We asked: “Happy Monday HH followers! Any beer lovers out there? What's your favourite West Country malt-based tipple?” We were delighted with the enthusiastic response!
On our Facebook page, Andy Brown commented: "My vote goes for Otter Brewery near Honiton. Incredible range of bright, quaffable, clean beers. Yummy!"
Also on Facebook, Ian Watson offered: “St. Austell Tribute is my favourite, makes a good holiday even better.”
We even had renowned beer blogger Mark Dredge join us on Facebook: “There are some great breweries in the South West - St Austell and Sharp’s both make some excellent beers. Wooden Hand make some nice stuff too. If there's anything from Bath Ales or Bristol Beer Factory around then that's also well worth drinking!”
Our very own Moray Bowater also weighed in: “Doom Bar goes down well in our local and The Cleave in Lustleigh does a very good pint of Otter Ale. Jail Ale from the Dartmoor Brewery is always pretty good.”
And the folks from Green Sparks Electrics offered: “Tribute is the stock choice although I enjoyed a lovely pint of Betty Stoggs from Skinners yesterday."
The nice people operating the Twitter feed for the National Trust’s Killerton Estate found time to recommend St Austell’s Proper Job and O’Hanlon’s Yellow Hammer, as well as their very own Killerton cider.
On Twitter, Andy Mogg recommended Sharp’s Doom Bar, and Sharp’s DW. Doom Bar got a lot of mentions – perhaps not surprisingly given its widespread availability across the UK.
Ed Beck recommended: “Beer - Teignworthy's Reel and Gundog. Pubs – the Northmore Arms, Wonson & Rugglestone Inn, Widecombe are both gems.”
Another recommended pub came from Dave Jenkins on Twitter: “Keep an eye on The Globe & Red Lion in Chumleigh.”
Dave also gave a shout for cider recommending Cornish Orchard Blush along with Julie R on Twitter who said: “I love Rattler when I'm in the West Country and I love The Welly in Boscastle”.
So it’s clear that the thought of good beer really gets people talking! If you’ve visited any of the above pubs, or feel that we’ve missed your favourite beer, we’d love to hear from you…