CAMRA Great British Beer Festival 2016

OK, I've taken a while to write this, but I can only say that I have quite a few other responsibilities too, well, that's my hogwash out of the way, so, to the beer festival, and ale! We were a wee bit concerned about visiting this year, mainly because of industrial unrest on Southern Rail, but we came up anyway by way of South Eastern, so to Charing Cross rather than Victoria, that is, Mark, Dermot and myself.

I'll start at the very beginning, and have to admit I pretty much enjoyed every ale, but, after collecting my Festival pint glass on entering Olympia, I first tried the Marble Lagonda IPA (5%) and eventual Bronze winner in the Golden Ale category, this was an excellent first choice! Nice body, grapefruit flavour, dry and bitter, my kind of ale!

People happy to be here, mostly!

From that bar, I moved on, my next ale was another quality brewer and ale, from the Welsh brewers of the 'Supreme Champion' last year, Tiny Rebel Juicy (4%), a brand new seasonal ale with "American" hops, which does what it says on the label, intense tropical and citrus fruit flavours and a lovely dry bitter finish; a brewer that continues to not disappoint!

I then had another seasonal ale from another of my favourite brewers, from Yorkshire, Ilkley Summer (4%), with Citra, Chinook and Galaxy hops from the USA, a fruity refreshing golden ale I could drink all day, but I couldn't this day, as I had so much more to choose from...

This bird doesn't look so happy!

After being chased off by the big bird, we went on to our first free drinks... I'll have to explain a wee bit about this first. Dermot and I had accompanied Mark, a local pub landlord to us down in Hastings, with free entry to the festival on the Trade Day, so many thanks to Mark for sharing with us, cheers! And our first free drinks were courtesy of Harvey's of Lewes, who had supplied us with the free trade passes, so many thanks to them too! The others had some darker ale, may have been the Dark Mild, but I had the hoppier golden ale, Armada Ale (4.5%), not as fruity as many of the golden ales, but nice and bitter, cheers to Harveys!

My next ale was from another Yorkshire brewer I trust to provide excellent ales, and they certainly didn't let me down, this was Salamander Blondie Pale Ale (4%), not Debbie Harry on the pump clip this time, sadly, though an interesting adaptation of Botticelli's Birth of Venus... This Blondie was another lovely dry pale golden bitter ale, true to West Yorkshire ales, indeed!

From one Italian job, to another Italian Job (5%) from Cornish brewers, St Austell, brewed with Sorrento lemons and Mount Hood, Waimea, Dr Rudi, and Pacific Jade hops from New Zealand, a pale new-style IPA with lemon in the aroma and taste, unsurprisingly. This was another free drink, luckily, Mark knows the local rep, cheers again to him, and to her!

On to an ale from Grantham in Lincolnshire, and a brewer I haven't drunk anything from for years, but only because I moved to where I don't see their beers, sadly. This one was Oldershaw Sorachi (4.2%), brewed with the Sorachi Ace hop, which was originally developed in Japan in 1984 for Sapporo Breweries Ltd! Another golden ale with a lemon aroma, (are you getting an image of what I like here? Though I usually prefer the 'grapefruity' hops), pale and quite bitter, nice...

But to my favourite ale of the day, and from the other side of the Pennines in Lancashire, Pictish Citra (4.5%), obviously brewed with Citra hops, hence the strong citrus aroma and lemon, grapefruit and peach in the taste. Another pale golden ale with a lovely dry bitter finish, loved it!

But it wasn't a nice pale dry bitter than won the CAMRA "Supreme" Gold award, nope, it was something much darker, hence my not having drunk any of it, but the Berkshire brewers Binghams Vanilla Stout (5%), you can guess, dark and infused with vanilla pods, congratulations to the Binghams lads! A quick mention for the overall Silver award winner, Kent brewers Old Dairy Snow Top (6%), a winter ale, so 'seasonal', just not this season; see an earlier blog of mine for my opinion, it's pretty good!

I can't believe I only drank 8 different ales at the beer festival, though we did sample some of each other's ales during the afternoon, but there was an excellent choice of food too, much more than I can remember from previous years (best was an amazing Game Pie!). I met some old friends from when I lived up in Sheffield and elsewhere, nice one! And, walking back to Earls Court tube station we did pass the last abode of Harold Laski, an old political and academic hero of mine, which was interesting...

If you've read my recent blog you'll know where we went drinking near London Bridge Railway Station, ie Borough Market, a good time was had, cheers!

St George's Day Festival of English Ale in Hastings

The Albion, in George Street, Hastings, is holding a Beer Festival this weekend, together with fun, music and food... 

In addition to their regulars, including an excellent favourite of mine, Dark Star Hophead (3.8%), which I had a pint of there yesterday, a crackin' ale indeed, Harveys Sussex Best (4%) and Timothy Taylor Landlord (4.3% ), you might just be able to imbibe up to 10 other ales from near and far!

From Sussex brewers, there will be Dark Star Sunburst (4.8%) website, Beachy Head Legless Rambler (5%) website, Rother Valley Chocolate Porter (4.2%) website, Harveys Armada Ale (4.5%), and their pertinent Georgian Dragon (4.7%) website; and from Kent, though the brewer himself comes from much closer to home, there will be Pig & Porter Red Spider Rye (4.8%) and Skylarking (4%), a session pale ale: website.

From further afield will be Adnams Mosaic Pale Ale (4.1%) website, from way up int' North, an early pioneer with their unfined and unfiltered ales, and excellent unique pub where they used to brew, the Marble Arch (website), one of my favourite pubs ever, Manchester brewery, Marble Pint (3.9%) website, and across from Cornwall, and now brewing more fine ales than when I lived nearby in the 1990s, St Austell Spring Fever (4.1%) website.

Have fun, and a Happy St George's Day to you, cheers!

Top 20 Pubs, The Final Part (IV)

So, to my top 5, that is, the top 5 of the pubs that I want to return to again and again, certainly at least once before I kick the proverbial hop-back...

Top of the shop, at number 1, is The Bartons Arms, 144 High Street, Birmingham Newtown B6 4UP (website), which is a fine example of late-Victorian architecture, being built in 1901 and surviving, despite young thugs trying to raze the building during riots in 2011! Putting recent trials behind us, The Bartons Arms is one of just a handful of pubs owned by Oakham Ales (website), the Peterborough-based brewery, much lauded by me, and originally set up in Oakham, Rutland, in 1993. Consequently, this is a pub that sells excellent ales: 4 regular Oakham ales, JHB, Inferno, Citra, and Bishops Farewell, plus a guest/seasonal Oakham ale and 2 guest ales from other breweries, which are, as I write this blog, Oakham Paranoid (5.2%), Landlocked Copper Bottomed (5.2%) and Firebrand Cross Pacific Pale Ale (4%). Quite a choice of gorgeous hoppy ales indeed! You can understand why I like the ales here...  

In addition, excellent Thai food is served in the fine dining room, and elsewhere in the pub, of course. Indeed, the exterior and interior are examples of how the Victorians cared about design and adornment. The interior is decorated with mahogany wood panels, beautiful engraved and stained glass windows, Minton Hollins Tiles, a fine bar, and an impressive centrally positioned wrought-iron staircase, these being just some of the features; you really need to look at the website to appreciate the full beauty of the building, better still, go and visit The Bartons Arms!  

Mostly, I've been to The Bartons Arms before going to Villa Park for footballing reasons, and the atmosphere here for home and away fans is superb. Indeed, it is a very relaxed and friendly pub that I have also visited just because I wanted to come to the pub, and I have enjoyed the excellent ales and food, and wonderful building and company, whenever I have been here! I SO need to return again asap, no wonder this is my number one of very many excellent hostelries... I need to plan a visit!

At number 2 is a pub I regularly visit, because of work or football reasons, because I have family living close by, or just because I want to walk along the Thames Path to Hammersmith and drink at The Dove, 19 Upper Mall W6 (website). This historic pub is a grade II listed 18th century building, originally called the Dove Coffeehouse, though certainly selling ale and wine at that time, when Hammersmith was still a rural area. There are real fires, half-timbered ceilings, wooden settles, and immediately to your right as you enter, through a heavy wooden door, is a 33 square foot room accredited by the Guinness Book of Records as being the smallest bar room in the country. At the back, overlooking the River Thames, is an outside seating area where you can look downriver to Hammersmith Bridge, or upriver to countryside and to the Fullers brewery over to your right on the Middlesex bank. However, in fine weather, be warned, this can get very busy with stuck-up sticky-beaks (think Monty Python)!

Numerous famous people have enjoyed drinking and eating in The Dove, including Dylan Thomas, Alex Guinness and Ernest Hemingway, and this was also the local of one of my heroes of the past, William Morris, who used to live just a few doors away at number 26. Fullers Brewery (website) have owned The Dove since 1845, gaining a full alcohol licence for the establishment in 1911. Ale-wise, you will always find London Pride, of course, and usually Fullers ESB, sometimes Chiswick Bitter or a Fullers seasonal ale, and always a Gales beer, served from the 4 handpumps. I do love this pub, and will always remember a friend who used to manage the pub a few years ago, who sadly died in an accident in 2005 at too young an age, R.I.P. Alison.   

At number 3 is the Great Western in Sun Street, Wolverhampton WV10 0DJ, situated round the back of the new railway station, opposite the gates to the old Great Western station. This is a great pub, full of railway memorabilia, as you would expect, and with 4 distinct drinking areas, developed over the years as the building was redesigned and had extensions added. I have also been here on football match days and on non-match days, when Wolverhampton Wanderers fans have filled the pub, or just when thriving with the regular clientele and occasional visitor. On match days, ostensibly, this is a 'home fans' pub only, but I have never had a problem drinking here as an away fan, and a friend's son was positively welcomed before a match, despite being dressed in the full kit of the away team!

This is a Holdens Brewery (website) pub, but has always served beers from its major rival, Bathams; that's confidence in your own product! Of course, it serves up a good range of Holdens ales, including their Black Country Mild and excellent Black Country Bitter, and guest ales from other breweries too. This is a gem of a pub that provides very decent pub food too, notably their 'cobs' (bread rolls), and it wasn't that long ago that I bought 2 pints of bitter here and a hot pork cob, and still had change from a fiver! So, this is a good value pub, is very friendly, serves up great ales and decent food, has a crackin' atmosphere, and which I have to return to again and again...  

My favourite pub of Manchester comes in at number 4, the Marble Arch, 73 Rochdale Road M4 4HY (website), another listed building. The Marble Arch was built in 1888 and has many interesting features, not least the sloping mosaic floor; keep an eye on your drinks and personal effects, it really does slope! Not so long ago, due to bad/good luck, the plaster ceiling collapsed because of dampness, I seem to remember, but revealed a marvellous tiled ceiling, that has subsequently been preserved. The food here is very good indeed, and their own brewery (website) used to be situated at the rear of the pub, though was moved to larger premises round the corner and back a bit in 2011. Their ales are organic, no finings are used so ok for vegans, and usually 5 of their own ales are available plus guest ales served from 11 handpumps.

This is another pub I have visited quite a few times, of course, both related to football, when I have been in Manchester for work or academic study, or just visiting for fun; Manchester ain't that bad! I was there with my brother, the Routemeister and mate, Dave the Teameister, before an evening match at Old Trafford not so long ago. We spent most of the afternoon here, drinking, chatting, eating, and listening to the excellent juke box, it was very difficult to leave for the match! I have also enjoyed chewing the fat with the brewers there, usually about what hops are used in various ales, though not so easy since the brewery was moved... Great pub! 

To my fifth pub on the list, and a return to my love affair with Devon, and to the Double Locks Hotel (website) on the Exeter Ship Canal, just down from Exeter and the Countess Weir. This building was originally the lock keeper's cottage built in 1701; the canal being built 140 years earlier linking Exeter to the sea when the River Exe became less navigable. The history of the lock itself, the "Double Locks", is related to the name, not because there were 2 locks, but because it is the longest lock in the country and could take 2 ships at the same time.

I originally came here many years ago, and started frequenting the Double Locks in the 1980s when I moved to Exeter. It was then a freehouse, with very basic outside toilets, and an extension built in the 1980s meant that the loos came indoors, and also made more seating available. Ales used to be served straight from casks in those days, which were situated behind the bar, and were from local breweries and from afar. Excellent food always, barbecues in Summer, and a breakfast that couldn't be bettered was available up to 12 noon, with a pint of ale included in the reasonable price. I have been here with my ex-wife, my brother, the Routemeister, friends, and brought clients here too, when I worked in Exeter. This is now a Youngs pub, so big changes, but I still so need to return here!

Well, I've taken a while to add my top 5 to the list, and there could be so many more, meaning I'll most likely add many other pubs that I wish to return to in future blogs.

Anyway, many thanks for allowing me to share my memories, a wee bit of sentimentality on my part, but I recommend you visit any of these pubs should you be in any of their vicinities. I'd also welcome any reviews, cheers!
   

Brighton... Well, Lewes actually...

I suppose, if going to a football match at Brighton's (newish still) Falmer Stadium you have a choice or two... you can drink at the ground, and they do have real ale there, one of the few grounds that do! Or, you can drink in Brighton or Lewes, for me, the choice is obviously Lewes, and for anyone coming by train from the London direction probably best for them as well. The match ticket gives you free travel down from Haywards Heath, and you reach Lewes before you get to the ground, let alone Brighton, and it is closer to Falmer than Brighton, just, and all 3 pubs mentioned here are in CAMRA's 2014 Good Beer Guide... 

Anyway, I met up with quite a few people I hadn't seen for a while, some of whom were already alcoholically challenged before I arrived. I started at the best pub in Lewes, I came to decide that evening, the Snowdrop Inn in South Street. It doesn't take long to get around the pubs in Lewes, as it's not really that big, and, as you can see from the photograph above, this pub is below a cliff, because this is where the sea used to come up to here in years gone by, at least that's what I tell people, but it did used to be a major port on the River Ouse, and has a well recorded history from Saxon times, through to the Norman invasion and the erection of Lewes Castle, Tudor times and Anne of Cleaves House, and a hero of mine lived here, Thomas Paine, and much much more, definitely somewhere to visit and enjoy.   

6 ales are served by handpump at the Snowdrop Inn and a 4.8% real cider too, Cornish Orchards on this day. Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%) and Harveys Sussex Best (4%) are 2 regular ales, and there is now always at least one ale from Burning Sky Brewery, but today there were 2, so a treat for me, the Aurora (5.6%) and the Plateau (3.5%), and a crafty keg beer from them too; more regarding Burning Sky below. So, 4 ales from East Sussex and 2 from the Manchester brewery, another old favourite haunt of mine up there, Marble Arch, and their Pint (3.9%), a pale dry session bitter, I think I've written about before, and Chocolate Marble, which I definitely haven't tried before, a 5.5% slightly sweet stout with a balance of chocolate and coffee malt flavours, and very nice indeed!  

From the Snowdrop, I rushed away from the rather lovely barmaid, sadly, towards The Gardeners Arms, around the corner and down a wee bit in Cliffe High Street, as I'd received a phone call that people were arriving... now, they'd all been drinking in Brighton beforehand, and I felt remarkably sober! Things did get a wee bit confusing from here, and I forgot to take any notes. We had a good chat here, between each other (Paul, the Robbo brothers, Kieran and Graham, and Darrel and Jim) and with locals too, but I have no idea what I drank there, it didn't stand out, but I had been drinking Plateau back at the Snowdrop, and that is rather excellent. Anyway, I had a pint of something not too hoppy here; most of the ales were less exciting than the hoppy delights offered at the previous pub...   

Darrel and Jim popped off to a pub nearer to the station to meet up with another mate called Paul, and the remaining four of us dropped into the Lewes Arms, a Fullers pub in Mount Place, well, 3 of us did, we lost the other somehow until inside the ground at half time! I've written about this pub before, a decent Fullers pub that sells at least 2 guest ales usually, though I do remember Graham buying me a pint of Gales HSB (4.8%), though I thought he'd bought it for his brother. I nearly started an argument, but very gently, of course, thinking I was being ignored by the barmaid, sorry luv! Anyway, we went to the match next, got beaten, and I had to wait ages to catch a train back from Falmer, not very well organised at all... 

I did, though, manage to get back to Lewes in time for a couple more pints at the Snowdrop Inn, thankfully, the best pints of ale I had drunk for ages, the first, Plateau, went down in minutes, the second, I took my time over to enjoy the lovely flavours of, the also excellent Aurora, both reported on by me very recently. I had a good chat with Alec the bar manager too, though the lovely barmaid didn't work 'til this late, sadly. The Burning Sky ales are packed with hops, and served in quality straight glasses with the pub name on one side and the brewery name on the other (I love the glasses if anyone wants to know what to get me for my birthday!). 

For information, the head brewer at Burning Sky is Mark Tranter, formerly of Dark Star, and this brewery looks to be the foreseeable future of hoppy ales in East Sussex, you read it here! See their website too (site), good luck to them, cheers! 

Excellent Welsh Ales... TRUE!

I was reminded yesterday evening that I hadn't written a blog for a while, sadly, other commitments had filled my time, but I'm still here! 

So, to the subject headlined, and it is true! I've never found Welsh ales that much to my liking, excepting the odd one here and there, or ales from the Swansea brewer, Tomos Watkin, who do brew very good ales. The last time I drank Watkin's ales was before a match at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, at the 'Nationalist' Cayo Arms nearby.  Sadly, this is now a Marstons pub, so no more Watkin ales there then...  

However, ales from the Newport brewer, Tiny Rebel (website) have found their way to East Sussex, and I have been very pleasantly surprised, they do brew some very good ales, indeed! Yesterday evening, at the Tower, London Road, Hastings St Leonards, I had a few pints of their Hank, a pale and hoppy 4% bitter with a pronounced grapefruit aroma, very good, and competing with the excellent Dark Star ales, Hophead and APA, and competing well too. I've also recently drank Tiny Rebel Billabong, an "Aussie Pale Ale" (presumably Australian hops used) at the Tower, another excellent pale bitter, this time 4.6%, only £2.70 a pint, with more body, obviously, and peach, as well as grapefruit, flavours and aroma, cheers Louisa!

Of course, the new 2014 CAMRA Good Beer Guide entrant, has also been serving up more local ales too, and others from afar, including, locally, 1648 Gold Angel, a 5% pale golden bitter; Franklins Viva La Rye, a 4.3% very dry pale bitter with a hint of roasted malt; the very new Bedlam Hoppy Golden Ale, an ale that does what it says on the pumpclip, it's hoppy and golden, slightly sweet at first taste, but then becoming dry and bitter; oh yes, and they currently have Dark Star Six Grain, a 4.8% bitter, which is maltier than you would usually expect from a Dark Star ale, must be all that grain... and from afar? Well, in addition to the Tiny Rebel brewery ales, I have to add a comment of the Marble Beers, 5.9% Dubber, all the way from Manchester; and I have to add a further note, their pub, the Marble Arch on the Rochdale Road up there, is always worth a visit if you are in that area at any time, I love the place, interesting exterior and interior, excellent food as well as ales, and I have great memories of toons on the juke box too!   

Whilst we're talking about Tiny Rebel, I had the Billabong at the Albatross Club (RAFA) in Bexhill on Sea too (the local CAMRA Club of the Year), very recently, at £2.80 a pint, more good value; £2.80 being the price of all their ales since their recent price increase, whatever the strength! Also, Old School (OSB) Absent, a 5.5% IPA at their regular Thursday "new brewery" event, a pale bitter, which was much too easy to drink for the strength, could be dangerous if sticking just to that ale and having a 'session'. Also, recent ales have included Black Paw Dark Seam, a 5% VERY dark bitter, lovely roasted malt flavour, with a bitter aftertaste, and Liverpool Craft American Red, a deep red, full flavoured bitter.

I also heard the news here from Peter, before seeing it in the local CAMRA publication, Sussex Drinker, that a merger of Franklins Brewery, Brighton Beer Company and WithSoul 'Cask and Craft', a specialist wholesale supplier of real ale, has been launched, with a new brewery in the near future. Things will change, obviously, so keep an eye out for their "plan to embrace the attitude, ingredients and flavour profiles of the progressive beer styles from Belgium, North America and beyond... in a way that respects the character and historical integrity of British ale." I'm looking forward to that!    

At the Dolphin in Hastings 'Old Town', Rock-a-Nore Road (the local CAMRA Pub of the Year), excellent ales keep on being served too, including the ever-excellent Stonehenge Ales Danish Dynamite (5%); Franklins Grumpy Guvnor (4.5%); Wadworth Blunder Buss (5%); the darker Old Knucker (5.5%) from Arundel brewery; Ramsbury Kennet Valley a 4.1% pale bitter with a slightly sweet aftertaste; and the very good pale 4.2% pale bitter Nuptu'ale from apparently always good Oakleaf Brewery.     

That's it for now, Hastings and East Sussex may not have the huge range of free houses and microbrewers that I used to be spoilt by when I lived in South Yorkshire, but in no way does it lack, as can be seen from above... so, enjoy your ale, cheers!