Taprooms and Technology

 We've been here, in our Bristol base for 4 days now.  Obviously, we're catching up with our favourite watering holes and entertaining the idea of new places.

The improving weather makes it feel comfortable (mostly) to sit outside and that also makes us feel a bit more comfortable about mixing with other people.

It being a bank holiday weekend, we've avoided the usual hell-hole places (like King Street) and gone a little further out of the way.  As a result we've only drunk in one pub - but have majored on tap rooms (and a failed attempt to go to the Cider Box in a nearby railway arch).

Naturally, the Moor Tap was comfortable and welcoming although their attempt at online beer list and ordering proved to be an irritation as you had to put home address in order to get beer to the table.  Thankfully, the bar staff were a bit more pragmatic and came to the table (or accepted a distanced request) at the bar and brought a card machine and the beers to us.

At Tapestry (after the failed attempt at a heaving Cider Box) there was a QR code menu but ordering and paying was in person.  We really enjoyed our time here.  The staff really friendly and their beer has become far more to our taste than it used to be.

Yesterday (Sunday) we decided to try the much newer Newtown Park brewery which has put their brewery in LHG's old place and opened a joint taproom with Falmouth-based Verdant.

We walked around and as we entered the industrial park where they're based we noticed that LHG haven't moved out - they've moved over to what appears to be a bigger unit just around the corner from Newtown and their taproom was also buzzing.

We squeezed onto a table at Newtown and were directed to the QR code for ordering and paying.  The shopfront on the webpage worked really well, but the payment was a real irritation as they only accepted shoppay (Shopify's payment processing platform).  I didn't want to set up an account which meant putting address details, card details, etc, etc every time I ordered.  This was a bit of a pain and it would have been useful to know in advance and/or details added to the notices on the table.

Still, once the irritation had died down, we really enjoyed the beer and the sitting (mostly) in the sun.  But there was still time for a quick cask pint at the Barleymow on the way home.

We're finding this switch to drinking in other-than-pubs quite odd but can't deny that it means there's something for everyone in a city with countless brilliant breweries.

I think my only complaint is the lack of current/consistent information on places' website and selection of social media feeds - it made finding out who was open, and when, quite painful.

Still - there are still many places to try and we're here for another week.