Ale and Cider in Rye

I hadn't written for a while now about the Rye Waterworks micropub (website). If you know nothing about Rye Waterworks and its 300 years history, please read this blog I wrote soon after it opened 7 years ago; the address is Tower Street (corner with Rope Walk), Rye, East Sussex TN31 7AT. As you can see from the image above, they do sell excellent locally made scotch eggs, and local ales too, of course.

I started off with the scotch egg and the Bexhill based Three Legs Brewing Co (website) 10 Years of Pale No 3 Simcoe and Citra Edition (3.7%), which is what it is, celebratory! Indeed, a pale bitter brewed with hops from the USA, Cascade (hopslist) and Columbus (hopslist), so essentially an APA style, and dry-hopped with Simcoe (hopslist) and Citra (hopslist). Thus providing a big citrus flavour, dry but not too bitter, a very drinkable session ale, very nice!

I don't just drink pale hoppy ales, but venture onto the darker side now and then 😉 so this, the pub's brewery (website) very own 4.9% Pissoir Porter; their beers are all named with toilet puns you will notice. Very dark with hints of chocolate, coffee and nuts, this is my favourite of their ales, rich with loadsa body, 'tis pretty good, and I had the last (nearly a) pint from the cask!

Oh yes, and I also drank, from Tonbridge Brewery (website), their 4.8% India Pale Ale, I have never had a duff Tonbridge ale, and this didn't let me down. More of a traditional style IPA, though a bit paler, and brewed with First Gold (hopslist), presumably from the USA Cascade (hopslist), Keyworth Midseason (hopslist) and Target from Kent (hopslist), hops mostly from Kent and therefore not as fruity as an APA, but very tasty, very drinkable, and very good!

And a couple of ciders before I left, for 2 or 3 of my 5 a day 😉 starting off with the crystal clear 6.9% Perryhill Orchards Double Vision Cider (website). This is quite a complex cider, with a dry bitter finish, and very good indeed, nice one; they also have a less dry version. 

I finished off with just a half pint (limited time to catch train home) of a cider from Biddenden Vineyards (website), their 8.4% Dry Cider, made from culinary and dessert apples. This is what a cider should taste like, apple flavoured 😁 and so smooth and so gorgeous!

I just had enough time to take this photograph, from my platform opposite the box, of the very cute and Grade II Listed Rye Signal Box, built by Saxby & Farmer in 1894 (Historic England).

CHEERS! 🍻

Cider Week 2024 - Cider Session 1 in Rye

I've been looking forward to a few ciders for a change, and it being British Cider Week (blog), with the Rye Waterworks micropub (website) providing my first few ciders of the week. If you know nothing about the Rye Waterworks (above), and the building's 300 years history, please read this blog I wrote soon after the pub opened 6 years ago, oh yes, and the address is Tower Street (corner with Rope Walk), Rye, East Sussex TN31 7AT.

I started with the Biddenden (website) Biddies Kentish Kiss (5.0%), a pale rose blush coloured cider, with a natural sparkle, that I had never had before. This is a medium cider, created from apples with a 'slight red blush' on the skin and 'rosy coloured flesh' with the apples pressed and fermented on site at Biddendens in Kent, and 'very easy to drink' I noted.

My second was the excellent cider portrayed in the photograph above, as you can see, pale and very clear, the 5.8% Earl's Reserve Still Cider, made from Russet apples grown on their own 100 acre farm in Matfield, near Tonbridge in Kent, where they've been growing apples since 1964, that is Charrington's (website). What can I say, crisp and refreshing, with a dry finish and so easy to drink, now this is what apple juice should taste like! 😉

I finished off with East Sussex Perryhill (website) 6.9% Double Vision Dry Cider, they sell 2 versions at the same strength, this one a "crisp dry" cider, and a Double Vision Medium Cider. Anyway, I have written about this before (blog) and it remains pale, complex, and dry, almost sour, like being back in Devon again at Ye Olde Cider Bar in Newton Abbot (blog)! 

More to come in my next blog, cheers! 🍻

Rye Waterworks & Happy (Chinese) New Year!

Indeed, today celebrates the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Rabbit (British Council), so Happy New Year! And what has this to do with the Rye Waterworks micropub (website)? Well, exactly a year ago today I wrote about my new year visit to the pub (blog), a favourite haunt of mine since I first wrote about it soon after it opened, getting on for 5 years ago (blog). Oh yes, and on Friday I visited for the first time this year, which meant I said 'Happy New Year' to the folks there... A roundabout way of linking my latest visit to the Chinese New Year, cheers! 😉

Anyway, like a year ago (blog), Friday was a lovely crisp day with a clear blue sky, and well worth the trip over. I started off with a few ales, 2 from Tonbridge Brewery (website), and the other brewed by the pub at their own microbrewery (blog), although this was one of the last firkins from before their brewery started functioning, when they were still a cuckoo brewery; ale from their own brewery will be available here very soon, I was assured by David. To the ales, I started off with the thirst quenching 3.9% Tonbridge Easy Street Pale, brewed with Northdown, Ernest and Fuggles, all 3 hops grown in Kent. It's a pale golden bitter with a light floral and spicy aroma, plenty of flavour considering its strength with a hint of citrus, and a lovely sharp bitter finish.

The other 2 were more traditional session bitters, the first being, appropriately, the 3.6% Tonbridge Traditional, brewed with Kent Golding and Challenger hops. I really rate this beer, indeed, I've not drunk a bad Tonbridge ale of any style recently, that I can remember, my notes say it does what it says on the label, hints of malt and citrus, very good! And the very local, also 3.6%, Waterworks Ureynal, a pun on the fact that in one of its more recent earlier lives the pub building was a public loo (blog with its history). This is another very good traditional session bitter brewed with Pilgrim hops, and, as I suggested above, I had a chat with David about this beer, and I am very much looking forward to my first taste of this, and other ales they are brewing, a pale and a darker ale too, when they are being served at the Rye Waterworks. 👍

And on to ciders... I had a couple of pints, including one of the excellent 5.8% Earl's Reserve Still Cider, made from Russet apples grown on their own 100 acre farm in Matfield, near Tonbridge in Kent, and where they've been growing apples since 1964, that is Charrington's (website). This is crisp and refreshing and so easy to drink, now this is apple juice, and one of my 5 a day! 😉

The second of my 5 a day (pictured above), and my final drink before departure to catch the train, was the slightly stronger, and crystal clear, 6.9% Perryhill Orchards Double Vision Cider (website). This is a more complex cider, with a dry bitter finish, and very good indeed, nice one; they also have a less dry version. Cheers m'dears, Happy New Year!