Congratulations to the Rye Waterworks!

My last very recent visit to the Rye Waterworks micropub (website) had me chatting to David the publican and discovering that the CAMRA (South East Sussex branch) has voted the Waterworks as their Cider Pub of the Year 2022, so congratulations are most definitely in order to David, Ulla and Eddie (who weren't there whilst I was this time), and all staff, including Lotte and Morganne, who were serving up fine drinks to myself and other customers, cheers!

Before David shared the information with me I had already drunk a pint of the very tasty and refreshing 3.8% Old Dairy Uber Brew (website), which I have written about before, and the (new to me) 3.6% Hopfuzz Fallout (website), described as a "zingy" session IPA, which had a dry bitter finish and an aroma I couldn't work out, but 'twasn't bad. BUT! David had told me about the cider award, so I had to try a couple of the (many) ciders available, luckily I had only tried the 2 weaker session ales so far...

Usually I would post a photograph of the board that tells you what ales and ciders are available, but it is a very shaky image I'm afraid, and I had, beforehand, walked up the hill to the Church of St Mary, and taken this photograph of their Burne-Jones stained glass window (Rye website), and it's well worth a visit! I own up to having an interest in the Pre-Raphaelite artists and Arts & Crafts movement of the 19th century, and it's a beautiful window... 

Anyway, to the ciders... I started cautiously and had a pint of the just 5.5% Nightingale Tenterden Cider (website), a 'wild fermented' cider, that is, the natural yeasts of the apples are used in fermentation, then it's matured for at least 6 months. My notes say "pale, slightly hazy, and very nice!" I liked it very much indeed; I do need to drink more cider. 😉

My second cider, and I was tempted to stay longer, but common sense won the day, anyway, my second cider was the slightly stronger, and crystal clear, 6.9% Double Vision Cider. This was a bit more complex, dry bitter finish, and very good too, although I did prefer the 5.5% cider. But I was taken back to my Devon years (blog). 

And, if you haven't already read it I do give more information about the Rye Waterworks, including historical details, in this blog from nearly 4 years ago, and congratulations again!