craft beer shops/bars in Devon?

I lived in Newton Abbot in Devon for a couple of years, and I would highly recommend Teign Cellars in Newton Abbot, which is a specialist craft beer bar that also has doubles as a bottle shop and also does pretty good food as well. Also in Newton Abbot is Tuckers Maltings, which has an excellent bottle shop focussing mainly on west country beers, and they do a tour of the maltings as well. Of course, there are many excellent traditional pubs as well, for example the Queens Arms in Brixham, the Rugglestone Inn in Widdecombe-in-the-Moor on Dartmoor, the Bay Horse in Totnes, the Ship in Kingswear, the Pigs Nose in East Prawle (a bit out of the way), to name just a few in south Devon. Of course, Devon is quite a big county, and I only know my way around parts of south Devon.

 

Thanks for posting this, I am going to be traveling to Devon in early April from the States - and our friends live just outside Newton Abbot! So I'm definitely planning a trip to Teign Cellars and maybe we'll make it to Tuckers Maltings and some of those pubs (I also have the recent CAMRA guide). Are there any particular west country beers you recommend that I should have on my list? I'm planning to bring a few bottles back to the states but will be drinking some there too. Any advice or suggestions would be great! Thanks!

 

THe CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2015 is a pretty good place to start, and it also has a list of all known (at the date of publication) UK breweries, listed by county and also described in more detail in the second half of the book. Also, the website

http://whatpub.com/

is a really useful resource for finding pubs. Also, Tuckers Maltings hosts an excellent beer festival each April:

http://edwintucker.co.uk/beer-festival/2015-23rd/

This website is really useful if you need to use public transport anytime:

http://www.travelinesw.com/swe/XSLT_REQUEST?language=en&itdLPxx_link=home

As for west country beer/brewery recommendations, here are a few breweries that I tend to like, although it is by no means an exhaustive list:

Devon:Teignworthy (based in Newton Abbot, in Tuckers Maltings, e.g. Reel Ale, Gun Dog, Old Moggie, Beachcomber; they also brew the "Edwin Tucker" range based on historical recipes)
Exeter (e.g. Darkness, Ferryman, Fraid Not)
Otter (e.g. Amber, Ale, Bright, Bitter)
Bridgetown (based in the Albert brewpub in Totnes)
Hunters (e.g. Half Bore, Full Bore, Royal Hunt, Black Jack)
Tavy (e.g. Best Bitter, Porter)
Dartmoor (Legend, Jail Ale, normally available on cask at the Dartmouth pub directly opposite Teign Cellars)
New Lion (e.g. Pandit IPA)
Quercus (e.g. Shingle Bay)
Hanlons (formerly O'Hanlons, e.g. Port Stout, Dry Stout, Yellowhammer)
Clearwater
Bays
Beer Engine (brewpub in Newton St Cyres)
South Hams (e.g. Eddystone)

Some other west country ones:
St Austell (e.g. Proper Job, HSD, Big Job (if you can find it!))
Harbour
Blue Anchor
Butcombe
RCH (e.g. Pitchfork, Old Slug Porter, East Street Cream)
Kubla
Wild Beer
Cotleigh
Milk Street
Bristol Beer Factory (never had a beer from them I didn't like)
Bath Ales
Moor (specialise in un-fined beers, divides opinion)
Freeminer
Arbor

Enjoy your time in Devon!

 

Hey - thanks again for posting this, almost missed this awesome list! I'm now going through my London area list potential and now thanks to this addition, think I'll have enough to chew on (and drink!) as Devon comes at the front end of the trip, and for the back end, I'll mostly be in the Bracknell area...but have identified that Siren is nearby, something I wasn't aware of. Cheers again! And Go Chelsea...!