Yellow Stocks, Sittingbourne

Welcoming micro-pub with limited seating and no pumps on the compact rear counter. The regulars were engaged with good-natured banter, but were quite happy for me to join in when I laughed at something one of them said. I found four cask beers available, all served by gravity from a stillage in the back room: a pair from Canterbury Ales - Kentish Best and The Pardoners - Iron Pier's 3% Dark Mild (£4.20) and the Estate chocolate vanilla stout from Titsey. Five craft ciders were also advertised, including Disco made by the nearby Dudda's Tun from Discovery apples.

Yellow Stocks is a small micro that I visited not long before closing on a recent Tuesday evening, so it would have been around 19:30. This is a single room venue with seating that is overlooked by a host of beer tat up on the walls, as well as fairy lights and hops that line the ceiling above. There are no fonts on the bar counter, so it is there to shield the barman from the locals. Available on cask were a decent pint of Iron Pier Bitter alongside Mad Cat Brewery’s Pow Wow and Monumental Bitter as well as Musket Brewery’s Flash in the Pan. There was also a range of real ciders and lagers available, the latter probably in bottles. Some 1980s music was playing in the background and a rugby ball sits in a jug under the television, so I expect major sporting event s are shown via terrestrial TV. A sign up on the wall lists the various fines for swearing, which may have been why the air wasn’t blue even though the handful of locals propping up the counter were battered. Just before I left the conversation turned to getting caught short due to there only being a single toilet… maybe they should rename the bar to Yellow Pants. I’m used to micros being a bit more gentrified than your local Craft Union pub, but this place bucks the trend. I’d pop back in for a pint, but probably wouldn’t stay for a second.

Facebook page of Yellow Stocks - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Yellow Stocks - www.facebook.com

Stanard Micro Pub in a converted clothes shop but benefiting from a nice beer garden, complete with a little stage. I could only spot standard cask ales - dispensed from gravity fed sillages in a temperature controlled room. No lacings, no head. The full beer festival experience. Didn't spot any interesting kegs or international bottles but I believe they have a good cider choice.

A micropub which opened in late 2018 in former shop premises, it is named after a type of brick which was manufactured in the nearby former brickworks.  It consists of a single room bar with a servery in the corner, and there is a small garden at the back mainly used by smokers.  There are a few tables and chairs, but mainly it’s vertical drinking.  There is a TV screen on the wall but this was switched off.  The landlady and landlord were very welcoming, and they kept the bar open long after their advertised hours (they normally close at 8pm)  as we were having a good time.  They try to source their ciders and beers locally.  On this occasion there were two ales from Mad Cat, a stout from Iron Pier, another bitter and 5 ciders from Duddas Tun.  We tried all the beers and needless to say they were in excellent condition.  It’s well worth a visit for its ale and ciders and forms a good complement to Donna’s at the other end of the High Street.