Celebrate with beer tomorrow, because...

Tomorrow, Monday June 15th at 12.15pm, a nationwide communal "cheers" to beer has been planned, when beer lovers will be encouraged to go to the pub, or open a bottle of beer in the park or at home, and raise a glass to celebrate British beer (see website). 12.15pm relates to the year that Magna Carta was sealed, that is, 800 years ago to the day, and Beer Day will be held on the 15th June every year from now on...  

Clause 35 of Magna Carta states "Let there be throughout our kingdom a single measure for wine and a single measure for ale and a single measure for corn, namely 'the London quarter'." 

Please feel free to join in, and cheers!    

Message in a bottle...

I can't believe how long it is since I have written on here, so I must apologise for my being sidelined by my other blog, Steve on Hastings, sorry! Anyway, here are some musings on 2 beers in bottles that my good friend Mark, from the Dolphin in Hastings, has shared with me... 

The first one was the excellent Fullers Vintage Ale, a whopping 8.5% (at least), and I have to admit to hounding Mark about this bottle, that had been sitting on a ledge in the Dolphin for many years now. I had been concerned that someone else may decide to purloin the bottle, as it was not screwed down, and he should take it home to drink it before such a catastrophe occurred... Finally, giving in to my suggestion, he actually shared the bottle with me, great stuff! 

This was the 1998 Vintage Ale! We marvelled, as Mark allowed me the honour of opening the bottle, and pouring out the nectar which it contained, very carefully, of course, as the Fullers Vintage Ales are all bottle-conditioned, and it came out in perfect condition, clear as could be, and with a perfect head. I should have taken a photograph before we had each tasted it, but we couldn't wait. Here's my notes: "Rich, slight malty aroma... Creamy, fruity (damson), slightly sweet, but dries out in the finish... GORGEOUS!" There you are...   

The second beer that Mark shared with a few of us (he had more bottles than just the one this time), was the Greene King Double Hop Monster IPA, a mere 7.2%... OK, not bottle-conditioned, this one, but not so bad either, though not quite living up to its name. A golden colour, a bit fizzy, as you'd expect, less aroma than I expected from how the label described the late hopping. There was a hint of malt in the flavour, and a nice dry bitter finish.  

That may seem to be putting down the IPA, but I don't mean to, it was a very nice beer, and I would certainly love to try it 'cask-conditioned', but it appears it is only planned to sell it either in a bottle, or as a 'crafty keg'. I think the message in a bottle here is, that the mighty Vintage Ale came first in the tasting contest, but a bit unfair of me to compare the two really, a brand new beer versus a 17 year-old bottle-conditioned colossus! 

Many thanks and cheers Mark!     

ALBATROSS! A return visit...

It's been a while since I've walked the 10 mile round trip along the seafront to the Albatross Club (RAFA) in Bexhill, but great to return! Following Geoff's departure, it is now run by Head Steward Karen, with Peter as her very able assistant.

4 real ales on still, and all at £3 a pint. 2 I drank on the day, and 2 I didn't, though 1 of those I have had a few times before, ie the very easy to drink pale session ale, Franklins English Garden (3.8%). The other was the 4.9% Weltons Red Cross Mild, close to St George's Day as it was...

The 2 I enjoyed on the day were the 4.5% Boadicea Ale from Rother Valley, a very good golden beer with a hint of caramel from the malt, and nice dry and bitter finish; I had more than 1 pint! Also very good was the dangerous 6% Pig & Porter Disgraceful Behaviour (not a portent on the day), smooth, rich, loadsa body, very very dark, with a dry coffee/nutty aroma and flavour, and a dry finish, nice one! 

They also sell a good range of ciders in bottles and 'real' from boxes too, cheers!   

It made me smile... The Carlton Tavern!

No! This didn't make me smile, but the fact that the firm that owns the Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale has been told to "recreate in fascimile the building as it stood immediately prior to its demolition." That is, they have to rebuild the pub, brick by brick, to look like this:  

Nice one! They shouldn't have thought they could ignore planning regulations... See the Standard for more information. 

Congratulations to Louisa at the Tower!

Congratulations to Louisa, and her colleagues at the Tower, London Road, Bohemia, for winning the local South East Sussex CAMRA 2015 Pub of the Year, and Cider Pub of the Year too, nice one, or two! I've known Louisa, the manager at the Tower, for 3 years now, and can honestly say that I've never had a bad pint there. In fact, she has brought this pub into CAMRA reckoning by maintaining ales in excellent condition, with many local Sussex ales too, along with excellent value. 

Consequently, I have been writing about the Tower for 3 years now, and have had a look back over my blogs to help with this one. However, I didn't really need to, because Louisa has continued to sell good quality and good value ales. I first noted the cheapest ale as £2.30 a pint in 2012, now it is still usually just £2.60 a pint, a fair comparison relative to other pubs regarding changes in pricing, but still so much better value than most, and in lined glasses ('spoons apart for price!). The Tower has also been in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide for 2 years now. 

Also, that early 'cheapest' ale was the excellent Sussex brewed Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) at £2.30 a pint, and the other virtual regular from Dark Star brewery (website) American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%) at £2.40 a pint. They were both on for my most recent visit this week at £2.70 a pint and £2.80 a pint respectively, great stuff!  

Over those 3 years, Louisa has also added 2 handpumps from the 4 when I first visited, meaning usually at least 4 regularly changing ales in addition to the 2 virtual regulars. Other ales on this week were the even more local Franklins (website) Pudding Stout (4.2%); from the North West, Robinsons Voodoo Dawn (3.9%), a 'deep red ale'; and from South Yorkshire, Abbeydale Accent Compensation (4.1%), a pale bitter.   

Oh yes, and the 6th ale on this visit, from Peterborough, was the excellent Oakham Bishops Farewell (£2.90 a pint), 4.6% of pale hoppy, citrus fruity, dry and bitter ale. I've written so often about this ale, as I have the Dark Star pair, that I really don't have anything else to add, except, I continue to love drinking them! 

And to add to Louisa's collection of awards was the local Cider Pub of the Year! She sells 2 keg ciders, Strongbow and Symonds Founders Reserve, and 2 real ciders, as can be seen from the photograph. There is Shepton Mallet Somerset Snuffler (4.8%), and the legendary Westons Old Rosie, 7.3% and dangerous!   

Congratulations Lou!

Another trip to London & Two Excellent Ales

A crackin' weekend in London with my brother, the Routemeister, and about 35 miles walked. The first round trip being to Richmond and obviously including our favourite pub there, the Watermans Arms (website), where we had...

OK, I know I always drink this, when they do sell Youngs ales, being a Youngs pub, but also another Twickenham (website) ale this day, their 3.8% Grandstand Bitter, but we had to drink the Naked Ladies again: 4.4% of pale, dry, bitter, hoppy delight, packed with flavours from Pilgrim, Celeia and Chinook hops, excellent!  

On our walk back to Dan's we decided to visit the Halfway House (website), near Barnes, walked past it a few times, but never been in! Really friendly place, great music venue, and beer in good form, sadly though, I forgot to make a note of what we drank, and my brother can't remember either, but it was certainly Scottish, from Edinburgh, I believe. I seem to remember 3 ales were on the bar (handpumps), maybe London Pride and Doom Bar the other two, anyway, a 'tick' pub...  

Our second round trip was to Borough Market/London Bridge/Southwark Cathedral (where a set of our great-great-grandparents were married). Oh yes, and to The Rake (website) of course, where I drank the also excellent...  

Oakham Ales (website) are another of my favourite brewers, and we were very lucky to find that, in addition to their Citra, oft tried and quality, they had this unique "Limited Edition" The Racketeer (5%). Oakham describe it as "Full on citrusy golden beer with powerful New Zealand hops dominating throughout." I wrote in my notes, thankfully written this time, as a 'tick' ale: "pale golden bitter, citrus aroma, citrus flavours, tangerine and grapefruit" - I liked it a lot!

I should also say they had a third beer on, as usual, this one from West London brewer, Dragonfly (website), their 4.3% "London Stout" Dark Matter. Anyway, a good chat with the two staff members, and another customer who used to run a bar in Putney, the excellent The Racketeer being imbibed, and a walk back to Dan's in prospect, meant I didn't try the stout, sorry... Cheers anyway!   

Happy St David's Day!

I would love to raise a pint of beer brewed by my favourite Welsh Brewer, Tiny Rebel (website) today, sadly, none on locally, so will have to be a local Hastings ale (from the FILO Brewery) instead, whatever, cheers!