The Tap House on Byards Lane in Nottingham is a bit of a curious place, where you serve your own drink from a Beer Wall. If that sound familiar then you may be thinking about their other project Another? Wine bar where they offer self serve wine.
It’s a good concept as you can have as much or as little as you like, and you may well end up trying more different beers than you normally do. It felt good not to be restricted to a minimum of a third of a pint.
While we were here for the beer, really I was more interested in trying out some of their Detroit Pizza. This is a bit of a different style than the disc shaped ones that you may be more familiar with. Here it is an inch deep pizza baked in a tray. So you get a thick chewy crust in the base and a crispy edge where the dough meets the side of the hot sheet pan. Then you get the sauce drizzled across the toppings like a stripe.
BEER WALL
I liked the idea of the wall of beer and that you could have as much or as little as you liked. It was bit like putting petrol into your car as you watched the money counter click along as you poured your beer, trying to just get a couple of quids worth then finding that as you got to £2 it jumped to £2.09 lol.
They give you a card linked to your personal tab that records how much you spend and you just pay for it at the end when you leave, any food you want can be added to that tab as well, but don’t worry you don’t have to make your own pizza! (well not yet anyway)
It’s a good idea as you can just get a 1/4 of a glass if you like, then add more if you really like it. I suppose if I had been here all night I may well have worked my way slowly along it trying them all from light beers to dark beers and back again but this time we just stuck to a couple of American IPAs
PEPPERONI AND VODKA RANCH
The Double Pepperoni Pizza with Vodka Ranch was a good choice meat wise as there was plenty of that sweet tangy pepperoni on top and within the molten layers of cheese. The slight downside was that the heat from the Vodka ranch got a bit annoying after a few slices. This is probably a good pizza to share as I struggled to work my way through the whole thing and that was after swapping one of my slices with my mate. Don’t get me wrong it is a good pizza, just a bit spicy and rich to eat the whole thing all by myself. I did have a fair old go though!
LOUISIANA BBQ PULLED PORK
The Louisiana BBQ Pulled Pork pizza was a bit of a surprise to me. My mate picked this one out and I was thinking ‘here we go another pizza with pulled pork…yawn’. I was to be wrong though as I enjoyed the slice of it that I had traded in for one of my pepperoni slices a lot. Secretly I was wishing that we had gone halfies! I know that wasn’t on though as he had the same issue with me about the vodka ranch drizzle on my pizza.
The BBQ pulled pork was in a nice sweet tangy sauce and the caramelized onions that were sliding around on top and inside the cheese layer added more sweetness and also a bit of a crunch. I kind of really liked this combination of toppings but again probably one to share really. Maybe I am getting past the days of scoffing loads of pizza at once, which is a bit sad really, there were days when I would want to eat all the pizza
OUTDOOR SPACE
We sat inside and it was a bit dimly lit, which is fine if you are not some sort of food blogger loser who really wanted better lighting to take better pictures of his pizza slices. I walked past the next day and saw that they had this really nice yard space at the side of the bar. If I come back again I will try and snag a table out here.
Overall I kind of like this place. I do like to try different beers and the serve yourself concept is a good one if you just like to sample. I missed the interaction though with the bar staff like you get at places like junkyard where they can tell you a lot about each beer and even help you pick one out.
I liked the pizza, they had put some nice flavour combinations together and the crust was cooked well so that it was not doughy. It’s kind of like Sicilian style pizza I suppose and sort of like a focaccia in pizza form. I should have been more careful with the topping choice as the Vodka Ranch was a bit spicy after a while. Next time I might just have the Red Stripe pizza which is more like a Margherita. the red stripe being tomato not the beer (I understand)
Located at 10 Byard Lane in Nottingham NG1 2GJ, the Tap House is housed inside the shop that use to be Paul Smiths, and on that small passage that slopes down from Weekday Cross to Bridlesmith Gate. Basically find the Cross Keys pub and slip down past there.
You can check them out on their Facebook Page and on their Instagram Profile