The Bell Inn, Bath

Following the Chancellor's decision to get rid of (we hope for ever) the Beer Duty Escalator, today's news is about the offering of shares in a cooperative to own the CAMRA Good Beer Guide entry, The Bell Inn, Bath (site).  OK, we're not likely to see any decrease in the price of ales in pubs due to this tax reduction, but it should help publicans to keep increases in prices to a minimum, taking into account the brewers' own price rises, which many pubs have already passed on, but some have not awaiting the Chancellor's announcement.

The Bell Inn is a music venue, as well as offering 9 real ales, and has the support of many celebrities, including Peter Gabriel, Clare Teal, Robert Plant, Midge Ure and Will Gregory of Goldfrapp, who should all be able to contribute a few coins between them.  This looks to be an interesting project, and great if it keeps a good real ale house, and music venue, alive and kicking.

 

The Bell has 7 regular ales, that include quite a few I have recently commented on: RCH Pitchfork (4.3%); Stonehenge Danish Dynamite, a 5% light golden ale much enjoyed recently at the Dolphin in Hastings, and both soon to be available there again; Abbey Ales Bellringer, a 4.2% amber ale; Otter Brewery Otter Ale, a 4.5% bitter; Bath Ales Gem, a 4.1% ale that includes wheat and barley malt; and 2 of my favourite all-time ales, the excellent 4% Butcombe Bitter and the 5% pale and hoppy trendsetter from Hopback, Summer Lightning, always sampled by me if available. 

 

In addition, 2 weekly changing guest ales are available, usually chosen from a host of reasonably local small brewers, including Arbor Ales, Cotswold Spring, Milk Street, Plain Ales, Spinning Dog, and many more.  If you're ever in Bath, I'd suggest you pay this pub a visit, if you do, I'd be happy to publish your findings, cheers!

Weekend in Hastings (1st-3rd March)

A bit of chat about ales at 3 Hastings bars from over the weekend, and I think my good mate and colleague, Kieran, is going to add a blog about Southampton soon...

It was a bit overcaste, so this is an old photograph of the Tower, London Road, upper St Leonards, not far from Bohemia Road, an excellent place to visit, though, sadly, no Louisa to say "Trouble's here" when I walked into the pub, but her colleagues are all efficient and very lovely young women, so I have no complaints, and ale-wise, no complaints either.  Out of the 2 Dark Star ales, I drank the American Pale Ale (APA), 4.7% of excellent pale and hoppy beer, but there was also their Porter (5.6%, and a bit too strong for me on the day, sorry).  They also had 2 Bath Ales beers on, their Golden Hare (4.4%) and Gem (4.8%), at least one of which I have reported on before, another good brewer!

I hadn't been to the Dripping Well for a while, walking back down the hill (Bohemia Road) to reach it, where I called Nick, the landlord, by the wrong name! See, I said it had been a while...  I drank the Brains The Rev. James (4.5%), and Adnams Broadside (4.7%), which was in excellent condition, really enjoyed it. There was also the 'cooking bitter' Wadworth Henry's IPA (3.6%), sorry, I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but you know what I mean, and they usually have the Hastings Best (4.1%), but the pump clip was turned round, so I guessed it wasn't on at that time.

I also met a great couple there, Simon, originally from up in the North West of England, and a more Southern Belle, I do believe, from her accent, anyway, Rachel.  If you read this, Simon, the art deco pub I was trying to describe, is the Ship & Mitre (I could only remember Ship being in the title, if you remember) on Dale Street, Liverpool.  Well worth a visit if any readers are ever in Liverpool, as are The Philharmonic and Doctor Duncans, and, well, there are a great number of good pubs up there really!

At the Dolphin, on the 3^rd March, there were the usual 3 regulars, Dark Star Hophead (3.8%), Youngs Special (4.5%), and Harveys Sussex Best (4%), and the three guests were 2 Sussex ales from Isfield, Flapjack, a 5.3% ‘oatmeal stout’ and IPA, Imperial Pale Ale, at 4.2%, both self explanatory, and Elland Tomahawk.  The Yorkshire brewery describes their Tomahawk as a “strong aromatic bitter”, which doesn’t really do it justice, it is aromatic and 4.7%, and a full flavoured pale bitter, and it is very good indeed!

 

Debbie and Maz were working behind the bar of the Dolphin, with an excellent plum cake from Maz for the regulars to enjoy, many thanks Maz, great Tomahawk to drink, cheers both, and good company that included an intriguing French woman, Florence, and, later, dinner at Trattoria Italiana, an Italian restaurant in Hastings, obviously.  A good day in all!   

By the 5^th, the guest ales were all different again, the ‘semi-regular’ seasonal guest is now the very good Harveys Porter (4.8%), of which they currently have 6 firkins, so it will be on for a while, and the other 2 guest ales included an ale from a very new local brewery, Pig & Porter, Red Spider (5.5%), a full bodied bitter with roasted malt as a contributory factor; this is what I would call a ‘special bitter’, and very nice.   

 

The sixth ale was the excellent Salopian Golden Thread, a 5% pale bitter with a ‘peach’ fruity aroma and plentiful body, a cracker of an ale, and the Hophead was in very good form too, by the way!  Company today included the landlord, Mark, and behind the bar the two very delightful daughters of the family, Laura and Louise.  

 

I enjoyed my time as ever, of course, cheers!

10th and 11th December - Bricklayers Arms, Putney

2 drinking shifts for me earlier this week at The Bricklayers Arms in Putney (website) whose landlady collected an award, on the 14th, as a finalist of 'Headway Campaigner of the Year', warm congratulations to Becky!   

Anyway, the Monday was spent in the company of my brother, the Routemeister, but solo on Tuesday whilst he was running an errand for my niece.  The Monday was virtually a Yorkshire beer festival, with ales from Ilkley Gold (3.9%) and Best (4%), the Gold is a nice pale bitter; my brother tried the Acorn Barnsley Gold (4.3%), having drunk many Acorn beers in the past and having worked with their head brewer (not sure if he still works there, though), I gave this a miss purely because I know their ales, and they are very good; Wold Top Bitter (3.7%), a nice traditional bitter, and the excellent Wold Gold, 4.8% of full-bodied golden bitter, very nice.

 

Amongst the other ales, there were also 2 from Bath, the 3.7% Spa and 4.1% Gem, and Downton Chocolate Orange Delight (5.8%), which I was hoping to drink the following day, but missed out on, that's life and ale drinking at 'London's Permanent Beer Festival', aka the Bricklayers Arms, my Putney 'local'. Oh yes, and yet another real fire for me...  

On the 11th, I returned early evening, missed the Downton choccy one, but tried the very good Bowman Quiver, a 4.5% pale bitter ale and the equally very good, but very different, Vale Brewery Black Swan, described as a 'dark smooth rich mild', certainly plenty of body for a 3.9% mild and very drinkable!  There were also, from Vale Brewery, Red Kite (4%), a 'chestnut red malty bitter' and the 3.4% Brill Amber, and many other ales on their 12 handpumps, including another Yorkshire ale, Clarks Twister (4.2%) from Wakefield.

 

2 enjoyable sessions... Cheers!