Only 19 rates from Essex for me, top rated is Redchurch Great Eastern IPA with 3.6
In terms of Essex cideries, there are 8 active with Delvin End the most prolific with 11
Top 5 for Essex cider are:
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A mere 6 ratings. 4 consumed in London, 2 bottled Pitfield ratings consumed in Canada procured for me from Pitfield by a friend.
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Essex is a bit of a non county for me. I have a grand total of one rating on RateBeer (Brentwood Blond since you ask). Even in my own records (which date back to 2013) I only have 16 beers listed from 6 breweries. Mind you that total fluctuates depending on which side of the Suffolk border Nethergate are currently on !
I did used to visit Essex quite a lot 15-20 years ago on business. Whilst pubs were visited and beers drunk, they werenāt really memorable. I do recall coming across Ridleys beers in the Chelmsford area. They did a beer called Witchfinder General and I remember joking with my colleague that the chief witch in Essex was the client we were on our way to see !
As for Depeche Mode, all I can say is āMusic. It is my life!ā As two Russian DM fans my friend and I were accosted by in a dive bar in Riga kept repeating. Have never been able to listen to their music since.
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Essex is my top rated English county. However, Iāve only got one rate but it happened to be the Redchurch Old Ford Export Stout which I gave a 4.2, so not that impressive. Damn fine beer though.
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Ok woke up super early and couldnāt get back to sleep so letās do this thang.
Essex is another county that does little for me (sorry @madmitch aka Ken) having said that Iāve never really visited that many places, so the beery highlight towns such as Chelmsford or Colchester remain completely unknown to me. However one of our highlights each year when in the UK was catching the overnight sailing from Harwich to Hoek van Holland for Borefts Beer Festival we got the really super swanky cabins on the outward and return journey.
Things I know about Essex, other than someone else mentioning the Depeche Mode link. 6Music DJ Steve Lamaq hails from there and is a huge fan of Colchester United. Ian Dury and the Blockheads sang a song called Billericay Dickie which had some great lines, Dr Feelgood are from there. Tiptree Marmelade and Jams are from there and they are very good. I donāt think that I have ever stayed the night in Essex. Iāve never seen Towie or whatever it was that others were mentioning, but I havenāt had a TV for nearly 20 years so that is not surprising.
Regarding rates I am on 68 rates, so the so sit in a respectable 34th place in the top 50. The county sits in 32nd place in my county list just one rating behind Northamptonshire and five above Cheshire, I cannot see the position changing anytime soon.
Breweries with most ratings
Crouch Vale 16
Mighty Oak 14
Redchurch 13
Brentwood 7
Harwich Town 4
Iāve had beer from 12 breweries 9 of which are still in operation and 3 sadly closed.
My top five beers are (see below) however if I gave my top ten Crouch Vale and Mighty Oak completely own it with 5 each, Redchurch make their first showing in 11th place. When I started out on Ratebeer I think that Crouch Vale for many on this site were probably one of the very best breweries in the country, their beers were almost always excellent. I havenāt had a Crouch Vale beer for some time, in fact just checked it was the excellent Yakima Gold at the sadly no more Far From the Madding Crowd, Oxford, we had been out with our Morris dancing side on 9th December 2013, I hope that despite the rise of craft they are still doing okay.
Crouch Vale Pioneer 4.1
Mighty Oak Toe Wrestler 4.0
Crouch Vale Brewers Gold 3.8
Crouch Vale Topsail 3.9
Mighty Oak Up the Swanee 3.9
Crouch Vale Summit 3.9
Crouch Vale Yakima Gold 3.9
My only place rating is for Battesford Court (JDW) in Witham, we were on our way back home from the aforementioned regular trip from the Netherlands but a vehicle fire on the A12 had caused gridlock mayhem in the morning so an 8.20am breakfast stop here it was.
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Itās another duck for me Iām afraid: Iāve strolled out to the middle, taken a guard, had a little look around, and missed a straight one - just like Devon, East Yorkshire & Hertfordshire! Was very nearly an Essex boy - Dad was all set to take a job in Southend when I was 5 and we were moving there, but then another job in Yorkshire came about and instead I grew into a grumpy, surly Northerner 
To think, I could have been like Gavin (or Smithy). Historically, beers from Essex and me have not gone together often, I reckon itās only Crouch Vale Iāve ever had - and itās years since I tried anything from them - you just donāt see many Essex beers in my experience (my experience doesnāt include many trips darn sarf)
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I thought Blur were basically from Essex. Surely has to be the top band if correct.
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Essex doesnāt hold much beer interest of note from this Bois.
Iād class myself as a Redchurch refugee as per some other folks.
My score given to Essex beers is 3.26 so firmly mid table in joint 22nd place amongst the English counties ā¦ Iād also suggest Redchurch has bumped this up a good few notches.
You have to scroll down to my 17th (Oscar Wilde Mild by Mighty Oak) and a Wibblers stout in 18th spot to break the Redchurch dominance ā¦ both of these at 3.6 scored.
Itās my 33rd highest scored Essex beer before Redhcurch is broken again with a Leigh On Sea offering ā¦ although this is also 3.6 so effectively joint with a load of others!
Early Essex beer memories come from when I first moved to London in the very early noughties ā¦ we used to drink at a proper market type boozer once every few weeks ā¦ Pride of Spitalfields in the east end, a GBG pub that offered a lock in ā¦ how exciting ! Always had a couple of well kept Crouch End beers on cask. This was before the drinking times were loosened so a lock in was always good vfm and a fun thing for us back then ā¦ curtains drawn ā¦ door bolted ā¦can you move to the back tables other side of the bar if youāre staying on folks ā¦ the real deal !
Iād done over 100 Essex rates before their move but the 65 Redchurch brews bumped me up to 179 and into 7th place on the list ā¦ was probably hovering around the late teens prior to this.
Place wise I hold 3 reviews from my RB era ā¦ Spoons at Stansted ! Ales by Mail (closed) and a little backstreet boozer called the Evelyn Wood (Mighty Oak always on cask) that we used to visit whilst camping at the V festival (Chelmsford) circa 2007-13 ā¦ largely for the use of a proper bog but well kept Mighty Oak and hot food was an added bonus!
Iād also done a GBG pub (name escapes me) in Colchester whilst visiting Layer Road with Leicester ā¦ was a decent venue. Also visited Southend for Leicester and that was just A.N.Other pub near the ground back then.
I guess a visit to Chelmsford or Colchester should be on the cards once āshit liftsā plus that RB Essex Glitterati @madmitch76 has been grooming me on line all through lockdown about coming over to his place !
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17 beers from 8 breweries. Only four from Redchurch but thatās the most from an individual brewery.
Iāve driven though Essex a couple of times but only gone to Essex itself once - a meeting in Braintree. A pretty successful day though:
- Colin the Braintree Station Cat sat next to me whilst I waited for my train:
- I saw Matt Berry on the tube:
Hereās some Russian Doomer music: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_leD2tEyc8A1QIs8ZuDBV8PqU4gl1oKMFc
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Although not far away from Essex, Iāve never visited anywhere there for beer. I was supposed to go to Colchester beer fest, but unfortunately it was same day my wife was out of town so I ended up on daddy duty instead. Iāve rated 20 beers total and surprisingly my highest is 4 from St Botolphs. Funny enough they are a brewery that mainly sells at the farmers markets and such. Really nice couple, but beer is average at best. Maybe post pandemic lockdown Iāll be able to make a trip down that way for beer.
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Essex is my 12th highest rated UK county numbers wise which was more than I expected, as even though been there a few times over the years (the old mans family live in the Westcliff-on-sea area) all the beer ticks have been outside of the county.
77 Essex beer ticks in total with most of them (25) from Crouch Vale. We (in normal times) get allot of their stuff on cask over here at Charlies Bar (which hopefully will continue following Brexit/lockdown reopening)
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Better late than never. Essex is not a county Iāve ever encountered too many beers from (even the Redchurch move, which I didnāt know about up until now, only boosted my numbers by 3). To date Iāve had a meagre 23 rates from here, my 32nd-most rated county, and well short of getting me into the top 50 for the county.
My top 5 beers are:
Crouch Vale Amarillo 4.1
Watsons Ygrrfur II: Raisin Hell 4
Crouch Vale Brewers Gold 3.8
Redchurch Broadway Black Pale 3.7
Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde 3.6
Iāve had beer from 15 different breweries (not bad from just 23 rates!). My most rated is Discworld Ales (a 4 pack as a gift that Iām not sure should count as itās a commissioner!) followed by 3 for Redchurch.
One beer-related fact that Glen didnāt mention was that Frinton on Sea was one of the few (if not only) dry towns in Britain up until 2000, when it finally got its first pub.
Itās never a county Iāve thought much of. However, having fished out my map I remember that I did spend a nice few days in Colchester with the in-laws. Itās quite a pleasant city, especially the park around the castle, and āJumboā the Water Tower (believe it or not!). Despite being with The Olds, I managed to sneak in an hour or two at the Colchester BeerFest, which is a bit of an odd, cramped, dark one in a church and graveyard. Quite a few of my Essex brewery ticks came from there though.
Harwich is an interesting place and well worth a wander around (just to watch the huge container ships go in and out of Felixstow if nothing else.
I also enjoyed Saffron Walden, up in the north-west corner of the county. Itās home to the largest turf maze in England (dating from the 17th century,) and also the impressive Bridge End Gardens (which are surprisingly free to enter and have another maze).
The highest point in the county is not far from Saffron Walden, near the point where Essexx meets Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshre. Itās not one of the most exciting - itās just a corner of a field. We did see an mpressive stag though. Iām not even going to mention the high points of Thurrock and Southend unitary authorities, as theyāre even duller!
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33 from Essex. Strangely Redchurch Old Ford Export Stout is Number 1, which Iām fairly sure is from when I tried freshly tapped on draft though this shouldnāt really count as it was brewed before they moved out there.
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I donāt think Iāve ever been to Essex although Iāve been to Stanstead airport, I suppose. Earlier this year, I tried to work out how to get into the top 50 and ended up buying a few mixed few boxes from Brentwood and Red Fox brewery online shops. Well itās probably an exaggeration, but from memory, every beer to a man, was an Ordinary Bitter even if described as āāhoppy English IPAsāā.
Anyway, that hardship certainly did the trick and should keep me in the top 50 for a year or so. At time of writing, I am 44th with 57 ratings, making Essex 35th highest of the 46 counties for me. My average is 3.41 which seems better than my lived experience, to be honest.
I havenāt rated any beer at a 4 or more and my two top scores of 3.9 were for Redchurch beers when they were firmly based in London. Apart from that,
Leigh-On-Sea SS9 3.8
Brentwood Van Kanoor 3.8 (huge, expensive bottle, but in for a penny, etc)
One day Iām sure, thereāll be an opportunity to drink a pint of proper cask beer in Essex! And then itāll all make sense!
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