I love pubs and I love drinking in pubs (provided beer is great, obvs).
More and more, however, I'm learning to love non-pubs for drinking in.
Our first experience of this was probably the Moor Brewery Tap near our flat in Bristol. It's absolutely not a pub but it is definitely a favourite place to drink.
We tried micropubs in their early days and, to be honest, the first ones we tried weren't really up to much but we've been to a few more and we've found a some to love (Drapers Arms in Bristol. Wight Bear Alehouse in Bournemouth, 1200 Postcards in Hastings).
Then there are the "craft ale" outlets. Some of them are pubs...others definitely aren't. We've loved some and we've loathed others. We still go to the Beer Emporium and Small Bar in Bristol and enjoy it when we do. We've discovered the Craft Beer chain of bars and mostly enjoyed them (as long as we remember they're not pubs in the normal sense).
We still adore the Euston Tap and try and find time to go to it when we have to get a train from that neck of the woods.
And now there are the bottle shops...
We're lucky enough to have one of these in Eastbourne (Bottle Grove) but we also had a brilliant time the other day in Hove (Bison Beer) and it makes me want to try more.
These bottle shops mostly have shelves and fridges of cans and bottles but also a few lines for drinking in or for filling growlers for takeout. So they're not quite off-license, not quite bar.
We went to Bottle Grove yesterday evening after finding the Eagle too crowded and the Dew Drop with only one beer we wanted to drink. We also knew that we didn't have much decent beer in the fridge and didn't want to got to the pub on Sunday (Paddy's Day of twats in hats drinking Guinness loudly and annoyingly) so we thought we'd pick up a few cans for the fridge...but it would have been rude not to stop for one (or three).
The venue is friendly and fun (if a little bit chilly) but it's not the sort of place you can hole up in a corner with a book or a game so it's definitely not a pub. But we love it for the enthusiasm of the owner and the cracking beers he serves (6 on tap at the moment).
I really hope more different styles of good beer establishment open up and we shan't be afraid to try them (probably).
