Pink Grapefruit Ale from Kent Brewery!

I have written about Kent Brewery (website) ales many times before, indeed, they are one of my favourite dependable breweries for the quality of their ales, paler ales especially for me. But a recent visit to the Rye Waterworks (blog) saw me drink the slightly hazy 4.9% Kent Pamplemousse, brewed with pink grapefruit and citrusy hops, although I can't discover which hops were used, apologies, but I would be surprised if they were not from the USA. And if you're wondering about the name, 'pamplemousse' equals 'grapefruit' in French. 😁

It may look 'flat' in the photograph above, but it wasn't, indeed, it was just a full pint served to me, and ales are gravity fed at the Waterworks, so only a little head, although it did keep lacing all the way down the glass. OK, Pamplemousse is more orange than pink, but pink grapefruits produce a red juice, so I would describe this as an extra fruity, citrusy American Pale Ale style (APA), and I doubt if I'm wrong about the hops, but what do I know. 😉 So, pale and hoppy, very fruity, with a nice dry bitter finish and refreshing, another nice one Kent Brewery, cheers! 👍

Apologies - International Beer Day 2025 Yesterday!

Sorry I missed this, I had the wrong date marked in my diary. 😕 But Happy International Beer Day for yesterday! 🍺 Which should have been, and probably was elsewhere, a day of global celebration of beer (website). Indeed, the first Friday in August has been International Beer Day since 2013, a celebratory day created by Jesse Avshalomov at his local bar in Santa Cruz in California in 2007 (used to be August the 5th previously), you have to love those drinkers across the North Atlantic who suggest I celebrate drinking beer so regularly! 

The purpose of the day is to gather with others and enjoy a few beers and to celebrate the variety of beers available, and to celebrate those who brew, manage, and serve beer to us, not forgetting the wonderful pubs and bars where we drink. As Simon Difford suggests, let's raise a glass "to Beer, a drink that brings the world together." (diffordsguide) 🍻

But I did have a pint of ale yesterday, from a brewery I had never heard of, at my local 'local' The Prince Albert in central Hastings (blog). The ale, pump clip first image above, was from West Sussex brewery North Garden (website), Peaks (4.5%), an English Pale Ale, so brewed with English hops, which I presume are the same as for its stronger sibling Peaks Extra Pale Ale (4.8%); that is, Olicana (British Hop Association) and Harlequin (British Hop Association).

Or maybe not, on looking at the few reviews I could find, which suggest a paler beer than I drank (likely reviews of the Extra Pale Ale), although English Pale Ales are usually darker than the APAs that have been dominating the IPA name in recent times. The Peaks I drank was quite a deep copper colour, very much like a traditional IPA should be, and was, indeed, a bitter ale, like a traditional IPA would have been at the outset. Also, I didn't get the tropical fruit flavours you would expect with hops used like Olicana and Harlequin, so very likely more traditional English hops were used. However, the brewery's website doesn't help me at all, I can only go by what I was served, which was a bitter traditional English ale. Happy Beer Day Plus One, cheers! 😁