Planning a brewery tap trail across the county

Why Hertfordshire suits a slow tap trail

Hertfordshire is barely thirty miles from top to bottom, yet it manages to hold chalk streams, beech woods, canal towpaths and a quietly thriving set of small breweries. Most of those breweries are tiny — a few barrels at a time, tucked into industrial units, farm buildings and converted railway sidings — and many open a taproom only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. That is not a problem. It is the point. A tap trail here is not a crawl, it is a gentle day out with three or four stops, a decent walk in the middle and a train home.

Rail is the key to the whole thing. Thameslink and Great Northern run north to south through St Albans, Harpenden, Hitchin and Stevenage; the West Coast main line covers Tring and Berkhamsted; and the little Abbey Line links Watford Junction with St Albans Abbey. Choose a line, then let a footpath or a short bus hop fill the gap between two stops. Leave the car at home if you can — the legal limit in England and Wales is 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath, and a pint is plenty to reach it.

Plan it: three stops, one line

• Pick a line rather than a list. Two breweries on the same branch line beat five scattered across the county.
• Three stops maximum. Anything more and you stop tasting and start merely drinking.
• Start at the furthest point and work back towards the station with the most frequent service, so a delayed finish does not strand you.
• Eat properly. Many taprooms host a pizza van or a street-food trailer from about five o'clock; check before you rely on it.
• Ask for thirds. Almost every taproom will pour a third of a pint, which lets you work through a range of seasonal beers without losing the plot.
• Check hours on the day. Small operations close early when the beer runs out, and a few shut entirely in January.

The western arc: Tring, Berkhamsted and the canal

Begin at Tring, where the Chilterns begin in earnest. The reservoirs at Marsworth and Startop's End are a short walk from the station and are superb for wintering wildfowl, with the Grand Union Canal towpath running alongside — flat, easy and ideal for a pre-pint leg-stretch. Breweries out this way tend to sit in converted barns and farm units on the edge of the chalk, and the beers lean towards clean, bitter pale ales and proper best bitter.

Then take the train one stop to Berkhamsted. The castle ruins are worth twenty minutes, the canal basin is prettier than it has any right to be, and the taproom scene is a mix of small units off the high street and a couple of brewery bars in the older buildings. Autumn is the season to aim for: green-hop beers, brewed with freshly picked hops used within hours of harvest, are usually on from late September and taste like nothing else — grassy, resinous and faintly citric.

The middle: St Albans, Redbourn and the Nickey Line

St Albans is the obvious anchor. Verulamium Park gives you the lake, the Roman walls and a wide, level circuit that suits a morning walk, and the city has enough small brewery taps and good pubs to fill an afternoon without moving more than a mile. Spring is the time for golden ales and lighter, elderflower-tinged beers; ask what has just gone on.

For a proper walk between stops, use the Nickey Line — the old railway trackbed running roughly seven miles from Hemel Hempstead through Redbourn to Harpenden. It is flat, gravel-surfaced and shaded in parts, and Redbourn sits conveniently in the middle for a pause. Harpenden's taprooms are small and friendly, and the train back to London runs late enough to make a full day of it.

The northern run: Hitchin, Letchworth and the chalk streams

Hitchin has the River Hiz, a fine market square and a cluster of drinking spots within easy reach of the station. A mile or so out, the footpaths towards Little Wymondley and St Ippolyts are quiet and gently rolling. Letchworth, the world's first Garden City, is a stop or two away: Norton Common is a lovely bit of open birch and gorse for a stroll, and the town's small brewery taps are the sort of places where the brewer will happily talk you through the malt bill.

Push further north to Baldock and Royston if you have the energy. Therfield Heath above Royston is one of the best short walks in the county, with long views and rare chalk downland flora in summer; the Icknield Way, the Chiltern Way and the long-distance Hertfordshire Way all pass nearby. Winter beers — porters, stouts and old ales — suit this stretch nicely, especially with a cold walk either side of them.

Taproom etiquette and the practical bits

• Taprooms are working spaces. Stay out of the brewhouse unless invited, and keep children and dogs where the staff can see them.
• Many are card-only and some do not serve food at all; a bag of crisps is not lunch.
• Buy a takeaway bottle or two. It is the simplest way to support a small brewery and gives you something to compare later.
• Tasting flights are usually cheapest early. Prices rise, and queues lengthen, from about four o'clock.
• Book nothing tightly. Hertfordshire's rural bus services are thin, and the last Sunday trains back towards London leave earlier than you think.
• Pair stops with green space: Cassiobury Park and Whippendell Woods near Watford, Heartwood Forest and Panshanger Park in the middle of the county, Ashridge and the Tring reservoirs in the west, the Lee Valley and the Stort Navigation towpath in the east.

Sensible shoes, a folding umbrella, a charged phone and an appetite for conversation will get you further here than any itinerary. The pleasure of a Hertfordshire tap trail is not in ticking off breweries — it is in the hour you spend at a trestle table, half a pint of something seasonal in front of you, listening to someone explain why this year's hops came in late.