Twas the season: Excellent ales in Sussex...

So, what excellent ales did I enjoy in the period leading up to, and including the festive period? 

First, at The Tower, London Road, Hastings St Leonards, where, as my previous blog commented on, before Christmas, they had 5 excellent ales on the same day, including old favourites Dark Star Hophead and APA, and Thornbridge Jaipur. Also, there was the new local brewery, 360 Degrees Pacific Pale, and Dark Star Critical Mass, a stronger, darker, and more seasonal ale you couldn't wish for, and 3rd in this blog's list of seasonal ales (though I haven't included pale bitters here, just the darker beers); 4 out of 5 ales all Sussex brewed... 

On Christmas Day itself I drank, from Somerset, the Cottage Full Steam Ahead (4.2%). Now I haven't had a Cottage ale for quite a few years, not sure how much I liked their ales in the past, but I liked this one; a deep amber coloured bitter with a hint of roasted malt, a very well balanced bitter indeed. Also, from Herne Hill in South East London, where the Florence Brewery produce 'Florence' beers for 'Capital Pubs', and a range of ales called "Head in a Hat Brewing", from which I drank GIN, a 4% pale-ish bitter which has been infused with "botanicals taken directly from the still" at the City of London Distillery, so you can guess what that means, yep juniper, amongst other flavours; I'm guessing the citrus comes from the hops used. I'm looking forward to drinking some more of Florence ales, whichever hat they wear! 

OK, exciting ales already, so what did the Albatross Club (RAFA) at Bexhill-on-Sea have to offer? Amongst others, there was Hastings Brewery "Handmade" Number 5, Galaxy hops being used for this one, and named Hop Forward Pale Ale; a 4.8% ale that I've mentioned before, which has an immediate citrus aroma from the hops, citrus flavour too, pale, dry and bitter, I do like this ale! Another local ale, Rother Valley Hoppers Ale was also tasted by me, a nice 4.4% light bitter, fruity with a nutty hint in the flavour, reminiscent of West Country ales.

OK, also, on Sunday, as it was a lovely day, I just had to partake in a 10 mile round walk to Bexhill again, and I met the new barmaid, Karen, nice to meet, and I'll only mention 2 of the ales this time (both of the others available have been mentioned before), again the local Dark Star Critical Mass (7.4%), already reported on, and very good. But an excellent Wessex Brewery (Wiltshire) Russian Stoat, a 9% VERY dark ale, with a rich full flavour, and a hint of liquorice... I have no idea what the joke is about the stoat rather than stout, but this was a wee bit sweeter than I'd expect a stout, personally, but still excellent, and second in the list of dark seasonal ales.   

The Dolphin, back in Hastings, down opposite the fishermen's beach, has had many great ales, as you would expect, the 3 regulars, plus, amongst others: Triple fff Old Dray, a 4.8% traditional best bitter; Wadworth Old Timer, a well-known 5% nutty flavoured old ale from the West Country; Wickwar Rite Flanker, presumably brewed for the rugby union season, a 4.3% bitter with a hint of caramel; and Rother Valley Holley Daze, a 4.2% pale-ish bitter with a hint of caramel and roasted malt. OK, the stand out bitter, though, was from the reliable Yorkshire brewer, Rudgate Volsung, another ale celebrating the Viking influence in this part of the country, 5% pale golden ale with plenty of body, hints of malt, and nice and bitter!  

But the overall seasonal ale award for this Christmas has to go to the very local Hastings Old Town Brewery, FILO, in their own pub, the First In Last Out, High Street, Our Auld Ale, a "Winter Beer" indeed! I could mention their other ales, but shall not this time, though I shall add that they now have 2 guest ales available, in addition to 5 of their own: including, on my last 2 visits, Adnams Ghost Ship and Bath Ales Barnsey, both 4.5%, and Milestone Maid Marian (4.3%). 

But Our Auld Ale, other than getting me 'merry' faster than usual due to the 6.5% strength and being too easy to drink, is a deep dark reddish brown colour, with loadsa body and hints of spice, excellent indeed! I do have to own up to writing some more notes, but I cannot read what I wrote, which says a lot, so maybe I'll have to return very soon and drink some more before they run out. 

See, I don't only drink pale hoppy ales, compliments of the season! 

More great ales and sunny too!

 

Memories! A walk along the seafront, westwards, 5 miles-ish, and I get to The Albatross Club, (RAFA) in Bexhill, and open to CAMRA members too, for a nominal entrance of £1, as are all guests, and to RAFA members free as well, obviously, (both of which I am a member of, by the way), and 4 lovely ales, usually, at a decent price, was £2.60 a pint; but from this week, £2.80 a pint, apparently...

I shan't mention the other, very good, ales on offer, but 2 excellent ales here! I have gone on about both a bit, particularly, the Green Hopped IPA from Dark Star (6.5%); so more can I say?!? And the Cascade hopped, Hastings 'Handmade' APA, a lovely pale, grapefruit flavoured bitter, and one from the local imbiber, and Hastings brewer, who recently won the "beer of the festival" in Eastbourne, nice one, and nice one...

Oops, thinking of 'champion brewer' Brett and Hastings Brewery, up t' Tower! They did have the excellent Oakham 20 Years (5.8%) on, which I have already reported on, surely... and Dark Star APA, at just £2.50 a pint, etc etc... but I have been back again (it's a hard life), and these were the ales on offer the second time,,,



Dark Star Hophead and APA, virtually 'regulars' and 2 great ales I regularly commend, and 2 other interesting ales too, the first of which was (for moi) Brighton Bier English Garden (3.8%), a "golden ale", that was very nice, and tasted like a 'typical South East England 'best bitter'. Also, Cottage Normans Conquest MM (5%), another 'traditional' tasting ale (the name appears to be more to do with the brewer's surname than Hastings!), though darker, a "Strong Premium Ale"; the name appears to be more to do with the brewer's family name (not 1066), and a full-bodied, darker ale, not bad!

Cheers for now!

2 new pubs in the High Weald.

The Routemeister and I decided a shorter walk was required after the 'marathon' yesterday (Rye Figure of 8, last Tuesday), so we didn't add on to the already reasonably challenging walk planned in the High Weald, but we did get in hop fields, and 2 new pubs for us...

Our lunchtime destination was Burwash, where we visited The Bear Inn (website), which had a very interesting looking menu, and the food we saw being dished up to others appeared of good quality and measure.  They also have a good view from their garden, and we had a wee watch of the Ashes cricket match...

Ale-wise, there were 2 regulars, Sharp's Doom Bar (4%) and Harveys Sussex Best (4%).  There was only 1 guest ale this day, but they often have 2 guest ales. We went for the guest, Cottage M.G.A. (4%); they seem to like the 4% strength, probably related to drivers visiting the pub/hotel for food, which did seem to be being devoured by most customers there, other than us, we had a packed-lunch, of course.  I recounted the story of a lad I used to know who had built an MGA from scratch, following finding a chassis and body in decent nick, then scrounging around all over the place for parts; it was an impressive car when he'd finished building it.  The beer itself, described as "a golden cask ale", had a slight nuttiness in the flavour, and was quite refreshing, but lacked hops for a hoppy lad like me; and Dan is becoming a bit of a hop freak too! 

We carried on for a bit of a walk, passing by Rudyard Kipling's old home, Bateman's (named after a brewer, obviously, not), and our second 'tick' pub of the day, The Wheel Inn, Burwashweald (facebook), which is just down the road from Burwash, if driving, but we did our usual circuitous route through fields, to avoid roads as much as possible, and following the established walk from Dan's book.

The Wheel Inn had 3 ales on, 1 regular, the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best (4%), and 2 regularly changing guest ales, which, on our visit, were Sharp's Doom Bar (4%) and Morland Old Speckled Hen (4.5%).  We had the Old Speckled Hen, which I hadn't drunk for quite a while, it still remains an enjoyable dark bitter with plenty of flavour. The young barmaid was friendly, as was another customer, sitting at the bar as I asked questions, quite chatty and good to meet, 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! 

No Sign Bar, Swansea

From Stephen H, who found an excellent bar in Swansea which deserves comment. The No Sign Bar, Wind Street. Apparently the oldest bar in Swansea and once frequented by Dylan Thomas.

The mamagement rotate the guest ales on a regular basis, the three currently on sale are, Polar Express 4.3% by the Cottage Brewing Company Somerset. Rev James 4.5% by Brains Brewery Cardiff and Santa's Little Helper 3.7% by the Caledonian Brewery Edinburgh.