September 2024. St Michaels. Kent.
Just as the challenges of one set of octogenarian parents ease (a little) so the challenge of the other set rise to the surface, and by last Sunday it became imperative we got Mrs RM’s dad out of the house for a bit before war broke out.
Perhaps the fastest ever legal trip from Waterbeach to Tunbridge Wells (1hr 20) saw us on the road into Kent’s vineyard country just in time to contemplate Sunday lunch at a new GBG entry, AND we were taking Michael to St Michael’s. Success !
The Hop House aka McCanns brewery aka Hukin Hops is down a tiny, tiny, lane near Biddenden cider,
the sort of lane you can’t imagine anyone else driving down.
Obviously, then, it’s heaving.
I reckon the harder a place is to reach the more it becomes a destination venue (see : Porthdinllaen),
an upmarket restaurant with beer rather than a rough and ready Tap on this showing.
Only open a year or so, and as classily done as any Brunning and Price,
with an ambitious range of guests alongside McCann’s beers. No, never heard of them either.
Not that that mattered as I was driving, so I just picked one of each for Mrs RM and family while she successfully pleaded that we be fed, please, promising we’d be long gone before Roly arrived at 2.
Margaret looked dubious,
but stopped worrying after an (apparently excellent) Tiramisu Stout and Baltic Porter (top).
Actually, the Sunday roasts did take a while to emerge (it’s a small operation), by which time I’d been reminded of how much fun it is being the designated driver when everyone else is p****d on 6% beers.
The pork and “trimmings” was astonishingly good, the loos even better,
the day a triumph.
But next time I’m not driving.
retiredmartin 
Nice laugh going on between Mom and daughter. Great pic.
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I love that pic, too. Mother-in-law in the running for Pub Man of the Year ? Stranger things…
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Is that red cabbage with the pork, always a good combination.
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Yes it is, I love red cabbage when it’s done right, as here.
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Red cabbage is done right with the Sunday lunch at Stafford’s Sun Inn, and the Tiger’s usually drinking well.
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Special commendation should go for the fact that neither the potatoes nor the Yorkshire pudding are burnt.
This is not an altogether common treat with pub Sunday lunches in my experience.
Incidentally, if one adds baking soda to the greyish-purple so-called red cabbage during cooking then it goes luridly blue, but I still wouldn’t eat it, mainly because you still wouldn’t know if someone had added honey, syrup or sugar to it, for pity’s sake.
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Those roast potatoes look seriously undercooked to me who prefers them as robust as proper pork scratchings.
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You’re in a minority, 48/52 I’d guess.
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Lovely family trip. I loved this place. 2 green hop beers had just been put on, both superb.
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The joys of reaching one’s 80’s eh? Only 10 more years to go and then it’s my turn!
Like you Martin, I’d never heard of McCanns, and there’s not a lot on their website either, although CAMRA claim they are the former Dover-based, Angels & Demons Brewery. I can’t say I’ve seen their beers on sale, anywhere locally.
Hukins Hops have a lovely site, although it is difficult to reach using public transport. If it makes the guide next year, Simon will have fun getting there.
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It’s in GBG25 and I think Simon has already got a volunteer on Twitter to take him.
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I’d never heard of McCanns but passed the McCains chip factory to and from Cambridge a month ago.
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I though the McCains factory was on Seamer Road in Scarborough !
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I though the Plaxtons coach factory was on Seamer Road in Scarborough.
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