The Horse and Groom - Home of the h2g2 Beerfest

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Three glassses of beer


Welcome to the Horse and Groom, where the beer is warm and the crackling crackly.


Inspired by a couple of threads1 by Skankyrich and Mu Beta, and taking its name from Arthur Dent's local in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it's a place for Researchers to come and talk beer with fellow ale-lovers.


Like all pubs, the Horse and Groom has a few house rules:

  • No roleplaying. Roleplay is encouraged on some parts of the site, but not here. There's no chatting up the barmaid or fighting with the landlord. If you say you're drinking a pint of Pedigree, you must actually have one there.

  • No promotions. If you give your opinion of a particular beer, you must give it honestly and not for the purpose of selling it. Advertising is bad.

  • You must pay homage to Arthur Perkins while in the Horse and Groom. This means you must drink at least one toast an evening to the great man.

  • No spamming, trolling or flaming. It's a friendly pub, so keep chat in tune with that atmosphere.

  • No spitting on the floor, smoking (except in the beer garden), graffiti or weeing on the floor. Goes without saying.

  • No alcopops. When we say 'beer', we mean anything usually served as a pint - including ale, lager, cider, stout, porter and all the variations thereof. We do not serve Bailey's.


The Horse and Groom management encourages responsible drinking, whatever that is.

The Library


Unlike most pubs, which are full of Readers Digest condensed books and ragged copies of the day's newspapers, the Rose and Crown has a fantastic beer-dedicated library. If you're hanging around waiting for opening time, why not peruse some of the Entries on offer:

Beer in the Edited GuideBeerLagerPorters and StoutsReal AleWheat BeerCiderScrumpyCzech BeerBeers of GermanyA Guide to Scottish BeerBlack and Tan - a Beer CocktailVictoria BitterBoddington's BitterBeer, Devon, UKPubs and Breweries in the Edited GuideThe Vaux Brewery, SunderlandThe Porterhouse, Dublin, IrelandThe Aass Brewery, NorwayEnglish Pubs - A User's GuidePubs with TalesBroadstairs Pub Crawl, Kent, EnglandThe Florin & Firkin, Utrecht, The NetherlandsExpat Bars in Lyon - FranceThe City Barge Pub, Chiswick, LondonThe Horsebrass Pub, Portland, Oregon, USAThe Dublin PubThe Ship Inn, Heworth, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, UKBeer FAQs and MiscellanyBeer - What Makes it Lager or Ale?How to Drink Beer at the Munich OktoberfestHow to Drink in UtahThe Beer Cellar of a Public HouseBuying Beer in AustraliaDrinking in AustraliaThe WidgetBeer BottlesBeer GlassesBeer MatsHomebrewingOther Beer-Related Works (unedited)Beers - A Pint By Pint Guide2legs's Beer ListForbes BreweryThe Princess Louise Public House, High Holborn, LondonNon-inclusive, rough guide to some pubs/bars in Cambridge


Feel free to make your own suggestions for the library, and we'll include them!

h2g2 Beerfests

A German bar maid with beers


Once in a while, we have Beerfests. The idea is that you grab a few interesting beers from the offie and join us around the fire to discuss beer. You can rate your beer and we'll post the results here.


For details of our previous beerfests, and our tasting notes, please see the appropriately-titled Previous Beerfests and Tasting Notes page.

The next beerfest will be on...

smiley - alesmiley - stoutsmiley - ciderFriday 6th November 2009 from 8.00pm UK timesmiley - cidersmiley - stoutsmiley - ale


If you are 'attending', please try to buy as many of the beers listed below as possible. We will be having simultaneous samplings of these. However, the Fest is not limited to these, and you may bring and rate any beers you drink on the evening.

  • Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer
  • Brains SA Gold
  • Adnams East Green Carbon Neutral
  • Badger Poacher's Choice
  • Guinness Foreign Extra
  • Sierra Nevada 2008 Anniversary Ale
  • Ringwood Old Thumper
  • Natural Brewing Company's 'Irresistable' Premium Ale
  • Brakspear's Oxford Gold
  • Brakspear's Triple


We also hope to organise occasional trips to other pubs in the real world - suggestions are welcomed.


Please feel free to use the Horse and Groom as a place to discuss your favourite beers and make recommendations, but note that we will only take ratings from beers actually discussed at our beerfests. If you want to organise one yourself, just post the date and time below and we'll meet you here! Finally, don't forget to subscribe below if you want regular updates and news.

1This one and that one, if you must know.

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