Reading – Greyfriar of Reading

Cask (eight options) and keg (fourteen options) meet here, a Good Beer Guide listed pub which is also an Untappd verified venue (wooooo – another venue badge…..) and is well reviewed on-line. I’m not sure that the quality of the experience is evident from the exterior, but I had high hopes after reading about it. The advantage of having beer options listed on Untappd is that I’m excited before entering, or at least my expectations have been moderated if the choices aren’t very decadent.

It was quite dark inside, so I struggled to get a clear photo, so this will have to do. There are plenty of cask and keg options, with the service being efficient and polite, with the far wall off to the right being covered in pump clips to add a little decoration to the arrangement. This pub seemed to have a bit of everything in terms of customer demographic, young and old, male and female, quiet and loud, all fitting together well, so I’d suggest that this is very much a pub at ease with itself.

The Inner-City Sumo from the formidable Turning Point Brewing Company, memorable for me as they brew the Yellow Matter Custard beer. This beer was delightful, a heap of passionfruit and orange and aroma to mach. It’s actually also got guava, but I have no idea what that tastes like, as I’m not a fruit expert. It’s a shame that more beers aren’t designed to taste like crisps or chocolate bars, as I could add an element of knowledge to my comments there…..

The Night Lapse, also from Turning Point, which was perhaps a bit too roasty (as they put it) for me, but a well kept cask beer which had a depth of flavour and no shortage of coffee notes.

I very much liked this pub and am pleased that it has reached the Good Beer Guide, although I assume that’s primarily because of the quality of their real ales. I liked the keg options, I liked the environment and I suspect this will be one of the best pubs that I visit in Reading. How lovely.