More than an off licence with great beers!

I only recently discovered Borough Wines, Beers and Books, in Hastings Robertson Street (website), the only shop they have outside London, many thanks to Becky for advising me of its existence, though it has been there since last year! Many who know me will realise I have a close affinity, and familial ties, with Southwark, particularly with Borough Market and its environs.

They sell a great variety of beers, in bottles and in cans, from near and far, from East Sussex, London, across the UK actually, and from abroad, with a good selection of Belgian beers to help to quench my thirst for the odd Tripel or two...

They also have a fine selection of wines, and you can bring your own bottle to fill from red and white wine casks, or they can provide you with an empty resealable bottle that can be brought back and refilled whenever you wish. They also sell books! So you can buy something to read whilst you knock back a glass of wine, or quaff a glass of beer, what an excellent idea, something that could be extended to pubs, perhaps.

To the beers I tried...

2 pretty excellent beers were enjoyed, both in cans! First the 7.2% Beavertown Bloody 'Ell, a "blood orange IPA". Beavertown Brewery is based in North London (website), and their Bloody 'Ell was brewed to celebrate Halloween a few years ago; an IPA infused with blood red orange zest and juice, together with Magnum, Citra, Simcoe, and Amarillo hops, this has a powerhouse of flavours. From my tasting notes: "A very fruity aroma, plenty of body, citrus+++, dries out with a lovely bitter finish." What more can I say? Fabulous!! 

The second, rather more sedate 5.5% beer in a can was, Huddersfield in Yorkshire based, Magic Rock High Wire Grapefruit (website). This is a grapefruit infused version of their West Coast Pale Ale, High Wire, and includes a flavour inducing blend of 6 hops in the brew, Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Citra, Colombus and Magnum! Consequently, plenty of flavour, back to my notes: "Grapefruit++, hint of mango and peach, with a lovely dry bitter finish. Has to one of my 5 for the Day!"

I'll be trying more beer from here, what a great start, cheers!

CAMRA's National Club Champion, the Albatross Club!

So, I walked along the seafront to Bexhill-on-Sea from Hastings, a nice little 10 mile 'round trip', plus or minus, depending on which part of Hastings you start and finish at, because I hadn't been here for a while, and they have come first in the country, out of over 28,000 entries!

I am a branch associate member of the Royal Air Forces Association, Albatross Club, although CAMRA members are also allowed to enter. Non-members of the RAFA are asked to make a £1 contribution to the club, which, considering their ales cost just £3.10 a pint, is fair enough.

They have a regularly changing 4 ales served from handpumps at any one time, with a board at the back of the bar showing what else is to come on soon! This visit, their 4 ales included Sussex brewers, Rother Valley (website) Well Sprung (4.3%), which I didn't try this time, but my first drink was from Somerset brewers The Wild Beer Co (website) Bibble (4.2%), an unfined, so slightly hazy, pale dry bitter, pale gold, with a very fruity aroma, the result of the Mosaic and Amarillo hops used in the brew, no doubt, very nice too!

The third ale, which I didn't try either, was again local, from Sussex brewers Downlands (website) Devils Dyke (5%), described as "salted caramel!" But I did enjoy the very good Derbyshire brewers Shiny Brewing (website) Affinity (4.6%), which I'm sure I've drunk before, less obviously fruity than the Bibble, but a citrus aroma all the same, with a hint of honey, a wee bit sweet at first but drying out bitterness, another nice one!

Taking a photograph of the award wasn't so easy, as you can see, with lights on, lights off, using flash, not using flash, anyway, you get the point; I probably need a better camera! Oh yes, and the Albatross Club also has 2 real ciders and some bottles of Belgian beers too, well worth a visit!

Again, congratulations to the Club and staff!

Reading, Berkshire, not reading the GBG...

This is a collaborative effort by 2 Guest Bloggers, both called Robert, both from Sheffield, but supporters of rival football clubs, the Owls and Blades... Not bad for me to bring them together, though I don't think they have ever met each other, despite me knowing them both from different areas of my past life up in t'North. What they have in common, apart from both knowing me, is a love of football and real ale, a great combination for the Beermeister Blog, indeed! The most recent visitor (very recently) was Rob the Owl, who passed on details of The Alehouse, Broad Street GR1 2BH, which Bob the Blade (also happy enough to be called "Rob", but I need to differentiate a bit here) has told me is his favoured first port of call when in Reading.

The Alehouse (website), formerly called the Hobgoblin, is an "excellent pub, just 5 minutes from the railway station" reports Rob, where he enjoyed drinking a "nice pint of Havant Decided, a 3.8% hoppy IPA style of beer". This is a small pub with wee little "nooks and crannies" away from the bar, allowing for children, dogs and mobile phones to be 'tolerated' at the pub, because they are banned from the bar itself! There are 8 handpumps providing real ales from microbreweries, 3 dedicated to the 'locale' West Berkshire brewery (website), and 5 rapidly changing guest ales. 2 keg 'craft' beers (my last view of the website showed from Art Brew and Magic Rock breweries), cider, perry and mead are also available, and a fair selection of bottled Belgian beers too. 

Bob added that he would then move on to the Nag's Head, Russell Street RG1 7XD. The Nag's Head (website) is a "friendly pub with loads of pumps, good food, but best of all, they lay on a double decker bus to and from the Madejski Stadium for about £3. Straight back to the pub after the match!" There are 12 handpumps serving up constantly changing real ales from mostly local breweries, and usually more than a dozen varieties of real cider and perry, plus an eclectic mix of bottled beers. 

Cheers Rob and Bob!   

Something a bit different in Bexhill on Sea, plus Hastings...

Bistro 45, opposite the front at Bexhill, a nice little find in a virtually real ale free town, which only has the wonderful Albatross Club (RAFA) as a freehouse offering a good variety of cask conditioned ales, plus a bit of Sheps here and there...

Bistro 45 is mainly a restaurant, as the name implies, but the bar does sell about 25 Belgian beers, which got me interested.  A bit more expensive than drinking in pubs, obviously, but I tried a beer I hadn't had before, ie Het Anker Gouden Carolus Classic, an 8.5% Dark, slightly sweet beer with a hint of liquorice, very nice! 

Also, I've taken advantage of the CAMRA 50p voucher that can be used in Wetherspoons. So for £1.65 a pint (£2.15 - 50p) I tried the Arundel Trident, a rather bitter "strong pale ale"; I liked it a lot!  This was at the John Logie Baird in Hastings, who also had 2 more Arundel ales, Stronghold (4.7% "Premium Ale") and Footslogger (4.6% "Premium Sussex Ale"), and also local, WJ King's Festive (4.7%).  

Finally, the latest ale at the Dolphin, Rock a Nore, 'old town' Hastings, where the Otter Head was yesterday replaced by Salopian Darwin's Origin, a rather good 4.3% pale bitter, a complex fruity flavour and a very dry bitter indeed, loved it!

Cheers!

Swan & Rushes, Leicester

Just received a report from Dan about one of my favourite pubs in the country, the Swan & Rushes (website) in Leicester, still living up to my expectations, still selling Oakham Ales (website).  Dan is there right now after I recommended it to him following his request, but I've visited quite a few times for sports reasons, it being an excellent pub, plus near the rugby and football grounds, and also near the Infirmary! I was there on the same weekend as the Leicester Beer Festival a few years ago, and the Swan had its own beer festival with many ales out the back!  

Anyway, 6 ales here and many Belgian beers, Dan drank the Oakham Bishop's Farewell (4.6% of pale, hoppy fruitiness, smooth and slightly bitter), the other 2 regulars being Oakham JHB and Batemans XB.  They also have 3 guest ales, today they include Oakham Citra (4.2%), which I still have to try, but believe I may get the chance in Hastings very soon, and Dark Star Summer Meltdown at 4.8%, a golden bitter from one of my local brewers down in Sussex (website). 

Dan is impressed by the pub, liked the music too, but said that no food was available today, though usually food is available at lunchtimes Monday to Friday and Wednesday and Friday evenings, and I've always known sandwiches, at least, to be available during the football season Saturday lunchtimes too. 

Cheers for the update and photograph Dan!

Snowdrop Inn, Lewes

Something I forgot to mention in my tiredness last night, but the Snowdrop Inn also has a good selection of Belgian beers, meant to say, cheers!

Snowdrop Inn in Lewes

Walking down South Street towards the Snowdrop Inn...

The Snowdrop Inn, a very interesting food menu, which I shall take advantage of sometime in the future, and 6 ales and a real 4.5% cider, Gwynt Y Ddraig Happy Daze, Welsh you will surmise correctly.

3 regular ales include Sussex Best, as you'd expect, and 2 Dark Star ales, usually American Pale Ale (APA) and Hophead. Now, I'd normally go for the APA, it's a crackin' ale, but a dilemma, as Thornbridge Kipling was among the guest ales, had to drink it, always did when it was available when I lived up in South Yorkshire!

The Snowdrop also has a good collection of bottled beers, nb Belgian beers (they have even had beers from Cantillon Brewery in Anderlecht here), and an interesting array of keg beers, eg Meantime Helles Lager, Hepworth Conqueror Sussex Stout and Brugse Zot. Great pub, to which I shall return, with very friendly staff too.

On the way back towards my ultimate stop, and then the station, I also passed this church, St Thomas-a-Becket, a replacement building for the late 12th century original chapel, from the 14th and 15th centuries, a bit modern ;-)