Cropton Brewery & The New Inn

After a lovely 18 mile walk round the Hole of Horcum and the Bridestones we decided that, as we were so close to Cropton, it would be rude not to call in for a quick pint at The New Inn. I’ve been a big fan of the Cropton Brewery’s bottled beers for a few years now and I usually have one or two in my cupboard.

For those who aren’t familiar with Cropton Brewery, it’s a small craft brewery on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors. It’s been open for over 17 years (but brewing in Cropton goes back hundreds of years) and has a restaurant and pub attached called The New Inn. It is situated in the village of Cropton, a lovely little village set in stunning surroundings. The pub is well decorated and also allows dogs which is a real bonus to walkers and day visitors.

The idea was to just to stop for a quick pint then head off home, but once inside there was no stopping me, one pint turned to one pint of everything on tap and some food.

I started off with one of Cropton’s own ales, a summer ale called Honey Gold (just as well i did start with this one as I got the last pint!). It is a lovely pale ale with lots of body and a cracking creamy head, and smells exactly like caramel waffles. It didn’t taste too sweet and was definitely the sort of ale you could sit and sup in the beer garden all day and at 4.2% you wouldn’t feel it too much!

Next up was some Proud of Pubs Bitter. This is the official beer of the proud of pubs campaign, so I was expecting something great, and to be honest I was a bit disappointed. It was dark and malty but a bit flat and not as tasty as the Honey Gold. I’m not saying it wasn’t nice, but it just wasn’t as good as the previous pint. Having said that i will reserve final judgement until I’ve had another pint.

My next pint was Monkmans Slaughter. This is a 6% dark ale, which despite the strength is extremely drinkable. It has great body and a lovely bitter, malty quality that makes you want to go back for more.

At this point we decided it was time for some food. I went for the 8oz speciality sausage, Yorkshire pudding, real ale gravy and home made chips. Emily (the now designated driver) went for Steak and Stout pie with home made chips. Both meals were under a tenner and offered great value and exceptional quality for the money. The steak was soft and the crust was crispy, the gravy had a lovely bitter ale taste. Emily was also impressed by the inclusion of some nice big mushrooms in the pie. The sausage was a winner, brilliantly cooked, crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, a lovely meaty flavour and texture – none of your 50p supermarket sausage meat, it was a proper butchers sausage. The chips were hand cut, skin on jobs, again crispy on the outside soft in the middle, absolutely fantastic and just what you need after a long hike.

Anyway back onto the beer, my next was a pint of Ryedale Best, which I think was brewed by Ryedale Brewing Co. This was a nice light session beer which wasn’t to strong and had a lovely hoppy aftertaste.

Next up was Cropton Endeavour Ale, again another light beer and the lowest ABV of the day, coming in at 3.6%. It’s not one of my favourite Cropton beers but probably a good beer to start on, especially if you are used to drinking lager and don’t like dark beer. It went flat a little quicker than the other beers but I’d definitely drink it again.

After that it was time for Scoresby Stout, one of a couple of stout/porters that Cropton brew and weighing in at 4.2%. It was quite light and drinkable for a stout with a lovely bitter roast chocolaty flavour and a great way to finish the session.

The New Inn also had Yorkshire Warrior on tap, but I had a bottle of that a few days ago so decided to give it a miss and put the money towards a couple of bottles of Honey Gold, a bottle of Blackout and a bottle of Old Goat, all of which I’ll review on here sometime soon ,along with most of the other Cropton beers I have tried in the past.

On the way back I remembered we were close to The Lion at Blakey Ridge so I managed to persuade Emily to let me pop in there for a pint, as it’s still one of my favourite places in the whole world. I was pretty full after all the ale and food at Cropton so I decided to have a Copper Dragon Golden Pippin. Usually I quite like its refreshing golden light taste but after the Cropton flavours it was a little disappointing. I knew i should have had an Old Peculiar!

If you are ever in the area and fancy a beer, The New Inn at Cropton is definitely worth visiting. It’s not too expensive, caters for walkers, dogs and children, the staff are friendly and the beer and food are fantastic.

The new inn website can be found @ http://www.newinncropton.co.uk/. The Cropton brewery site is http://www.croptonbrewery.com and The Lion at Blakey Ridge is http://www.lionblakey.co.uk/