Black Sheep Brewery - Ripon

Becky

We had a great day here, we did the tour in the afternoon which we really enjoyed, stayed for a few drinks and then had our dinner in the restaurant. The food was excellent. The beef pie was particularly good.

Valerie H.

Stopped here for a tour and tasting on the outward journey of a recent holiday. The brewery and its modern visitor centre are located in a pretty village surrounded by beautiful Dales scenery. I found the bar and shop staff very welcoming and friendly, and our guide Emma was both enthusiastic and informative. After a short introductory video, she told us more about the brewery's history and how it got its name, then went on to explain about the processes of brewing beer, and passed round different types of malt and hops for us to look at. She then took us around part of the brewery and the fermentation room with its large vats (worth noting that the tour involves going up and down metal stairs). We finished up in the bar, where we were given a voucher for a free pint of our choice ( or three different 1/3 pints). Plenty of ales and ciders to choose from. I tried the special ale, and it was really good! Did not get to sample the food, but the meals I saw other visitors eating looked delicious! Relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Even the washroom in the toilets had a gorgeous view of the countryside. There's a great gift shop where you can purchase all the ales, cider and other drinks brewed here, plus clothing and souvenirs. An educational and fun way to spend a couple of hours!

Leigh B.

This is mainly a review of the cafe at the visitor centre, which was very poor on this occasion.

We’ve been to the visitor centre many times over the last 10 years and always enjoyed our visits. The shop is good, and the brewery tour is great. The bar is always fantastic, and the cafe is usually great too, but not this time.

We were meeting up with family and looking forward to our meal, but it was all a bit of a shambles. It took at least 20 minutes for our order to be taken, and another hour before the food arrived, and that was after we chased it. We think our order must’ve got lost, as two tables that ordered after us were served their meals before ours. When the food did arrive, it wasn’t up to the usual standard, and we suspect cooked in haste.

The cafe was about 50% full, so service really shouldn’t have been so bad. There were two young girls doing most of the waitressing, who were friendly and polite but clearly not that experienced When we complained it was handled well by someone more senior . We’re hoping they were just having a bad day. We’ll leave it a bit and try again on our next visit to the area.

Still give the bitter and lager a big fat five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

GB I. S.

Great place to visit , no tours were on that day so we visited the bar and ordered some lovely light bites and beer! The staff were very helpful with a pool table issue we had and all round good visit 😊

R F.

Bought my partner Black Sheep Brewery Tour tickets for christmas & we had a really good time, Alan our guide was really friendly, funny & definitely knew his stuff & how to deliver it, the tour was really interesting, he's a credit to the brewery... the bar area was really well decorated with a really good atmosphere, i sampled Blonde, Respire & Riggwelter, had a little taste of my partners Ale & Best Bitter too, every single one of them had all the Cs we were advised to look for by Alan
We purchased the two Bobby's Horn ciders, milk stout, holy grail, Ale & Burrows Blonde... upon our return home i have tried the two ciders & well done black sheep you've perfected them too, especially hedge row
Would highly recommend & will be back

Thank you

The G. F.

A wonderful tour around the brewery with Alan. He was brilliant giving us the history of black sheep & the family behind it. Then seeing around the brew house & having the equipment & process explained. You get a token for free beer at the end so as we were trying these we looked at the restaurant menu & ended up staying as a great choice of food. Really enjoyed our visit & will be back.

Stephen

We stopped at the brewery whilst passing this Saturday. We decided to do the 2pm tour and grabbed a bite to eat first. The food was too die for, service great, friendly and experienced and the tour was interesting and educational. I can well recommend for the food alone but when you throw in the tour it makes for a terrific day out.

Kezia W.

Tour guide John, was really friendly and informative, really enjoyed the tour around the brewery, John was really inclusive of all ages, definitely worth a visit. Was lovely trying 3 x of the drinks at the end, the bar and the shop was lovely