AwRye Visit and Ale & Cider at the Waterworks

Awrye, because my visit was meant to be on Thursday, which became Friday (& pun), but visiting Rye is always a pleasure, and Friday is a more likely day than Thursday to see David the landlord in situ at the Rye Waterworks micropub, Tower Street, corner with Rope Walk, Rye TN31 7AT (website). I first visited the Waterworks soon after it opened 5 years ago (blog), always worth visiting! Also Lotte and Morgan working at the bar is always excellent too, and 2 other members of staff popped in as well, and chatting to Paul is always a good craic, so a happy day.

I decided to drink the top 3 pale ales listed in the wall menu pictured below. From the top, first, and remembering that they only stock local beers and ciders, from Hythe based Hopfuzz Brewery (website), their 3.6% 'session ale' Fall Out. This is brewed with Bullion hops from Kent and has a zesty fruitiness to the aroma and taste, and is very light and easy to drink, nice one!

Second, from Brede based Three Legs Brewing, but soon to be moving a little further west to Bexhill (website), their 'vegan friendly' 3.7% Pale. Again, does what it says on the label, very pale with a dry bitter finish, very drinkable. Then, from their own microbrewery Waterworks (website) IPA (their pun I Pee Alot - the building used to be a public convenience amongst other things, see history @ blog). IPA (4.4%) is brewed with Challenger, Goldings and Ernest hops providing a big fruity aroma and taste, pale, and with a dry bitter finish. My first quaffing of this ale was about 6 weeks before, and I wrote 'heavy on the hops' but apparently too bitter for some of the locals, so it has been toned down a wee bit, but still nice, but not as memorable for me.

Then, as ever when I visit Rye, I finished with cider, indeed, on this occasion, 2 ciders from Biddenden Vineyards near Ashford (website), not just a wine producer, but ciders too, and much more! First their 5% Red Love (pictured above, showing its blush pink/red colour) made with red skinned and red fleshed apples, unsurprisingly called Red Love.😉 A medium dry real cider, very refreshing and with a nice dry bitter finish.

Then their more demanding 8.4%  Biddenden Dry, (above image and a more traditional colour for cider). Pale golden and made with Kent grown culinary and dessert apples, with more body and depth of flavour, and much more dry as soon as you take a mouthful, impressive!

That's all for now folks, but I will be back, cheers! 🍻

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!

Back to Rye and the Waterworks Micropub...

I'm gradually getting around again, but being very careful and administering regular Lateral Flow Tests to be sure, as one does, and yesterday I got to the Rye Waterworks micropub, which I first visited soon after it first opened getting on for 4 years ago (blog). The Rye Waterworks (website) is in Rye, unsurprisingly, in Tower Street on the corner with Rope Walk TN31 7NT (tel: 01797 224110), and just a few minutes walk from the railway station and main bus stops. 

Opening times are 2.00-10pm Monday to Thursday; 2.00 to 11.00pm Friday; 12 noon to 11.00pm Saturday; 12 noon to 10.00pm Sunday. I included a short piece about the history of the building in that first blog I wrote about this micropub, if you aren't already aware!

Everything in the pub is for sale, including all the furniture (except the bar!), consequently, the interior looks slightly different every visit (above, yesterday). As you can see from the board below, they also sell many different real local ciders, and beers from local breweries. I'll write further down about the beers I tasted, with breweries and beers available yesterday here:

Brumaison of Tonbridge (website) Best Bitter and Beulter;

Hopfuzz of Hythe (website) Blacksmith's Stout and Lager;

Only With Love of Uckfield (website) Dance Every Day and low gravity (0.5%) Juicy;

Romney Marsh of New Romney (website) Amber Ale and American Pale Ale;

Three Legs of Brede (website) Pale;

And the Waterworks own ale WW Pee Shooter Best. There is an application for planning permission in for their own brewery, but currently they are a nomadic brewery, brewing at other local breweries. Oh yes, and all 8 ales cost just £3.70 a pint, value!

So, to the ales I drank yesterday, of course I had to start with their own ale, the Pee Shooter Best, at 4.0% a very easy drinking session bitter and they're certainly attaining a decent recipe, very enjoyable. I also drank the Three Legs Pale, another session ale at 3.7%, slightly hazy and I think it's brewed with Columbus and Cascade hops, so quite citrus and fruity, but very light in taste, again, very easy to drink! I also drank the Romney Marsh American Pale Ale, at 5.0% it has a bit more oomph! Big flavour and aroma from the American hops used, the hops change over the months and years, but I believe Simcoe are the current hops of choice.

I just had to taste the Only With Love Dance Every Day, another paler session ale at 3.8%, hazy and full of flavour being dry hopped with Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe hops. Very interesting!

Oh yes, and they still sell those locally produced Scotch Eggs and Pork Pies, very tasty.

Great to see all the family yesterday, and a Happy Birthday to son Eddie, and great to see Lotte working behind the bar again, a great afternoon with much friendly chat, cheers to all!

Stout in Rye, and more

I have visited The Rye Waterworks micropub quite often since my first visit soon after they opened last year (blog), and felt that, as they regularly have darker ales and as International Stout Day was just the other day (blog), another visit was in order, of course! No Eddie this day, though David and Ulla were present, as well as a barman I didn't quite catch his name (Paul?), and David was in fine form again, cramming people in where it didn't seem possible sometimes with an astute use of seating and tables, getting people to chat with each other, and even running impromptu quizzes, whilst Ulla ensured my glass was full, many thanks!

There were 8 real ales served straight from the cask, as usual, plus numerous ciders, and much more (gins and wine plus plus), and, oh look, a stout from local brewer, of course, Hopfuzz Brewery (website) Blacksmith, a 4.2% stout, very dark and smooth, with chocolate in the aroma and taste, quite subtle, and very drinkable too.

You will realise by now that I do love pale hoppy ales in particular, so I also drank a few pints of ale from another Kent brewer, Old Dairy (website) Uber Brew (3.8%), as I usually do when in a pub selling this fine ale. Pale and hoppy, using Citra, Chinook and Equinox hops, and plenty of them too, refreshing and bitter with a lovely dry finish, I love it!

As I've said before, the furniture and everything not fixed down is for sale, so it looks a wee bit different every time you walk into the bar, this is how it looked when I entered on Saturday (above). Oh yes, they also sell quality bar snacks, I had a lovely large scotch egg made very locally with free range eggs served with locally produced homemade spicy chutney, gorgeous.

If you haven't been before, it is well worth the visit, friendly, chatty, characters, and at the corner of Tower Street and Rope Walk in Rye TN31 7AT, fewer than 5 minutes walk from the railway station; see older blog for more information about the pub and its history, and enjoy, cheers!

Return to Rye Waterworks...

Well, I didn't walk there and back this time, indeed, a quiet Friday and it seemed a good time to catch the train back to Rye (£6.30 cheap day return from Hastings, not bad) and revisit the Rye Waterworks micropub (facebook) on the corner of Tower Street and Rope Walk, TN31 7AT. Not much more work on the building to do for David now, I imagine, just the usual upkeep, and no doubt he has many small alterations he wants to make here and there! Anyway, I wrote about the history of this lovely cool wee building before, so, if you haven't already read it I suggest you go to my previous blog, cheers!

This was the array of beers and ciders I was presented with even before entering the building, so a good time to talk about what I had to drink, regular readers will know I prefer pale hoppy ales, but, as you can see, there is a good variety of traditional bitters, darker ales, and ciders too. I went for 3 of the ales again on this visit... From Hopfuzz of West Hythe (website), and remember, David sources his beers from a 20 mile radius of Rye, I began with their 3.6% Fallout, a golden session bitter, with a slight maltiness and hints of fruits, starting off with a sweetness to the taste, but a nice bitter finish. Not a bad start at all...

Then I moved on to the stronger ale from Romney of New Romney (website), their 5% American Pale, slightly darker golden/amber, does what it says on the label, apparently using American hops that may change between brews, eg they have so far used Azacca, Citra, Summit and Simcoe hops in their brews. I'm guessing they hadn't used Citra in this brew, at least I didn't detect any hints, this ale had much more body, as you'd expect, a little bit too sweet for me at first taste, but certainly dries out with a nice bitter finish, getting there...

Before I go on to the third ale of the day I'll quickly mention that David is now providing local gins for customers too, a selection of which arrived just after I wandered in; and included Tom Cat Dry Sussex Gin (website), Chapel Down Bacchus Gin (website), and Mayfield Sussex Hop Gin (website). I'm also aware that David is also seeking out local producers of perry, indeed, as I write, so there's even more to look forward to...

Oh! And remember that I told you in my previous blog that, basically, if it's not nailed down, all the furniture and curios at Rye Waterworks are for sale, consequently every time you visit you are likely to be witnessing a slightly different micropub. See the image below for a comparison from the last time I visited, similar view/different furniture.

Oh yes, and my final ale, well actually I had more than just the one pint of it, but I do like their regular pale session bitter, from The Three Legs of Broad Oak (website), that is the 3.7% Pale. I haven't written much different in my notes this time: "pale golden, lovely, dry and bitter, fruity aroma and taste, very nice!" And with a smiley face too 😊

Anything else to add? Well I ate one of their locally produced (that morning!) Scotch Eggs (please look away of you're vegetarian), it was nice, tasty and large, and served up with English Mustard and/or a very locally produced spicy chutney, indeed, made by David's next door neighbour I seem to remember him saying, both Scotch Egg and Chutney were quite delicious!

I must have enjoyed myself, because I stayed for a few hours, cool inside on a hot day, nice ale and food, and plenty of pleasant company and dscourse...

Finally, for today, David told me that, due to the huge number of charities that keep asking for support or wanting him to display their collection boxes, he has chosen just the one local charity as the defined charity of Rye Waterworks, ie Little Gate Farm (website), which "helps adults and children with Learning Disabilities and Autism." Nice one, cheers again David!