Lyndhurst Through the Beer Glass Pt 4 - New Forest Inn

We walked along the New Forest single track lane though, contrary to the impression given by this photo, all was not peace and tranquility.  Every few minutes the silence was punctuated by vehicles rushing past, using the lane as a ‘rat run’ to avoid the Lyndhurst traffic jam, and causing us to retreat regularly into the hedgerow to avoid being mown down...

But having successfully dodged the traffic, a sign pointing to civilisation soon appeared as we arrived in Emery Down.

We past Christ Church nestling against the trees and walked through the village....

...past the black and white timbered Alms Houses...

...and the next pub appeared in the distance...

As we drew near to The New Forest Inn and saw the orderly queue forming outside, we were initially concerned that it might be busy....

...however we needn’t have worried, it wasn’t crammed with New Forest ponies, and there was just a smattering of New Forest folk/tourists*delete as appropriate.  

I couldn’t resist trying the Piddle Brewery First Try, a ‘dark IPA, but as a dark, pale ale, is a bit of an oxymoron, perhaps it should really be an IDA, India Dark Ale.  As it happens it was my first try of this beer and I wasn’t going to be put off by the lady serving who explained that customers responses had been mixed - bit of a ‘marmite’ beer then.  It wasn’t too bad, but perhaps a bit too heavy on the roast malt flavour for the black IPA style.

The New Forest Inn is a nice country pub in a lovely little village, I liked the milk churn bar stools too...

...though I was much less enthusiastic about the ‘Book Now for Christmas’ display which seemed so inappropriate on a warm and sunny September day.  Resisting the temptation to 'book early to avoid disappointment', we wandered off to continue the walk.

Lyndhurst Through the Beer Glass Pt 3 - Waterloo Arms

The tale of a September 2019 pub walk in Lyndhurst continues...

Leaving the White Rabbit we were confronted with what was, at the time, a common scene in Lyndhurst - the traffic jam of tourists visiting the New Forest. Though, in a coronavirus world, traffic jams were, for a while, just a thing of the past, there are now signs that, at least in this respect, ‘the old normal’ might be returning quite quickly....

A short distance up a country lane the hum of the queuing traffic faded away and the next pub came into view in all it’s thatched and flowery finery...The Waterloo Arms

Inside the hand pumps were festooned with brightly coloured pump clips, promising an extravaganza of craft cask.  On closer inspection, it turned out that the clips on the left were cider, and those on the right were Ringwood beers (and the beer that shall not be named).  I recall feeling slightly disappointed, as Ringwood beers are so ubiquitous in the Forest.  Now it occurs to me that if pubs (and I) survive to see post coronavirus Britain,  I may be grateful to see a Ringwood beer on bars full of the beer that shall not be named.  A doom beer scenario if ever there was one...

Opting to head outside again, into the warm and sunny September afternoon and a large and well patronised beer garden.... 

...where the Forty-niner went down rather well...

...as did Martin’s keggy, lagery drink, beating my Forty-niner in the lacings competition though the tall glass (and unnecessary fizziness) was deemed to be an unfair advantage.

And so after the quiet refinement of the Waterloo Arms beer garden, and without so much a mention of Alice In Wonderland, we continued out into the wilderness of the New Forest to find the next pub on our Through the Beer Glass pub walk.