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The George (Free House)
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| Beer (sort) | Average Score (sort) | No. Samples (sort) |
|---|---|---|
| Hop Back - Entire Stout |  | 1 |
| Mighty Oak - English Oak |  | 1 |
| Mallard - Duck n Dive | | 1 |
| Mauldons - George's Best | | 1 |
| Harvey's - Sussex Best Bitter | | 1 |
| Arundel - Hairy Mary | | 1 |
| Wye Valley - St George's Bitter | | 1 |
| Thwaites - Lancaster Bomber (please now use the Banks's entry) | | 1 |
| Arundel - Winston Church Ale | | 1 |
| Hampshire - T'Ale of the Dragon |  | 1 |
| Brakspear (at Marston's Wychwood then at Banks's) - Hooray Henley (superseded by 4% version) | | 1 |
| Hogs Back - Tongham TEA (previously T.E.A.) | | 1 |
| Harviestoun - Bitter & Twisted | | 1 |
| Coach House - Heritage | | 1 |
| B&T (Banks & Taylor's) - Black Dragon Mild | | 1 |
| Hanlons (formerly O'Hanlon's) - Firefly | | 1 |
| Wadworth - Summersault | | 1 |
| JW Lees (see also Lees) - Dragon's Fire | | 1 |
| Felinfoel - Double Dragon | | 1 |
| St. George's - Maiden's Saviour | | 1 |
| Shepherd Neame - Master Brew Bitter | | 1 |
| Oakham - JHB | | 1 |
| Jarrow - Rivet Catcher | | 1 |
| St. George's - England's Finest | | 1 |
| Hook Norton - Haymaker | | 1 |
| Woodforde's - Wherry | | 1 |
| Titanic - English Glory |  | 1 |
| White Star - Dark Destroyer | | 1 |
| Kelham Island (probably brewed by Thornbridge now) - Pale Rider | | 1 |
| Highgate - Fox's Nob | | 1 |
| Greene King - Morland Old Speckled Hen | Not Tried | 0 |
| Fuller's (part of Asahi Europe) - London Pride | Not Tried | 0 |
| Brakspear (at Marston's Wychwood then at Banks's) - Bitter | Not Tried | 0 |
| Eagle (formerly Wells & Young's, formerly Charles Wells, formerly Wells) - Wells Bombardier (now superseded by 4.1% version) | Not Tried | 0 |
Visits Details
29 Jul 2006 (Ian)
It was their 3rd Annual Summer Beer Festival that included nearly 30 beers on a gravity stillage in a marquee in the garden and live music every day. Cracking site for a BF. Beautiful village pub opposite cottages and the church with the number 400 bus conveniently dropping you outside the pub. The marquee was on one side as you entered the garden with a BBQ and seating on either side of an open area with a stage for the music at the end. Lovely summer's day as I sat at a table in the shade trying as many different beers as I could. The heat may have affected some of the delicate aromas/flavours on some of the lighter beers. The next festival is for Trafalgar Day in October and I will certainly be here for that.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hop Back - Entire Stout | 4.50 | | Deep ruby/black beer with thin beige head. Attractive aroma of smokey chocolate and roasted malts. Smooth in mouth with creamy choc finish. Bit of dryness. Stunning stout. Even some sourness too. |
| Mallard - Duck n Dive | 3.70 | | Gold coloured beer with disappearing white head. Slightly hay/hop on aroma. Bit of lemon/lime citrus. Nice enough in mouth, astringent hoppy, tingly finish. Nice golden summer beer. |
| Arundel - Hairy Mary | 4.70 | | Chestnut colour with thin beige head. Juicy in mouth. Strawberry and cherry sticky fruit flavours. Dryish finish. Good depth to the fruit/malt flavours. Really good ESB style malty fruity beer. Another good beer from Arundel. |
| Oakham - JHB | 3.80 | | Pale gold, thin white head. Soapy hop. Yeasty aroma. Thin in mouth. Some distinctive grapefruit hop on end. None of the depty you would expect. Compared to the Bowl Inn, Charing 2 weeks ago, this pint is a pale imitation |
| Woodforde's - Wherry | 3.80 | | This is almost there. Distinctive aroma and flavour, but lacks depth. |
| Harviestoun - Bitter & Twisted | 3.80 | | Nettley hop aroma. Citrus, nettle, astringent hop dominate. Bit of tea flavour. Bit like the JHB, this is normally better, but under the weather circumstances I can understand it. |
| Wadworth - Summersault | 4.00 | | Golden with thin white head. Piney Saaz hop aroma. Malts are quite juicy and then dusty Saaz distinctive hop finish. Smells like a lager, tastes like an ale, finishes like a lager. The finish of sweetness and tongue tingly hops is very enticing. |
| Hook Norton - Haymaker | 5.00 | | Hazy deep copper colour with no head. Not a very good aroma, but sweet sticky hops in mouth are good. Mangoish fruit and hop aroma. Even a bit of farty yeast. It’s either not ready or past it’s best I would guess. Sticky strong hop flavour on end. In fact the sweet sticky hop is just too mcuh for me. |
| Brakspear (at Marston's Wychwood then at Banks's) - Hooray Henley (superseded by 4% version) | 4.60 | | Pale copper with thin lasting off white head. Yeasty, hoppy, citrus aroma. Fine in mouth, malts are there but understated. Very dry hoppy finish. Earthy, spritzey finish. Overall, a yeasty, citric bitter. |
| Hanlons (formerly O'Hanlon's) - Firefly | 3.70 | | Copper colour with thin off white head. Yeasty aroma, some cascade hop aroma. Earthy in mouth, dry earthy hop finish. Very drying finish. Malts are quite juicy. Bit of spiciness. Oddly moreish bitter. |
| Jarrow - Rivet Catcher | 4.00 | | Pale copper colour with thin lasting white head. Caramel/hop aroma. Bit soapy. OK in mouth. Herby hop flavours come through on the end. Underlying caramel. Yes, not bad. Could do with being either maltier or hoppier, or indeed both. |
| Kelham Island (probably brewed by Thornbridge now) - Pale Rider | 5.20 | | Pale gold, thin white head. Astringent hop aroma. Too citric to be pleasant. I think the heat may have been too much for some of the delicate flavours. Bit of alcoholic sweetness, but otherwise disappointing |
| White Star - Dark Destroyer | 4.70 | | Deep ruby colour, no head. I’ve not had good experiences with White Star beers, so I approached this with some trepidation. This one is sour, with dark malt aroma. Liquorice/choc/coffee in mouth. Not a great deal of depth. Sour liquorice finish. Again, I am afraid, not my favourite. |
| Highgate - Fox's Nob | 4.40 | | Amber colour, slightly hazy. No head. Sweetish malt/hop aroma. More fruity malt than hop. Not overly impressed. Bit of rubber on the malt. Poor bitter, slightly citric/lemoney and edgey. |
22 Apr 2006 (Ian)
Here for their St George's Day festival that ran from the Friday to Sunday. Two marquees had been erected in the garden, one for a BBQ and the other for an 18 barrel stillage. Nice!! Beautiful weather, so I sat in the beer garden and went through 14 of the beers having a half of each one. Really good venue and well run beer event. Will be coming back for their summer and Trafalgar events.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thwaites - Lancaster Bomber (please now use the Banks's entry) | 4.40 | | Chestnut colour with bubbly off white head. Malty aroma with touch of tangy hop. Good malt flavours in mouth that slide into red berry and citrus. Not sure what I expected from this, but the hop really is quite spicey. Bit of tea on the aroma. Surprisingly tasty. |
| Mighty Oak - English Oak | 4.80 | | Copper colour, thin white head. Now this beer I do like. Rich succulent citric hop, juicy malt with red berry fruit. Aggressive hop finish with lots of flavours, all with good intensity |
| Mauldons - George's Best | 4.40 | | Copper colour with off white head. Well balanced aroma of earthy hop and caramel malt. Reasonably juicy in mouth with a good hoppy finish that errs on the earthy citrus side. Good balance of flavours |
| Wye Valley - St George's Bitter | 4.30 | | Chestnut colour with bubbly beige head. Attractive aroma of choc malt. Fullish in mouth with herby hop and malt finish. Rather a good malty bitter |
| Arundel - Winston Church Ale | 4.70 | | Chestnut colour with lasting beige head. Malty aroma. Nice fruit in mouth of the red variety. Some strawberry jam. Malty juicy finish with a smack of earthy hop. Would Sir Winston approve of being punned on this beer? Probably not, as he was a Pol Roger white foil drinker. Rather a delicious bitter though. |
| Hogs Back - Tongham TEA (previously T.E.A.) | 4.20 | | Copper, thin off white head. Soft hop/malt aroma, some lemon/ginger flavour in mouth. Really quite attractive with a ginger spiced hop finish. I've certainly had worse bitters. Touch of toffee sweetness on then end. |
| St. George's - Maiden's Saviour | 3.70 | | Pale copper with bubbly off white head. Tea and tobacco aroma with earthy hop. Drinks ike a session bitter with strong earthy hop finish. Bit of mud and more tea. Leaves your mouth feeling like you have sucked on a tea bag. Very dry. |
| Hampshire - T'Ale of the Dragon | 4.80 | | Golden beer, slightly hazy with disappearing white head. May not have entirely settled. Some earthy hop. Juicy in mouth with citrus, muddy grapefruit and lemon. Finish has mixture of juicyness and dryness from hops. |
| B&T (Banks & Taylor's) - Black Dragon Mild | 4.30 | | Black beer with ruby edges and disappearing beige head. Aroma of dark roasted malts. Some liquorice. Nice and juicy in the mouth. Finish has a bit of tar and liquorice. Very drinkable juicvy mild. |
| Felinfoel - Double Dragon | 4.20 | | Pale chestnut with thin white head. Fruity malt aroma, bit of nettle and red berry. Bit of stale malt too. Bit thin in mouth, earthy hop finish. Bit muddy. Difficult to smell anything as the woman opposite me at the table has extremely strong perfume |
| St. George's - England's Finest | 4.00 | | Golden bitter with lasting creamy white head. Citrus hop aroma. Astringent graperuit in mouth, drying, earthy grapefruit finish. Astringency wakes you up a bit without being too aggressive. |
| Coach House - Heritage | 4.90 | | I think that I had the first pint of this. Pale copper/gold. No head. Some citric aroma of the orangey variety. Sharp orange fruit flavour in mouth. Some hop on end. For a 4.9% beer, it drinks like a 3.8%. Fruit is nice. |
| JW Lees (see also Lees) - Dragon's Fire | 4.00 | | Copper colour with thin white head. Grassy almost farmyard aroma. Earthy. Some caramel/hop/spice finish. Odd. Some juicy malt but a bit muddy overall |
| Titanic - English Glory | 4.50 | | Copper colour with lasting off white head. Odd pond weed hop aroma. More like a bitter in th e mouth with nice enought finish, but still with this odd rubbery pond weed flavour. Slightly vegetal. |
17 Apr 2006 (Ian)
Easter Monday lunch time and they were doing a steady trade. I cycled here from Ashford along the back lanes, although the No. 400 bus does stop outside. The pub was advertising their St George's Day festival for 21-23 April with a BBQ, marquee and 16 ales and music. Good village pub, feels like the heart of the community to me.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvey's - Sussex Best Bitter | 4.00 | | Handpull. Dark brown/chestnut with lasting ivory head. Signature Harvey's yeast aroma. Some dry malt and then hoppy/yeasty finish. Satisfying best bitter. |
| Shepherd Neame - Master Brew Bitter | 3.70 | | On gravity. Deep copper. Sheps yeast aroma some lemony citrus hop. Nice toffee in mouth with dry hoppy finish with more lemony citrus. Fine, not quite at its best though. |
| Greene King - Morland Old Speckled Hen | 4.50 | Not Tried | On gravity |
| Fuller's (part of Asahi Europe) - London Pride | 4.10 | Not Tried | On gravity |
| Brakspear (at Marston's Wychwood then at Banks's) - Bitter | 3.40 | Not Tried | Handpull |
| Eagle (formerly Wells & Young's, formerly Charles Wells, formerly Wells) - Wells Bombardier (now superseded by 4.1% version) | 4.30 | Not Tried | On gravity |
About The George
Summary of Beer Scores
| Total | |
|---|---|
 | 4 |
| 9 |
| 27 |
| 26 |
| 5 |
The pub is found in Bethersden, Kent, TN26 3AG.
Two bar pub in The Street, in a pretty Kent village south of Ashford, located not far from the C of E church. Lounge bar on the left has tables for food as well as seating at the bar. Public bar has the stillage for the gravity dispense beers and also a pool table and juke box. Low ceilings lined with hops add to the cosy feel. Large beer garden to the side. Three handpumps plus the gravity beer. Selection of regional brewers. This pub closed for business on Sunday 18th October 2020. Future unknown. Good news December 2022 - successful local community buy-out with hope to reopen late spring 2023 and did re-open on Friday 26th May 2023 to great local fanfare. Local CAMRA branch Pub of the Year 2025.
We have visited this pub 23 times, seen 71 different beers and tried 56 of them.
Postcode: TN26 3AG