The pubs in Wolves were ticking over at lunchtime, but I’ve a real nervousness about the health of our more rural pubs these days. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, open at 4pm if you’re lucky, and subject to unannounced closures.
Wolverhampton was all about revisiting proper boozers, but my two newbies on the edge of Oswestry took me back to the Beer Guide staples; gastropubs and brewery taps/micros.
Starting with the Queens Head in the eponymous village by the Montgomery Canal (no, I didn’t swim it).
It’s the start of the Easter holidays, the car park is full, it’s a dining pub which will surely have enough turnover to serve the local Stonehouse beers in good nick ?
Sadly, no.
The Station Bitter looks OK. It wasn’t vinegar. It was just warm and tasteless (NBSS 1.5). A shame, as the bar was smart and traditional (all the families were in the conservatory), and the menu appealed. Failing to find a pot plant inside, I took the beer outside, left it on the table, and made a runner.
Surely I’d get the beer as intended at the Stonehouse Brewery Tap, in a farm next to an exciting industrial estate that also houses Munchies Diner and FindASaw.com.
Perhaps I’m not made out for this beer blogging world; I just can’t see what’s exciting about small modern identikit breweries.
Or small single room tasting bars with hops and diagrams showing how beer is made on the walls.
It was OK,it was OK (Dexy’s reference for you there). A bit cooler and chewier, perhaps NBSS 3. I’ve had much better Stonehouse beer in a proper pub.
But tellingly, I made no notes. I’d stood at the bar for 5 minutes while someone came from the factory to serve me (politely, but without any chat). No-one else was around, there was nothing to do but drink my OK beer and move on.
No doubt, if you came with a group of mates from Shrewsbury in a mini-bus and drunk them dry, it’d be great.
Anyway, on to the micro pub in the treehouse.
retiredmartin 
Welcome to America RM, welcome… They all look and taste the same after a while.
LikeLiked by 3 people
What ? All treehouse micro pubs ?
LikeLike
That’s a proper treehouse, actually in a tree and not on stilts, and it appears to be for sale. It’d make a nice second home for someone who’s fed up with the regular minibus journeys from Shrewsbury.
It reminds me of course of the Combermere, and that Wetherspoons have their toilets upstairs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As I say, a future micro pub, or brewery if they branch out (geddit ! geddit !) into duty avoidance activity.
LikeLike
“if they branch out (geddit ! geddit !) ”
Good lord.
I think it’s time for me to *cough* ‘leave’. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
If the brewery tap serves the beer in only “OK” condition, I’d have serious doubts about the brewery in general. Shouldn’t it be at its finest? It’s like getting in the car that’s come right off the factory floor and the engine’s not starting up properly.
But yes, I’ve seen enough giant shiny tanks to last me all my life. Give me a nice, welcoming room that has at least a little bit of history to it.
LikeLike
OK is OK, Beer Guide quality (bit frothy perhaps). But not great, and not a pub.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Tap Room”. Much more elegant sounding.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And, when on good form, Stonehouse Station Bitter is a Mudgie-approved example of a classic “ordinary” BBB 😋🍺
LikeLiked by 1 person
I well remember you saying that before a previous trip to Shrewsbury, which made me seek out Stonehouse in the (Castle) Vaults. Excellent, which just shows it’s all about the pub.
LikeLike
Whats exciting about shiny small breweries you ask. It’s the duty relief of course.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Brilliant.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The seating in the brewery tap looks a bit uncomfortable.
Did they get it in a fire sale when Miss Sadie Whiplash’s Emporium of Pain was closed down by the rozzers ?
Asking for a friend.
https://youtu.be/VTX6lBmGnnw
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a cool tree house! Yes, all those small microbreweries are the same – there’s nothing to see, unlike the visit to Banks last week.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against breweries offering their beers to the public at source, but they can be very cold when empty. The Banks’s one oozed warmth. You can tell I liked Banks’s can’t you ? And I really thought them average beforehand.
LikeLike
The Theakston’s brewery tap in Masham is excellent and even has a coal fire!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is true. The White Bear (?) also virtually a tap for Theakston I think.
LikeLike
Martin,
And the actual Banks’s Brewery Tap, the Clarendon, although a large pub is welcoming and has several beers on including, on my last visit, Marstons Old Empire ( from Burton of course ) on one of those fancy new-fangled handpumps.
LikeLike
Banks was a good brewery, I just don’t like the ethos of the company.
LikeLike
I can see your problem with a company wanting to make good, drinkable beer and maximising economies of scale to keep prices down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A lot of CAMRA members won’t go near filtered beer and will go apoplectic if it is mentioned – why do they wax lyrical about these beers produced using the FastCask system where all the yeast is stripped out and then a tiny bit of pretend yeast suspended in goo from seaweed is put back in?
LikeLike
I know of CAMRA members that will go near a filtered beer if it’s from a Key Keg, probably perfectly acceptable if it’s from a railway arch microbrewery ! .
I understand that Marstons only do a small proportion of their beers as FastCask, Hobgoblin and Marston’s EPA being the only two I know.
LikeLike
“Where England gets interesting”
I’ll say. Creosote (or something similar), Gobowen, Santa Claws (oh wait, that’s Nant y Caws). Just from looking at the names on the map I figured it had to be close to the Welsh border. 🙂
“Decent seating”
Not to mention your choice of seats. I see what you mean earlier about ‘rural’ pubs.
“Tidy”
For a second there I would have sworn that photo was taken near Vegas. 😉
“Or small single room tasting bars with hops and diagrams showing how beer is made on the walls.”
It’s hip. All the kids are doing it. 🙂
“Anyway, on to the micro pub in the treehouse.”
And it’s for sale! (LOL)
Cheers
PS – “it’s be great.”
Ahem, it’d.
LikeLike
Bless you/
LikeLike
Is there really a place called “Preosote” or is that just a Python reference ?
LikeLike
Now you’re just putting words in my mouth. 🙂
LikeLike
Doh !
LikeLike