Into the South West for this week with Gloucestershire and Bristol (for any pedants out there). It is a border county with South Wales and many English counties. For our purposes the county includes the Unitary Authority of Bristol which came into being when the county of Avon ceased to Exist. Most of current Gloucestershire is from Anglo Saxon England however there was considerable Roman occupation before then, leaving many sites of antiquity.
The county town is Gloucester but the major city is obviously Bristol. The next largest are Cheltenham, Filton, Stroud, Yate, Cirencester and Tewkesbury. Many of these having a reasonable presence on Ratebeer. The county is split into 3 geographical areas with The Cotswold Hills, The Forest of Dean and the Severn Valley connecting them.
On Ratebeer we have a total of 86 Breweries with 64 Active and 22 now sadly closed. There are 11 Client / Commissioner Breweries.
The oldest Brewery we are showing is Donnington Brewery of Stow on the Wold (Est 1865), probably the most beautifully set Brewery in the world (imo). Set in a 13th Century Mill, bought by Thomas Arkell with Richard Arkell setting up the Brewery in 1865, they would never get away with that now!. It has been in the same family, who also brew in Swindon as Arkells, since it was established. The Mill Wheel is still in use to drive some of the pumps and machinery in the brewery. They own 18 very traditional tied houses where a majority of their beer is consumed.
The Brewery in the county with the largest range is Arbor of Bristol (Est 2007) with 360 beers listed.
On the Ratebeer Best awards for 2020 Arbor also won Brewer of the year for Gloucestershire. Best Beer was Deya Something Good 5 and the New Brewery Award was made to LHG Brewpub.
The Top 10 Beers on Ratebeer for Gloucestershire are â
- Deya Something Good 5
- Arbor / Moor Double Dark Alliance
- Deya Saturated in Strata
- Deya Saturated in Citra
- Arbor FF #21 â Impy Stout R
- Deya Routine Bites Hard
- Deya Saturated in Nelson
- Deya / Other Half My Life in Sunshine R
- Deya Sunshine
- Freeminer Deep Shaft Stout R
The Top Pubs / Bars in Gloucestershire are â
- Small Bar, Bristol â 97
- Beer Emporium, Bristol â 92
- Barley Mow (Bristol Beer Factory), Bristol, St Phillips â 91
- Brewdog Bristol â 90
- Three Tuns, Bristol â 90
- Sandford Park Alehouse, Cheltenham â 90
- Famous Royal Navy Volunteer, Bristol â 90
(3 of these are within 100m in one street!)
There is also a very highly rated bottle shop in the area â
- Favourite Beers, Cheltenham â 95
The Top 5 Raters of beers from Gloucestershire are â
You will require a very healthy 153 beers to get into the Top 50 for Gloucestershire.
The Rater who resides in Gloucestershire with the most ratings is â
@downender who happily is currently rating with us.