Location: Alnwick, Northumbria, UK | Date of visit: August, 2024
We were up in Alnwick for a wedding so decided to extend our stay for a few days so we could visit the castle and check out the local brews. There’s no shortage of bars and pubs to choose from, so we decided to track down some of the independent bars that served cask ales and found three lovely venues.
Harry’s Bar
Our first stop was Harry’s Bar, which was a five-minute walk from the castle.
The exterior is pretty modern and you could easily pass by if you weren’t on the lookout for it. But inside has a cosy pub feel. There’s a small bar with a great choice of drinks – cask, draft and bottled beer as well as rums, whiskies and plenty of other spirits.
The ceiling beams are adorned with tap clips from various beers. Some we recognised, some we didn’t (which just shows how many beers we’ve yet to try).
As we were on a mission to find local cask beers, we focused our attention on the four cask lines and opted for a 4% pale ale from Two by Two Brewing.
The Tanner’s Arms
Just up the road from the Hotspur Tower is The Tanner’s Arms, a small independent pub serving local craft and draft beers.
The seating area surrounds an artificial tree (complete with squirrel) giving it a courtyard feel.
If you’re feeling indecisive, you’re in luck as the bar offers flights of cask or draft beer so you can sample a few different brews.
After a rather lengthy debate about what we should go for, we opted for an Irish Red Ale from Durham Brewery.
The Ale Gate
The final stop on our real ale bar crawl of Alnwick (before heading for food) was The Ale Gate, a lovely modern micropub that served a great range of beers and other drinks.
The huge glass front made it nice and light inside and the atmosphere was friendly and relaxed. It was pretty quiet when we arrived, but had filled up by the time we left. There was an upstairs area that we didn’t explore.
With six cask lines on offer, there was plenty of choice but we decided to indulge in the S’More Porter from Three Brothers Brewing Company.
This was our favourite brew of the day and definitely a contender for a place in our top five beers of the month.
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