OK, it's a cider, but!

OK, and it is a cider, produced by Biddenden Vineyards (website), but, the Dolphin Inn at Rock-a-Nore Road in Hastings is selling their 6% Bushels Kentish Cider at just £3.70 a pint, a still cider with a refreshing subtle apple flavour, and dry, but not too dry taste, gorgeous! I'm only sharing this now because you usually only see the Bushels at the Dolphin once a year, and they only have two firkins of it, so get there if you are in the vicinity, if not, if you ever see this cider on sale, it's well worth buying a pint or two! 

And, if you don't like cider, being a real ale person like me (though I do like cider too) you may drink the wonderful Dark Star Hophead at the Dolphin instead, incidentally one of my nicknames there, Hophead Steve, a much easier 3.8% pale fruity hoppy ale, also very refreshing, cheers!

A walk on the wild side, and a couple of ales too...

Walking in the Chilterns may not seem too wild, but the weather was, and the land got steadily muddy, as heavy showers fell (more like mini storms!), driven through by sudden gusts of wind. Amazing that you can get out to the countryside from London on the tube so easily (Metropolitan Line), and so we (with my brother Dan) started our 16 miles walk (a combination of 2 walks from the Time Out Country Walks Near London volumes 1 and 2) from Chesham...

Because the ground became heavier going the further we walked, we determined to make it to where the two walks joined at Great Missenden without a stop, so shot straight off to Little Missenden on the second walk. Consequently, the first hostelry we visited was the Red Lion in Little Missenden (website - though the link tells me to update Adobe Flash Player, which Chrome won't let me do, anyway, but good luck to you!), a 17th century pub which has starred in the television series Midsomer Murders 3 times... 

Friendly staff, and an ale from the Chilterns among the 3 on offer, Skinners Betty Stoggs and Greene King IPA being the other two. We had a very good ale from Tring (website), ie their 3.6% Side Pocket for a Toad, the same as we had when we visited on our walk in the Chilterns nearly 4 years ago! See old blog. My notes say that this was a nice dry golden bitter, pretty similar to my notes last time, I'm on the ball 😏

Then we walked on to Amersham, seeing 10-12 buzzards soaring above at one stage, then, just before arriving in Amersham, we spotted an individual male hen harrier flying above us. Anyway, we walked into the town and visited the 15th century Kings Arms (website), we entered the bar of the hotel, a previous guest being Oliver Cromwell, but, more recently, another star of Midsomer Murders, plus of Miss Marples, and the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. 

Again, friendly and helpful staff, and from the ales on offer, we drank the reasonably local, though from Hertfordshire, not Buckinghamshire, Paradigm Brewery (website) and their Watercress Ale (3.6%). A hint of pepper in the flavour from the addition of locally grown watercress, and brewed with Columbus hops, producing a very nice and refreshing bitter, good stuff!

More great ales, oh dear, cheers!

I'll start off with 2 pale bitters, OK, they're all pale bitters, 😉from The Park Brewery in Kingston upon Thames (website), the theme of their ales being Richmond Park, obviously. First, their 4.4% Gallows Gold, brewed with Simcoe and Cascade hops, providing a big fruity aroma with tropical and citrus flavours, with a great dry bitter finish. I liked this a lot, but... 

Spankers IPA (5.4%), like Gallows Gold but with knobs on! Brewed with three of the 'C' hops, Chinook, Columbus and Centennial, you'd expect citrus flavours and aroma, and you wouldn't be wrong, an enormous citrus aroma, and grapefruit ++ in the flavour, loadsa body, pale golden, dry and bitter, I wrote "gorgeous" in my notes, that's how I remember it!

Next, 2 more excellent pale bitters, but this time from East Sussex brewery, Franklins Brewing Company (website). I've already recently discussed their 4.2% Resurrection EPA, a couple of blogs ago, with its wonderful flavours from the Amarillo, Galaxy, Centennial and Citra hops used, and I've had it at 2 further bars since, still excellent! 

Next though, their stronger North Shore IPA (5.5%), another ale I always love to drink. This is brewed with New Zealand hops, Rakau, and another pale golden bitter with plenty of body, plenty of fruit in the aroma and taste too, and, again, noted as "gorgeous!"

I mentioned the Three Sods Trade Union Pale Ale in my last blog, so we'll pass my notes on that one this time, but, another brewery that seems to be consistently putting out great ales is Green Duck Beer Company of the West Midlands (website). Their Duck & Dab IPA (5%) is brewed with Sorachi Ace and Mount Hood hops which provide plenty of citrus on the nose, not just a fruity aroma, but citrus in the flavour too, plenty of body, and finishing off as a very dry bitter, another excellent ale!

Finally-ish, we come to Shiny Brewing of Derbyshire (website), another brewery I keep tasting great ales from! Their 4.6% Affinity, they call an ESB, and do not share the hops used on their website, but it is yet another nice one! You'll have to believe my description, a pale golden ale, with much citrus aroma, I had to think again and again at what fruit is in the flavour, definitely grapefruit, and hints of orange and mango, whatever, finishes off a lovely dry bitter indeed! 

I also drank an ale from the ever reliable Oakham Ales, but you'll have to wait for my next blog, because there's an extra story there, cheers!

Fraternal Ale!

I've had a few pints of this at my local, the Dolphin Inn in Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings, this week, ie the Three Sods Brewery Trade Union Pale Ale (TUPA, 4.5%), quite frankly, I'd never heard of the brewers before, but have found out that they are based at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, 42 Pollard Row, London E2 6NB (website). 

TUPA is brewed with pale malts, and chinook, cascade and admiral hops, producing a very pale golden ale, with hints of citrus, though not as much as I expected, and not so much in the aroma either. TUPA finishes off quite dry and bitter, refreshing, and is a little too easy to drink(!); this beer is the result of a liaison with the pressure group Hope not Hate.

Nice one, cheers comrades! 😊