The 2019 Good Beer Guide shows we’re really spoilt for choice in our area.

The best-selling pub guide in the UK, CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide for 2019, has just been released.

The 46th edition of the guide contains full details of nearly 4,500 pubs around the country.

In total 11 pubs have been included from the Maldon and Dengie area, all chosen by CAMRA members based on the quality and consistency of the ales and ciders they serve.

A new entry this year is Crouch Vale Brewery’s Tap Room 19 in South Woodham Ferrers, which is adjacent to the award-winning brewery in Haltwhistle Road. The venue is bright, functional and well furnished. The beers are served straight from casks from the ground floor cellar, which can be viewed from the bar.

It’s also good to see the return of two iconic local pubs to the guide after a short absence.

The Prince of Wales in Stow Maries and The Swan in Little Totham are both excellent village pubs, serving a fine selection of ales and both also offer good

home-cooked food and a warm welcome.

Our local Pub of the Year and Cider Pub of the Year, the Carpenters Arms in Gate Street, Maldon, also features in the guide. This back-street gem has been a pub since 1847. Its low wood beams and warm welcoming atmosphere make it more country than town. It serves a wide range of well-kept ales and ciders from around the UK.

The Station Arms in Southminster has appeared in every edition of the Good Beer Guide for the past 26 years, making it the most successful pub in our area. This classic, friendly weatherboarded pub with its bare-boarded single bar, is decorated with railway and brewery memorabilia. It also boasts a delightful courtyard garden with an enclosed barn to the rear.

> A date for your diary: Maldon & Dengie CAMRA’s South Woodham Ferrers Beer and Cider Festival is only weeks away.

This year it takes place from Thursday October 4 to Saturday October 6 at the Village Hall in Hullbridge Road (CM3 5PL), which is just a couple of minutes’ walk from South Woodham Ferrers railway station.

There’ll be 37 real ales and 12 ciders on offer, with good food available.

Many of the beers are coming from “Robin Hood Country” (the East Midlands) and are rarely, if ever, seen in Essex.