We used to spend every Christmas in Dartmouth. Best bet in town was the Cherub, which was from 8000 BC or something but had a fairly pedestrian beer range. There was another pub called the Windjammer that did decent beer (I am talking 2003 so basically 4 casks) but other than that you were stuck.
Still a few months behind but catching up gradually on these stat attacks!
Iāve visited Devon twice since the beginning of my Ratebeer days. My wifeās sister, her husband, and her kids have a place (soon to be retirement place) just outside Dartmouth and thereās pressure on from my kids to see their cousins again next summer. Iām happy to get away anywhere. In terms of scenery, I definitely prefer the more Northern counties of Cumbria, Northumberland, etc. I get that itās a bit wild, but itās not my kind of wild. The hedgerows stop you seeing anything, and the beaches are covered in pebbles not sand. Still itās always a good change and some great cliff walks if you make your way there!
Itās just that bit warmer down there in the summer and the beer is just that bit more bland, so after a day or two of ales, Iām often more on the ciders than beer. And there are some properly dry ciders, so why not.
Devon is my county with 17th most ratings and the average beer there is a solid but not amazing 3.38. The 119 ratings put me 20th in raters of Devon beers. I have no ratings of 4.0 or more and in my top 15 ratings (those that score 3.7 to 3.9) all are ciders apart from one. So, a special mention for Teignworthy Marthaās Mild.
In terms of beer places, Totnes seemed to have enough going on in terms of a beer scene, to justify at least an evening, if not a full day. In particular, if you want to fill the boot with new beers to rate, Iād recommend āāThe Shops At Dartingtonāā where you can easily walk out with 2 or 3 boxes of new beers and ciders to rate. https://www.ratebeer.com/p/shops-at-dartington-dartington/87829/
Iād also make a general point that whenever I picked up a beer that was only slightly off the beaten track, at least 50% of the time, I had to load it to Ratebeer, as raters are very thin on the ground indeed. If you want to propel yourself up some county leaderboard, you could easily do it in Devon. Youāll likely spend a lot of time drinking samey beers, but it depends what youāre into.
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When we went to Totnes for a wedding considered pulling into those shops at Dartington but didnāt bother. Woops. I see that New Lion brewery are now based there as well.
@beardedavenger There were certainly dozens of beers and ciders I hadnāt had, as well as a load of other local produce.
I think if I go back to the shops at Dartington next summer, I might need to have a big hand written list of everything Iāve already rated, as my data will probably not work in there - I found Devon quite patchy.
A similar experience at Rheged centre near Penrith where I ended up grabbing some beer that I assumed I hadnāt had (because itās like a cave and no reception) and there were a tonne of duplicates - and if youāre trying to increase your rates for a county, duplicates of the more bland beers are not what youāre after, really!
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