Abyss Brewery Tap, Lewes

Brewery and taproom located in an industrial estate but housed in an older building so it has a bit more character than most such enterprises. The bar and brewing vessels are located at opposite ends of the main hall, with the main seating area outdoors under an awning at the front. Boho Baja street-food also in operation when I visited. 12 craft keg beers - including my Lilo DDH Pale (£6.90) being served from taps on the bar-back, with the pair of handpumps on the counter not in use when I visited.

A recent conversion, located in the former maltings building for the now defunct South Downs Brewery, this is a substantial industrial place, bang on trend with even a converted Airstream caravan as food outlet. Perfectly described below, it would seem that there were cask options so my choice must have been gravity fed as there are no pumps. I ended up with something called Cloud Island DDH Pale, a costly £3.25 a half, freezing cold as expected and ‘tropical’; I couldn’t finish it.

A good sized venue, which looked interesting along with the amount of beers and range. However all the beer names and type was displayed clearly across the back of the bar, but no pricing. I got stares of disgust from two staff members, for daring to ask the beer price. I found my beers to be non-descript and well overpriced. Back in the day a brewery tap was a place where you'd get a discount on the beers, obviously not here.

A fairly typical industrial unit setup with plenty of outside space, the inside area is a fair bit smaller and given its apparent popularity would prove cramped in poor weather, luckily not the case on our group visit. All beers were from Abyss with no guests that I could see, I quite like Abyss beers so not a problem for me but a bit more variety may be the way forward. These type of venues are not for everyone but I don't mind one now and again, although I've been to better, this one was reasonably good.

The large courtyard outside with pic nic benches was packed with a younger crowd on my Friday early evening visit,the food van was proving popular too.It's a real sun trap in good weather.Inside past the brewing vessels the bar is to the left offering 11 Abyss indie beers on keg such as a rice lager,two pilsners,a helles lager,three IPA's ,three pales and a Rave sour which was refreshing but a lack of style variance sadly.There are a few inside benches if you need shelter from either sun or rain. Tasting flights of 5 served on old skateboards was an option which I declined ,how many pale beers can you tolerate ?