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Falmouth's Must Visit Pub

The Front pub in Falmouth, Cornwall

The Front in Falmouth (CAMRA Cornwall’s pub of the year) is a corker. It always has a long list of ales from a range of breweries; bottled beer from America and Belgium; and (because this is the West Country, let’s not forget) several interesting ciders. We’ve found the bar staff unfailingly friendly and enthusiastic on our several visits, and the building itself is the very model of cosy, well-worn wonkiness.

Now, it’s not perfect. On our most recent trip, we looked at the pump clips and despaired, recognising several Cornish breweries whose beers are, at best, bland and, more often, sadly undrinkable. We were momentarily stumped — there wasn’t much we actually wanted to drink.

Fortunately, Tintagel saved the day. Their Harbour Special (4.8%) was a dark amber delight with lots of citrusy hops up against chocolatey, roasty malt. Gwaf Tan (Winter Fire) (5.5%) was roastier still, with hints of rum and Christmas fruit — an attempt at a Burton, we think, but almost dark enough to pass for a stout in the low light.

The Front’s local loyalty is to be applauded but perhaps there’s something to be said for adjusting the balance to feature more beer from elsewhere in the UK to keep the local brewers on their toes?

At any rate, if you are visiting Cornwall, and like beer, this pub should certainly be on your itinerary. We’ll certainly be visiting again soon.

Notes:

1. On previous visits, we’ve been spoilt for choice, and excellent local breweries such as Coastal are more often found here than anywhere else.

2. Pints and Pubs liked Harbour Special too.

8 replies on “Falmouth's Must Visit Pub”

I completely agree, some beers locally here in Staffordshire/Cheshire areas fit that bill perfectly. We also suffer another reverse phenomena locally where we seem to get brews from far and wide and yet miss some really god local breweries altogether.
As an example we get regular beers from Coastal, three in the last 10 days, yet I’ve never seen a beer from say, Buxton brewery that are less than 20 miles away ever…
I hasten to add there is nothing wring with Coastal, most of the beers I’ve tried have been really good, it’s the principle, probably price and beer swap driven.

Phil — yes, you see more Coastal than we do, and they’re only 20 mins on the train from where we live! (Although the brewer being from Crewe probably has pub/CAMRA connections in your neck of the woods…?)

I couldn’t possibly agree more about Tintagel’s ales. Pitch perfect, every one of ’em. 🙂

Interesting post, thanks for the link. Culturally, Cornwall has a lot more in common with Somerset than London (people down here refer to me as “local” when I tell them I’m from Somerset, despite the four hour train journey) but, yes, there is something sinister (if understandable) about St Austell’s play for the whole of the South West.

As it happens, we also really rate St Austell’s beer, and Tribute is in a different league to Doom Bar.

Mind you, it’s not like Bristol is short of breweries!

[…] a long time, Cornwall’s primary real ale destination. In the face of competition, it seems a bit less exciting than it used to, but is still a great place to find a wide range of real ales, including many lesser-spotted beers […]

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