Monday 25 February 2019

Some Harvey's XXXX Old Ale at last


Just a quick post, but a prelude to a much longer one which will follow this short effort. The good news is that at long last, and towards the end of the particular “season”, I finally managed to track down some Harvey’s Old Ale, and mighty fine it was too.

The location was somewhere totally unexpected, and a new one for me as well, but I’ll keep you guessing a little longer, just to keep the suspense going. The beer was in peak condition, served cool and looking attractive in the glass, the dark, slightly sweet ale being topped with a thick, creamy head. I scored it at 4.0 NBSS.

It was rather ironic to come across this classic example of a southern, "old ale", on what was the warmest February day since records began, but the exposed location of the pub where I enjoyed the beer, meant there was still a bit of a chill in the air.


I was a happy man, even though wife and son couldn’t see what all the fuss was about, and like the beer, the pub too was a real classic and one I had wanted to visit for a long time. My only regret was that, as I was driving, I had to limit myself to just the one pint.

All will be revealed next time, but what I will say is that unfortunately, the pub wasn’t exactly on my doorstep!

3 comments:

David Harrison said...

Don't recognise the pub, though I think I ought to. I also found my first example of Harvey's Old recently, at The Cat, West Hoathly, in excellent condition.
Apropos your post about the Chiddingstone Castle, I'm glad to see it is firing on all cylinders:we haven't been back since it reopened-quite a step from here.

Dave said...

You need to finish those driving lessons with your son.

Paul Bailey said...

You will probably kick yourself when I reveal the identity of the mystery pub, David. The Cat is a nice pub, but it's a long time since I was over that way. I'm sure it was a Beard's pub, back in the day.

Matthew passed his test nearly 18 months ago Dave, and has had his own car for a year now. He's still not over keen of driving long distances, and some of the narrow lanes we drove down last Sunday, would probably have freaked him out. Never trust a sat-nav, although to be fair, I'd already chosen the same route to the mystery pub.