Mine's a Pint - Winter 2018

The Royal Oak, Knowl Hill
After that we split up to cover the two other
remaining pubs in the village. Both are largely
food-based but both are also happy for people
to come in just for a drink. Those who visited
the New Inn reported an unexceptional pint of
Rebellion IPA while, further down the road,
the Bird in Hand offered a range of Wadworth
beers.
The Bird in Hand, Knowl Hill
Back on the bus, then, for another short hop to
Ruscombe. Here we split up again, some having
a quick drink in the Royal Oak (Buratta’s) – the
bus arrived about 15 minutes before afternoon
closing time! – while others went straight to
Binghams Brewery. We’d phoned ahead and
found there were a few spaces on the brewery
tour that afternoon so we settled in.
New Inn, Knowl Hill
When the Bird in Hand was a family-owned
free house it offered a wide selection of real
ales from microbreweries and was a proper
destination venue, being regularly in contention
for our branch Pub of the Year award. Since
being taken over by Wadworth a couple of
years ago it’s been refurbished and seen major
investment, but the beer range is now restricted
to the owners’ products and there seems less
of a reason to make a special journey to go
there. The first beer we chose was off but it
was replaced with a much better example and –
after a brief bit of miscommunication between
the bar staff – the first one appeared to be taken
off sale.
Mine’s A Pint
26
The Royal Oak, Ruscombe
Chris Bingham was hosting the tour that day
and he gave an entertaining talk about how
he got into brewing as a student, the long and
involved process of setting up his own brewery,
the brewing process and the ingredients used in
the recipes, alongside tasting several glasses of
the beers. Stout, the brewery dog, even made an
appearance at the end and of course received
plenty of fuss. Beers from Binghams and their
new craft label Ricochet (unfined, unfiltered
and suitable for vegans) were available for
purchase and the shop was doing a steady
trade from locals while we were there. Look at
binghams.co.uk for tour details and to book
online.