The quest for Tonbridge Blonde Ambition goes on....

Well last night I went out on a quest for the Holy Grail! Having heard a rumour that the Man of Kent near East Peckham may be serving that illusive of beers, Tonbridge Brewery's Blonde Ambition. It's a lovely looking pub The Man of Kent is at a tiny hamlet charmingly called Little Mill. It's next to an old bridge over the river Bourne and, looking out from the patio area of the pub, which had a spot light on the water, I noticed some large fish swimming against the flow of the river but appearing perfectly still in the shallow waters below as if being curious to know what the humans where up to above. (of course what they were really doing was eating the flies which had been attracted by the spot light.) I'm not a fish expert so I'm not sure whether they were trout, carp, bream, pike or what; perhaps someone out there knows more? Anyway I walk in the front door of the pub and realise that this building has either sunk down into the ground or else was built for the rather less well nourished people from medieval times. I'm not exaggerating if I say that I almost had to bend double to get to the bar such was the low height of the beamed ceiling of the main bar. Definitely a pub for petite landladies and bar staff! Charming at first, but you really do have to watch your head when you stand up otherwise it wouldn't just be the beer which gave you a sore bonce the next day! So then on to the beer; well here's the disappointing bit: no Blonde Ambition! They only have it as the occasional guest beer. Damn it! My quest goes on for this Holy Grail of a beer! Despite the sign outside proudly proclaiming that they served Larkins Ale, another local brewery, it turns out that there was none of that either so, instead, I had to make do with the guest beer which was Doom Bar from Sharp's Brewery of Rock, Cornwall. I a way this was quite appropriate as I do tend to go to Cornwall on holiday most years and I'd never tried it on draught before. No bad, but I've definitely tasted alot better. They also had Adnams Bitter which was only alright and, my favourite for the evening, and a bit predictably, Harvey's Sussex Bitter. Now I normally find Harvey's a bit too hoppy for my liking but, for some reason, last night really enjoyed the half pint I had. Maybe my taste buds are opening up to new possibilities. All in all a nice way to spend a couple of hours on a mid summer evening but disappointing that I didn't get to try the beer I went there in search of....