I recently visited
my fifth micropub, that is, the first micropub in
Bexhill on Sea,
Brickmaker's Alehouse, 27 Sea Road, Bexhill, East Sussex TN40 1EE (Tel: 01424 602778 -
website), opened a couple of months ago by owners Martin and Robin.
The building has earlier incarnations, including a tea-room, restaurant, wholefood shop, and, back in the 1930s the fine mosaic doorstep reminds one it was used by the local
Lunsford Brick and Tile Manufacturing Company, which since 1965 has been called
Ashdown Brickworks (history - Rotary Club
website). Indeed, I received a warm welcome when entering!
The interior has been sympathetically decorated and refurbished making it feel like a comfortable pub, well designed guys. At the end, down there on the left, are the toilets, nice and clean and tidy, and the small bar is to the right just behind me as I took the photograph above.
Oh yes, and beers? The ales and ciders are to the right of you as you enter in a temperature controlled glass-fronted environment (see above photograph), and served by gravity. There are usually 4-6 regularly changing real ales and 4 real ciders, including locally sourced, indeed, on my visit it stretched to 7 real ales as one finished whilst I was there. I started off with the lower alcohol ale from
Downlands Brewery in West Sussex (
website)
Root Thirteen, a 3.6% pale ale brewed with
Summit,
Cascade and
Chinook hops. Hint of malt in the aroma and taste, a pale bitter, easy to drink and not overly hoppy.
I then tried the Mancunian brewery
Marble (
website)
Pint (3.9%), a session ale brewed with hops from New Zealand and the USA, and labelled 'vegan.' Now, I first drank their ales when they were still brewing in the pub,
The Marble Arch Inn (
website) which is well worth a visit when in town, and they were one of the first brewers to produce 'vegan' ales that I was aware of. Indeed the
Pint was labelled 'cloudy' but it was clear, vegans really can drink clear bitters! Oh yes, and a very pleasant session bitter for me, indeed.
Then I went for another northern brewery, this time from Yorkshire,
Northern Monk (
website)
Session IPA (4.5%). The
Simcoe and
Centennial hops producing a tropical fruit aroma, and hints of tropical fruits and citrus in the taste too. Another 'clear' vegan bitter too. This was not quite as pale as some of the other ales today, but had a pale amber colour, and had a dry bitter finish, and an aftertaste that I couldn't quite work out, but not a bad bitter at all.
Next was another vegan beer, I see a pattern here, this time from Bristol based brewery
Arbor Ales (
website)
Blue Sky Drinking (4.4%), which I noted as a traditional best bitter colour and tasting like a 'traditional bitter,' so no surprise that looking at their
website it is brewed with English hops, though I didn't grasp the 'delicate citrus notes.' No, I wrote 'slightly sweet at first' (perhaps the delicate citrus?), but a traditional best bitter, and not bad at all.
Oh, and many thanks to
Howling Hops (
website) for the image above, and a London based brewery new to me, although they appear to have been brewing for getting on for 9 years, and their 4.8%
porter New Old London, which was my final and favourite ale of the day. I have written many times about porters, stouts and milds (eg
blog) and their differences, or not, this is called a 'porter' and I thought it a stout, very dark with a light brown head, and with a hint of liquorice in aroma and taste, and roasted barley too. Plenty of body, as you would expect, a bitter-sweet taste with a dry finish, and very decent indeed!
So, also real ciders (above), some spirits and wines too, tea and coffee, canned
Gun lager, more cans and bottles to come, and a facility for 2 pint 'carry outs.' Crisps and nuts as bar snacks, but with plans for more exciting food. Oh yes, and a
Battle Brewery (
website)
'tap tasting' will be held this Wednesday the 29th January (
website).
I'll be back, cheers!
