[Pete L]

Am I alone in that I find the majority of 'Craft' or 'Artisan' beers pretty disgusting and invariably overpriced when compared to a decent pint of Broadside or even Doombar (hated though it is by the purists)?

Rob P

You may not be alone, but my experience is patchy. We have half a dozen local microbreweries and they are 50:50. Two of them - Tring Brewery and Long Crendon - are excellent. And of Adnams products, I much prefer Ghost Ship and find Doombar nearly undrinkable.

Chatting to the Tring brewer on a tour, getting a good product starts with the water - they rigorously tune the mineral content rather than just getting out of a tap. And it was a joy to see equipment I hadn't worked with for 40 years.

My first day job was for a brewery equipment manufacturer. Back then non alcoholic beer was disgusting, now it's nearly drinkable.

[Ridders]

This was the choice on Sunday, in the pub.


https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-qdr ... zqn-XL.jpg
It’s a pub owned in Brighton, by the Dark Star brewery, so they have all the current seasonal and regular brews that are on from there, plus the above guests.



I must admit I tried the American pale ale.

A friend of mine owns a micro brewery in North Carolina. They use English (Kent) hops for some of their brews, but they do use a brightening tank to inject the fizz back into the beer as that’s what the US drinkers rather like...fizzy cold beer. It’s very unusual for co2 to be used at the end of the process, in the UK.

[Bill Haddow]

Back then non alcoholic beer was disgusting, now it's nearly drinkable.

As the late, great, Kurt Vonnegut famously observed, the man who coined the term "near-beer" was a very poor judge of distance.

Bill H

[Paul_Sengupta]

I've got a can of Double Diamond in the fridge.

Paul,,,you're skating on very thin ice now mate

I don't think it's *actually* Double Diamond. It's a reproduction for the 1950s Tesco at the Goodwood Revival. Who knows what is actually in the can?!

Bit like the Lusty Luscombe Ale brewed specially for the Luscombe fly-in at Oaksey Park! Well, labelled specially anyway...

The last works leaving do we had, I turned up at the end of the evening for just the one. However, the rest of the crowd had seemingly drank the pub dry of all its real ales, and all that was left was the expensive craft beers. So I had to have one! Well, didn't have to, but....

[Chris Martyr]

I must admit I tried the American pale ale. .

Indeed Ridders old boy. Dark Star Breweries American Pale Ale is a lovely beer . Ironic really , as the name could quite easily lead one to believe that it's p***. Which it most definitely isn't.

Any other readers on here from around the Sussex area should try and sample the products of these guys :
http://www.kissingate.co.uk
Fantastic little brewery in a delightful setting and Gary , the Head Brewer is a very affable bloke, Their Dark Cherry Mild is to die for , as is their Smelters Stout and also the Coffee Porter.

PS. I have no commercial connection with these guys whatsoever. Other than being a very satisfied customer

[Highland Park]

When I was young (I was once...), my Christmas "treat" was to be given a bottle of Watney's Pale Ale to drink. I seem to remember it was vile stuff, but I had to drink it on principle....at least I never tried the Party Seven...

[Paultheparaglider]

Any other readers on here from around the Sussex area should try and sample the products of these guys :
http://www.kissingate.co.uk
Fantastic little brewery in a delightful setting and Gary , the Head Brewer is a very affable bloke, Their Dark Cherry Mild is to die for , as is their Smelters Stout and also the Coffee Porter.

The descriptions of some of those beers is making me want to move to Horsham.

[Charles Hunt]

I'm with Rob. Some good stuff from the newer small start-ups; but nothing has the depth of some of the old traditional brews.

Fortunately, with Harvey's on the doorstep, my needs are catered for.

[Pete L]

Any other readers on here from around the Sussex area should try and sample the products of these guys :
http://www.kissingate.co.uk
Fantastic little brewery in a delightful setting and Gary , the Head Brewer is a very affable bloke, Their Dark Cherry Mild is to die for , as is their Smelters Stout and also the Coffee Porter.

The descriptions of some of those beers is making me want to move to Horsham.

Unfortunately the King & Barnes Brewery shut some time ago. I used to live between the brewery and its closest pub. We never did find the conduit...

[Chris Martyr]

Fortunately, with Harvey's on the doorstep, my needs are catered for.

Charles , I fly from a small strip not a million miles from Lewes . Do I know you ?
Unfortunately , having Harvey's brewery close by does me no favours whatsoever , as the only decent pub in my village is owned by Gr**n* K*ng . Good pub , but dreadful beer . GK purposely don't stock Harveys coz it would drop their own beer sales through the floor.

Unfortunately the King & Barnes Brewery shut some time ago....

Pete , that was a sad day . K&B did some great beers. I believe the Dorset brewers who acquired them still do a K&B "lookalike" . Unfortunately it's not a K&B "taste alike" though........[it's horrible]

Thank goodness for the smaller , specialist brewers I say..

[Charles Hunt]

Hi Chris,

Not to my knowledge, hopefully we can have a beer next year when I get KATI home from Boscombe and can actually do some flying.

Locals at the Juggs at Kingston near Lewes boycotted the pub when it was taken over by Shepherd Neame until the put Harveys back on. Perfectly kept, and the table nearest the fire in winter is my idea of heaven.

[Chris Martyr]

Charles , you'll have to drop that delightful little S7 into Deanland once the 2018 season gets going.

It would be nice to drop in to The Lamb in Ripe for a pint , except they were also ruined by Shepherd Neame , a couple of years back and is now all boarded up.
[quote="Charles Hunt"]Locals at the Juggs at Kingston near Lewes boycotted the pub when it was taken over by Shepherd Neame until they put Harveys back on[quote]

Was there not a similar story with The Lewes Arms a few years ago when Gr**ne K*ng attempted to remove Harveys from their range ? I believe that the "Lewes Mafia" stepped in with a bit of 'people power' there as well....

[Ridders]

King and Barnes old, was a particular favourite of mine.

Good news is you can sample something similar from Hepworth. The have bottles of old in their selection: http://hepworthbrewery.co.uk

I say something similar; Note where the Head Brewer used to work....

[dhs]

You may not be alone, but my experience is patchy. We have half a dozen local microbreweries and they are 50:50. Two of them - Tring Brewery and Long Crendon - are excellent. And of Adnams products, I much prefer Ghost Ship and find Doombar nearly undrinkable.

Tring brewery beers just aren't quite to my taste, but XT, Vale, and Rebellion very much are

[Pete L]

You may not be alone, but my experience is patchy. We have half a dozen local microbreweries and they are 50:50. Two of them - Tring Brewery and Long Crendon - are excellent. And of Adnams products, I much prefer Ghost Ship and find Doombar nearly undrinkable.

Tring brewery beers just aren't quite to my taste, but XT, Vale, and Rebellion very much are

It's good we have a choice