Brighton Beer Blog review The Greys Brighton
A beer-by-beer account of our visit…
Date: Sunday 8th August
Beer:
Bedlam Pilsner
Organising a communal Sunday roast pub crawl for more people than just the wife and me began to feel like a bit of an ordeal during the summer. Firstly there’s the planning in advance; it’s a crying shame that post-lockdown the fun of pub spontaneity was pretty much been sucked out of life, but there’s little point chancing a walk-in meal any more, particularly if the pub has limited covers or a great reputation. Then you need to tie your friends down to a date about three weeks in advance, one that they don’t later on remember they had booked for a holiday. Then you need to avoid the last-minute drop-outs from even the most reliably hungover friends who couldn’t resist celebrating Saturday. On top of all that there was the ever-menacing shadow of a Covid ping that could imprison you without warning…
On this occasion we had planned to meet up with a fellow blogger @roastsinbrighton who had suggested one of his favourite roast spots, The Greys in the Hanover area of Brighton. It was going to be our first blog collaboration. But literally two hours before we were due to arrive he got Covid pinged and we were two people down; then my other friends began to sound like they were regretting the night before and getting flaky. It felt like my plans were again about to shatter…
But everything in fact aligned beautifully. My hungover friends were able to revive themselves for the walk across town, and I roped in a couple of dog-owning park friends to take the places of our fallen comrades. So a group of us all arrived thirsty and hungry at The Greys – a pub that, with its flamboyant chocolate-box purple exterior, can’t help but catch your eye and promise something a little different to the norm.
On the bar that is what you get: lots and lots of taps offering loads of exciting pale ale options and craft beer from local brewers such as Abyss, Bedlam and Only with Love. It’s proper heaven for a beer blogger to have such colourful locally brewed variety in a pub, and to not be ripped off for a pint of mediocre pale ale (Sharps and Beavertown, I’m looking at you).
I did however notice far fewer cider options than in the early days of this pub, which is a shame as those farmyard-style cider offerings were a unique quirk and a rareity in Brighton. Also only one of three cask hand-pulls had a beer on it, but this could well improve over winter.
The pub is cute, comfortable and compact. Despite the fairly low ceilings it’s really not claustrophobic at all, and I think they’ve avoided cramming tables into every possible space, which gives you room to breathe. The pub is also dog friendly and there’s a fireplace at one end. The two long benches and tables sit in the windows, and either makes for a nice shared space on busy nights, or caters perfectly for large groups such as ourselves to meet for lunch. Hats off to whoever designed the space – it has all the trappings of a really comfortable and intimate pub, while being open, airy and a space that gives off welcoming communal vibes.
During lockdown the owners also appear to have provided outdoor accommodation by clearing a side section to make a small yard with some bench seating, but will this deter the locals from congregating with their drinks on the pavement opposite to soak up the sun’s rays? I’ve never been one of them but it’s always looked like fun.
Whilst we waited for our roast dinner order I happily sucked down a crisp pint of Bedlam’s gold-medal-winning Pilsner. I’ve been loving it most of the summer but it was fantastic to find it on tap here. It’s a brilliantly sessionable lager, wonderfully refreshing and light with a slightly salted-caramel undertone. Very more-ish.
On the roast front, solid marks all round from us and our friends; the ingredients all had great flavour and portion sizes were good. A couple of us were lucky enough to bag the last couple of duck roasts, and it’s a nice touch that these are the same price as the roast beef when they probably could be marked up – but maybe that’s a testament to the quality of the beef. If our group had any specific feedback, it was that the gravy was flavoursome but a little thin, and the yorkies lacked the height and showmanship of some others you get. I’ll leave it to Mr @roastsinbrighton to give the official roast potato rating on his next visit, but there were definitely no complaints from us.
I remembered coming to a gig here back in the day and was happy to spot a poster on the window advertising upcoming gigs. This shows that the world of live music is alive and kicking even in small spaces such as this. There seem to be regular music events on Mondays, as well as touring comedy acts. Event listings are available on their Facebook page rather than their website.
The Greys offers a lovely atmosphere and a pub run by friendly staff. It was neither quiet nor bustling on a Sunday afternoon and it was the perfect place to kick back with friends. The beer options are varied with plenty of local brewers present, and once settled in we could quite happily have dozed off our food here for a while, but on this particular day we had a hill to climb and another pub to review…
(coming next: The Dover Castle)
Date: Sunday 8th August
Beer:
Bedlam Pilsner
Organising a communal Sunday roast pub crawl for more people than just the wife and me began to feel like a bit of an ordeal during the summer. Firstly there’s the planning in advance; it’s a crying shame that post-lockdown the fun of pub spontaneity was pretty much been sucked out of life, but there’s little point chancing a walk-in meal any more, particularly if the pub has limited covers or a great reputation. Then you need to tie your friends down to a date about three weeks in advance, one that they don’t later on remember they had booked for a holiday. Then you need to avoid the last-minute drop-outs from even the most reliably hungover friends who couldn’t resist celebrating Saturday. On top of all that there was the ever-menacing shadow of a Covid ping that could imprison you without warning…
On this occasion we had planned to meet up with a fellow blogger @roastsinbrighton who had suggested one of his favourite roast spots, The Greys in the Hanover area of Brighton. It was going to be our first blog collaboration. But literally two hours before we were due to arrive he got Covid pinged and we were two people down; then my other friends began to sound like they were regretting the night before and getting flaky. It felt like my plans were again about to shatter…
But everything in fact aligned beautifully. My hungover friends were able to revive themselves for the walk across town, and I roped in a couple of dog-owning park friends to take the places of our fallen comrades. So a group of us all arrived thirsty and hungry at The Greys – a pub that, with its flamboyant chocolate-box purple exterior, can’t help but catch your eye and promise something a little different to the norm.
On the bar that is what you get: lots and lots of taps offering loads of exciting pale ale options and craft beer from local brewers such as Abyss, Bedlam and Only with Love. It’s proper heaven for a beer blogger to have such colourful locally brewed variety in a pub, and to not be ripped off for a pint of mediocre pale ale (Sharps and Beavertown, I’m looking at you).
I did however notice far fewer cider options than in the early days of this pub, which is a shame as those farmyard-style cider offerings were a unique quirk and a rareity in Brighton. Also only one of three cask hand-pulls had a beer on it, but this could well improve over winter.
The pub is cute, comfortable and compact. Despite the fairly low ceilings it’s really not claustrophobic at all, and I think they’ve avoided cramming tables into every possible space, which gives you room to breathe. The pub is also dog friendly and there’s a fireplace at one end. The two long benches and tables sit in the windows, and either makes for a nice shared space on busy nights, or caters perfectly for large groups such as ourselves to meet for lunch. Hats off to whoever designed the space – it has all the trappings of a really comfortable and intimate pub, while being open, airy and a space that gives off welcoming communal vibes.
During lockdown the owners also appear to have provided outdoor accommodation by clearing a side section to make a small yard with some bench seating, but will this deter the locals from congregating with their drinks on the pavement opposite to soak up the sun’s rays? I’ve never been one of them but it’s always looked like fun.
Whilst we waited for our roast dinner order I happily sucked down a crisp pint of Bedlam’s gold-medal-winning Pilsner. I’ve been loving it most of the summer but it was fantastic to find it on tap here. It’s a brilliantly sessionable lager, wonderfully refreshing and light with a slightly salted-caramel undertone. Very more-ish.
On the roast front, solid marks all round from us and our friends; the ingredients all had great flavour and portion sizes were good. A couple of us were lucky enough to bag the last couple of duck roasts, and it’s a nice touch that these are the same price as the roast beef when they probably could be marked up – but maybe that’s a testament to the quality of the beef. If our group had any specific feedback, it was that the gravy was flavoursome but a little thin, and the yorkies lacked the height and showmanship of some others you get. I’ll leave it to Mr @roastsinbrighton to give the official roast potato rating on his next visit, but there were definitely no complaints from us.
I remembered coming to a gig here back in the day and was happy to spot a poster on the window advertising upcoming gigs. This shows that the world of live music is alive and kicking even in small spaces such as this. There seem to be regular music events on Mondays, as well as touring comedy acts. Event listings are available on their Facebook page rather than their website.
The Greys offers a lovely atmosphere and a pub run by friendly staff. It was neither quiet nor bustling on a Sunday afternoon and it was the perfect place to kick back with friends. The beer options are varied with plenty of local brewers present, and once settled in we could quite happily have dozed off our food here for a while, but on this particular day we had a hill to climb and another pub to review… (coming next: The Dover Castle)
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