300th BLOG!

300th blog, so what do I write about? Obvious really... I love pale and hoppy ales, I've been hither and thither recently, and even discussed beers from over The Pond, but have had some crackin' ales since my last blog about beers in the UK, so where better to start than looking at the 4 excellent ales served from The Tower bar in the photograph immediately below, and then discussing them?!? 

With my love of hops, The Tower, 251 London Road, St Leonards, Hastings TN37 6NB, produced a masterpiece with this choice of 4 hoppy ales, and I've seen Louisa, and the new barmaid, Sheena, regularly too, I can't complain! This particular day and I was really stumped what to drink, but had to start with my  new favourite, Burning Sky's 3.5% Plateau, brimming with hops, with a lovely refreshing aroma, dry grapefruit taste, dry and very bitter, quality! There were also the 2, very well reported on by me already, Dark Star ales, American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%) and its big brother, the hoppy revelation that is Revelation (5.7%). But there was a new one for me too, Red Willow Mirthless 'Pale Ale', 3.9%, with a fresh citrus aroma, a wee bit 'malty' flavour not detected in the others, not so dry, but still quite bitter... What a choice for me!

Oh yes! And I've also recently had Dark Star's Art of Darkness (3.5%) and Hophead (3.8%), both oozing hop flavours and reported on regularly too; the 'classic' that is Hop Back Summer Lightning (5%), which amazingly seems 'old hat' these days hop-wise; another local brewer keeping the hops 'ultra', Franklins Citra IPA (5.5%); and a wee bit darker amber bitter, Hogs Back HBB or Hogs Back Bitter (3.7%) with a hint of 'peach' in the flavour, and dry and bitter, great stuff, Louisa, cheers!     

At the First In Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings 'old town' TN34 3EY, there was the usual array of their own FILO ales, including the hoppy threesome, varying in their styles, Gold (4.8%), Churches Pale Ale (4.2%) and Crofters (3.8%), and more about the FILO ales coming up in the near future... But there was also an ale from Yorkshire, possibly the birthplace of pale and hoppy ales, ie Roosters Cogburn, nice cowboy pun! The Cogburn is a "Robust Pale Ale", according to the pumpclip, and I have to concur, it is a pale bitter, indeed, 4.3%, with a fair amount of body, quite dry and hoppy, I gave it a smiley face in my notes; cheers to Adam (and not forgetting Mike - Bigg Senior - and Tony, the brewer, manager, etc etc) !   

... and what of the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings 'old town' TN34 3DW, the local CAMRA reigning Pub of the Year? OK, many will be aware I have the nickname 'Hophead' here, because I do enjoy drinking one  of their regular 3 ales, the Dark Star Hophead (3.8%), and just how many times have I reported on and analysed Hophead? But they also have 3 quest ales at a time, which is soon to rise to 4 guest ales, so will be 7 ales in total... So what other hoppy ales have I had here recently? 

There has been the ultra-reliable Stonehenge Danish Dynamite (5%), pale and full flavoured, reported on a-plenty; local brewer 1648's Gold Angel, another 5% pale golden ale with a biscuit aroma, plenty of body, slight roasted malt flavour, quite dry and bitter; West Berkshire's Full Circle (4.5%), a pale golden bitter, dry and pretty good, indeed; and Kent brewer Pig & Porter's Penhuist Pale Ale (4.5%), a deep amber colour, with a fruity aroma and a hint of peach in the flavour, drying out into a very nice bitter, cheers Mark & family! 

Well, that was the 300th blog, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, cheers!     

Thursday 7th February - Isleworth

Oops! I thought I'd already posted this, but blogger hadn't saved or published it, so, here I go again, let's hope my memory is up to scratch!
 

Walking along the Thames to Isleworth with Dan, my brother, the 'Routemeister', we usually visit the London Apprentice, but on Thursday, we had a different goal, ie visiting two new pubs to us in Isleworth, the first, the Victoria Tavern on the corner of Worple Road, where we were warmly greeted and served by the knowledgeable and very lovely barmaid, Sam(antha). The Victoria has 2 rooms, we settled for drinking in the room shown below, which was tasteful, and comfortable to sit in. 

Ales? 3 on... Sambrook's Wandle, which I've discussed sufficiently before; Sharps Cornish Coaster, a 3.6% pale bitter, not that hoppy, thus very easy to drink; and Belhaven Robert Burns, a 4.2% darker "Scottish Ale", typical Scot's ale, indeed, if they called it '80/-', you woodnae be surprised!  

We then wandered down to the Red Lion, a 10 minutes walk away, and a much bigger pub in Linkfield Road, apparently run by the daughter of the Victoria's landlord, and a regular in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide. This has 3 rooms, a large room with impressive stage at the back, where there are regular gigs, and two rooms to the front, including the one below, that could be someone's front room, if it were a wee bit smaller!  Up to 10 ales on sale here, of which we drank the 3.8% Twickenham Grandstand Bitter, a very nice pale bitter, and I have to say, I haven't yet been disappointed by Twickenham Brewery and their ales. 

So, what other ales were there? Hogs Back Snout, a 3.8% 'dark winter stout'; Cottage Plunge (4.6%); Guilsborough Nobby's Virtue (4%); Ringwood Old Scrumper (4%); Hardys & Hansons Olde Trip (4.3%); Adnams Lighthouse (3.4%); 1648 Ruby Mild (3.6%); and Vale Black Swan, a 3.9% dark mild.

 

We then wandered back alongside the Thames to Putney and the Bricklayers Arms, more of in my next blog... Cheers! 

19th December - Hastings 2nd Christmas Fun Day for me.

I'll try to get to many of my regular pubs and bars in Hastings before Christmas, but for logistical and monetary reasons, I shan't make them all, sadly, but I'll have a bash!  First this Wednesday was the White Rock Hotel down on Hastings front, near the pier, and Kerry behind the bar, always a pleasure to see her there, very knowledgeable and a great barperson too.

The ales here are usually £3.10 a pint, unless over 5%, and consequently, we see the 7.8% Harveys Christmas Ale at £4.00 a pint, which was certainly worth trying a half of (I hate to think of people drinking too much of the 10.5% Dark Star Imperial Stout that is due to come on very soon, I'll probably only have a half of that too!).  So, the Christmas Ale, very nice, if a tad too sweet for me, full-bodied, as you'd expect, a bit of a 'Christmas Pudding' of a beer really! I also had the Rother Valley Blues, much easier to drink at just 5% (I'll try to keep seasonal exclamation marks to a minimum), a very nice dark, roasted malt of a stout, very much enjoyed by me.  They also had Dark Star The Original (5%) and Hastings Brewery's best ale to date (in my opinion) their 4.5% Porter.

Up London Road at St Leonards, and on the corner of Tower Road, I reached the Tower, which I still am not sure of the reason for the name, was there an old Norman tower here, or is it named after a church tower? I shall find out, have to really... Anyway, my favourite St Leonards pub, great ales at good value prices and friendly female bar staff, what more could a Beermeister want?  I did mention ales, yes Dark Star's not quite strongest yet Critical Mass, a mere 7.4%, and their APA too, 4.7%, call that strong?!?

Anyway, I avoided the two Dark Star ales, being a bit worried about falling over sometime today before I get near to my bed, so I decided between the other two, Hop Fuzz English (4%), which I have already had before, so it had to be the wheat beer from Rother Valley Golden Valley, and a very manageable 4.2%.  This was a very pale, quite dry and bitter beer, very much to my taste, cheers!

I then crossed Bohemia Road to the North Star, where I found 5 ales on that I've drunk at least a pint of every one in the past, though some very interesting Christmas ales, and Dark Star 'mad' ones, to come on soon, bother... Anyway, the ales were Moorhouse's Pendle Witches Brew (5.1%), always a pleasant dark ale with a strong flavour; the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best (4%), OK if you like a dependable bland session bitter; Timothy Taylor Landlord (4.3%), so well written about elsewhere, and a decent pint when well kept, as they do here; Hogs Back TEA (4.2%), it was a bit like being in a Kent pub, see my previous blogs re Kent; and Rudgate Jorvick Blonde, 3.8% and my choice for this visit, a nice pale hoppy bitter, well, that's my taste.  After wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas, if I don't see you before" I decided to go down to Hastings Centre and visit the North Star's sister pub...

the General Havelock.  5 handpumps, which had 4 ales and a cider on, Westons Twist (4%), a "mulled cider", apparently with "a warming winter spice flavour".  Anyway, I looked to the ales, Dark Star Hophead, Timothy Taylor Landlord, and Harveys Sussex Best, and the 4.3% Sussex Old Ale, that I gladly had a pint of, and gratis too, a reward of the sister pubs' loyalty card, cheers and Merry Christmas Jamie!

Monday 13th

Strange as it may seem, the quickest way from Hastings to London, Clapham Junction, is via Hampden Park...

...but I've got used to the travelling.  On Monday, the Routemeister and I walked from Putney Bridge along the River Thames to Southwark. and, first stopping at The Charles Dickens in Southwark, before our intended visit to the Globe Theatre.

The Chuck Dickens has 6 real ales on sale, regularly changing; today had 2 milds on sale (there's a rarity anywhere, but especially in London) Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde 3.7%, pretty tasty despite the low gravity, and Nethergate Priory Mild.  The 4 other ales were Downton Flaming Games (4.1%), Chichester No 1 (4.1%), Itchen Valley Aley Thompson (4.8% and a poor attempt at a pun), and Hogs Back Summer Ale, which we drank, a 4.2% pale bitter, with very little aroma hop involved, sadly.  Great pub, though, but we chose the wrong ale to drink.  They also sell a real cider gravity fed, which was the 6.5% Dog Dancer from Gwynt y Ddraig.

We then went to the theatre, ie the Globe, a 2 thirds replica of Shakespeare's original Globe Theatre in Southwark, and tried the organic Hepworth Blonde Lager, which was very enjoyable!

We then went to see The Taming of the Shrew, but that's another story to be told elsewhere...

Cheers!

The Roundhouse - Penultimate stop today (10th)

The Roundhouse, Wandsworth Common North Side, is another old haunt of mine, had a few beers here, and seen a few groups too, and it remains a place for gigs, but also is an eatery, and has been done up winebar-ish, nice though. The food looks good, available lunch and evenings, apparently a great roast on Sundays; not the cheapest prices, but reasonable for the area, and around the Junction is a bit more upmarket than in my yoof!

The place was packed with young things along the left as you come in, leaving the right hand side vacant for us, and some others that came in soon after us.

There were 3 ales on offer, the Wandsworth brewed Sambrooks Wandle (regular), Hogs Back TEA (virtually a regular, apparently on about 80% of the time), plus a guest, for us it was Purity's Pure Ubu, a cracking 4.5% golden ale!