Yesterday I visited The Jolly Fisherman, 3 East Beach Street, Hastings TN34 3AR (website), a wee pub that I have written about many times now, for example, the first time for I ever wrote about this pub was in this blog. This visit I drank 2 ciders and 2 dark beers.
My first cider was from Oliver's Cider & Perry in Herefordshire (website) and their 6.3% Making Hay cider. This is a wild yeast fermented still cider that smells like proper cider should, with a slightly sour and apple aroma. To taste it has a very big apple flavour indeed, and very sweet at first, but with a lovely dry finish, I liked it immensely! 🍎🍏🍎
My second cider was from Bollhayes Devon Cider & Perry of Brixham (website) and their 6.5% Farmhouse Dry cider, looking very similar from the colour, but so different! Made with locally grown cider apples from their own South Devon orchard, this has nowhere near as much aroma, and is much drier to taste. I noted "very zider!" Pretty good still, but not as impressive. 🍏🍏
My first dark ale was from Leeds brewery Tartarus Beers (website) and their 4.0% Enfield, a Chocolate Brownie Stout. Brewed with 9 different malts, and with vanilla and chocolate added during conditioning, replicating the flavours of a chocolate brownie (apologies, I cannot discover the hops used). Flavour-wise, is very much chocolate indeed, with a hint of vanilla, coffee and roasted barley, but nicely dries out at the end, thus easy to drink and, for a 'session' stout quite a fair amount of body, which apparently comes from boiling the wort 'for over 3 hours.' 😮
Cheers folks, until next time. 😉
