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Showing posts with label Taiphoon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taiphoon. Show all posts

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Swinging from the scaffold with a flagon of ale in each hand...

... not really, though the scaffold's still up, but even more great ales! Latest, at The Tower, St Leonards, with 4 great pale hoppy bitters!  2 from Hop Back Brewery, the famous Summer Lightning (5%), and the lemon grass flavoured Taiphoon (4.2%), which I hadn't drunk for a while, so I gave a pint a try.  It had a maltier flavour than I remember, maybe I'm just getting too used to the excellent pale and hoppier ales now brewed by Dark Star, amongst many others. So, I also drank a pint of Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) at £2.40 a pint, and more than one of the excellent American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%) at £2.50, and had a good chat with Louisa, the landlady, cheers!


Louisa also suggested I note these upcoming ales from Hastings Brewery, apparently, single hopped beers "handmade" by Brett, a regular drinker at the Tower. Both of these use Australian hops: No4 Australian Blonde Ale (4.4%), which was brewed using Ella hops, and No5 Hop Forward Pale Ale (4.8%), which used Galaxy hops.  If I do get the chance to try either of these ales, I'll write up about them, and it looks like I must have already missed 3 of the brews... 


Back at the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings Old Town, down opposite the fishermen's working beach, the same regular 4 ales have been available, and I have started getting much more into the Dark Star APA, though still have been drinking the Hophead too, both excellent.  2 other ales of note that have been on sale there very recently include Triple fff Moondance, a nice pale 4.2% bitter, with citrus flavours and nose, initially a sweet taste, with a drying out on the palate, and a bitter finish, "sweet & sour" beer, nice one! Also, on Sunday in particular, I've drunk a few pints of an ale I've reported on before, and it is still outstanding, ie Salopian Hop Twister, 4.5%, obviously hoppy, tasting of grapefruit, with good body, and a very dry and bitter finish, love it!


I've visited the First In Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings, a couple of times too, and have grown back into their own FILO Gold (4.8%), amongst their own 5 ales on sale; they have had Dark Star Hophead on too, a good choice for the summer, which appears to have arrived.  Anyway, the Gold is a nice pale golden bitter with plenty of body, and you know you've had a drink too. I was even talked into helping out as a traffic 'marshall' in the old town for Pirate Day (last Sunday, 21st) by Adam there, and I had a couple of pints of Gold after 7 hours standing in the sun, Hastings does love to dress up and 'party', cheers Adam!


Finally, for this blog, I had a pint of Palmers Dorset Gold (4.5%) in the Jenny Lind, further down High Street, with the wee Pre-Raphaelite, Sarah serving up. The Dorset Gold is another pale dry golden full-bodied bitter, but don't let the aroma put you off, it's a decent beer... Oh, and, for a change, I've included a photograph of their cider pump clip, with the locally produced Trappers Laughing Jester (Pear) Cider, it tastes like ciders should taste from my memory of living in Devon, nice one.

Cheers!


Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Dolphin, Hastings

I visited the Dolphin yesterday, back to Hastings now, and had to continue my research into the quality of Dark Star Hophead, obviously. Unsurprisingly, it was as good as it was in the Kelham Island Tavern in Sheffield, actually, I think it was better, but only fractionally, crackin' ale! 


In addition to the Hophead, the other regular ales, Directors and Sussex Best were on offer, plus the semi-regular, at the moment, Dark Star APA and Hop Back Taiphoon, and Anchor Springs Riptide, a 4.1% medium coloured bitter from the Littlehampton-based brewery. By today, a 4.4% ale called On Tap should be on the bar, Beer Rocks is named as the brewer on the pumpclip, but research shows they are a beer supplier, not brewer, that appears to use a number of different breweries to produce their own labelled ales!

The Dolphin has continued with its excellent value menu since the Jubillee celebration, but should be changing this weekend, so get in by Friday if you want to take advantage. I love the pub, but this isn't advertising for them, it's saying to anyone who wants a great value meal, including the price of a pint of beer or glass of wine, to get in for their 'Best of British' menu; includes Fish & Chips, Sausage & Mash, Pie & Mash, Curry or Ploughman's.  Get in there!


Monday, 4 June 2012

Dolphin, Hastings

So, a bank holiday Monday in Hastings, not great weather, what does one do? Yep! The Dolphin... Good ales, good food deals, even better, though, Laura and Maz working behind the bar, consequently, crackin' cakes for nowt for the regulars (always fun to see Maz working here, not only from the selfishly greedy point of view either).      

Despite the amazingly quick to change weather, not such a bad day then, chatting to Mark, Laura and Maz, and Mo for a while, behind the bar earlyish (later, Debs and 'Scootah' too), good ale and better company.  This side of the bar and I chatted to Steve the (retired) fireman and Jim (family in South Yorkshire) as well as to Mark.  

 
Laura and Maz (not in that order, thanks to Marcus for the photo) 

The 6 ales were Dark Star Hophead and APA (you need to look no further than those 2 to know what I drank), Directors, Sussex Best, Broadside and Hopback Taiphoon...

Cheers!