopening in the Oxford area, and under the management of Dodo I think they’re on the right track.
We wait for the full opening of The Plough at 38 on Cornmarket Street and with the GM of the Pint Shop moving there, I hope for big things to come. Check out my recent preview.
I plan to visit The Bicycle Shed on Banbury Road in the coming weeks. They boast 10 keg beers and 3 cask ales so I hope this will be an interesting visit. We also have visits to Wriggly Monkey Brewery in Bicester and Oxbrew in Witney on the cards, so keep your eyes peeled for those write-ups.
I’ve just seen that Home on the Abingdon road has Millionaire from The Wild Beer Co on tap this weekend, so will be venturing there for a pint. If you haven’t tried this beer, it’s a salted caramel, chocolate and milk stout, that is amazing!
Let us know where you’ve been enjoying your favourite pint lately and which is your favourite tipple.
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