Pre-Sequel: After the Beer Festival 2016

On the way back home from the 2016 CAMRA Beer Festival yesterday evening, we had our last pints (and shared a cheeseboard), before catching our train back to Hastings, at the Market Porter in Borough Market SE1, where I drank a pint of G2 Brewing (website) Vella, a 4.2% golden "blonde" bitter, not too bad, with a dry finish. Beforehand, we'd drank at a bar I personally prefer in the area, though with only 3 ales at a time, a more interesting selection usually, though, plus all sorts of cask and craft beers, where we had our penultimate pints...

ie The Rake (website), on the other side of Borough Market, which has a nice view of Southwark Cathedral, and which was where my great-great grandparents were married before it became a cathedral many moons ago! Here we'd all drank the 4.2% Crouch Vale (website) Yakima Gold (4.2% also), named after the Yakima Valley (which was named in turn after the Yakima Nation, whose reservation is on the east side of the Cascade Mountains), here is where the Amarillo hops used for this ale are grown. Indeed, 77% of all U.S. hops are grown in the Yakima Valley, and many grape vines too! I've had Yakima Gold in many different bars and never had anything but a great pint or three, samples of my notes say "fruity, quite bitter, excellent"; "refreshing and very pale, fruity bitter with peach aftertaste, very good"; "genuine pale bitter, lovely stuff indeed!"

Another wonderful thing about drinking here was that, despite my mate telling me I'd paid £1.05 a pint more than I had (!), and I apologise for anything I may have said detrimental following our many ales imbibed beforehand, we were served a quality ale by quality bar staff, in this instance, the very wonderful, patient, and beautiful Alex, at about 17.15 (09/08/16), please give her a pay rise (!); and I understand there is more than just the one Alex working here!

Anyway, more to come about the beer festival itself, very soon...

St George's Day Festival of English Ale in Hastings

The Albion, in George Street, Hastings, is holding a Beer Festival this weekend, together with fun, music and food... 

In addition to their regulars, including an excellent favourite of mine, Dark Star Hophead (3.8%), which I had a pint of there yesterday, a crackin' ale indeed, Harveys Sussex Best (4%) and Timothy Taylor Landlord (4.3% ), you might just be able to imbibe up to 10 other ales from near and far!

From Sussex brewers, there will be Dark Star Sunburst (4.8%) website, Beachy Head Legless Rambler (5%) website, Rother Valley Chocolate Porter (4.2%) website, Harveys Armada Ale (4.5%), and their pertinent Georgian Dragon (4.7%) website; and from Kent, though the brewer himself comes from much closer to home, there will be Pig & Porter Red Spider Rye (4.8%) and Skylarking (4%), a session pale ale: website.

From further afield will be Adnams Mosaic Pale Ale (4.1%) website, from way up int' North, an early pioneer with their unfined and unfiltered ales, and excellent unique pub where they used to brew, the Marble Arch (website), one of my favourite pubs ever, Manchester brewery, Marble Pint (3.9%) website, and across from Cornwall, and now brewing more fine ales than when I lived nearby in the 1990s, St Austell Spring Fever (4.1%) website.

Have fun, and a Happy St George's Day to you, cheers!

Scottish Beer Festival in Sheffield this weekend!

From today, until Sunday, the Hillsborough Hotel, Langsett Road, Sheffield, is holding a 'Scottish' Beer Festival. Now, I am well aware that every day in Sheffield is a potential beer festival, with so many excellent real ale houses and local microbreweries, but this is featuring many Scottish ales soon after Burns Night, and no doubt something to do with Tom the landlord too!  

Hillsborough Hotel

There are numerous ales available, including the Swannay Orkney IPA (4.8%), brewed with Styrian Goldings hops, pale, citrus fruity and refreshing (website), also the stronger 'ruby red' Loch Lomond Kessog (5.2%), brewed with Northern Brewer and Willamette hops, (Willamette well used by a certain Sheffield brewer I used to work for as well!) with a dark-red fruity and dark chocolate flavour (website). 

From Fallen Brewing, is their even stronger 5.4% Grapevine (website), amongst others, and brewed with FIVE different hops, Magnum, Pacifica, Galaxy, Kohatu and Citra (one of my favourite hops!), creating a fusion of fruity flavours, grapefruit and tangerine citrus mixed with 'tropical' mango and pineapple, finishing with a nice dry bitterness... 

       

Not finally, but finally from me for now, is the Pilot Beer Blønd (4%, website), brewed with Galaxy and Amarillo hops, citrus flavours with a hint of spice, and deliberately unfined, so naturally a wee bit cloudy... and, of course, many more ales too!

Well, I can't make it there for this festival, sadly, but would be grateful for any feedback, either here, or on my facebook page, concerning the ales available please, from anyone who does visit, cheers, and enjoy!    

Another Beer Festival in Hastings starts on Thursday!

Yes really, another wee beer festival, this time in the restaurant area, ie the room down at the back of the First In Last Out (FILO); which is an event for Hastings Week 2014 (today being the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings). The FILO is in the High Street, Hastings 'old town' (website). The beer festival starts on Thursday evening (16th October) and ends on Sunday 19th October, though I wouldn't put too much money on many festival ales remaining by then. 

Ales at the festival are session ales and stronger, dark and pale, from the North and South, and from East and West, you've got it, there really is no theme other than a variety of different ales for Hastings Week! From the North and far-North (Scotland) come Rudgate Battleaxe (4.2%) and Chocolate Stout (5%) and Orkney Dragon Head Stout (4%). From over to the West there will be Skinners River Cottage (4%), O'Hanlons Copper Glow (4.2%) and Bespoke Running the Gauntlet (4.4%).

We'll be universally challenged by ales from the counties of Cambridge and Oxford, 2 of my old favourites from Oakham Ales JHB (3.8%) and the single hopped Citra (4.2%) and Loddon Russet (4.5%). Then from closer to home in Hampshire and Kent will be Triple fff Rock Lobster (5%), Caveman Prehistoric Amber (4.5%) and Whitstable Brewery East India Pale Ale (4.1%). Hard to imagine a more eclectic choice of ales! 

Of course, in the bar will also be a selection of ales from the pub's own microbrewery, ie the FILO Brewing Company at Hastings Old Town Brewery. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to it, cheers! 

www.drinkaware.co.uk

Ales @ the Welsh Beer Festival in Putney...

As per my last blog, sorry I'm taking so long these days, I seem to have more obligations than I used to! Anyway, I made 2 visits to The Bricklayers Arms (website) over the weekend, and had quite a fun time, though with family obligations, I couldn't drink too much, which was probably just as well...

For those who haven't read my previous reports on The Bricklayers, it is, as my brother says, my "local pub in Putney". Sometimes I visit, and there are hardly any ales available from their 10 handpumps, but on other visits, like last weekend, they had approximately 100 ales on stillage, with most of them in their beer garden (some of them in the photograph below), and more on handpump inside, or waiting to be connected up in the cellar, 'twas good, though, sadly, nothing from Tiny Rebel Brewery, shame! Anyway, I only drank 11 of them (which meant I missed out on nearly 90!), mostly half-pints, a few pints, and a few repeated that I particularly enjoyed, but I'll start with the ones that come at the bottom of my list and work my way up... 

OK, so scoring at the 'average' scale, to begin with, came a pale golden bitter with a hint of cider, being a bit tart, and from a VERY new brewery (so they have time to improve), Tomos a Linford Cmrw Canu (4%). Next, slightly above average, was the 4.3% Jacobi Red Squirrel, dry, with a hint of roasted barley and nutty aftertaste. 9th was Pixie Spring Deliverance (4.5%) an "American style pale ale", very dry and bitter, but I was disappointed there was less grapefruit in the taste than I expected! Then came Grey Trees Diggers Gold (4%), more US hops, a golden bitter and very subtle citrus aroma and taste. 

Then came a 'black IPA', and from Brains too, not usually my favourite brewer, I have to admit, but this wasn't bad! Their Black Mountain (5%) does what it says on the label, though a very deep red in colour actually, roasted barley aroma, plenty of body, bitter with a dry aftertaste. Then, from Caffle, came a paler ale, Darker Side of Pale (4.4%), nearly a bronze colour, not much aroma, but decent bitter. In fifth place was the unfined Axiom New Dawn (4.2%), clearer than I thought it would be, and a pretty good pale golden bitter too. Next was Big Hand Havoc (5%), pretty good, though it tasted nothing like the tasting notes, being very dry with a hint of roasted barley in the flavour, not like an APA at all! 

The top 3 were all very good, and my scoring was finely balanced, but... drum roll... in third, I put Otley APA (4.3%), not labelled as a rye beer, but my tasting notes say it is, with a hint of elderflower too, nice one! In second, with a lovely fruity aroma and dry aftertaste, came the very good 4.5% Celt Double Dose, but my winner, of not much more than a 10% sample of all the ales remember, was the Borough Neath Full Blast... A fruity aroma, I got plum as well as citrus, and very dry and bitter, I did like this 4.7% ale, cheers!  

Welsh Beer Festival - Bricklayers Arms, Putney

This weekend, a festival of Welsh ales! My views on Welsh ales were recently expressed, when Tiny Rebel Brewery got a big thumbs up from me! 

Borrowed this photograph off their twitter page, so many thanks for that, and just a selection of what is available this weekend at the Bricklayers Arms in Waterman Street, Putney SW15 1DD.

Visit and enjoy, cheers! 

Beer Festival in Bexhill this weekend!

This weekend, Friday 12th to Sunday 14th September, at the RAFA Albatross Club (close to the De La Warr Pavilion at the seafront), very reasonable prices, and many very interesting ales from around the country, as described on their site:

 

ALBATROSS CLUB

6^TH BEXHILL BEER FESTIVAL

(GREAT BEXHILL BEER FESTIVAL) (GBBF)

 

BEER LIST & TASTING NOTES

£3.00 A PINT ------ £1.50 A HALF------ £1.00 A THIRD-

 

1/ ACORN BREWERY

BARNSLEY BITTER 3.8 %

This award winning Barnsley Bitter is brewed using the finest quality Maris Otter malt and English hops. Chestnut in colour, having a well-rounded, rich flavour, it retains a lasting bitter finish. Brewed using yeast strains used in the 1850′s to brew ‘Barnsley Bitter’. 

Acorn Brewery Barnsley Bitter won a Silver Award in its class at the Great British Beer Festival 2006 and was also a finalist in 2007, 2008 and 2012.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

2/ DUNHAM MASSEY BREWERY

CHOCOLATE CHERRY 3.8%

A multi-award winning speciality beer. The class of Dunham dark with a dry hint of cherry that cuts through the malt flavours.

3/ BIG CLOCK BREWERY

DIRTY BLOND 4.2%

An easy drinking, dark blond beer.

A new brewery based in Accrington Lancashire.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4/ THE YARD OF ALE BREWERY

BLACK AS OWT STOUT 4.2%

A dark stout with a strong roasted coffee aroma.

The smoothly rich taste leads to a medium-bitter finish.

5/ WILSON POTTER BREWERY

RUBY RED 4.4%

An easy drinking rich ruby ale with a full-bodied, Malty berry taste, with a floral aroma.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

6/ SONNETT 43 BREWERY

BROWN ALE 4.7%

A very moreish rosy brown beer. Quite a simple brew for those who like their beer mild and fruity with flavours of malt and toffee blending well with a pleasant light bitterness.

7/ EAST LONDON BREWERY

JAMBOREE 4.8%

A golden beer using English hops throughout, in particular Brambling Cross, Jamboree has a blend of lager, pale and wheat malt, giving a smooth but refreshing mouth feel.

8/ THE FIVE POINTS BREWERY

RAILWAY PORTER 4.8%

A Porter in the classic London style with our own twist. Aromas of chocolate and coffee with hints of caramel, brewed with British East Kent Goldings hops.

9/ STEEL CITY BREWERY

HE’S NOT THE MESSIAH 4.8%

Ultra pale ale. Brewed with US magnum hops. Loads of Cenennial and Motueka hops

after flame-out and Citra and Chinnock in the fermenter. Good enough for Jehovah Himself. False beards not required.

10/ TOTALLY BREWERY

PUNCH IN THE FACE IPA 4.8%

Peppery aroma, Citrus and tropical fruit flavours and a balanced malt bill.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

11/ SALTAIRE BREWERY

BLACKBERRY CASCADE 4.8%

American style pale ale, with the aromas and strong bitterness of Cascade and Centennial hops, infused with a hint of blackberries.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12/ REDWILLOW BREWERY

WRECKLESS 4.8%

A pale ale, loaded with Citra and Amarillo hops, which provide the flavour of tropical fruit and a clean finish.

                                             

13/ MONCADA BREWERY

NOTTING HILL RUBY RYE 5.2%

A robust ruby ale made with rye complimented by a fruity hop aroma.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

14/ THE MELWOOD BREWERY

KALEIDOSCOPE EYES 5.5%

 Pale IPA style beer with Pioneer and Amarillo hops.

 “Picture yourself on a boat on a river with tangerine dreams and marmalade skies”

15/ROOSTER BREWERY

 BABY FACED ASSASSIN 6.1%

Brewed with 100% Citra hops that create aromas of mango, apricot, grapefruit & mandarin orange, along with a lasting, juicy, tropical fruit bitterness, the Baby-Faced Assassin is a deceptively quaffable India Pale Ale that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

16/ ELLAND BREWERY

1872 PORTER 6.5%

Rich, complex and dark Porter from an original 1872 recipe,

with an old port nose, and coffee and bitter chocolate flavours on the palate.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

17/ BASELINE BREWING

REBEL ALLIANCE 6.5%

A “proper” IPA at 6.5% ABV this beer recalls the alliance between the Mughal Empire and rebels from the British East India Company, in the first Indian Uprising of 1857.

The end result of the rebellion was the disbanding of the Mughal Empire as well as the East India Company, and the establishment of the Raj.

18/ WELTONS BREWING

CHURCHILLIAN 6.6%

A big stout. Charcoal flavours mixed with hints of treacle toffee. Aromas of toast & berry fruits.

We are fed up with strong English stout being called, Russian. This is English Churchillian.

MUSIC PLAYED BY THE EXILES   

FOOD AVAILABLE UPSTAIRS.

Chelmsford City Beer & Cider Festival 15-19 July

I welcome a good friend, John Stack, who is guest blogger of the day, but first must apologise, I still haven't worked out how to cut & paste without altering the appearance of the blog, so apologies for being a neo-Luddite, but a great read, and quite a few ales I've not reported on before, and photographs from him too, cheers John! Oh yes, and he didn't have a pint of all of them, allegedly...

The venue was Admirals Park in Chelmsford, and the entrance was free before 5 pm with a £3 deposit for a special festival glass, which was refundable should you already have too many glasses! The setting was a large park on the outskirts of town.  

The set-up was straightforward, involving some huge tents covering the dispensers of over 300 varieties of ale, 100 real ciders, perries and ‘pyders’, and a large selection of international beers from around the world.

There was plenty of room on arrival (Friday) but, by the end of the evening, it was chock a block with several thousand people all enjoying the drink, music and food that was on offer (chips, burgers, hog roast, Cornish pasties and German sausage) - your usual beer festival fayre.

There were approximately 110 breweries represented over the festival and several took the opportunity to display a large selection of their ales for the punter to try.  Breweries included: Woodfordes, Wibblers, Stonehenge, Roosters, Otter, Oakham, Mumbles, Lochness, Felstar, Camerons, Brains and Abbeydale.

After walking around for about 10 minutes I decided it was time to get sampling, I have not put these in any particular order but over the evening I sampled the following.  Here are brief descriptions of drinks with my personal view of each, but do remember, different people have different tastes...

Abbeydale Moonshine 4.3% Sheffield - This is a drink I use to drink many moons ago when I lived in Sheffield and I have not seen it for a few years.  This is a very easy to drink pale Golden ale which has a slightly citrus taste.  Really do rate this drink. 9/10

Bishop Nick Heresy 4.0% Essex - This is from one of the many Essex breweries that were here today.  This is a golden beer which had a bitter taste about it but not too strong, it seemed to be very popular the time I was purchasing this and would not hesitate to buy more of this, but with me on ‘special duties’ I declined some more of this drink.  7/10

Butcombe Gold 4.4% Bristol - This was a Golden ale which I had not tried before.  The various elements that hit your taste buds when drinking this make Gold a very enjoyable drink.  What surprised me with the heat of the day is that the pint actually felt slightly chilled which was a pleasant surprise. 8/10

Camerons Gold Bullion  4.3% Hartlepool - This is one of the few breweries I hear about a lot but have never actually got round to trying one of their brews. This drink was also golden with a good hoppy flavour which was easy to drink and also had a nice citrus flavour about it. 6/10

Felstar Hoppy Hen  5% Essex - This is another local brewery which is only a few miles outside of Chelmsford.  They had 3 ales to choose from but I picked Hoppy Hen. This is a premium Old Ale. Have to admit I found this drink was very hoppy indeed.  Anyone looking for a strong hoppy flavour then this is one you should look out for.  I personally did not enjoy this but everyone enjoys different things about ales, this one did not do it for me.  5/10

Mighty Oak Kings 4.2% - Yet another Essex Brewery, told you there were a lot of them here! This drink had a description of a golden beer brewed with Citra hops.  I have to say that there was quite an acidic/citrus taste off this one, which was pretty powerful. If you enjoy citrus flavour then this would be one for you but unfortunately was a bit strong in taste for me 5/10

Woodfordes Bure Gold 4.3% Norfolk - Woodfordes always have a good variety at Chelmsford Beer festival.  This year was no different as they even had their own pumps. I went for Bure Gold. This was a golden ale which apparently used American and Slovenian hops in order to get the flavours. Have to admit I found it easy to drink and would have drunk more. 7/10

Oakham Gangster 4.9% Peterborough - Oakham are one of the bigger breweries from Peterborough and I have always enjoyed drinking their ales.  This year at Chelmsford they had their own bar and quite a large selection to choose from.  I went for Gangster. This was a ‘golden ale’ with a deep copper colour.  This was very enjoyable and had a fairly dry hoppy taste to it.  Would liked to have tried some of the others on show but needed to try some other breweries tastes.  7/10

Stonehenge Danish Dynamite 5% Wiltshire - Have to admit, along with Abbeydale, this was my favourite drink of the day.  This was golden ale which was strong but that had well balanced flavours that make it an enjoyable drink.  Would highly recommend this to any person who enjoys different flavours bouncing off your palate making for a flavoursome drink.  Very good 9.5/10

Wibblers Cherry Blonde 4.3% Essex - Wibblers is another Essex brewery and had several ales on offer.  I went for Cherry Blonde which came under the description of a fruit/spice ale.  This drink had a lovely hint of cherry when it hit the palate.  Was a very nice drink which I enjoyed. 7/10

Just before the end of my tasting spree I decided to finish the night with something different so I went to the Cider/Perry section of the festival.  There were so many to choose from but I decided to go for Abrahalls Thundering Molly 5.2% Worcestershire - Have to admit I drank 1½ pints of this, it was a lovely Medium cider that had a lovely aroma around it.  It was not too strong but was very refreshing after the heat of the evening and all of my other tasting which I enjoyed.

Hope you enjoyed the summary! 

From me now, thanks again to John, and I can understand his liking for the Danish Dynamite, a crackin' ale, indeed. I have to admit I'd have loved to have tried the ales from Mighty Oak and Oakham, in particular, great breweries both, but many more lovely ales too, only jealous, a lot, cheers!

Beer Festival @ Red Lion, Snargate, 20-22 June

From tomorrow for 3 days is this years beer festival at the Red Lion in Snargate, Kent TN29 9UQ, with music on Saturday afternoon and evening! 

The weather is going to be gorgeous, meaning the garden with crackin' views will be well used, and the ales will be gorgeous too! Sadly, I cannot make this years event, but see my previous reviews for my opinion of this real family-run public house, if you're nearby, it will be a worthwhile visit to make.

Enjoy the festival, you lucky peeps, cheers! 

Another FILO Beer Festival this weekend!

The First In Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings 'old town' has yet another beer festival this May Public Holiday weekend, and it has already started...

As with the recent beer festival, their own ales are available, as usual, plus an extra dozen from other breweries, including a few I don't know: Kirkby Lonsdale Tiffin Gold (3.6%), Elland Lambo's First Pint (4%), Williams Brothers April Thesis (4.2%), Beachy Head Legless Rambler (5%), plus many others well known and loved, notably Dark Star Revelation (5.7%).

Enjoy! 

FILO Beer Festival Report 17-21 April 2014

I visited the beer festival at the First in Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings, only on the first day, Thursday 17th. Due to circumstances, on the day, I only sampled 7 of the 20 ales available, and their own have been reviewed by me before, so were not included this time. In order of strength, below are my reflections on those 6 festival ales, and I was surprised at both my favourite and least preferred ales... 

First, I tried the Elgoods Spring Challenge (3.7%), which was 'pale and refreshing', as the tasting notes said, and with a dry bitter aftertaste, a pleasant start at 6.5/10. Then, I drank the Dark Star Seville (4%), their first ever 'fruit' beer, first brewed 3 years ago, and including a hint of bitter orange, as you'd expect. I'd tasted this at the previous beer festival reported on this blog, and had been a bit underwhelmed. This time, however, I got a lot more flavour, and it was quite bitter and dry, and very good, obviously improved with time settled in the cask, 8/10. The third ale, in turn, I was disappointed with, surprisingly, as I usually enjoy Roosters beers. This Roosters, 41 Degrees South (4.1%), was pale and fruity, dry and bitter, but neither quality was as pronounced as I expect from this brewery, 5.5/10. 

The fourth ale was Hop Back Spring Zing (4.2%), which was very pale, dry and bitter, very refreshing, and very good too, 7/10. Nine Standards Silver Standard (4.3%) was a wee bit different, described as "a classic pale ale", and the hoppy aroma and taste did make me think English hops, though I have no idea what was used, though I'd guess Fuggles if questioned, but please don't quote me on that! It had a light malty aroma, was quite a dry bitter with a nutty aftertaste, not bad at 6/10. My final ale, or finale, was the slightly stronger Cairngorm Wild Cat (5.1%), all the way from Scotland! This had a malty aroma with a hint of burnt oats, and received 6/10 too.

Today, I sampled my seventh ale, Elgoods Golden Newt (4.1%), which was also pretty good, and I think I may have had this before. The malts used seem to include lager malt, at lest that's what my tastebuds told me, and this is, apparently, dry hopped. The dry aftertaste supports the dry hopping, and there was a fruitiness about it hat I just couldn't quite distinguish, but, considering this is near the end of the cask, in very good nick and got 7/10!  

Consequently, I was surprised that the Roosters came last in my marking, perhaps my high opinion of the brewery made me more critical as a judge? Whatever, the local Sussex brewer, Dark Star, came out tops in this small sample, their Seville being much more to my taste, even more so than it did when I tried it for the first time a couple of weeks ago!

Cheers!   

Another Beer Festival starting tomorrow! In Hastings this time...UPDATED 17th April

For this weekend, From Thursday 17th in the evening to Monday 21st of April, though I doubt all the planned ales will still be available by Easter Monday, and to be held at the First In Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings 'Old Town', East Sussex TN34 3EY. The 'festival' ales will be sold in the room at the back, and FILO's own ales will be available at the bar, of course...  

The photograph below shows last years offerings, but this year include: 

FILO Mike's Mild (3.4%) 

Elgoods Spring Challenge (3.7%) 

Moles Moles Gold (3.8%)
Dark Star Seville (4%) 

Hammerpot This England (4%) 

Elgoods Golden Newt (4.1%) 

Roosters 41 degrees South (4.1%) 

Hopback Spring Zing (4.2%) 

Lymestone Flagstone (4.2%) 

St George's Midas (4.4%) 

Wharfebank Golden Ticket (4.5%) 

Cairngorm Wild Cat (5.1%) 

As you can see, ales from all over the country, and many typical of the month, ie Spring and St George's Day 'specials', plus FILO Crofters Best, Churches Pale Ale, Old Town Tom (flavoured with ginger), Cardinal Sussex Porter and Gold in the main bar. No doubt a couple of surprises will appear on the bar, indeed, today (17th) there is Nine Standards Silver Standard (4.3%), plus 2 real ciders will be available as well: Westons 1st Quality and Thatchers Cheddar Valley, plus food...

Thursday evening 18.00-20.30 Indian Thali. 

Friday and Saturday evenings 18.00-21.00 Hot bar snacks. 

Monday evening 18.00-20.30 Tapas.

Friday, Saturday and Monday Lunchtimes 12.00-14.30 Regular FILO menu. 

Not sure when the Beermeister will be there, but it has to be done and enjoyed, cheers! 

The FILO's own website is www.thefilo.co.uk 

www.drinkaware.co.uk

Bexhill Beer Festival Part IV (Final Resolution)

OK, back to Bexhill for the second day, and a new pale hoppy bitter had been put on upstairs in the Club bar, ie Lacons Affinity, a 4.5% fruity bitter, not bad at all, but not on a par with the 3 mentioned at the end of the previous blog, which I had to try again before comparing beers, of course, if only for scientific purpose... Anyway, here goes for the darker beers... 

I started from the weakest again, and one that others had spoken with great warmth about yesterday, whilst dunking bourbon biscuits in their pints (true!), the Sonnet 43 Brewery Bourbon Milk Stout (4.3%). Yes, the biscuits did work with this stout, very pleasant, though I didn't 'dunk', just ate a few. However, I found it a bit 'thin', hardly surprising as it was the weakest stout/porter here. Then I tried the very good 4.8% Deeply Dale Breakfast Stout, which had much more body. lovely and well-balanced, and a wee bit bitter too, it hit the spot!

Actually, I came to find that the 4 darker beers downstairs were all very good, and not too much to chose between them really. The next 2 had mucho body, the Londinium (5.5%), brewed by Roosters Brewery, was very well balanced again, I tasted more coffee than the tasting notes suggested, too easy to drink at the strength though! The final stout I drank was the impressive 7.4% Russian Rouble, brewed by Flipside Brewery, another very good beer, if a wee bit too sweet for me. I liked them all! 

I had to try the 3 real ciders too, it would have been very poor not to, and quite a few visitors to the beer festival, certainly seemed to be here for the cider, not the ales! Memories of the old Cider Bar in Newton Abbot came to mind, in the days when I first went there and they still had only 3 draught ciders, before their expansion in the 1980s, and, like there then, Geoff had brought in dry, medium and sweet ciders. So a good choice, and all 3 certainly were true rough-ish ciders, one was even called a 'scrumpy', the 'dry' PalmersHayes Kneebender Scrumpy (6%), which, like they all did, did what it said on the label, it was dry and real cider, indeed, very good!

The other 2 were similarly true to their labels, the 'medium' cider, Hancock's Real Devon Cider (6.5%), was also quite dry really, and very nice (I could have drunk this all day if there hadn't been ales to drink). The stronger 'sweet' cider was the cloudier Gwatkin Yarlington Mill Cider (7.5%), which was certainly a wee bit sweetish, but with a nice dry aftertaste. All in all, 3 pretty decent real ciders reminiscent of my years living in the West Country, cheers! 

Anyway, I changed my mind and gave the Derventio Cleopatra (5%) the winners certificate, well, there wasn't a certificate, but you get the meaning... after resting the night and certainly developing, and my directly tasting all the leaders from the day before, it just shaded it from the Niamh's Nemesis (5.7%)in second place; with Deeply Vale Breakfast Stout (4.8%) coming in third, best of the stouts! As regular readers will know, I do like hoppy bitter beers, so this may not surprise them...

An excellent beer festival, indeed, and another will be held very soon at the First In Last Out in Hastings (more to come very soon, as it will be held over the Easter weekend), I shall be able to stand back and make more critical judgement as I'll not be working there, unlike I did at the Bexhill festival, cheers!

Bexhill Beer Festival Part III (The Early Beers)

Obviously, sampling ales needs some sort of benchmark on which to base your comparison, so the 'unlucky' beer you drink first becomes that baseline mark. I started with the weakest first, it being unfair to drink weaker ales following stronger, more full bodied ales...

On the first day, I only drank pale and medium coloured bitters, leaving the dark beers, the porters and stouts, plus the ciders, 'til the following day, and the baseline was set by Redwillow Headless (3.9%), which I have had before, a bitter dry bitter with fruit and malt in the flavours, not a bad start. Then, another ale I think I've had before, Saltaire Blonde (4%), which uses Czech and German hops, another pale beer in which I detected a hint of wheat, if they don't use wheat malt in this, then the hops confused me! Again, not bad at all, and very different. The third was the only local ale of the festival, incredibly, Dark Star Seville (4%), which, I was assured, by the locals, ain't as good as it used to be (I still have my theory about our tastes changing, remember). Anyway, yep, a fruit flavoured beer, though very subtle, a deep golden bitter, shading it as the best ale so far...

My 4th ale was, and I assure you I wasn't drinking pints of everything, Hopstar Lush (4%) a slightly darker coloured bitter flavoured with Amarillo hops, not bad. The next two were heading upwards from 4%, ie Big Hand First Hand (4.2%), paler, with a biscuit flavour, dry and bitter, and Dancing Duck 22 (4.2%), a slightly darker bitter. Both were very drinkable, but not up to the level of the local ale, Dark Star Seville, which still had the edge for me. 

So, we were now heading towards the stronger ales, where you would expect more flavours, but the next choice disappointed me, especially after everyone else had said how good it is, but it just wasn't to my personal taste, and became my least favourite ale of the festival. This was Hand Drawn Monkey What Would Jephers Do? (4.5%), others loved it, but not for me. The next bitter was much more to my taste, Heavy Industry 77 (4.9%), 2 ales with numbers as names, great for bingo callers, though this was much more interesting to me. Described as a "big amber IPA", which gives it a job to follow up, but it did, plenty of body and a nice dry and bitter finish, it did the job for me, cheers, so now became the leader!

But 2 ales were now coming up on the blind side, both pale and hoppy bitters, but very different! Derventio Cleopatra (5%) was, quite frankly, full of apricots, both in aroma (and the aroma could be detected from a distance!) and in taste. The tasting notes mentioned other fruit, but I only got the apricot, but very refreshing and very nice. The final ale of the session, 5 Towns Niamh's Nemesis (5.7%), did win the day, though, a great dry pale bitter with grapefruit in the aroma and taste, I loved it!

Cheers for now, because, much more to come!