GHGTTP Awards 2018 (Reviewed from the Bottom of the Garden).

Apparently it is ‘de-riguer’ (which is French for something...) for pub bloggers to review the year's 'pub achievements' and hand out prestigious awards...

...ok, if you insist...

But first, as 2018 was my introduction to the high octane world of pub blogging, a quick recap....

It all started as I sat in the hermitage early in 2018, my compost heap was gently steaming in the first light of dawn,  and I was reading my Beer magazine, when my attention was grabbed by an article about a group of pub bloggers and their exploits in visiting Good Beer Guide pubs the width and breadth of the land.  This had apparently brought them fame in the pages of this respected journal....

...I looked at their blogs and was ‘affected’ (in a nice sort of way) by their wit, knowledge, sheer athleticism (not to mention the adulation of their followers), and thought...

...I can’t do that...

...but I can visit (relatively local) pubs and jabber on incoherently about them on a blog.

Deciding this was an acceptably close amatuer approximation to professional pub blogging, I decided to give it go...and Garden Hermit went to the pub...

WordPress kindly hosted my first 50-odd efforts for free, but then, data storage allowance almost used up, they wanted money.  Fortunately Google’s Blogger apparently didn’t, so I set up camp there and Garden Hermit Goes to the Pub 2 continued the incoherent jabbering.

So, having reached reached the end of my first year of pub blogging efforts, and with my blog ‘views’ and ‘comments’ have reached the dizzy heights of double figures (just), it’s time to mention a few top GHGTP 2018 Awards (rolls off the tongue doesn’t it) that everyone will be talking about...

In no particular order...

Best Estate Pub in a Hampshire Village - as rare as rocking horse droppings - The Roebuck, Marchwood was quite a discovery and with a cracking pint of Ringwood Old Thumper on cask and fish, chips and mushy peas for £3.75, this had to be a top example of the estate pub breed.  Can it be beaten (outside of Solihull)?...

...not Solihull...

Pub with Best Customer Award -  without doubt goes to The Albion, Winchester.  Chas and his wonderful semi-fantasy gaming world, was a lovely man who could engage you effortlessly in conversation that you weren’t sure you wanted and couldn’t understand, and who kept the bar staff hiding behind the bar all day - or at least until he had to go.

...Chas (bar staff hiding)...

Best Themed Pub - The Titanic, Southampton, was a runaway winner with it’s doomed cruise liner memorabilia, and a very smartly dressed barman looking just like a steward from the ship.  Sadly though, the pint of Titanic Brewery Lifeboat also sank without trace.

...unsinkable...

Best Pub Atmosphere - was a tough one, though The Wonston Arms probably takes it (as well as a shed load of CAMRA awards), with a landlord who really cares for the community life of his pub, though on my visit it was probably helped along by CAMRA folk celebrating one of his awards.  A close second (without the help of CAMRA) was definitely the Salisbury Arms, Southampton, the locals providing a real buzz to the place on a typical Saturday lunchtime.

...award hotspot...

...great craic...

Best Beer in a Dining Pub - without doubt the Kings Head , Redlynch, probably the best cask Hopback Summer Lightning I’ve ever tasted (not that I’ve tasted that many)...

...diners and superb Summer Lightning inside...

Best Micropub - there are so many in Southampton and Hampshire, but it has to be The Peg and Parrot, Totton - a lovely little pub (an early version of the micro genre),  great atmosphere and most of all, a superb achievement in being one of the very few pubs in Hampshire to provide the hallowed Draught Bass...

...Hampshire Bass shrine...

and finally...
Best Brew Pub or Brewery Tap - I think this will have to be The Dancing Man, Southampton, a cleverly re-themed but preserved historic building, a great atmosphere and great beers.  Though not open to the public, on a private invitation visit with the South Hants CAMRA, Betteridges Brewery, Hurstbourne Tarrant also deserves a mention, in the beautiful old cooperage building, once linked to a historic brew pub in the village.

Dancing Man’s Wool House...

Beautiful Betteridges...

As for 2019 - will I ‘tick' (euphemism for a 27.5 minute visit and half a pint) every dining pub in Hampshire...?

...probably not - but never say never...