Quote:
Originally Posted by O.A.F.K.1.1
Most important thing is to find a good pub that looks after its beer and has lots of guest beers.
I would check the CAMRA web site.
Echo the first point. Selection varies tremendously and a lot is down to geography. Can recommend tonnes of beers I enjoyed living in Newcastle which are not widely available if at all in the rest of the country, because they are brewed in microbreweries in the North East.
So the best way to do it is to find a pub that cares about the beer. CAMRA will give you a list of pubs as a starting point but looking at the pubs it lists in my area, you will need to do more research to narrow down. Throw out pubs that call themselves gastro-pubs. It's not that they can't be good at the beer too, just less likely.
Ideally you want hand-pulled ales and steer clear of cask (get a bottle if you must - not the proper experience but neither is cask). If you find yourself in a Sam Smith's pub I really like the Oatmeal Stout.