Warm welcome to Nottingham!
THE Vat and Fiddle, Nottingham’s Castle Rock brewery tap house is a beautiful Art Deco building housing the best the brewery has to offer. Only a minute’s walk from the train station, it is an ideal starting point for anyone visiting Nottingham.
Set underneath the brewery tower, the
“Vat” has an impressive array of cask pumps. They always have the five core range casks from Castle Rock, so a familiar pint is readily available. Having 13 pumps with a minimum of 11 on, including at least five guests, there is plenty to choose from.
Around the pub are many pictures of Nottingham’s history, many taken near the pub. One in particular caught my eye, a blackand-white picture of a Barton bus and its driver, as my father-in-law used to work for the Nottingham company. It made me think about what other bits of history this pub held.
Admittedly, I struggled to decide what cask to have. I started with a 5.5% tart and decadent raspberry and plum stout, Abduction by Vocation Brewery. I followed this with a huge 13.4% Imperial stout that has been aged in cognac barrels with cherries. Storming The Emperor’s Castle, a collaboration between Castle Rock and one of the most highly rated nanobreweries in the country. Emperor’s Brewery of Loughborough. This particular beer has been aged in different barrels, so it’s always worth keeping a look-out for its variations within Castle Rock pubs.
The pub serves 10 traditional ciders, and I again found it difficult to choose. I opted to take the friendly and well-informed staff’s recommendation: a flat, bright and sweet cider, Sheep Wash by Torkard Cider in Hucknall. Torkard pride themselves on using apples only grown in Nottinghamshire.
A well-stocked craft beer fridge accompanies the five Craft Keg lines, one being Castle Rock’s Session IPA, and dour guest beers. With two porters, a pumpkin and peach saison and a coconut and chocolate Imperial stout, it’s a seriously interesting line-up.
I feel the Vat is a marvellous welcome to anyone visiting us and a great introduction to the quality and quantity of great pubs we have to offer.