Since I decided to go to one pub per post I’ve developed an impressive backlog. Only a week, but 20 pubs and counting. Makes BRAPA seem quite efficient.
Not all ticks are as, er, exciting as the White Horse. The new wave of brewery taps and craft bars leave me a bit cold, as do the bulk of the m*****.
But 8 Sail gives me a chance to explore Heckington. Thankfully the return train means I only have to explore for an hour.
If Sleaford is Lincolnshire’s Driffield, then Heckington is its Snaith. Spectacular church, the odd touch of grandeur, some very old-fashioned shops.
And of course your free cooking apples behind net curtains.
After 20 minutes walk I’d covered the tourist trail, and suddenly realised I’d better get a move on and find the actual Guide entry. But there’s no internet in Lincolnshire ! Help !
8 Sail Brewery Tap can’t be at the famous windmill, that only has seven sails.
Oh, it does have eight. I missed one. There it is.
The car park was heaving, and I joined a queue of excited blue-rinsed visitors, just because you do. It turned out they were all heading for the café (or probably loos) first, or tying BRAPA to one of the sails, or something.
In the brewery bar, it was just me. So I had to feign interest in beer and brewing, failing miserably.
The brewer broke off from whatever brewers do (wort, I think) to serve me a half of the Fenman, which was actually a bit brilliant (NBSS 4). I told him it tasted like the old Ruddles.
That seemed to stir a bit of interest, but I sense his forte is making beer rather than small talk with tickers, so I left him to the inevitable invasion from Gladys and Edith once they’d finished their Victoria Sponge.
retiredmartin 
Still trying to work out the point of these places.
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Well, if Heckington wasn’t there, there’d be a big hole between Grantham and Boston and all the people would fall in it.
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Nice rhus – sumac that is – and choisya, Martin. What did your dad think?
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Some micro breweries wouldn’t sell hardly any ale at all if they didn’t have a brewery tap as their prime outlet. Although they seem popular at the minute, I can foresee a day of reckoning.
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Yes, indeed.
The “dreadful” micropub in a city we visited last April was set up by a microbrewer as an easier way of selling his beer than finding free houses to take it.
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Too many microbreweries, not enough outlets or customers. As you say Richard, the day of reckoning is coming soon. There is a definite race to the bottom in the cask market. Too many small brewers are pushing mediocre beers at rock bottom prices out to pubs. There are obviously exceptions to this thank goodness.
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I do wish people would name them. I name Donnington enough.
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Apologies for delay in reply – been in Italy without laptop: With time I am confident the cream will rise to the top, it always does and anyone can pick the good ones already.
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The issue for me is less “which are really good”, more ” which are really bad”. Loads of beer folk hint at beer produced on the cheap, but Cottage is the only one I see named. And Cottage won a CAMRA Champion Beer in recent times.
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Ummmmm….. count them again. There’s eight sails. How much had you drunk on the train there? It’s kind of fundamental to the name of the brewery.
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“If Sleaford is Lincolnshire’s Driffield, then Heckington is its Snaith.” –For us non-UK residents, possibly the most challenging-to-understand sentence you’ve ever posted. 😉
Hard to believe someone who makes beer for a living doesn’t enjoy chatting about it with customers, but I guess there are always people who don’t much like chatting, no matter the circumstances!
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Simon and I often talk about the use of analogies and comparators like this and sort of thought that’s the point of the blogs, to record what’s in our head rather than having to explain everything. I must admit I like reading LifeAfterFootball or BeerMat and then reaching for the map to see what on earth they’re talking about.
I think he was struggling with my Fen/London overflow accent, but was clearly happier brewing. And his beer was high quality so perhaps there’s a moral in that !
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Yes, the use of analogies and comparators does indeed make for a more interesting read than the ” I went to ====== and had a pint of ====== and then I went to ====== and had a pint of ======” that can be found elsewhere.
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