retiredmartin

August 2023. Billingshurst.

I know I owe you an August highlights post. Be patient, be patient.

The last week of Summer (before it arrived on the 2nd of September) brought some of the best beer I’ve ever (ever) drank. Some in Sheffield, obviously, but also in Billingshurst.

Our decision to set up camp 100 yards from the Billi Tap, my last West Sussex tick.

In years past I might just have nipped in for a half while Mrs RM stocked up in Sainsbury on deli deals, but it was only just gone 6pm on a Tuesday night and Billingshurst clearly lacked the night-time leisure options available in Bognor (bingo) or Godalming (er, dogging).

So she joined me at the bar of a gorgeous old beamed building and, offered a flight of tasters, shouted “YES !“.

And that was the start of our downfall. As you see above, the tasters above weren’t that small, and we swiftly moved on to halves and pints of the favoured ones from Little Monster and Brolly, with the cask interloper registering a rare 4.5. The scratchings and biltong were equally stunning.

No idea what it was, but Martin will. Martin (“Ah, a fellow son of Mars !”), was the real star, the Top 100 factor, chatting to us about life and cask and lesser matters.

Mrs RM read a book about Sussex Women which missed her out on the basis she was born just over the border in Kent. Is there a book about Kent Women ?

It wasn’t a cheap session, but it was a lengthy and magnificent session, the equivalent of 2 hours at IndyMan but with cask, and rather better value than a curry and Cobra next door would have been.

I’d love to have brought you a photo of a fully-pinked West Sussex chapter but, due to a tragedy you will soon read about on these very pages, that is not currently possible.