Devon Delights: Drank It Through the Grapevine

I’m currently in Devon in the south-west of England sampling the delights of my home county until the end of the month. What better than a little trip to a nearby town and a few beers in the process?!

It’s also been some time since I wrote a Beer Saturday post, so why not combine the 2…

If anyone knows Exeter in this part of the world, I’m from a town nearby and got the old bus to Exmouth with my dad to meet my sister. First stop, The Grapevine - an interesting place that brews their own beer, does good food, sometimes some entertainment and a nice overall ambiance. 

My first beverage was an Exe Porter - a full bodied yet easy drinking porter with a large amount of chocolate malt for that in your face coffee/chocolate flavours, and weighing in at 4.9%. Nice drink, on the dark side and not my usual tipple. However, I just chose it off the cuff last minute and it went down a treat. 

My dad went with the Bitter Exe, a classic bitter and steady opener. I can't recall what my sister had… not one in the above picture but I do remember it was 5.5%! A bold first move ;)

Next up, we went to The Point which is on the marina there. It’s also where you can take the little ferry boat over to River Exe Cafe - a popular haunt with some, but that’s another article. 

This time I went for an Andsome Bay cider. I felt like something a little appley and this did the trick. A medium sweet sparkling Devon cider with a dry finish. Quite refreshing and 4.8% (maintaining a steady level, still in the 4s but knocking on the door of 5%).

My dad had a classic Otter Bitter which is one of the most common around here, a session beer made by Otter Brewery… and my sister had a Meantime IPA, which is a new one to me, but a nice drink and weighing in at 4.7%.

Then finally on our 3 beer rampage in the partial sun, we went to The Grove just along the seafront and sat on the balcony so we had a nice view… sun had reappeared (after being in amongst some wind and cloud at The Point) and a nice relaxed vibe up there with a few people enjoying it but not busy.

This was almost like a VIP area overlooking the main beer garden. Can’t say we were particularly VIP but you just had to ask and they show you up there and give table service… so we can pretend anyway. 

As I had gone down the cider route, I decided to stick with that and went for an old staple - Thatchers Gold, a very popular tipple down here. 

I believe my sister had a pint of Neck Oil and my dad a Proper Job. My dad (a bit more of an aficionado of real beer and cider, plus former publican) did say that was probably the best of the 3 in terms of quality. That Neck Oil appears to be popular these days but also quite expensive (it’s ok, my sister bought that round ;)).

That’s about it for that little outing. Back on the bouncy ol' bus… all in good time for a glass of wine and a curry!

What about your exploits this weekend? Any beer or other shenanigans?

~ Adam
@adambarratt
www.AdamBarratt.com

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