Pubs and Bars / Pub of the Week
Pub of the Week: Nettle & Rye
Walk up to the bar at the far end of the ground floor of Nettle & Rye and be confronted by eight hand pumps and 12 other taps on the back wall – with not a pump clip in sight to give you any indication of what they are.
An elderly gentleman comes to the bar, orders a pint and is then promptly sent back by the barman to check what number it is on the list.
All of the names of the beers and ciders here are slotted into racks on another wall, each with tasting notes, where the bar used to be when this Clifton pub was known as the Hophouse.
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There are stouts, sours, pale ales and bitters from breweries including Bristol’s own Arbor, New Bristol Brewery and Wiper & True.
Just a little bit further afield during a visit on a recent Tuesday evening and you can find a couple of options from Wild Beer in Somerset. Their 6.5% sour Shnoodlepip is the most expensive pint in offer at £6.20, but beers here can be bought in as small as one-third glasses.
Among the UK-only beers, there is Northern Monk from Leeds, Five Points Brewing Co. and Beavertown from London, and Celt Experience from Caerphilly.
Nettle & Rye has been opened by the team behind the Royal Navy Volunteer on King Street, with another 20 beers in bottles and the back bar stocked with such delights as Jinzu (developed by Bristol bartender Dee Davies) and Six O’Clock gin from Bramley & Gage of Thornbury, as well as cachaça from Brazil, four different varieties of Japanese whisky, and much more.
“He just literally wanted toast and smashed avocados,” a 20-something in a pink hoodie sat on a stool at the bar breathlessly tells his friend while vaping.
Food here of the bar variety includes an ambitiously priced £13 beef burger and duck and black pudding terrine (£10).
Barney, a black Labrador dressed in a rather fetching hi-vis vest appears, following a staff member through an emergency exit door before being shooed away and then trying to walk up the stairs to where the restaurant area of Nettle & Rye is now situated.
In a taste of what to expect from the menu of head chef Felix Rayment, formerly of the Royal Navy Volunteer, a preview event in the restaurant included such delights as pollock with cauliflower and smoked mussels; roe deer loin with beet and onion; and most of the vegetables bought from Reg the Veg just a few hundred yards away.
For Sunday roasts last weekend there was a choice of silverside of beef, shoulder of salt marsh lamb, cider braised shoulder of pork, served with seasonal greens, roasted root vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy.
Washed down of course with a beer from among the best choice in Bristol, so long as you know what you are ordering.
Nettle & Rye, 16 King’s Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4AB
0117 923 7390