Manor House Inn - Beer and Skittles

All Beer and Skittles

Life really can be all beer and skittles. If you've been away, as I had been recently, the best way of re-introducing yourself to British culture is to find a nice pub and order a pint of bitter beer. Take a pew in the snug and listen to the ambient strains of people moaning about the perpetually parlous state of the nation. If the rain is lashing down outside (and it did with vehemence on this particular day), you couldn't be anywhere else.

Nice Pub in Ditcheat

Geographical inertia and general laziness means that most of my pub-going is restricted to the West Country of England. The troop and I located a pub with rooms in Ditcheat, Somerset, recently called the Manor House Inn. The pub has a traditional Skittle Alley, from which — our Anglo-American cousins might be interested to know — modern ten-pin bowling originates.

They serve the local Butcombe bitter at the Manor House, which I can only describe as a deliciously juicy beer. Amongst the bitterness of the hops and the maltiness of the beer, there's a fruitiness of flavour in the background. I'm enjoying a glass with the Monty above. Good company, but he's not the greatest conversationalist.

Butcombe at Home

Can't make it to a pub? Don't like pubs? We won't leave you out. You can still enjoy a glass of Butcome beer at home.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel 2000 is a bottled beer named after one of Britain's most famous engineers, and created to celebrate the bicentenary of his birth.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was the Mark Zuckerberg of his day. That's him on the label below, with signature top hat and cigar.

Reading from the bottle for tasting notes, as I'm not sure I can be trusted in these matters, I can tell you that the beer is a classic hoppy IPA with a dry and bitter-sweet taste.

Jolly nice, as are all the beers we cover.