On a blustery night in Liverpool a group of about a dozen CAMRA members met in the Dispensary, Liverpool and Districts pub of the year, to explore some of the best pubs in Liverpool and sample some local beers.

The Dispensary is a haven for lovers of dark beers, daring to serve strong, dark stouts which many other pubs shy away from.  Cains mild was once a permanent fixture on the bar, but when Cains stopped brewing mild on a regular basis, Pauline and Dave searched for a ‘dark’ replacement.  After approaching several local breweries it was George Wright who provided the idea beer, a mild produced exclusively for the pub and named ‘Mark’s Mild’ after the Dispensary’s affable bar man Mark.  An excellent starting point for the walk, and thanks to Dave for the talk on LocAle and its importance to licensees and brewers alike.

Next stop was the Roscoe Head, one of only seven pubs to appear in every edition of the Good Beer Guide, and an outlet for another local brewery, Liverpool Organic.  The aptly named ‘William Roscoe’, a floral bitter, can often be found here but this evening I chose ‘Cascade’. Also produced by Liverpool Organic this is a light session beer and ideal for a pub crawl such as this. 

After enjoying the buzz of conversation in the music free Roscoe Head it was time to head to the rather nosier Ye Cracke.  Tucked away down a small side street Ye Cracke is steeped in history and is another outlet for Liverpool Organic. Like the Dispensary, here, you often find stronger beers such as ‘Empire Ale’ a bitter, which at 5.3% may be too much for some, especially on a night like this, but was on excellent form, definitely my beer of the night.

At our next stop, the Caledonia, we met up with Liverpool University’s ‘Real Ale Society’ and were treated to an open mike night from Liverpool and District’s current music pub of the year.  The LocAle on offer here was ‘Hilbre Gold’ from Birkenhead’s award winning Peerless Brewery, unusually, this hoppy golden ale, is vegan, something I have never come across before.  This shows that our local breweries are not afraid to branch out and be adventurous with their beers, very admirable in the current financial climate.

Our Final stop was the Belvedere where we had two locale ales to choose from, Jade again from Liverpool Organic, and Viking from Liverpool Craft.  A relatively new brewery Viking is the first brew from the Liverpool Craft Brewery, although there are more in the pipeline including an excellent winter stout. 

This is just a small sample of the pubs selling real ale, and of the local brewers who brew it.  Check out the LocAle page of this website for further details.  Supporting LocAle (beer which has travelled no more than 30 miles from pub to brewery) is not only environmentally friendly but also helps support the local economy, so try LocAle today, you won’t regret it.