Inaugural UK Belgian Beer Week Now On!

I only yesterday found out that an inaugural Belgian Beer Week (24th February to 1st March Beer Today website) had been arranged in cooperation with Visit Flanders (website), I apologise for my tardiness! Knowing that Oliver at The Jolly Fisherman in Hastings (blog) stocks Belgian beers, I wandered along there in the late afternoon. So what Belgian beer did I drink?

As you can see from the image above, I drank the St Bernadus ABT 12 (10.0%), Brouwerij St Bernadus (website) being another excellent Belgian brewery situated in Watou, Flanders. This beer is a very dark deep coloured red Quadrupel, with a slightly malty/fruity aroma, a wee bit sweet with a dry slightly bitter finish, and tasting of dark plum and damson fruits, another Christmas Pudding of a beer as many Quadrupels tend to be, very rich and rewarding to drink!

There are still a few of the organised events left to visit, lucky you if you are in either vicinity 😉 they are today (28th February) Duvel Moortgat at Den Engel Bar & Restaurant in Leek, and Kasteel at Bundobust in Manchester. Tomorrow (1st March) Duvel Moortgat again, at the Neepsend Craft Beer Festival in Sheffield (beertoday).

If you go to either enjoy yourselves, and feel free to leave a comment with a review of your visit, or nip in somewhere else and buy some Belgian beer, or buy some from an off licence or supermarket, I'll likely head to Morrisons for some Westmalle Tripel (blog), love it! Cheers 👍

A Whiskey for the Road...

I have already written about my February 'Whiskey of the Month' (blog), but a few days ago I had a whiskey, or two, 'for the road' at The Jolly Fisherman in Hastings (blog), and thought it worth sharing; apologies if I'm going on about whiskey nearly as much as ale these days, but I'm enjoying them in my dotage! 😉

Anyway, this second February whiskey was again from Dublin distillery Teeling, who I wrote about back in December (blog), when I had a bottle of their 46.0% Small Batch. This time it was their Single Malt whiskey, also 46.0%, with a deep Chardonnay white wine colour, and matured in a combination of American Oak, Ruby Port, Caravelos White Port, Madeira and Bourbon casks, which add to the complexity of this whiskey!

The Single Malt has an aroma of grapes at first, then forest fruits and spices. It is nicely mellow to drink, with subtle hints of sherry and spices in the flavour. A very smooth luxurious Irish whiskey, with plenty of warmth, a slightly bitter-sweet butterscotch at the finish, and indeed, yet another very easy to drink whiskey, slainte! 👍

Tower Pub, Hastings, Real Ale Festival This Weekend!

The Tower, up on the corner of London Road and Tower Road, Bohemia TN37 6NB (Hastings & St Leonards), is holding its annual Real Ale Festival this weekend (facebook), from Friday the 21st to Sunday the 23rd of February 2025; 11am to 11pm Friday and Saturday, 11am to 10pm Sunday... oh yes, and real ciders will be available too! Some of what will be available below:

ENJOY, CHEERS!

February Whiskey of the Month!

Well, the Christmas cards have been taken down from the bookcase, and we reach the February Whiskey of the Month, The Busker, distilled at Royal Oak Distillery in County Carlow, Ireland (website). They produce 3 types of whiskey for their Single Collection, a Single Malt, a Single Pot Still, and the Single Grain, which is my February Whiskey of the Month.

The Busker Single Grain is a 44.3% whiskey presented in an attractive heavy squarish bottle (image above), and is distilled in a column still, not a more traditional pot still, resulting in a lighter whiskey. Indeed, this is a very easy to drink light straw coloured whiskey that has aged in Bourbon casks from the USA, and then in Sicilian Marsala casks. This smooth and light whiskey is quite sweet to start off, with hints of vanilla, honey and dried fruits to taste, with a warm glowing slightly tart alcohol finish, very reasonably priced, and pretty decent indeed!

And you know you've had a whiskey of 44.3%, slainte! 👍