The West Country has always been a great place for food and drink, and Bristol is a city rich in the tradition of providing the finest in eating and – especially – drinking, which makes it ideal both for those who live and work there and the many visitors who throng the bars throughout the year.
What are Bristol’s special attractions for those who not only like a drink but are also looking for something a bit different?
Bear down on the beer
Craft beers have been on the up and up for many years all over the UK and you’ll find that Bristol has a superb range of breweries with tipples for every taste.
Take the Bristol Beer Factory, for example. The core of brewing beer is to soak malted barley in hot water, releasing the malt sugars. This solution is seasoned by boiling with hops and is then cooled down, and the fermentation process is begun by adding yeast. After fermentation is finished, the beer is bottled or put into casks to use on draught. The brewery experiments with hops, combinations and styles and so you can experience a number of beers that give you all sorts of different and special tastes.
Other breweries creating special beers include Lost and Grounded, Dawkins Ales and Good Chemistry Brewing. You’ll find many other choices at bars all over the city, either owned by breweries themselves or in the excellent free houses that dot the streets.
Go for the gin
Once thought of as a rather unfashionable drink, gin has had an incredible resurgence in popularity thanks to the rise of craft gin makers, and Bristol is no exception to this trend.
Bristol Dry Gin has been going since 2016 and uses a distillation process to make this special spirit, using a number of botanicals that include juniper, angelica root and citrus to help develop the unique flavours.
Three gins are produced at the distillery, and they are all stronger than the standard gins that you will find in supermarkets, which are mostly 37% proof. Coming in at 40% is Bristol Dry Gin; Docker’s Strength packs a 55% punch; and you need to be very careful with the Turbo Island Edition, which boasts a massive 75%. Drink in moderation!
Gin is best enjoyed in special gin glasses, either highballs or the increasingly popular stem glasses with a round bowl, similar to wine glassware. Enjoy your gin in many of the pubs, restaurants and bars in the city.
Wine time
In the Chew Valley just outside Bristol, Dunleavy Vineyards produces rosé wine that has won awards and can be found in a number of shops and restaurants in the city. You can take a tour of the vineyard and take a tasting if you book in advance.
Drinking the best
Bristol is a magnet for those who like a drink, and especially for those who like trying out local tipples and supporting their own small breweries, distillers and winemakers.