My very last Essex tick* for GBG20 came on the first Saturday of October. Just as well I got it done, opening hours are Connoisseur-esque.
Now, I come to praise Leigh-on-Sea Brewery not to bury it, but it really isn’t in Leigh.
As you see, very definitely in Eastwood, which made a sterling job of hosting the Oakwood in the Guide a few years back.
Yes, all the evidence was that I was in Eastwood.
As I passed the row of five successive takeaways in the arcade along the A1015, a mass protest asking for the Tap to be shown under Eastwood in GBG21 walked past. Find the petition online.
You might not find the brewery itself in the dark, tucked up a lane behind Progress Motors and Sapphire Packaging.
But us tickers love a challenge.
Look for this
Now, I only had their beer in Brighton last week, so they’re obviously getting their beers into discerning free houses.
But what will I make of a brewery tap, forced into polite conversation with a friendly barman.
Pretty much what I felt about the Crouch Vale place last year, I guess.
Why can’t I be in a nice warm pub ?
But the beer…
“Is it OK, I’ve only just changed it”
“It’s LoveLeigh” I said, before realising what a prat that made me sound.
But it was, possibly the beer of the year, stunningly rich and bitter (NBSS 4).
“It doesn’t taste like homebrew” I added, unnecessarily.
I took a bottle of the 9% Stout back for Mrs RM. I’d love to tell you that was good too, but unfortunately Mrs RM had drunk it before I returned with her Chinese takeaway. I’m too good to that gal.
*Not that impressive, the only others were Maldon and Colchester.
retiredmartin 
I start muttering, it shouldn’t just be about the beer ,but therein is the problem for pub lovers.
LikeLike
In defence of Leigh brewery, and the others, this is basically an off license to sell their own beer by the bottle and stage the occasional event.
The fact it serves one of the best pints in the UK in a shed is deeply problematic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Seems like a good problem to have.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think a Good Beer Guide consisting entirely of Brewery Taps opening 3 days a week, or micros opening 4, would be a real problem for some , even if theoretically correct if they had the best kept beer .
LikeLike
But a venue open three or four days a week is NOT going to have “the best kept beer” compared to a Proper Pub with a couple of local favourites open all week long.
But is it about good beer or interesting beer ?
( I ask after several hours in Wolverhampton )
LikeLike
Great looking pump clip. Really like it.
LikeLike
Yeah that pump clip is gorgeous. Assume you bought some back with you for your friends…..
LikeLike
Friends?
I brought the bottle of 9% Stout back for Christine.
LikeLiked by 2 people
(Writing from the brewery….) Cheers, really appreciate that write up. I’ve followed your travels since before we started brewing and felt for you (and BRAPA Simon et al) when we were lucky enough to make the Guide.
Of course we’re not a pub, but we can on occasion achieve a similar ambiance – you happened to catch us on an unusually quiet Saturday afternoon.
Beer quality is (hopefully) guaranteed by being mainly keg conditioned, with cask having a strictly limited life of Thursday to Saturday – any left over is poured away after the weekend. We can only afford to do that as we produce it next door. That policy also explains the pricing – cask 75% of the price of keg; it’s not that we undervalue cask beer, we’re just trying to incentivise people to drink it.
Oh – and we are in Leigh-on-Sea; on this occasion we put our trust in the Post Office and estate agents – it’s Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, SS9!
Thanks for the visit!
Ian, Leigh on Sea Brewery
LikeLike
Hi Ian
Many thanks for writing, always great to hear from the hardworking people who run pubs and breweries.
I could see the hard work someone had put in to make your Tap a homely event space.
Yes, I did note £3 a pint of that delicious cask.
My tongue is always firmly in cheek when I write about geography! Just wait a year and see your lovely local CAMRA stick you under Eastwood in the 2021 GBG and then Southend in 2022 to muck up our cross-check between editions 😉
All the best
LikeLike
That’s like my mum insisting that where the live in Romford is in Essex as opposed to the London Borough of Havering. Lol
‘Waves sarcasm flag’
LikeLiked by 1 person
The real comparison would be if she lived in Gidea Park and the phone book listed her under Romford.
LikeLike