I suppose, if going to a football match at Brighton's (newish still) Falmer Stadium you have a choice or two... you can drink at the ground, and they do have real ale there, one of the few grounds that do! Or, you can drink in Brighton or Lewes, for me, the choice is obviously Lewes, and for anyone coming by train from the London direction probably best for them as well. The match ticket gives you free travel down from Haywards Heath, and you reach Lewes before you get to the ground, let alone Brighton, and it is closer to Falmer than Brighton, just, and all 3 pubs mentioned here are in CAMRA's 2014 Good Beer Guide...
Anyway, I met up with quite a few people I hadn't seen for a while, some of whom were already alcoholically challenged before I arrived. I started at the best pub in Lewes, I came to decide that evening, the Snowdrop Inn in South Street. It doesn't take long to get around the pubs in Lewes, as it's not really that big, and, as you can see from the photograph above, this pub is below a cliff, because this is where the sea used to come up to here in years gone by, at least that's what I tell people, but it did used to be a major port on the River Ouse, and has a well recorded history from Saxon times, through to the Norman invasion and the erection of Lewes Castle, Tudor times and Anne of Cleaves House, and a hero of mine lived here, Thomas Paine, and much much more, definitely somewhere to visit and enjoy.
6 ales are served by handpump at the Snowdrop Inn and a 4.8% real cider too, Cornish Orchards on this day. Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%) and Harveys Sussex Best (4%) are 2 regular ales, and there is now always at least one ale from Burning Sky Brewery, but today there were 2, so a treat for me, the Aurora (5.6%) and the Plateau (3.5%), and a crafty keg beer from them too; more regarding Burning Sky below. So, 4 ales from East Sussex and 2 from the Manchester brewery, another old favourite haunt of mine up there, Marble Arch, and their Pint (3.9%), a pale dry session bitter, I think I've written about before, and Chocolate Marble, which I definitely haven't tried before, a 5.5% slightly sweet stout with a balance of chocolate and coffee malt flavours, and very nice indeed!
From the Snowdrop, I rushed away from the rather lovely barmaid, sadly, towards The Gardeners Arms, around the corner and down a wee bit in Cliffe High Street, as I'd received a phone call that people were arriving... now, they'd all been drinking in Brighton beforehand, and I felt remarkably sober! Things did get a wee bit confusing from here, and I forgot to take any notes. We had a good chat here, between each other (Paul, the Robbo brothers, Kieran and Graham, and Darrel and Jim) and with locals too, but I have no idea what I drank there, it didn't stand out, but I had been drinking Plateau back at the Snowdrop, and that is rather excellent. Anyway, I had a pint of something not too hoppy here; most of the ales were less exciting than the hoppy delights offered at the previous pub...
Darrel and Jim popped off to a pub nearer to the station to meet up with another mate called Paul, and the remaining four of us dropped into the Lewes Arms, a Fullers pub in Mount Place, well, 3 of us did, we lost the other somehow until inside the ground at half time! I've written about this pub before, a decent Fullers pub that sells at least 2 guest ales usually, though I do remember Graham buying me a pint of Gales HSB (4.8%), though I thought he'd bought it for his brother. I nearly started an argument, but very gently, of course, thinking I was being ignored by the barmaid, sorry luv! Anyway, we went to the match next, got beaten, and I had to wait ages to catch a train back from Falmer, not very well organised at all...
I did, though, manage to get back to Lewes in time for a couple more pints at the Snowdrop Inn, thankfully, the best pints of ale I had drunk for ages, the first, Plateau, went down in minutes, the second, I took my time over to enjoy the lovely flavours of, the also excellent Aurora, both reported on by me very recently. I had a good chat with Alec the bar manager too, though the lovely barmaid didn't work 'til this late, sadly. The Burning Sky ales are packed with hops, and served in quality straight glasses with the pub name on one side and the brewery name on the other (I love the glasses if anyone wants to know what to get me for my birthday!).
For information, the head brewer at Burning Sky is Mark Tranter, formerly of Dark Star, and this brewery looks to be the foreseeable future of hoppy ales in East Sussex, you read it here! See their website too (site), good luck to them, cheers!
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