Craft beer flight
Photo: Wanderstheworld · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

Bristol brews at a density few UK cities match. Bristol Beer Factory restarted the old Ashton Gate brewery's tradition in the mid-2000s, Wiper and True and Lost and Grounded turned precision brewing into local identity, and a taproom circuit grew up around the railway arches and industrial estates. The flight, three or four third-pints on a board, became the standard way to drink it, and in 2026 the city's Independence pale took CAMRA's Champion Beer of Britain.

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Common allergens: Gluten

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 15 minTotal 15 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 1 crisp local lager or pilsner
  • 1 pale ale or session IPA
  • 1 hazy or juicy IPA
  • 1 dark beer: porter, stout or milk stout
  • Small tasting glasses, about 150ml
  • Water and plain crackers between pours

Method

  1. Chill each beer to its right temperature: lager coldest, dark beers least cold.
  2. Pour 100 to 150ml of each into small glasses, arranged pale to dark from left to right.
  3. Taste in order, noting aroma first, then bitterness and body, with water and a cracker between beers.
  4. Argue about the order you would rank them; that is the traditional final step.

Tip from the editors. Always taste pale to dark and dry to sweet; one roasty stout first will flatten every delicate lager that follows it.

Where to eat craft beer flight

Craft beer flight in Bristol

Left Handed Giant Brewpub ★ 4.3

££ BreweryModern hop-forward beers brewed on site since 2015Finzels Reach

Left Handed Giant's riverside brewpub brews upstairs and pours downstairs at Finzels Reach, the city-centre face of a Bristol brewery born in 2015.

TipThe group also runs Small Bar on King Street and a St Philips taproom; the brewpub kitchen does proper pizzas.

Directions

Wiper and True Taproom ★ 4.4

££ BreweryPrecision pale ales and barrel projectsOld Market

Wiper and True pours Kaleidoscope pale ale and its barrel experiments at a glass-walled Old Market taproom, Bristol brewing at its most polished and precise.

TipKaleidoscope pale ale is the benchmark first order; the St Werburghs barrel store hosts occasional special releases.

Directions

Moor Beer Company ★ 4.2

££ BreweryUnfined, naturally carbonated live beer since 2005St Philips

Moor Beer pioneered unfined, vegan-friendly live beer and pours it seven days a week at its Days Road brewery tap behind Bristol Temple Meads.

TipThe taproom sits an eight-minute walk from Temple Meads, making it the classic pre-train pint of the Bristol beer set.

Directions

The Beer Emporium ★ 4.2

££ Cocktail barOld CityUntil 03:00 most nights

The Beer Emporium runs 32 keg and cask lines in vaulted cellars under King Street, the underground bar of Bristol's self-styled Beermuda Triangle.

TryLate cellar pints and Pepenero pizza

TipIt pours until very late for King Street; the in-house Italian kitchen means the last pizza lands well after midnight.

Directions

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