Well I made it up and back in a day. Sorry Irishpartyale...i went up last thur and never checked the site for a day or two before i went so didnt see the invite.
We got the 9.35 train and hopped off in portadown I think and transferred trians to head to the Hilden brewery. Really easy to find. Arrived there at 11.45 and they were happy to open up and feed and water us in the tap room. They had 3 beers on tap. 2 on cask and 1 on co2. The latter was Headless Dog which was pretty tasty. Got chatting to the head brewer who said it had 3 hop additions of which he could only remember 2...challenger and first gold.Nice zingy summer ale.
We also tried Sciollions Ale which was light enough but again tasty. A little darker than the golden Headless Dog.
The last beer there was Molly's Choc Stout. A fairly light coloured stout but with a huge fruity taste with a nice hint of choc but with a really bitter bite to it.Interesting but not a session.
Back on the train and into town. Free bus from the station! a word with the driver and he dropped us very near the John Hewlit. Great staff here and a really good selection of ale. Mostly in bottles though. We had Hilden Halt & Cathedral Quarter from Hilden, Weavers gold off the shelf and from the fridge. They also had a couple of the Hilden's on cask and a few other interesting beers on tap too.
The guys then pointed us towards a few other bars that would contain ale...Most did not but were out or just did bottles.The exceptions were The Garrick, Bittles and the Crown which had 3 on cask. The Kitchen also had 2 but were out. Most of those pubs are all round the corner from each other so it's no problem if they have none in stock.
At this stage I'm not really remembering much and it's all a little blurry ...but we got the train back at about 8pm and I was tucked up in bed by 11.30.
Worth the trip if you have the time.Certainly if there is a festival it would be worth the trip or I believe the christmas market is good for local beers too.
