Congratulations to Tiny Rebel!

Congratulations to Tiny Rebel and their 4.6% Cwtch for not only winning Gold in the Best Bitter category in the CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain awards, but also for winning GOLD for overall winner!   

All Results: 

Champion Beer of Britain 2015 CAMRA are pleased to announce this year's Champion Beers of Britain as follows:

Supreme Champions Gold  Tiny Rebel - Cwtch Silver Kelburn - Jaguar Bronze Dancing Duck - Dark Drake

Mild Gold Williams Brother- Black  Silver Rudgate - Ruby Mild  Bronze Great Orme - Welsh Black

Best Bitter Gold Tiny Rebel - Cwtch Silver:  Highland - Scapa Special  Joint Bronze: Barngates - Tag Lag Salopian - Darwin's Origin

Speciality Gold Titantic - Plum Porter  Joint Silver  Kissingate - Black Cherry Mild  Saltaire - Triple Chocolate  Bronze Hanlons - Port Stout

Bitter Gold Pheasantry - Best Bitter Silver  Acorn - Barnsley Bitter Joint Bronze Purple Moose - Madog's Ale Timothy Taylors - Boltmaker

Golden Gold Kelburn - Jaguar Silver Adnams - Explorer  Bronze Blue Monkey - Infinity

Strong Bitter Gold Dark Star - Revelation Silver Salopian - Golden Thread Bronze Grain - India Pale Ale

Champion Bottle-Conditioned Beer Gold Harveys - Imperial Extra Double Stout Silver Fyne Ales - Superior IPA Bronze Mordue - India Pale Ale

Smiling again!

This was what the Alchemist, at 225 St John's Hill, SW11 1TH (near Clapham Junction/Wandsworth Common), looked like before it closed down a couple of years ago, very nice, and with more than a hundred years history behind it...  

This is what happened to it! Like the Carlton Tavern at Maida Vale (reported in my blog of 29th April this year), it is another London public house to be demolished, but without planning permission! 

Like the Carlton Tavern, the owner has been ordered to rebuild the Alchemist, brick by brick, using original materials! The Council said that "the demolition was a serious breach of planning rules which can only be right by the complete rebuilding and reconstruction... using the same materials and to the same architectural design."   BRAVO! 

See the Standard for more.       

Biddenden's Bushels Cider!

I realise that I haven't written much here for quite a while, and I do have many ales, and not a few pubs, to report on, but I'm slipping in this report of my drinking the very nice Biddenden's (website) Bushels Cider (6%) at the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings. 

The Bushels was lovely and clear, not quite the same as some of my past experiences of drinking cider straight from Devonshire farms, together with whatever lumps and debris was left in them (always an experience!), or the rougher ciders enjoyed at the Cider Bar in Newton Abbot. But I don't live in Devon anymore, so this one is now a reasonably local cider to me (from Kent), and certainly had to be tried, as Mark, the Dolphin landlord, purchased 5 firkins for this, definitely a local pub to me! 

As you can see from this photograph, a nice bright cider, at a decently cool temperature, "flat" say Biddenden, but it certainly has life, with a sweetish apple flavour at first, but drying out very nicely, thank you! The say "medium dry", I'd say much drier than I expected, nice one. Mark had brought in 2 firkins at first, but, as both sold out within a few days, the extra 3 firkins were ordered very urgently! 

Indeed, all 5 firkins sold out pretty quickly, but I'm aware that Mark has already ordered 2 or 3 more firkins, so shall be available at the Dolphin again very soon, which I'm looking forward to... Oh yes! And I've ales to report on too, so expect another blog soon, I'll not be so tardy again, fingers crossed, cheers!    

Waterloo, Wellington, and Hastings!

Coming from an Anglo-Irish family, Major General Sir Arthur Wellesley, perhaps better known later as the Duke of Wellington, was born in Dublin in 1769. His family bought him a commission in the British Army in 1787, as he was not that interested in furthering his education after school.

He was Knighted for serving a very successful posting to India from 1796 to 1805. When he returned to England he was then posted to Hastings on 25 February 1806 to take command of a brigade of infantry. His troop was based locally and he first stayed at 54 High Street, which was used as his headquarters.  

The Swan Inn (no more)

The Swan Inn (which was situated opposite 54 High Street, but is now a garden following its destruction from WW2 bombing) was used for a public dinner in his honour, soon after his marriage to Kitty Packenham in Dublin on 10 April 1806. She had been brought back to Hastings, where they lived at Hastings House, a Palladian Mansion at the North end of Tackleway. The plot where Hastings House and gardens once stood is now occupied by Old Humphry Avenue.

Wellesley was MP for Rye 1806 to 1809; he had before sat a couple of terms as MP (for Trim) in the Irish House of Commons in the previous century. 

This Thursday, 18th June, is the 200th anniversary of his famous victory over Napoleon at Waterloo, and Harveys have brewed a special beer in honour of that achievement, Waterloo Rye IPA (6.1%). Rye malt from Belgium has been used in the brew, whilst French bittering hops were added to the wort, and the casks are dry-hopped with hops from Britain and Germany; Belgium was the site of the battle, and France, Britain and Germany were the 3 main protagonists. 

Waterloo Rye IPA should be a very interesting ale to drink, which I am looking forward to drinking, this lunchtime, at the Dolphin Inn, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings old town, cheers!     

#CheersBDB

At the Dolphin Inn, Hastings: 

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!