Bristol Craft Beer Guide – How To Drink Craft Beer In Bristol UK

I still can’t believe we are the type of travelers who now seek out craft beer experiences in every city we visit, but here we are. The Bristol craft beer scene is pretty amazing.

They call themselves “Britain’s First City of Beer,” for a variety of reasons. Most of this relates to the history of some of the Bristol breweries. But, there is certainly no shortage of bars in Bristol for craft beer. Welcome to beer in Bristol, UK. 

In this Craft Beer in Bristol Guide, we will share options for Bristol brewery tours and tastings as well as offer recommendations for pubs in Bristol City Centre. This includes Bristol pubs that offer more traditional and classic pub experiences as well as those that specialize in craft beer.

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For more Bristol Food And Drink Guides, check out:

Bristol Food Guides – Where To Eat In Bristol

Bristol Gin Guide – Where To Taste Gin In Bristol

Craft Beer Bristol Guide

While living in Spain, we started to learn a lot more about craft beer in Catalonia, the region where we lived. We did a lot of research on Catalan craft beers and created a Barcelona Craft Beer Guide. Now that we live in Ireland, there’s certainly no shortage of Irish craft beer, and we have a fabulous craft beer bar in our city of Limerick. Bristol is a whole different story.

As much as there are loads of craft beer producers in the UK, when we travel to London, I find it difficult to find proper craft beer bars. In London, I see pubs advertise “craft beers” but they end up being a collection of mass-produced, industrial beers that (perhaps) once started as artisan or craft or micro-brewed beer.

This is not the case in Bristol. There are proper craft beer producers and bars specializing in local craft beers. Whether you call them craft beers, artisan beers, micro-breweries, or independent brewers, there is no shortage of them in Bristol. Bristol is nirvana for craft beer lovers.

What Is Craft Beer?

Because what is craft beer? The topic is up for debate. In fact, we had this conversation a few times during our visit to Bristol. To me, it means a locally produced beer, rather small-batch, produced by a company that is not owned by Diageo or a similar conglomerate.

We saw craft beer at every turn in Bristol. Even where we didn’t see craft beer, we saw British produced cask ales or even locally produced British cider. 

When we traveled to Bristol, we didn’t intend to write a Bristol Craft Beer Guide. Our schedule included one visit to one microbrewery in Bristol. During that first visit, though, we fell in love. We went above and beyond, and drank a lot of craft beer, and did a lot of research, to provide craft beer lovers a guide to drinking craft beer in Bristol. 

Bristol Brewery Tours

There are a handful of Bristol craft beer breweries that offer tours, mostly on the weekends. In addition to the breweries that offer tours, there are a dozen more Bristol craft brewers that brew beer and distribute to some of the craft beer bars in Bristol city centre.

Here, we focus on a few of the breweries that offer brewery tours, allowing travelers to go behind the scenes and learn about the beers they brew.

Cask Ale In The UK

First a note about beer in the UK. The UK is probably most known for its cask ale, something I was unfamiliar with as an American before I started traveling to the UK. It’s taken me a lot to get used to and people who live outside of the United Kingdom have some pretty strong feelings.

Cask ale is an unfiltered ale, transported in a cask, which is normally smaller than a keg. Cask ale has lower carbonation, which requires it to be hand-pumped out of the cask. It’s normally served at “room temperature,” which leads many Americans to complain that it is served warm. It’s not, but it does mean that cask ale tends to have more flavor than mass-produced British and American beers. 

The brewers we met in Bristol produce both keg beer and cask beer. Most of the Bristol craft beer bars serve both as well. You can see traditional keg taps as well as the hand-pumped cask ale taps on the bars. Most of the Bristol craft beer menus will say whether they are keg or cask. If you like your beer cold then stick to the keg beers rather than the cask ales. 

Moor Beer Bristol

Sometimes we have unique experiences because we are travel bloggers. This normally occurs when we are introduced to a producer, someone to interview for background on our blog, and something special happens.

That is exactly what happened when we arrived at Moor Brewery Bristol for their weekend brewery tour. Our schedule included the regular weekend brewery tour, but instead, we met Justin, a fellow American transplant and the current man behind Moor Beer Bristol. 

We just hit it off with Justin. Not only did he tell us the story of Moor Beer, but also educated us on the Bristol craft beer and real ale scene. He spent time with us explaining the Bristol Craft Beer Map and where to drink during our stay.

He is also the reason why we wrote this post. Initially, we were scheduled to visit Moor Beer and that was about it. But his passion for beer set us out on a quest to drink as much Bristol craft beer as we could during our visit. 

Justin mentioned that he doesn’t like the phrase “craft beer,” perhaps because of his American roots. Instead, Justine operates a “micro-brewery” in Bristol. It’s one that is influenced both by his American background. He believes that real beer has flavor and he’s attempted to re-introduce unfiltered beer to the UK.

At any one time, they have about a dozen Moor Beer varieties on tap, plus more in their signature cans. Everything we tasted was high-quality. If you are in the US and have a kegerator, you should be able to find Moor Beer at shops that specialize in foreign craft beer.

Moor Brewery Tours & Tastings

The Moor Bristol brewery tour runs most Saturdays at 1:30 pm and should be reserved ahead of time online. The Moor Beer Tap Room is open from Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 10 pm. They also have a London taproom on the Bermondsey Beer Mile.

Moor Beer Bristol is located on Days Road, just a 10-minute walk from Bristol’s center. It’s located in more of an industrial area, but still worthwhile to head out there. They can help with a taxi back to town if need be. We walked there and back because we had lovely weather. 

Bristol Beer Factory

We heard a lot about the Bristol Beer Factory while visiting Bristol. This is the original micro-brewery in Bristol. As much as we didn’t visit the brewery, we tasted their Bristol craft beer. If you can’t make it out to the brewery for a tour, Bristol Beer Factory operates a handful of pubs in Bristol as well, including Bristol Tap Room and the Grain Barge, a floating craft beer barge located on the river. I tried their Milk Stout, which was creamy and smooth. 

The Bristol Beer Factory is located a little further outside of town at The Old Brewery on Durnford Street close to the Ashton Gate Stadium. According to their website, they operate brewery tours “every other week or so” at 7 pm, so check with them for the most up-to-date schedule.

King Street Bristol Pubs

There are a lot of good pubs in Bristol, lest I say perhaps too many. I think if we lived in Bristol we would have a lot of fun exploring them all to find our favorite (much to the chagrin of our waistlines).

King Street in Bristol city centre is like a pub street, just one that’s been around since the 17th Century. We only captured a glimpse of it. I can only imagine the area in the spring or summer, with good weather.

There are all sorts of different pubs on King Street Bristol, some of which are traditional British pubs, some of which are Bristol craft beer bars. Some of them are probably more hangouts for the young. Those, we didn’t visit.

We surveyed a mess of the places to drink on King Street in Bristol to gauge whether they offer a good craft beer selection and whether they fit our definition of cool places to drink craft beer. Yeah, I know, it’s subjective. Most of these pubs open at noon seven days a week. 

The Small Bar Bristol

We loved The Small Bar Bristol, hands down our favorite. I can’t quite say it’s one of the best pubs in Bristol, but when we mentioned it to some other craft beer aficionados in town, they seemed to love it too.

I anticipated a bar that was a lot smaller because of its name, but it is a good size. But the feel is exactly what you want a craft beer bar to be and the bartenders were very knowledgeable and helped us pick the perfect beer.

If we lived in Bristol, I could see us frequenting The Small Bar, and that is saying something. From the exposed brick walls and natural wood tables, there was just something about it. 

The Small Bar Bristol is located at 31 King Street. They offer about 30 taps of mostly local beers, including their own brew. Although they don’t serve food regularly, they do operate a pop-up a few days a week offering Asian wings from Wing’s Diner. Somewhat famously they don’t accept cash, it’s credit cards only. 

The Beer Emporium Bristol

The Beer Emporium Bristol is a craft beer shop on the ground level and an underground dungeon-style craft beer bar on the lower level. The entire bar is covered with exposed brick walls, which meant I got to see people hit their heads numerous times in one doorway as they made their way to the bar.

The Beer Emporium offered a pretty good selection of local Bristol craft beers, and the staff was friendly and knowledgeable. I found their selection a little less to my liking than other nearby craft beer bars, but that’s based on the fact that I don’t like IPAs or super-hoppy beers. Because of its underground location, I can imagine it is lovely in the summer. It was a little cold in the winter. 

The Bristol Beer Emporium King Street Bristol is located at 15 King Street. They have a TV in the back for big games and matches. They share their space with Pepenero, an Italian restaurant and pizzeria. 

The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer Bristol 

This is the Bristol pub with the coolest name, particularly for an American. Yes, we visited the Famous Royal Navy Volunteer bar solely based on its cool name.

We heard that this used to be one of the coolest bars in Bristol until the owner passed it on to his son, which has changed the atmosphere a bit. I was thrilled at their selection of craft beer in both keg and cask.

That said, we visited on a Sunday, early in the day, and most employees seemed very hungover. Now, I can’t blame them because I was probably the same when I bartended at their age in the ’90s. But, there were a bunch of people working and no one really seemed eager to serve or seemed to have knowledge of the beers on tap.

The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer Bristol is located at 17-18 King Street Bristol. I would recommend it solely because how often can you drink a beer at a British pub with a name this cool. Perhaps visit later in the day when the staff is more on-the-ball.

King Street Brewhouse Bristol

Although The Small Bar Bristol does, sort of, brew its own beer, most of the Bristol craft beer bars on King Street just serve beer, they don’t brew it. But, at the end of King Street, just along the river is the King Street Brew House.

It’s a large space, with a full kitchen, and yes, they brew their own beer. They carry their own beers as well as other British ales and the bartenders are willing to help drinkers choose the perfect pint.

King Street Brewhouse And Kitchen Bristol is located at 13 Welsh Back, at the end of King Street on the river.

Other Bristol Craft Beer Bars

Although there is a concentration of Bristol craft beer bars around King Street, there are a handful of other bars to mention for craft beer lovers.

There is a location of Brewdog Bristol just a few blocks away from the St. Nichola Market. I know that Brewdog deserves its accolades for resurrecting the British micro-brewing industry, but still have a hard time calling craft beer. I prefer looking for beers I can’t have in cities across the world. We didn’t visit their posh corner craft beer bar on Baldwin Street. But, I wanted to let people know that it is there.

Wild Beer Company Bristol

If you are looking for the best bars in Bristol for sour beers then Wild Beer Bristol is the place to go. We walked by Wild Beer a couple of times and never stopped in until we heard about their focus on sour beers, which I love.

Unfortunately, we hit them on the tail end of our Bristo Craft Beer Tour and we were running out of time. I say unfortunately because they had so many great sours and stouts on tap that I could have spent hours there.

It’s also the perfect place for a little beer tasting in Bristol because they offered us so many samples to try that I had a hard time choosing. If you like craft beer, this is a must-visit craft beer bar in Bristol. 

The Wild Beer Co Bristol is located at Whapping Wharf near the collection of shops and restaurants called Cargo. It’s a cool, mixed-use space that I adored while in Bristol. Wild Beer has a good amount of outdoor seating as well, near the water. Their bartenders are very knowledgeable and super friendly. 

Other Cool Bars In Bristol For Craft Beer

Here are a few other options, which still feel like they only scratch the surface. I would love to go back to Bristol and spend a month exploring all of the food and drink options in the city.

The Barley Mow on Baron Road is the Bristol Beer Factory’s flagship bar. Zero Degrees on Colston Street is a little more contemporary, loaded with glass and metal.

We also ate at The Gallimaufry and Flour & Ash around Gloucester Road, which each offer great selections of craft beers.

More Of Bristol’s Best Pubs

There are few other options to drink away the day in Bristol, no surprise there. Some of these lie off of King Street and might not be the best for craft beer, but are worth mentioning. As for King Street, we popped into King William Ale House in part because of its bright orange facade. It was a little quiet, but they had a good selection of cask ale.

Off of College Green and Park Row lies the oldest pub in Bristol, The Hatchet Inn. Now, we did not go in for a pint, in part because when we walked by it was about 10 am.

That said, it looked adorable, although has a reputation for rock music and a biker clientele. It dates to 1606, but recently Butcombe Brewing Co purchased The Hatchet Inn, making it part of a British pub chain. To check out Bristol’s oldest pub, visit The Hatchet Inn on Frogmore Street.

Our driver also recommended the Cornubia on Temple Street, which is known for being a traditional British pub with real ale in an adorable location surrounded by newer buildings. We tried to get over there, but just couldn’t make it happen. Next time. 

Campaign For Real Ale

Another way that locals and beer aficionados describe British pubs is to talk about the search for real ale. This generally refers to cask ale. Some of the best real ale pubs in Bristol include those “certified” by Bristol CAMRA, the Campaign For Real Ale.

This was something many of the brewers and pub owners we met continued to mention, although not something I was familiar with before traveling to Bristol. There is a list of CAMRA pubs in Bristol on their website. 

British Cider In Bristol

Okay, so not entirely craft beer-related, but it’s impossible to travel to Southwest England without talking about cider. There are a handful of cider pubs in Bristol, but to learn about cider (something we know very little about), we visited the Bristol Cider Shop at Cargo at Whapping Wharf. They’ve since given up their space at Cargo, but they still do online orders and tasting events. They only carry ciders produced within 50 miles of Bristol, making it uber-local.

British pubs traditionally only carried mass-produced ciders, like Thatchers. It’s getting more common, though, to find British artisan ciders around Bristol. Check out The Apple, which is a Bristol cider pub. Well, more accurately, it’s a cider barge, right on the river. There is also a Cider Festival in Bristol each winter, normally in January. 

FAQs – Craft Beer And Bristol Pub Guide

We were hosted by Visit Bristol during our stay in Bristol, but all views are our own.