It was my birthday, last week - we don't need to discuss just how many years I've been drinkng beer just now - so as a treat I chose a visit to a new brewery tap over in that Brighton.
We've been seeing Holler's beers around for a while now and I have to say I think they've improved a lot over my first encounter with them and now they're one of our "go to" brewers down here.
If you read this blog at all, you know we're not all-night drinkers...or all that much lunchtime drinkers...we're more of your late afternoon/early evening drinkers.
So we climbed aboard the bus at the end of our road around 2pm for the hour-long, but entertaining, bus ride across to the "Big City".
We found the brewery easily enough, just behind the weird and wonderful (and very tall) St Bartholomew's church and just off the London Road.
It's a slightly run down (or maybe, not yet gentrified) part of the city but we like those.
The brewery is in a converted industrial building given a lovely spruce up with the tap room being integrated with the brewery itself. This makes for stuff to look at as well as stuff to drink. It had only been open for a week on the day of our visit.
We were greeted with "really sorry but we have a power cut so we're not taking cards at the moment" but, as old-fashioned people, we generally pay for beer with cash anyway. So all was good.
They had four each of cask and keg beers and a nice mix of styles available.
The price was a little high for a brewery tap (£4.50/pint) but at least there was no cask/keg differential.
Unexpectedly our friend, M, joined us as he was in the city for football and it was lovely to meet him somewhere different than usual. He also approved of the beer.
The vibe was jolly with the brewery staff keen to chat about the set up, etc.
Food was pizza from a local restaurant - you ordered at the bar and paid, you were given a pager which buzzed when it arrived. You collect your pizza from the bar - simple and effective (and very, very tasty).
Now, here's a thing. So developed are my f*cking hipster beer drinker senses that I craved a 2/3rd measure. There were 8 beers so I would have been able to drink more different beers if I could have bought it in a slightly smaller quantity. Halves really don't cut it (and the boy agrees on this) for some reason. Halves disappear too quickly whereas 2/3rd really don't - no, I'm sure it isn't logical, but there it is. Even if you don't serve many of them, having a 2/3rd marking on the glass and prices by 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 and pint would, IMHO, encourage more experimentation by punters. But there you go, you can't please all the people, etc
All in all, it was as good a birthday treat as a girl could hope for.If the place were in Eastbourne I've no doubt we'd be regular visitors. I'm also sure that, whilst it won't be very frequent, any beer trips to Brighton will probably include a return visit.
In summary:
Good stuff:
- beer was lovely.
- good range on offer in all dispense methods (yep, there were cans too)
- friendly, engaging staff
- taproom clearly designed as an integral part of the business
- Pizza!
- Toilets: non-denominational cubicles with sinks inside and clean and lovely
- Nice indoor and outdoor space
- no price differential between cask/keg
- generous opening times!
Could be better:
- beer a bit pricey for a taproom
- one beer tasted a tiny bit young
- needing to ask for a beer to be topped up
- lack of a 2/3rds measure
- Tall tables inside had no rail for short-arsed me to rest my feet on.
Overall, really nice work, Holler - definitely a brewery tap highlight for me...
