Update on ales imbibed during April...

OK, it was a wee bit late for St Patrick's Day, but, what the heck, For the Craic (4.8%), brewed by Box Steam Brewery of Wiltshire (website) is an excellent choice to start this blog with. It is labelled a "Bold Fruity IPA", though not as pale as you would expect from US influenced IPAs these days, being a darker amber colour, but certainly "fruity!" This had a strong citrus aroma with a citrus and mango flavour provided by the Azacca hops used, from the USA. Nice, dry and bitter, I liked this very much... Sláinte!

A more local brewer to me supplied my next choice at the Jenny Lind in Hastings Old Town's High Street (website). Friendly service, and a choice of 10 ales on offer, 6 of which come from local brewers. I chose the Franklins Brewing Company Resurrection (4.2%, website), in excellent form, so much so, I had to have a second pint to make sure it was so good! Pale and hoppy, with grapefruit in the taste, and a lovely refreshing dry finish, another excellent ale, presumably brewed with hops from the USA.

My penultimate ale for this blog was enjoyed at the Dolphin Inn, as was the For the Craic, opposite the fishermen's huts in old town Rock-a-Nore Road. From Kent Brewery (website) Prohibition (4.8%), described as an 'American Pale Ale', which is obviously its type! You've guessed it, hops from the USA are used, though they don't disclose which, but I'd bet at least one has a name starting with 'C', maybe Citra, Centennial, or Cascade? Anyway plenty of citrus in the aroma and flavour, a lovely pale golden bitter, and pretty damn good!

Finally, a very old favourite session ale of mine, from a long-favoured brewer, Oakham Ales (website) and in a 'tick' pub; originally Oakham started brewing in 1993 in Rutland, moving to Peterborough in 1998. They now have a 75 barrel brewing plant, with additional capacity at their central Peterborough brew-pub, the Brewery Tap (website). Anyway, sitting opposite the graveyard where Spike Milligan is buried ("I told you I was ill"), we visited the family owned and run New Inn, Winchelsea (website) and enjoyed 1 of the 5 ales on offer, Oakham JHB (Jeffrey Hudson Bitter, 3.8%), an excellent ale, plenty of citrus aroma and flavour from the Challenger and Mount Hood hops used, with a refreshing dry bitter finish, cheers!

More Excellent Pale Hoppy Bitters!

I've had so many very good pale hoppy ales already this year, and a look at my previous, now redundant, Beermeister blog will describe many of these regulars, if not all! OK, among them Salopian Hop Twister, imbibed in more than one bar this year (hence my using this image!); Oakham Scarlet Macaw, Asylum and Bishops Farewell; Dark Star Hophead and American Pale Ale (APA); and a particular favourite of mine, Twickenham Naked Ladies... 

In addition, have been these excellent, totally new, ales to me, including East London Brewing Company (website) Cowcatcher (4.8%), an 'American Pale Ale' style pale golden ale. This has a fruity aroma, as you'd expect from American hops, with citrus and passion fruit in the taste, and a dry bitter finish... I wrote "gorgeous" in my notes, so I obviously enjoyed drinking it!

The next ale is from Stourbridge-based Green Duck Brewery Company (website currently under construction), whose Dynamite Lady (5%) is described on the pump clip as a "powerful hoppy ale", and they aren't wrong! With a strong citrus aroma and flavour, it made me write 'marmalade' in my notes, full bodied, with a dry bitter finish, this is the type of ale I love to knock back, and I gave it a +++ in honour of its quality, lovely jubbly!

I'm still gobsmacked that I've tasted so many excellent ales this year already, and this more local, to me, being based in Sussex, Franklins Brewing Company (website), with one of the ex-Dark Star brewers in the hot seat, adds Resurrection 'Extra Pale Ale' (4.4%) to my list... I described it as very pale, hoppy, dry and bitter, and, once again gave this a +++ rating, loved it!

Hertfordshire-based Tring Brewery (website) provided my next great discovery with their Pale Four (4.6%), unafraid to brag about the hops used, they are Amarillo, Cascade, Simcoe, and Citra, and dry-hopped to boot! These provide a now typical 'America Pale Ale' style, big citrus aroma, very fruity, with grapefruit and tangerine in the flavour, and an amber dry bitter too, another +++, It's the way I score them, and, quite frankly, all these ales mentioned in this specific blog meet this high level of quality. 

I was going to make this the last ale mentioned in this blog, but an experience earlier today made that not happen, but from the Panda Frog Project, the "experimental arm" of Mordue Brewery (website) came my favourite of all these new ales, if I was asked to name one, the 5% Allelic Drift; we looked it up, and it's something to do with genetics, lost me a bit! Anyhow, it's a pale golden ale with a great fruity aroma, peach and grapefruit in the taste, and a very dry and bitter finish, loved it too!

Then, today, I had a few pints of the excellent Salopian (website) Freeze Frame (4.8%) at the Royal Air Force Association bar in Bexhill-on-Sea, the Albatross Club; don't bother trying to drink this at that venue, it will have sold out, but... don't be disappointed if you live in the area, because they'll have replaced it with the wonderful Thornbridge Jaipur by tomorrow! Anyway, I had to add this to my list, well, because it was pretty damn good. Another pale bitter, generous fruity aroma with grapefruit ++ in the taste and a dry finish, and I still walked the 5 miles home along the seafront, in a very pleasant mood indeed, cheers!