12 Degrees, Rochester

Excellent micro-pub, with the only caveat being the limited business hours (closed Monday and Tuesday, and then not open until 16:30 on other days). Up to six cask ales served by gravity from an enclosed stillage / cool store behind the narrow counter area. Limited seating, as you would expect, including some creaky repurposed pews. With four cask ales available on my visit, I found a pair each from Tonbridge and Kent Breweries, and in the end - having double-checked the train times I went for The New Black (black IPA, £3.80) and The Quiet American (£2.00, half) from the latter. Stayed a bit longer than expected as I was enjoying an interesting chat with the landlady and one of her friends (another local businesswoman).

12 Degrees, aka RAMS, is a micro that has the feel of a shed with bare board throughout and partly paint stripped wood panelling on the walls. There’s a cubby by the front door with a coat hook and kettle for that authentic ‘down the bottom of the garden’ vibe. Some brewery ephemera is found on the walls and some tankards hang from the ceiling. This is a small place with a table in the front window and another couple up the right-hand wall before a piano in the right rear corner. The serving counter runs up the left where there are seven racks, some with gravity fed cask and some with boxes of real cider. Kent Brewery’s Swing Low EPA and Caramel Latte Coffee Milk Stout were both available. Some bottles are also available, but there is no keg so don’t expect a pint of lager. During my recent late midweek afternoon visit a couple of locals were stood chatting to the governor at the counter so I sat in the window and earwigged the conversation while listening to the low background music. It was actually quite pleasant, but it must get a bit cosy in here at weekends. Yes it’s very basic, but I felt welcome and the EPA was on good form so I’d gladly return.

This is a very nice shop-converted micropub on the old High Street between Rochester and Chatham. A lot of the old shops along this part of the High Street have attractive facades, and this place is no different, with an attractive ‘A J Ireland’ mosaic tile doorstep and two shop window bays either side of the entrance, each boasting a well thought through display to pique the interest of passersby. You enter into a small bare boarded room with the servery down the left-hand wall and seating to the right. This comes in the form of pews, chairs and low stools, plus a larger pew to the front with the pub’s logo and slogan, ‘Real Ale Makes Sense’, carved into the back. The bar has a modern wood counter front with the pub’s name cut-out, beneath an attractive canopy fashioned out of a rustic piece of wood, whilst the bar back comprises a row of temperature controlled cabinets, each holding a cask, with the pump clip on the door of those that are in use, to show you what’s available. To the right rear, there is a decorative fireplace with a collection of interesting pub games on the mantelpiece, including shut the box and a miniature version of ring the bull. Decor includes various mirrors, lots of black and white photos of the local area, various old newspaper clippings and a guitar, whilst the pleasant dark wood ceiling has a collection of tankards suspended from it. A door to the rear leads you down to an overflow basement area, which I didn’t explore, and there is also a small snug-like space down the corridor that leads to the toilets, although this had been screened off so that nobody could sit there. A very friendly landlady gave us a warm welcome as her first customers of the evening, and talked us through the cask ale options, which comprised Mad Cat 9th Life and Big Stik plus Wantsum Golgotha and Turbulent Priest. Seven real ciders were also listed on a board next to the bar. I gave the Big Stik a try, which set me back a very reasonable £3.40 and was a reasonable pint, kept in very good condition. We were quickly followed by several other customers, all of whom the landlady had a good chat with, creating a good atmosphere in no time at all. I thought this was a great little conversion of an interesting old shop premises, that already has bags of character despite only opening in 2018. Some well-kept, interesting local beer and friendly, engaging service help to make this a very enjoyable experience and I would most definitely include this on any crawl around either town, as it’s easily reached from either direction.

A micropub in a former shop premises whose original owner – A G Ireland – is written in the threshold tiling. The pub is also know as RAMS – which stands for ‘Real Ale Makes Sense’. The owner and his family were chatty, friendly and welcoming, and the atmosphere was peaceful. Ales on were Imperium and UXB from Wantsum, Old Dairy’s Uberbrew and Whitstable’s Renaissance. Also on were 4 boxed ciders. A fantastic addition to Rochester’s pub collection.