Tuesday 13 November 2012 - Icklesham and real fires again.

More real fires and real ale in Icklesham this time, a dreary day, so a good reason to seek out real fires, and where better than this East Sussex village?  First stop the Queens Head...

 

A few fires in here, but I only photographed the one below, it's not so easy to take decent photographs in old pubs away from windows, and with my mobile phone too; I'll have to remember to bring my camera with me!  Anyway, there were ales too, of course, including Greene King Abbot Ale and IPA, Rother Valley RWB (all ales I've already written about or that are well known), Long Man Long Blonde (3.8%, pale golden hoppy ale), and Harveys Sussex Best and Old Ale (4.3%, dark seasonal ale)  Both of the male staff members have joined in 'Movember' with impressive moustaches, good stuff, though unlikely to ever see me with one, though I have 'sponsored'. 

I also met someone here from Long Man Brewery, great to be able to put faces to brewery peeps!  Then I wandered back to the main road and followed it westwards to the Robin Hood, another delightful old pub...

...and I was very pleased to meet up with Fred, on this side of the bar, always a good conversationalist, and I'd been a bit worried about him, not having seen him for quite a while, a real fire, of course, and Darcy and Debbie behind the bar, always good too.

2 ciders from handpumps, Westons Old Rosie and Wyldwood Vintage Organic Cider, both at 7.3%, and five real ales. Available were Brains The Rev James (4.5%), Triple fff Pressed Rat & Warthog (3.8%), Wychwood Hobgoblin (4.5%), and the two I drank from Full Moon Brewery, ie Hop Dance and Red Pacific.  The Red Pacific is a 4.8% full bodied deep red coloured bitter, and the Hop Dance is an easier drinking pale bitter at 3.9%, both good examples of a seasonal ale and a 'session' bitter.

 

Cheers!

Thursday 25th October - an intermission, of sorts...

It was a strange day on Thursday, visiting 2 pubs that I'd be unlikely to, but for the circumstances; first, The Old Garage, Replingham Road, Southfields, SW18.  The reason to visit a Greene King pub? My stepdad was buying me lunch, and you should rarely turn down a free lunch!

I used to live down the road from here when I was a kid and into my teens, when it was a garage, the pub is pretty new in itself, and I have to admit to having a pint or two here before visiting my mum a couple of times before she died (RIP), but it is Greene King, and, quite frankly, I'm not their biggest fan, taking over other brewers and becoming a 'new national', and serving up a bland session ale, though I do like their Abbot Ale, a fine stronger bitter.  So, 4 ales, including their IPA (3.6%), Old Golden Hen (4.1%), Ruddles County (4.3%), and Abbot Ale (5%), all brewed by Greene King. I had a couple of pints, the 'County', not as good or as strong as I remember from my past samples at the Hand in Hand, Wimbledon Common, when it was a Ruddles pub (not the Youngs house it now is) and the Abbot Ale, which still lives up to it's promise, and has to be their 'flagship' ale, very good, and a decent meal too.

Then, in the evening, following his arrival back from foreign parts, the Routemeister and I went to see my niece, his daughter, receive her school award for music up in the West End. We arrived early, so dropped into The Golden Eagle in Marylebone Lane, W1, for a quick pint.  My outside photo, taken by a mobile phone, doesn't do the pub justice, so here's the bar, which is small, and within a small pub really.

 

This is a free house, with a quite mixed clientele, though mostly people on the way home from work, as you'd expect in the early evening up here, and felt convivial enough. There are 4 ales on sale, 2 regulars, Fullers London Pride (4.1%) and St Austell Tribute (4.2%), and 2 guest ales, today was Sambrooks Wandle (3.8%) and, from another new 'national', Marston's, Wychwood Hobgoblin (4.5%).  All reasonable enough ales, we each had a pint of the Pride, and I would definitely return, should I be in the area again, cheers!

My 21st wedding anniversary

OK, my 21st Wedding Anniversary... Yay! Celebrations... only, we've been living apart for over 10 years and half of those 'celebratory' years, consequently, aren't real anniversarial years...

BUT!! We're still friends, which I am very happy to share... So definitely worth sharing, and celebrating, not that I need an excuse.

So, what did I do today?

I walked a bit, and drank a bit, first at the White Rock Hotel, virtually opposite the pier in Hastings, where, as usual, they had 4 real ales, all from local breweries, on sale for £3 a pint, not a bad price for a hotel, and one in a seaside resort to boot!

The weather's improved, but don't hold your breath, and I enjoyed a pint of the VERY good Hepworth Classic Old Ale at the White Rock Hotel, a bit different to yesterday, when I had their cooked breakfast and a pot of coffee, impressive too, though! Not that impressed with the Red River though...

This Old Ale is a very tasty dark ale, and, ranks up there with my favourite winter beers, so was a great start to my celebrations... Winter time, so coldish, and the ales at the Hotel are good to drink at this time of year (I wouldn't recommend this as a Summertime place to drink as their ales are usually too warm then).

From there, eastward, along the beach, towards the Dolphin...

The Dolphin only has 5 ales on at this time of the year, only, I say... the usual 3 regulars, Dark Star Hophead, Courage Directors and the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best, with 2 guests (up to 3 available depending on the time of year and circumstances), Joseph Holts Two Hoots (4.2% of pale, but not outstanding ale) and Wychwood's Dirty Tackle (4% of more interesting ale).

Of course, and those who know me well will appreciate, I here drank the Hophead, a cracking pale, bitter, dry, and very hoppy ale... my 'usual' actually, and a few too many, but who's counting... I'm not in a real marriage now, yay, and...

CHEERS!