Beautiful Pub

The UK has an organization that celebrates beer called simply "Beautiful Beer". We took a break from unpacking tonight and visited a local spot (and there are only a couple in Herefordshire) that has won a Beautiful Beer award. The place was the New Inn and it won a Beautiful Beer Gold Award just this year. From the Beautiful Beer website,

"The Gold Award shows that the pub has passed a rigorous assessment of its beers, from the cellar to the glass."

The New Inn featured a mostly traditional British menu, with steak and ale pie and fish and chips on the menu, as well as a couple of Herefordshire steaks. They also had a "Food Charter" that explains that all of their food, where possible, is locally sourced. For items that cannot be purchased locally, like cocoa, they will only purchase from Fair Trade Suppliers (a first for Herefordshire). A feature I hadn't seen over here was an ever-changing beer menu featuring new beers each month. I had a Batemans XXXB. Good beer: a smooth, refreshing bitter.

For our meal:

Starters:
Mushroom Soup with Crusty Farmhouse Bread (2)
Creamy Garlic Mushrooms on Toasted Farmhouse Bread (2)
Mains:
Steak, Mushroom, and Ale Pie (3)
Cornish Fish and Chips (upgraded to Cajun chips) with Peas(2)

All in all, a good meal worth remembering. I'm sure we'll go back -- especially since we found out we can take Boo as long as we stay in certain areas of the pub and restaurant.