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!

July: and Bitter May!

I'll start by saying, sorry this is so late, but I really wanted to celebrate CAMRA's annual Mild May Month, or whatever it's called, but saw not a drop of Mild! So, I thought I'd mention what I consider were the better bitters I quaffed during May...

The first is a wonderful golden amber bitter from Franklins Brewing Company of East Sussex (website), their 5.5% North Shore IPA. Regular readers will be aware I love my dry hoppy, citrus and fruit flavoured bitters, and the drier and more bitter the better, and this hasn't let me down whenever I've tasted it, great stuff! It is a single hopped ale, with the New Zealand hop, Rakau, and a more in-depth citrus fruit flavour, with hints of peach and apricot, and a great dry aftertaste, excellent.

The second ale to be considered, from Raw Brewing Company of Derbyshire (website), their 4.5% Nid Welsh, a collaboration with The Pigeon Fishers, also of Derbyshire (website), and The Waen Brewery (website) and Hopcraft Brewing (website), both of Wales. Called a "Red IPA" in the literature, but more of a bronze colour, with a strong fruity aroma, and mango in the flavour, dries out with plenty of bitterness, the dry hopping doesn't hurt, I'd imagine. I noted "very good" in my tasting notes, which means what it says!

Next, from Navigation Brewery of Nottingham (website), their 5.5% Apus American IPA, named after the 'Bird of Paradise'. Lager malts and American hops are used, providing for an extremely refreshing lovely citrus hoppy bitter, very nice indeed.

And, what can I say?!? 2 more excellent ales sitting side by side, and from 2 of my favourite breweries... From the Scottish Fyne Ales (website), their consistently excellent 4.5% Avalanche, brewed from Maris Otter Pale and Wheat malts, and with Cascade and Liberty hops, a great combination. A pale straw colour, and this has citrus running up your nose as soon as you reach for the glass, dries out into a lovely bitterness, you couldn't ask for better, but...

Along comes this tribute to Joe Strummer and the Clash, from my old employer in Sheffield, Kelham Island Brewery (website), a 5.3% delight of an ale, London Calling... A deep amber colour, and a very dry bitter, and I mean very dry, using 4 English hops, Phoenix, Bramling Cross, East Kent Goldings, and a regularly used hop by the brewery in my time there, First Gold. I loved this, cheers!

Sheffield Revisited - I shouldn't leave it so long next time! Day One:

I visited to 1) see friends, 2) go to football at Hillsborough Park, and 3) drink ale!

 

As you will see, over the 2 nights I was there, I only drank at 5 of the very many fine ale houses in Sheffield, starting with the double National CAMRA Pub of the Year, and often Yorkshire and Sheffield POTY, the Kelham Island Tavern, 62 Russell Street S3 8RW (0114 2722482 - website). What can I say? Great ale house, spoke to the landlords, Trevor and Lewis, and to Dave, presumably Head Barman, I didn't ask, but I've known them all for a number of years now, and I felt reyt welcome, indeed, Dave came out for a drink with us the second time I visited the KIT with a couple of other mates, Lindsay and Jeff, later that evening! 

13 ales to choose from at the KIT, starting at £2.40 a pint for 4 of them, and upwards, but reasonable priced ales all! I don't think I made a note of all I had to drink here over the 2 visits, and a note of every ale that was available is certainly not forthcoming! First, though, Wigan brewery Allgates (website) Tuckers Hill (3.8%), a zesty golden bitter with a hint of smoked grain. 

Then I had 2 excellent IPA/APA style bitters; from West Yorkshire, Bridestones (website) American Pale Ale (5%), with "copious Willamette aroma hops" they say, and I believe! This was pale, sharp, and very bitter, great stuff, just what the doctor ordered... Then I had something even more exquisite, a collaboration between another 2 Yorkshire breweries, Brass Castle (website) Rampart (7%), and Ossett (website). The Rampart is described as a "heavily hopped IPA" and is another very dry bitter, though with a wee bit more hint of fruit. I'm sure I had more there, but you'll have to go there yourself to enjoy the pleasures of the many ales available!        

In between visits to the KIT, I met up with Lindsay at the Fat Cat, 23 Alma Street S3 8SA (0114 2494801 - website), a pub I first visited in 1989, and, locally, the two pubs, which are a stones lob away from each other, are referred to together as the KitCat! The Fat Cat has its own brewery next door, Kelham Island Brewery (website), where I worked whilst a postgraduate student many years ago.

Problem, I cannot remember what I had to drink, mainly because it was good to meet up and chat with friends I hadn't seen for years, I also chatted to Diane and Stephen behind the bar too, obviously... Also, we met up with 2 away fans, and their buddy from Exeter, father and son; the younger studying at Sheffield Hallam University.  

When Lindsay, Jeff, Dave and I left the KIT we finished off at The Shakespeare, 146-148 Gibraltar Street S3 8UB (0114 2755959 - website), 3 excellent pubs in such close proximity, and quite a few not so far away either! Here, by chance, I also met up with a few others I hadn't seen for a while, including 'Owls' fan, Ian, and, though I'm sure I drank something else too, or maybe just more than one pint of this, The Da Vinci Cod (4.5%). Brewed by another Sheffield brewer, Abbeydale (website), dry-hopped with Vic Secret, and I have written, citrus fruity, dry & bitter, "A Carman Miranda of an ale", £2.90 a pint, and I liked it, a lot!    

More to come, cheers! 

Crackin' Ales from across the Country!

I've had 2 excellent ales from Kelham Island Brewery, an old employer of mine up in Sheffield (website). Their Miami Pale Ale (5%) was a nice refreshing pale golden ale with a dry bitter finish, and their Atomic Blondie (nice pump clip!) was a more full bodied, though not as much as I expected, 6% golden, dry and bitter ale, incredibly dangerous, as very easy to drink!   

Over from Somerset, ie from RCH Brewery (website) of Western Super Mare, came another excellent 4.5% pale golden ale, their THIRTY POINT SIX, brewed with Bodicea hops, a dry citrusy bitter, enjoyed muchly too!      

And from Oakham Ales of Peterborough (website), I've very recently had 3 ales, always a dependable sight on the bar! Their 4.2% Citra, very pale with a citrus aroma and taste that smacks you in the cheeks, making them go cold, a gorgeous dry bitter! Their 4.4% Scarlet Macaw, grapefruit, but a bit more subtle, again, pale, dry and bitter! Also, their ever lovely 4.6% Bishops Farewell, I've written about this fruity dry bitter so often, I shan't bore you again, sorry! Impossible to get bored drinking Bishops Farewell, cheers! 

Yorkshire Ales in 2015

I made a trip up to Yorkshire in January, so my first 3 Yorkshire ales of the year were imbibed in dear old Yorkshire, which I do miss a tad...  

Anyway, 6 of us traveled up, specifically to attend a football match in Burnley (which is very close to the Yorkshire border), first destination Leeds, where we had a couple of drinks at the Wetherspoons in the station, and it is just called "Wetherspoons", not very imaginative... We were also awaiting Tom, who had missed our train at Kings Cross, but was coming up on the next one!  

Whilst in the 'spoons, we started with pints of Leeds Pale, a 3.8% very easy drinking pale session bitter, brewed with Slovenian Bobek hops. It was a nice refreshing way to start our drinking (if you ignore what was consumed on the train up), but our second pint was much better... That is, the Saltaire Cascade Pale Ale, a 4.8% ale, more body and bitterness, with a dry grapefruit finish produced by the Cascade and Centenniel hops used, this was getting better and more flavoursome.   

We got to Haworth thanks to another train, and wine provided by Kieran, and by taxi from Keighley, where we stayed at the Apothecary Tearooms and Guesthouse, run by our mate Teapot Dave and his brother Nick, ta muchly. I'll not mention the trip over the border, we came second, but after we'd eaten, we did a few pubs in Haworth, the only one worth mentioning ale-wise being The Fleece. Although it is a Timothy Taylor house, they had a Saltaire guest ale on, which I noted as "3 Cs", so I'm guessing it was the 4.4% Trio Pale, which uses 3 American hops, and I remember it being very good!   

Back to the Dolphin and Hastings, and this month I have savoured 4 more Yorkshire ales here. First, a completely different style of ale, the Rudgate Ruby Mild, a deep red 4.4% richer beer, almost a meal in itself, and not too easy to drink much more than one pint at a time, but very nice and tasty, and in a RNLI glass, respect.  

They have also had 3 pale hoppy ales, much more to my taste, of course. The first 2 of which were from one of my old favourite brewers, that is, the Roosters Cogburn, a 4.3% pale golden bitter brewed with American hops, very thirst quenching and their ever dependable Yankee, another 4.3% pale bitter, that uses Cascade hops also from the USA. Both very nice, indeed, but my favourite so far this year has to be from my old employer, Kelham Island Brewery, which is awaiting a new website, so cannot provide, sorry! Oh yes, their 4.9% Blondie Beer, pale, hoppy, with a nice dry bitter finish, very good, indeed, cheers!    

More Yorkshire ale in Sussex!

 

Helping to refurbish and paint the fishing boat RX 134, the Stacey Marie, opposite the Dolphin in Hastings, and I have enjoyed drinking a few pints of an old favourite from when I lived in Yorkshire, and why shouldn't I have?!?

 

So, this time, it has been Osset's Excelsior, still brewed by Bob, I presume, who used to work at Kelham Island Brewery, 5.2% of pale hoppy goodness, with an aroma reminiscent of my own time working at Kelham Island, and a taste to relish, I have to admit to a strong nostalgia at times...

 

But I do love living by the seaside, so, cheers!

Pubs/Bars without lager/keg beers.

No doubt most of you will have read in the Metro recently (site) about the Queen's Arms ("Elsie's") in Cowden Pound, Kent, and how the only beer she sells is cask-conditioned Adnams Bitter.  Indeed, the pub has been in her family ownership for 100 years this year, and has never sold lager, not sure if they ever sold keg, but they certainly don't appear to now, nor lager in bottles for that matter!  Many thanks to www.geograph.org.uk for my borrowing their photograph, but I've never been here, a visit to which, I suppose, will have to be enabled sometime soon.

So I had a think, you could probably hear the cogs whirring in the North of Scotland, and I'm sure I have been in more pubs or bars without keg beers or lager in the UK, but I can only think of 3 today, the first of which was my local when I lived in Sheffield, though when I first visited the pub in 1996, they did sell Stella on draft, when the pub was called the Cask & Cutler. 

Now, however, under different ownership for quite a few years, the pub is called The Wellington (site) and is situated near Shalesmoor tram stop, not far away from my old employer at Kelham Island Brewery, and all the excellent pubs (genuine freehouses) and microbreweries in that area, including their own brewery, Little Ale Cart. The point being, they no longer sell lager or any keg beer at all, though I believe they still sell bottled lager, and a good selection of Belgian bottled beers too, another excellent type of 'real beer'.

 

The Wellington, which has been a pub since 1842, sells ales from 10 handpumps, usually at least one dark beer, ie a porter, stout or mild, a real cider, and  a few of their own very pale, and very hoppy, ales, which could be why I have grown to love pale bitters, the more dry and bitter the better; also many other, mainly pale and hoppy ales are served.  But no draft lager or any type of keg beer, and a better provider of ales I have yet to find, and I've been to a few!  But this is not a place for a swanky night out, this is a pub, and proud of the fact; indeed, I'm already looking forward to arranging my next visit...  

  

So, where else can I remember, ah, yes, the Bottle & Glass Inn (site) at the West Country Living Museum near Dudley, which I visited a couple of times a few years ago. This building, and built as a pub, is nearly 200 years old, and was transported, every brick, slate, floorboard, window and door, from nearby Brockmore and rebuilt in the 'village' here as a fine period building.  Have a look at the museum's site, because it is a very interesting place to visit.

 

When I was last here, they sold only 2 ales, no lagers, Holden's Black Country Bitter and Black Country Mild, though I believe they now sell other local beers, and not Holden's anymore (shame, because they're crackin' ales). Last I heard they were selling Banks's and a real cider (Thatchers) from 4 handpumps.  Incidentally, the beer engines they use are very old too, from a traditional London design, I believe

So my last memory of a keg and lager free pub is Ye Olde Cider Bar in Newton Abbot, Devon, and a good few years have passed since I lived in Devon, sadly. The name gives it away really, as they don't sell beer but only cider, and perry, fruit wines and mead may also be bought here.  When I first visited, they only sold 3 of their own ciders, dry, medium and sweet, and you needed a lemonade top to cope with the dry!  The bar has changed since, been extended, and many more varieties of cider and perry can now be bought here, but it was always interesting to spot those who had been imbibing here on the late trains back to Exeter, memories...

 

I cannot find a website for the bar, too 'olde worlde' maybe, but there are many references to this cider bar if you google Ye Olde Cider Bar. Now, if anyone who knows me can remind me of other non-keg establishments I have visited, I'd be glad to hear from you, and I shall rack my brains more over the coming months, no doubt.  Or, if you have your own memories of keg and cider-less pubs, please share with me and I'll enable a post or blog, many thanks and cheers!