As I regularly add tap rooms I’m therefore inclined to say yes. I do try to put the opening times as known in the reviews but I agree these are much more likely to change that for regular pubs.
As I regularly add tap rooms I’m therefore inclined to say yes. I do try to put the opening times as known in the reviews but I agree these are much more likely to change that for regular pubs.
Work is the curse of the drinking Class - Oscar Wilde
Seeing as I added Surrey Hills a few days ago (and that really is just a few benches outside the brewery shed!) I say yes, mainly because these places are often hidden but also serve up some of the finest quality cask!
Quite agree. I have no problems with taprooms which, after all, are set up specifically for the purpose of serving drinks to the public.
On leaving the bar, I felt a strong blow to the back of my head. Turning round, I discovered it was the pavement
A yes from me also.
I think most of us visiting brewery taps will expect their hours to be limited and will undertake research into opening times prior to visiting.
The arguments already made in favour echo my thoughts - these places are pretty much guaranteed a decent pint fresh from the source so would be madness to overlook them.
Regular pubs sometimes have weird or irregular hours too.
The only limitation I would perhaps suggest is that they actually have to be open on a regular basis (even if this is seasonal) and not just open for random ad-hoc events.
I find myself wishing the Tap Rooms would admit to being 'pubs', rather than trying to be something different, much as cafe bars do. With pub closures, it would be healthy to see tap-rooms and tap bars adding pub signage and recognizing that they are basically real ale bars. They are trying to avoid the real ale stereotype of appealing to beardie weirdies though just in serving real ale they attract this beardie weirdie. Taps were traditionally 'Brewery Taps', pubs set close to breweries and used as showcase bars for the brewers to show their wares off to potential investors, share holders and business partners, showing customers having a great night out on their produce. Now virtually any neo-bar calls itself a tap room for having beer on tap. I do dislike the limited opening hours. I have also found them requesting their few customers, myself included, being asked to drink up and leave as they arbitrarily decide to close early on a night with disappointingly few customers, effectively punishing the ones who do go in and then wondering why many don't go back again.
A slight disagreement, although the term tap or tap room has changed over the years. Originally it was just the room within a pub or tavern where beer was served and it became an alternative term for 'public bar' in some areas. Most pubs with Tap in their names were set up by adjacent hotels as separate premises to serve beer, typically where the terms of the main licence covered residents only, or they just wanted to keep the riff-raff out! These are pretty well extinct as a type although some of the premises survive in their own right, and may well have outlived the hotel. As Arthur says, the term 'brewery tap' was more traditionally applied to the closest pub to the brewery rather than a bar within it, and I would think that breweries would have had to apply for a pub licence to retail beer anyway. Most, of course, had private sampling rooms.
The modern use of the term 'tap room' comes from America where it has specific legal meaning, but it became increasingly used over here by small breweries, especially by the craft brigade. On which mention, it is worth noting that far from all of the new brewery 'tap rooms' serve real ale. More recently you can find the name 'tap' applied to bars almost anywhere and it is rapidly becoming meaningless.
On leaving the bar, I felt a strong blow to the back of my head. Turning round, I discovered it was the pavement