Hoppy New Beer!

And I drank a very good one yesterday, cheers!

More to come very soon... 😉

Merry Christmas!

CHEERS!

Combining Ale, the FILO, Pickled Onions & Charity!

OK, I own up that the main purpose of my visit yesterday to the First In Last Out, 14-15 High Street, Hastings TN34 3EY (website) wasn't just to drink real ales brewed in Hastings, indeed, close by and up the road actually, but because for a number of years now I have gladly taken advantage of the rather special spicy pickled onions (above) prepared and provided by Elina (once apprenticed to Paul; see older blog), and a wonderful puller of real ales too! Elina starts work on the onions well in advance of this holiday season, and all proceeds from the sale of the pickled onions go to the charity for homeless people in Hastings, Eastbourne and Bexhill, Warming Up The Homeless (website). So, not only have I contributed to that charity, I have excellent pickled onions to go with the cold meat, cheese and bubble & squeak that I shall be enjoying on Boxing/St Stephen's Day, quality, cheers Elina!

But, also, the beers... the 4 handpumps shown in the photograph above, plus a seasonal winter warmer that was a wee bit too sweet for me to drink more than a half of, quite pleasant, liquid Caramac came to mind, and with rum added to the cask, many thanks to Adam (whose back is in the image above) for serving it up. When I first arrived the first other customer I recognised was Eddie, who, coincidentally, I have seen a few times recently after not seeing each other for ages, great to chat, cheers Eddie! 

So my main drinks were two of the above ales, the easy to drink FILO Churches Pale Ale (4.2%), a refreshing session ale brewed with one of my favourite U.S. hops, Amarillo, and the stronger 4.8% FILO Gold,  brewed with another great hop from the USA, Cascade, their 'premium ale, nice and pale and golden, good stuff!

So, a pleasant afternoon was had, good ale, good company, and pickled onions to add to the mix, many thanks again to Elina for her time and patience, cheers! 

This blog was first written for my other blog, Steve on Hastings, and, by the way, here's a link to the FILO Brewery website.

A Gift from Scotland

Friends of mine, Mark and Maureen, often bring back beers for me when they go on holiday, eg when they went to Wales a couple of years ago (blog), and Devon earlier this year (blog). Well, they recently returned from touring around the Scottish Highlands and Islands, although Mark said he was a bit disappointed with the little choice on offer ale-wise, where there was mostly cream flow and keg beers available, but that's much of Scotland for you, sadly... 😕 

Anyway, this time they brought back a beer for me from a very decent Scottish brewery, Orkney (website), their 4.5% Orkney Gold, labelled a New World Pale Ale, thanks to the Amarillo, Cascade and Columbus hops used, from the USA; also Wheat Malt is used as well as the more usual pale malt, presumably Maris Otter. They suggest it is "spicy, fruity and hoppy" and I noted slightly citrus fruits in the aroma and taste, with a wee hint of forest fruits too, and refreshing with a nice bitter finish... Cheers Mark and Mo, and cheers to you too folks! 

Dheagh shlàinte!

A New Brewery in an Old Pub

The Ram Inn

My brother and I recently visited what used to be the old brewery tap for Youngs in Wandsworth, and now called The Ram Inn, 68 Wandsworth High Street, SW18 4LB (website), and now run by the Grumpy Pub Company, who also have 2 other previously Youngs pubs, ie The Pig & Whistle, 481 Merton Road, SW18 5LD, and The Old Sergeant, 104 Garratt Lane, SW18 4DJ, both of which I have visited many times over the years, being from Wandsworth originally...

As you can see in the photograph below, which shows their brewing kit inside the building,, this is also a 'brewpub' and the brewery is called Slybeast Brewing, named after a couple of dogs, it appears, the story is on their website.

So, the 3 beers of theirs I sampled, I have to review, being as that's my purpose in life these days. 😉 To the first ale, their 3.7% 'pale ale' Beam Engine, brewed with Marris Otter malt and Cascade hops from the U.S. of A., and described as 'a modern take on a classical English ale.' It's a pale golden beer, I certainly got the hops used in the taste, dries out in the finish, but a bit too sweet for me, not my favourite pale ale ever, sadly.

The second ale I tasted was the 4.5% Ram Street Special SW18, which I presumed would be their take on the Youngs Special, but no! Apparently brewed by someone who likes Belgian dubbel beers and consequently Belgian Crystal malt used and a 'more pronounced yeast profile' though English hops used, I believe. Again for me, Belgian wise I prefer their tripel beers, and not bitter enough for me, much too sweet.

The third beer was the 4.5% 4 FOOT 2 London Porter, named after the old railway that used to run nearby 200 years ago, and which ran on a track gauge of 4' 2" unsurprisingly. They describe the aroma and taste as 'Biscuit, Caramel, Chocolate and Toast'  but I got a big hit of liquorice and a hint of coffee too. Dark, as you'd expect, apparently unfined, so good for vegans, and easy to get away with for such a dark beer. I wrote 'not bad' as it wasn't bad at all, I could drink this regularly, but maybe not too many pints in one go 😉

Next door, therefore also on the old Ram Brewery site, is the Sambrooks Brewery, which I wrote a blog about a while ago before the pandemic disrupted things, and their Taproom, somewhere I shall have to visit on another day, cheers! 

Peterborough and Oakham Ales Postscript...

Indeed, further to my last blog about my recent visit to Peterborough, which included visiting 2 of the 4 Oakham Ales hostelries run by their sister company, The Oaka Group; I always thought that the Bartons Arms in Birmingham was one of their pubs, which I've visited a few times and written about before (blog), but Helen at Oakham has informed me that it is 'leased' out, shame. However, I have visited the Mansion House in Kennington a few times. eg blog, and their fourth business is actually the East Restaurant on the upper deck of Charters in Peterborough (blog).

Anyway, the postscript is that, although I was too sensible to drink the 6% Oakham Green Devil whilst in Peterborough, I had a couple of pints yesterday at my local, the Dolphin Inn in Hastings, a pub that I have written about before, obviously, eg blog. Anyway! Green Devil is the "big brother" of the 'session ale' at 4.2% Oakham Citra, also a few more hops used, not just significantly stronger, but 'doubled hopped' and twice 'World Champion' ale (website).

They describe the taste on the Green Devil pump clip as being "powerful, tropical fruit" and it certainly has a deeper more full taste than Citra, but I detect some grapefruit as well as tropical fruit flavours, we're all different. Indeed, it's an excellent pale golden bitter, with Wheat Malt used, as well as the usual Maris Otter, my notes say plenty of body, dry finish, and very good!

Looking forward to my next pint shortly, cheers! 

Peterborough - A New City (for me) Visited...

A trip to Peterborough and dreams of Oakham Ales (website, and more later), base of one of my 2 favourite breweries, real ale bars, and maybe a point or three at football, fingers crossed... I had been looking forward to this day for ages! My first port of call was the Bumble Inn (website), close by the railway station at 46 Westgate, PE1 1RE, which opens at 12.00.

At the Bumble Inn I met three friendly Peterborough lads, 2 brothers and a son/nephew, who each had their own pub in their gardens, I kid you not, I was shown photographs... dead impressive and useful during the lockdowns no doubt! Anyway, this micropub sells 5 ever-changing real ales, 2 of which were from that excellent Yorkshire brewery, from Huddersfield, Mallinsons (website), and they, apparently, as I didn't partake, sell home-made pork pies, 'jumbo' sausage rolls and/or scotch eggs; 'pop-up' food events held on the third Thursday of the month.

I had a pint each of the 2 Mallinsons ales, both pale and hoppy, both 4.0%, their Denimes Denimes, and, my favourite of the two, the single hopped Kohatu (New Zealand hops), quite bitter with a dry crisp finish, not bad at all. As we decided, I press-ganged them really, I went along with the lads to my next port of call, the Oakham bar on a barge, Charters (website).

Charters Bar was packed, as was the bankside area next to it, which provides a huge outside area which must have been very useful during the first phase of returning to 'normal' last year. As usual at a bar near a football ground on match day, it emptied out between 2.30 and 3.00 pm, but not before we shared a few pints each, me of the excellent Oakham Citra (4.2%), a wonderful session pale bitter, like me, pale, dry and bitter, great company. Great ale at just £3 a pint ('special' regular deals), and 5 friends of mine (including my ex-wife) turned up here just before 2.30 (Noel and Ian in the photograph above, just as we were leaving to go to the ground).

After the match, sadly an upsetting last 10 minutes for me, but not for my new mates from Peterborough I imagine, 5 of us met up at The (Oakham) Brewery Tap (website), which is just a few minutes walk from the railway station in Westgate...

Here I drank, again at a bargain price, 2 or 3 pints of Oakham Inferno (4.0%), brewed with Sterling, Amarillo, Centennial, Cascade and Chinook hops, those who know me well will appreciate I approve of brewers using these hops from the USA 😉 - And again, great ale, again, pale, dry, refreshing and bitter, great company, and another decently priced ale too, thank you very much Oakham! The journey home was a wee bit rowdy, but not due to me guv...

And, just because I didn't take a photograph of a beer I was drinking, here's one I took earlier, last week at the Dolphin Inn in Hastings (website), my local, cheers! 

London Beer Flood 16/17th (?) October 1814

I was reminded the other week by a friend (cheers Rod!) of the London Beer Flood, which I have written about before. This was a distressing event that happened close by what is now the Dominion Theatre in London's West End, and occurred on the 17th of October 1814; however, with some reports recording the tragedy as happening the day before, but the evidence to support the 17th as the anniversary looks to be stronger.

In those days, London drinkers were supplied their beer by dozens of competing breweries, which resulted in some breweries building enormous vats in which to ferment and condition their ales. Indeed, the enormous porter vat of Maux & Company had a capacity of over a million pints! At about 6pm, on the 17th of October, 206 years ago, one of the steel restraining bands that enveloped that gigantic vat broke and released the contents. Together with the million plus pints of porter released from this vat, other vessels in the brewery were damaged and released even more beer into the flood. The resulting deluge damaged the brewery and a nearby pub, the Tavistock Arms and, sadly, flooded the basements of nearby homes...

Depending on which reports you read, between 7 and 9 people died as a direct result of the flood, most of them drowning in their own basements, and many more were seriously injured, including some of those who came to help rescue survivors... 

R.I.P. to those who sadly died... 😢

Images, with thanks to www.history.info, and I cannot find the source again for the photograph of Maux & Company brewery, my apologies to that source!

Proper Job in Cans, yes, honest!

Well, I've written about St Austell Proper Job before many times before, including cask and bottle-conditioned versions (eg blog), but I have been amazed to find out that they now sell it in cans! And it's at the same 5.5% strength that the bottle-conditioned version comes at, but, obviously, not can-conditioned, although still with a great flavour coming through.

The hops used are Williamette, Cascade and Chinook, providing an abundance of fruit taste in the flavour, citrus and forest fruits, notably grapefruit, with a hint of pineapple, pale and golden, and with a great dry bitter finish, loadsa flavour and not bad at all for a beer in a tin! 

If you see it, it is well worth a try, honest, cheers! 

Reasonable Priced Real Ale... Well, Plus an Update!

From my Steve on Hastings blog... Well, I've not been to many pubs since it became closer to 'normal' times (being careful), whatever that is, but, most appear still to be aware of the Covid-19 Crisis, and hand sanitizer seems to have become 'normal' in many, and many people continue to wear masks , not so worrying, in some, obviously., but not all, so please stay safe...  

And, I was surprised to find out that the best value real ale in Hastings, ignoring 'spoons, was sold at the Nelson at the bottom of The Bourne in the old town, a very decent pint of Fullers London Pride at just £3.20, I have been told, nice one, cheers!  

Constellation Brewery

Having been passed this nice little collection of beers from Mo, many thanks, I had to try them, of course, beers, including lagers, true (!), from the reasonably new brewery, Constellation Brewery, Unit 21 Orchard Business Centre, Sanderson Way, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1QF (website). Noting the name of the brewery you can guess that the theme of their beers' names is constellations, consequently, I shall also share the extra information about the constellations that they provide on the cans in addition to my tasting notes...

I'll start with Lupus Lager, 4%, and I was surprisingly pleased by the taste, apparently brewed using a French hop variety, preceded by a big aroma, with wheat malt prominent, indeed, I was surprised to see that wheat malt is included for all these beers! Golden coloured, refreshing, with a subtle flavour from the wheat, and a nice dry finish... this was my favourite of the lot! 

"Lupus is a constellation located in the deep Southern sky. It's name is Latin for wolf. Lupus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations., although it was previously an asterism associated with the neighbouring constellation Centaurus. Symbolism: The Wolf. Brightest Star: a Lup."

Staying with the lagers, the 4.7% Hydra is brewed to be a Czech Pilsner style. This one has less aroma than the Lupus, guessing less wheat malt is used, but what do I know?!? My notes say "basically a lager" and OK, I'm not an expert on lagers, sorry, that's as good as this gets...

"Hydra is the largest of the 88 modern constellations, measuring 1303 degrees, and is also the longest at over 100 degrees (OK, I don't understand, but they're sharing this, so I am too!). It's southern end abuts Libra and Centaurus and its northern end borders Cancer. I was included among the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy (above). Symbolism: The Sea Serpent. Brightest Star: Alphard."

I'll now deal with the ales/bitters, first, the session bitter Indus (3.9%) is brewed using English and new world hops, producing an easy to drink dry refreshing pale ale with a dry bitter finish, not bad at all, I wrote...

"Indus is a constellation in the southern sky first professionally surveyed by Europeans in the 1590s, namely Dutch astronomers, and mapped out on a globe by Pieter Platevoet by early 1598 and thus included in Bayer's keynote, consolidated sky atlas of 1603. Symbolism: The Indian. Brightest Star: The Persian." 

And my final review is of the American Pale Ale styled Cassiopeia (4.5%), 'heavily hopped with mainly American varieties' and comes out cloudy... I know it's fashionable to produce cloudy beers, but knowing brewers who produce 'vegan friendly' beers that are clear, eg Marble (website) has been brewing 'vegan friendly' beers for years, clear as a clear beer can be, well, anyway, to this beer. Not bad, big fruit aroma and grapefruit in the taste and a dry bitter finish, it would be interesting to drink a cask version, if they produce one, but preferably clear. 😉

"Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the vain queen Cassiopeia in Greek mythology, who boasted about her unrivalled beauty. Cassiopeia was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Symbolism: The Seated Queen. Brightest Star: a Cass."

Cheers Mo! 👍

Beers from Black Tor Brewery, Devon

Friends of mine were lucky enough to enjoy a holiday, during the recent sunny week, in Brixham in Devon, and brought back a nice wee presentation box present for lucky me, and many thanks to Mark and Mo! The bottled beers they brought me (above) were from Black Tor Brewery (website), Unit 5&6 Gidleys Meadow, Christow EX6 7QB, on the edge of Dartmoor, and a wee village I used to drive through regularly on my way back into Exeter from walks on Dartmoor back in the days I used to live down there.

The 4.0% Pride of Dartmoor, described as an Amber Ale, was a lovely refreshing ale with a fruity aroma, slightly sweet at first taste, but with a slightly bitter aftertaste and dry finish, and not bad at all, very enjoyable!

The 4.2% Raven, a Best Bitter, was a deep chestnut/red hue, with a slightly malty aroma. This is very much a traditional best bitter brewed with English hops, again, a bit sweet to start with, but with a nice nutty bitter finish, very decent again...

The 4.5% DPA, or Devon Pale Ale, was a golden bitter brewed with hops from the USA as well as England used in the brewing process. There were hints of tropical and citrus fruits in the taste, but subtle, and a smooth refreshing drink, slightly dry finish. Mark drank this one 'cask conditioned' and, apart from Devon Dumpling (which he didn't realise was 5.1% 😉 - Bays) was his regular and favourite tipple down there.

Cheers again to Mark and Mo! 👍

A Book I Must Read, and I shall review it!

Weird, Wondrous and Historic Pubs of the UK by Mikey Swann looks to be a decent read, especially as it has a photograph of Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem beneath the castle in Nottingham (website) on its cover; the photograph above of this crackin' historic pub is my own. A great place to visit anyway, I shall post again when I get hold of a copy of the book!

Haven't been writing much recently as haven't been to more than just the one pub with everything that's (not) going on, hopefully travelling again soon, cheers!

CAMRA - Happy 50 Years! And more pale bitters...

The choice for me today (above) at the Dolphin Inn in Hastings (facebook page), and what a great choice! I must admit I've been drinking mostly excellent pale bitters from Kent Brewery (website) and Oakham Ales (website), and I can't complain about that, cheers!

I will write much more soon, but have to mention the CAMRA 50th anniversary (website).

What can I say? Prohibition, cheers!

So, back drinking a quality real ale at a pub (blog), and gorgeous too, despite the snow yesterday, 😉 which didn't stop the Dolphin Inn in Hastings nearly selling the whole firkin of one of my favourite ales on the first day of reopening, and I returned today too...

And yes, it was the award winning Kent Brewery Prohibiton (website), 4.8% of 'American Pale Ale' style pale dry hoppy bitter that I imbibed, quality! With a variety of hops from the USA, and plenty of them used too, this is, as I've said before, really pale, with a big citrus fruity aroma, grapefruit flavour and dry and bitter finish, refreshing and so easy to drink, quality! 

And the view from my seat on the balcony, the Stacey Marie (facebook page) in the heart of Hastings historic fishing quarter. Oh yes, there were 3 cask-conditioned ales on offer, reduced from the 'usual' 6 due to understandable circumstances these days, including Prohibition, the ubiquitous Harvey's Sussex Best (4.0% - website), and Dark Star Hophead (3.8% - website), 2 from East Sussex and my favourite from Kent, all very local indeed, cheers! 

Roll on tomorrow!

So, tomorrow lunchtime I shall be sitting outside the Dolphin Inn, Hastings, as I suggested I would be in my recent blog, and drinking Kent Brewery's Prohibition,  an excellent APA style pale bitter, and also the first ale I imbibed at the first reopening in July last year (blog). The pub will be opening from 11.00 to the evening (closing time depending on the number of customers, and weather), but likely the early evening until we can drink indoors, so roll on May the 17th too... 

Oh yes, ale-wise they will be selling Harvey's Sussex Best and Dark Star Hophead too.

Whatever you do, enjoy, but stay safe, and cheers! 

Happy Easter and 3 Dolphins for you!

First of all, Happy Easter! Not that it will be all that ''merry' with no pubs open, but I'll make an effort with good memories here, so 3 Dolphin Pubs that I have frequented at different times in my life, and will happily return to whenever close by. They are all excellent pubs and were in the 2020 CAMRA Good Beer Guide (I presume they are all in the 2021 Guide too, but with all that's been going on I really haven't had the inclination to buy one so soon after buying the 2020 Guide, which I have hardly used anyway!). And the most recent Dolphin that I have latched on to is my current 'local', and is likely to be the first pub I return to in 2021, fingers crossed.

First, The Dolphin Hotel (facebook), down at The Barbican in Plymouth, which I first visited when I lived in Devon in the 1980s. My earliest memory is of a pretty basic pub, but selling the best Bass I'd ever tasted, served straight from casks stored and cooled behind the bar, I think they were kilderkins, which is still the case. Plus, they now sell up to 7 guest ales, and St Austell Tribute as a regular, at least they were before Lockdown. I cannot remember there being ales served from handpump when I first visited, only the gravity-fed beer, but, as I only thought of drinking the Bass at the time, that's no surprise.

I have visited many times since, but my most recent visit was a few years ago, before going to a football match at Argyle, we sadly lost (Argyle won), and not a lot had changed, and, apart from a sensitive redecoration, the GBG suggests the same still. The walls are adorned with Beryl Cook paintings, many images are of the pub's regulars, as she used to live in the area and frequented the pub herself. The pub is situated very close to the waterfront, from where you may catch a ferry over to Turnchapel, where lies another old favourite pub, and ex-employer, of mine, The Boringdon Arms. The Dolphin Hotel in Plymouth, though, is a must visit, if you like real ale and old pubs, and are in Devon... and the Bass is to be savoured 🍻

The second is Ye Olde Dolphin Inne (website), close by the cathedral in Derby, the oldest and, allegedly, 'most haunted' public house in the city. The building dates back to 1530, but the pseudo-Tudor additions to the exterior were made about 100 years ago, but it's still a great little building to investigate, with nooks and crannies in an unspoilt interior. I first visited here in the 1990s, as I lived in Sheffield at the time, and Derby is very close, and I obviously had to investigate this nearby city with its wealth of very good pubs. More often than not, subsequent visits were in connection with trips to to football matches at Pride Park, or made in conjunction with visits by friends or family.

Coincidentally, the first pint I ever drank here was of cask-conditioned Bass, though served via a handpump and not gravity fed, but it was still very good. I've also even seen cask-conditioned Worthington E here, which is very rare; I think Marston's now brew Bass for AB InBev, but that may well have changed with all that's happened! Ye Olde Dolphin Inne also sells a good variety of other regular and guest ales, which I've always found to be in good condition, including a 'house ale' (that I haven't tried, since it wasn't around at the time of my last visit), but which is brewed for them by Nottingham Brewery apparently, ie a 4.4% bitter called Dolphin 1530AD... but that may soon be old news, who knows? Anyway, if visiting Derby, which does have a great selection of good real ale pubs, Ye Olde Dolphin Inne should be on your list of visits.

The third choice is my current local, The Dolphin Inn (website), situated in Rock-a-Nore Road, opposite the fishermen's net huts and Stade, and at the southernmost point of Hastings 'Old Town'. The situation means you do get fishermen, and retired fishermen, frequenting this pub, a sign of the great continuity here. There are also a variety of other regular locals, and visitors to Hastings too, a true diversity of customers, male and female, young and old, professionals and labourers, I shan't go on, you'll get the point. It's a proper family-run pub, landlord and landlady, son and 2 daughters, and good regular staff, who may as well be family!

The Dolphin Inn supports local breweries from Sussex and Kent, with many local beers served regularly (5 out of 6 on my last visit, I seem to remember), having 3 regular ales, which were Dark Star Hophead, Harvey's Sussex Best and (non-local brewed in Bedford, not London anymore) Young's Special, also a 'changing' regular from the excellent Kent Brewery, plus seasonal regulars, eg Dark Star American Pale Ale and Harvey's Old Ale; usually, in 'normal' times 6 real ales are served by handpump. They are probably re-opening the balcony, with service at the benches, and weather permitting, but fewer ales available, though starting with the excellent Kent Prohibition, from the 12^th of April, ie Step Two/Three/whatever of the steps to freedom! I can only add that, like the other 2 Dolphins, definitely worth a visit if in Hastings, cheers!

One Year Ago Today!

On this date last year it was the last day we could drink ale in a pub in what were 'normal' times, before Britain was shut down from Saturday the 21st of March 2020; guess what my last drink at the Dolphin Inn (website) was? Unsurprisingly, from the excellent Kent Brewery (website), their so drinkable, ah memories, 4.9% Tropic Ale, a pale golden ale, with a big citrus and tropical fruit aroma and flavours, and a nice dry bitter finish, refreshing and pretty damn good... 

Tasty memory indeed, cheers! 😄

Happy St Patrick's Day!

 

Indeed, Happy St Patrick's Day! Although no green beer for me this year, and not for many people in this country I imagine, sadly... No, but I shall have a wee drop of Whiskey. 😉

Sláinte!

Missing Drinking in Pubs...

Missing drinking in pubs, even if like this! 😉 

Roll on reopening, again, cheers! 

Mallinson's Calypso delivered to my Door!

I recently wrote a blog about a couple of excellent ales I had delivered to me and enjoyed drinking immensely. Well, I couldn't resist the cask conditioned ale they provided this week either, from another excellent Yorkshire brewery, Mallinson's Brewing Company (website), and their 3.9% single hopped Calypso. Again, I was very pleased yesterday to receive a visit from the same jolly crew from The Jolly Fisherman (website) Alfred, Becky and Oliver, with respectful social distancing maintained at delivery, and it's always a pleasure to see this family; indeed, I'm looking forward to drinking at their micropub in the reasonably near future, fingers crossed...

The Calypso hop is another of my favourite hops bred and grown in the Yakima Valley in the US of A, and Mallinson's Calypso is a pale golden light refreshing ale, and so easy to drink. There is an amazingly complex fruity aroma and taste, with pears, apples, citrus and tropical fruits, and a wonderful dry bitter finish with grapefruit to the taste. It's pretty damn good, cheers!

And I can't get Suzanne Vega's Calypso (YouTube) out of my mind, which is not a bad thing. 👌

And a reminder, if you live in Hastings, or close by, and you want something delivered from The Jolly Fisherman; deliveries are made most afternoons/early evenings, with a new cask ale each week for the Friday delivery, plus they sell keg and bottled beers, ciders, wine, etc etc... Do have a look at their website for more details and to place an order.

If you don't live down here, check in your own locality for suppliers, or I provided ideas in an older blog; the links appear to work still. Good searching and drinking, and cheers! 👍

2 or 3 Steps to Pubs Reopening, or is it 3 or 4?

Well, it's now 2 (or 3) Government Steps to go before pubs will be allowed to serve beer to patrons in pub gardens, ie outside opening only, from no earlier than the 12th of April, and customers will be allowed to sit inside pubs in 3 (or 4) steps time, that is, no earlier than the 17th of May, when it will be pretty much like previously under Tier 1 last year.  That is, you will be able to drink in pubs, but only being served at table, and can only meet up with one other household, with up to a maximum of 6 people from those 2 households; and no food required, yay!

Back to normal? Well that will be Step 4/5 and no earlier than the 21st of June, but then things may all go pear-shaped well before then. My alter-ego goes into the 'Steps' quite nicely, in my opinion, 😉 and also explains the quandary regarding steps quite nicely too (blog).

Fingers crossed folks, and cheers, hopefully soon! 

Cask Conditioned Ales, Many Thanks & Cheers!

During the first 'lockdown' I wrote a blog about ale, cider and perry delivery initiatives in Hastings, and I wrote other blogs about elsewhere too. Well, I couldn't cope with just tins and bottles for what seems a lifetime, so recently I had delivered by the same jolly crew from The Jolly Fisherman (website) Alfred, Becky and Oliver (respectful social distancing maintained at delivery, of course), 4 litres of genuine cask conditioned ale, that is, 2 x 2 litres of two very different styles. 

The first cask ale, you will have gathered from the image immediately above, was a stout from the Bristol-based Arbor Ales (website), their vegan friendly 5.8% Midnight Blue, a rather luxurious delight! Amazingly easy to drink for such a full bodied and fairly strong stout. As you can see, it was very dark, with chocolate and coffee in the aroma and taste, and just a hint of liquorice, finishing off with a dry roasted bitterness. I wrote, "not bad at all!" which means I liked it rather a lot, I just wished I'd bought more than the 2 litres of it. 😉

The second ale, as you can see, was a much paler ale from Newcastle-based Wylam Brewery (website), their 4.2% Hickey the Rake 'Limonata Pale'. This was a very pale beer brewed with 2 of my favourite hops for such ales, Chinook and Mosaic, producing a big fruity aroma and taste. Of course it's citrus fruits, initially grapefruit with a hint of lemon, as I expected from the name and hops used, dry and bitter and very refreshing and so easy to drink; I wrote "very good!" in my notes. So there you go, very good indeed, and again, not enough bought!

If you live local to Hastings, and want something delivered from The Jolly Fisherman; deliveries are made most afternoons, usually with a new cask ale for the Friday delivery, plus they sell keg and bottled beers, ciders, wine, well, look at their website for more details and to place an order.

If you don't live down here, check in your own locality for suppliers, or I provided ideas in another blog; the links appear to work still. Good searching and drinking, and cheers! 👍

5,000 Years Old Brewery Disovered!

I wrote a couple of blogs ages ago about the early influence of the 'Beer Goddess' and women brewers (brewsters) on my favourite tipple. Indeed, in one blog, I suggested that beer was first brewed by the Somerians 4,000 years ago in what is now Southern Iraq, how wrong I appeared to be. Indeed, the site in the photograph above (Guardian), discovered by archaeologists in Abydos, Egypt, may be hundreds of years older! Artefacts consistent with brewing, notably large vessels and pottery basins, have been found there, and, apparently, some British archaeologists a hundred years ago believed a brewery to be in the area, but they couldn't find it...

Well it's been found now, so 5,000 years of brewing history, cheers!

87 MILLION Wasted Pints, it brings tears to my eyes...

Now I've seen the stats I'm even more depressed! The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) tells us that 87 MILLION pints of beer will have been thrown away, gone down the drain, however you want to put it, over the last year due to the COVID-19 Crisis. That's worth about £331 MILLION of lost revenue, which would normally pay for hundreds of thousands of jobs in the trade (website).

An example of how this effects individual pubs is explained by Garry Tennant, landlord of the Red Lion in Chobham, Surrey (website), who employs 16 staff and estimates his total losses "could total £130,000 by the time pubs reopen" (BBC).

The BBPA is calling for further help from the Government, reminding them of the huge amount of tax loss that results from pubs being closed, not just Income Tax and National Insurance for staff members, but Corporation Tax and VAT, and BEER DUTY. Emma McClarkin (BBPA Chief Executive) said that  "£1 in every £3 spent goes to the taxman because of excessively high beer duty. We pay 11 times more beer duty than Germany or Spain" (BBPA). The BBPA is asking the Government to support the industry, and to provide further grants if they force pubs to stay closed after March, and to extend the VAT cut and Business Rates holiday.

I've heard a rumour that pubs may reopen in May, fingers crossed it's no later. 

Good News! At last... and the Carlton Tavern

It is great that I can actually share good news in these COVID-19 Crisis times, and which I first wrote about regarding the Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale NW5 5EU, six years ago, with an update in 2019 (blog), about how developers had demolished the building without planning permission, and had been ordered to rebuild the public house by Westminster Council. Well, I spotted a further update in an article in the CAMRA February 2021 What's Brewing, which is supported by a recent online article on the Hampstead Highgate Express website, and many thanks to them for the image above too (slightly edited).

The good news is that it looks like the Carlton Tavern will be reopening soon, hopefully March/April, lockdown allowing, under the stewardship of Homegrown Pubs and 2 'local lads' (Tom Rees and Ben Martin) who have wide relevant experience in the trade. They're planning to use local sources, eg local breweries for their ales, and applications are in for licences etc. For more information go to the facebook page Rebuild The Carlton Tavern, nice one! ✌

Good luck to all involved, fingers crossed for you, and cheers!