Beer #224 - Lichfield Vaults Hereford Ale

After a few pints at the Barrels the next stop on my mini Hereford pub crawl was the Lichfield Vaults on Castle Street. There has been a pub on this site since at least the late 1700s which is pretty cool and it retains the character of an old school English boozer with plenty of dark wood and deep reds. I like this place for its character, by London standards the beer is nothing special or particularly interesting with a couple of Caledonian beers and perhaps an Adnams usually on offer. On this occasion I went for the ‘Lichfield Vaults Hereford Ale’, which is brewed by Caledonian and branded for the pub. Presumably Caledonian brew a fairly standard bitter that any pub can then brand themselves and I was reminded of the 'Blacksmith Golden Ale' that I had at the Blacksmith & Toffee Maker in Islington, another pub that offers a lot of Caledonian beers, so perhaps that solves that mystery. Anyway I digress, as I say this was a fairly standard bitter with nothing particularly outstanding to recommend. Malt-forward with some nice toffee notes and perfectly drinkable, but with so much good beer produced in the county it’s a bit of a shame to see the Lich resorting to branding one from a major brewer in Scotland.

 

Brewery: Caledonian Brewery

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 4.2%