The 200-year-old venue is the perfect place to sink a pint
Carol Ross, landlady of the Roscoe Head Pub on Roscoe Street, Liverpool(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Brewers from across the country have revealed the best venues to drink a pint of their own beer. Cask Ale Week returns from September 18 – 28 with an estimated 10,000 pubs offering free try-before-you-buy samples across a range of styles, from hoppy pale ales to dark malty stouts
Some of Britain’s leading brewers were asked to which venue they would choose to enjoy a pint during Cask Ale Week. Sam Shrimpton, head brewer of Fyne Ales, said he’d choose Liverpool’s Roscoe Head to sink a pint of Jarl.
Sam said: “The Roscoe Head in Liverpool is a proper old-school pub, cosy, welcoming, and full of character. I love that the regulars settle into the snug and work their way through the cask line-up.
“They even serve each beer in the right glassware, which shows real care and respect for the pint. It’s just a brilliant place to enjoy a proper cask ale.
“I’d be ordering a pint of Jarl, our flagship session blonde ale. Fyne Ales was one of the first UK breweries to use Citra hops and Jarl has been winning awards and the hearts of drinkers ever since.”
Carol Ross, landlady of the Roscoe Head Pub on Roscoe Street, Liverpool(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
The Roscoe Head was the only Merseyside venue to be named by brewers. The pub dates back almost 200 years with origins stretching even further to the 1700s.
The Roscoe Street venue has been passed down in the family for generations and is currently run by landlady Carol Ross. Consisting of a main bar, two small rooms and a tiny snug, much tradition has been kept at The Roscoe Head and with no jukeboxes or fruit machines in sight, the business prides itself on being a “conversation pub.”
Known and loved for its beers, it is also the “only pub in the North of England” to appear in every edition of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide since it was first published 51 years ago in 1974.
Landlady Carol has been in charge of The Roscoe Head for the last 28 years. Her parents, Nicky and Margaret Joyce, first took over the pub back in 1981 when there was “no roof on the toilet and it was outdoors”.
Carol Ross, landlady of the Roscoe Head Pub on Roscoe Street, Liverpool(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Over the years, the pub has been loved for its beers and Carol said some of her proudest moments have been when that has been celebrated. She previously told the ECHO: “Without a shadow of a doubt, the pub is known for its beer, always has been.
“It’s 50 years this year since we first got into the Beer Guide in 1974. I’m one of only five in the country, only one in the North. It’s not just me though – it’s my mum and dad before me, it’s been in our family for 42 years and before that it was the previous owners for eight years. But it feels good.
“I often look back and think why am I still here, why am I still one of those five, why am I still in the pub of the year challenges all year and it’s purely down to hygiene – keeping good beer. I did a beer festival in the street and it was mega.
“Only one day on a Sunday and there was loads and loads of planning for it. When I realised the enormity of what I took on I thought oh my god. But I won pub of the year that year, in 2012 – that was a momentous moment for me.”