Kelham Island Brewery... Another excellent ale!

Drinking in the Dolphin Inn, Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings, as I often do, and yet another excellent ale imbibed earlier today, brewed up in Yorkshire, by the brewery I used to work for quite a few years ago when I was a postgraduate student up there... Kelham Island 45 R.P.M. (4.5%), brewed with hops from 3 continents! I have to share this, being the decent person that I am, as only 1 firkin available at the Dolphin, and, it did go on today, but will go very quickly, take my word for it...

My notes... the first sense used was smell, and what a gorgeous aroma! Citrus plus plus plus... this is a very dry bitter pale ale, plenty of citrus in the flavour, particularly citrus, mostly grapefruit, and my notes say "LUVVERLEY" which is what it is, and I drank more than just the one pint!

Free Beer! Who am I to refuse?

So, free beer, however, a lager, though a "new wave craft lager!" Well, my brother only had a voucher from Fullers Brewery (website) for a free beer at the excellent Salutation in King Street, Hammersmith, whereas I had a voucher for here, and at another local pub... So we had to have what we had to have, or pay for something else, so what did we drink, free 'n' all?

This was our free offering at the Salutation, Fullers Frontier (4.5%), and, as it was the hottest day so far this year, and we had been walking for quite a few hours up and down the River Thames Middlesex and Surrey towpaths, it was incredibly refreshing! It was certainly hoppier than your usual bog standard lagers, and I have to admit to quite enjoying the taste; £4.55 a pint for those who had to pay...

I had another voucher for The Dove, down by the river, still in Hammersmith, a pub I love for its history, ambience, and for sentimental reasons, memories of friendships with previous staff members and others. However, Fullers have whacked up the prices here, OK for tourists, with a weak £sterling, and, it would seem, many wealthier local people (Hammersmith and its environs has gone up-market price-wise, beyond my means now, sadly), so I rarely visit now, but great to take advantage of the free voucher, cheers! Same lager, but £5.05 a pint, 50p more expensive (and a half would be marked up to £2.60, I guess, scandalous!), and, as my brother didn't have a voucher, I shared the cost with him of his pint, I'm nothing if not fair...  

I was also recently fortunate to meet up with the local rep for the Salzburg brewery, Stiegl-Brauwelt (website), who gave me a bottle of their Stiegl Bier (4.9%), a very decent lager, nice flavour, I remember (I have to own up, I've lost my tasting notes, sorry, but I did enjoy drinking it!). This is on draught at my local, the Dolphin Inn, Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings, at the moment, at £4.10 a pint, better than London prices! But, remember, Mark, the landlord there, tends to change round the 3 crafty kegs/lagers he sells, but I'd be surprised if it doesn't return once sold out. 

Anyway, a change for me, but cheers for the free beers!

National Beer Day!

Celebrating National Beer Day 2016 (website) at the Dolphin Inn, Rock-a-Nore Road, in Hastings with a pint, or three, of excellent Dark Star Hophead, cheers! 

Hastings Jack in the Green Festival

Well, this weekend is going to be very busy in Hastings, with the Jack in the Green Festival (website for more details and its history). We are going to be blessed with 2 special ales for Jack this year, from Lewes brewer, Harveys, is Bogie Man Ale (4.3%), which will be available over the weekend, and at the start of the procession on Monday, at the Dolphin Inn, Rock-a-Nore Road (opens at 09.00 on Monday).

The second ale, brewed by Hastings brewery, FILO Brewing Company, Thirst of May (4.1%), will obviously be available at the First In Last Out (FILO) pub, High Street, over the weekend and on Monday too, of course (opens at 10.00 on Monday), and also at various other pubs, including The Crown, All Saints Street, and...

The Albion, George Street, is having another beer festival this weekend, starting Saturday evening! Ales available will be pretty similar to those available at the St George's Day festival (I blogged detailing ales last week!), but will be including the FILO Thirst of May and Harveys mild for CAMRA's Mild May Month, Knots of May (3%).

I'll report back once tasted, cheers!

Christmas Drinking...

Well, I did my drinking at the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and on the 24th, the Dolphin had 5 of its 6 ales from Sussex. There was the ever-present regular Dark Star Hophead (3.8%), my usual drink at the Dolphin, and what I drank on Christmas Eve too, and one of the local guests was Franklins Explorer (4.7%), with a deep amber colour, fruity, a bit sweet at first taste, then drying out...      

Of course, there was the regular Sussex Best from Harveys (4%), and the third regular, Youngs Special (4.5%) from north of the Thames; no need to comment on them!  

The other two guest ales were 1648 Gold Angel (5%), a golden bitter, as you'd expect, with a citrus aroma and flavour, and from the excellent newish Sussex brewery, Downlands, their 5% porter Devils Dyke; a reminder of one school trip in my youth, though I didn't drink porter then, we just visited the Devils Dyke.... 

The Devils Dyke and Gold Angel ran out that day, and were replaced by 2 excellent pale hoppy ales I was spoilt with for my Christmas Day lunchtime session, ie the always excellent Oakham Citra (4.2%), pale, hoppy, citrus, just what the Citra hop does for the ale, and I have to admit, all the Oakham ales I have drunk have never disappointed me, quality always!  

 

Finally, from a Swansea brewery I had never sampled an ale from before, the rather superb Waen Mousse Warning! They describe it as "hellish good beer", and it has Citra, Cascade and Centennial hops, so, like a much more fuller bodied Citra, but with a deeper intensity in the flavour, a bit more dry and bitter too, gorgeous!    

Anyway, if I don't write again before, Happy New Year, cheers!

Merry Winter Ales!

The FILO Our Auld Ale, a whopping 6.5% and secondary fermenting, I'd imagine, is on for the third year at their 'brewery tap', the First In Last Out, High Street, Hastings. What can I say that I haven't said in previous years? It's mighty damn good!    

Also, at the Dolphin Inn, Hastings, I recently drank the Kent brewery, Old Dairy, Snow Top, a mere 6%, another excellent winter ale, tasting like a full bodied heavy old ale, as it should. I have drunk other winter/old ales recently, but these two stand out...    

Anyway, have a merry festive season, cheers!

An Excellent Green Hopped Ale

I wrote a piece for my Hastings blog earlier, as, yesterday, I had finished off the 2 firkins of the excellent Dark Star Green Hopped IPA (6.5%) at the Dolphin Inn, Hastings, Rock-a-Nore Road... Well, I didn't drink the full 18 gallons, but I did have a few pints from both casks, not least the final 2 pints from the second firkin.

As you will probably be aware, a green hopped ale requires fresh hops, ideally, picked on the day of the brew. Dark Star Brewing (website) use "fresh English hops", ie Simcoe, in this very seasonal ale. Yet again, this year, this was an excellent ale, with a deep amber hue and fruity aroma, the taste is fruity, but dry, not particularly sweet, leaving a dry bitter aftertaste, exceptional, indeed, cheers!