Favourite Ales of the Crisis, so far!

By now regular readers will be aware that my favourite ales are very much like me, pale, dry and very bitter, but in other years I would include some darker ales in a blog such as this, because I do enjoy a good porter or stout. Since March 2020, it hasn't been so easy, first, months without ales as many pubs were shut for much of the year, and when open, limited, often by supply, plus my regular local was selling Harvey's Old Ale under Tier 2, which I find too sweet for my taste, sorry. So this blog is about wonderful pale 'APA' style bitters mostly, many from Kent Brewery (website), as close by where I live, and regularly sold at my local, when open, including...

Two of my favourite ales from Kent, their Tropic Ale (4.9%) and Prohibition (4.8%) were particularly enjoyed, and if I could only ever have 1 ale if marooned on a desert island, I would be happy with either but, if given a choice, I would say the Prohibition edges it, just. And at the end of the first 'lockdown' in July, this was the first ale I drank in a pub and, as I said in the relevant blog, it was GORGEOUS! A variety of hops from the USA make this very much an American Pale Ale (APA) and gives it a big citrus fruity nose and taste, particularly grapefruit flavour, but such a pleasant refreshing pale bitter with a dry and bitter finish, quality.

Their Tropic Ale is also a dry bitter ale, but with a difference, whereas the Prohibition has a predominantly citrus flavour, the Tropic Ale also has tropical fruit flavours to add to the citrus, making it a wee bit more complex. Tropic Ale has a very nice dry bitter finish too, also refreshing, and gives Prohibition a run for its money. Both are very easy to drink, and because of their strength alcohol-wise, easy to get merry by, if only one of them had been available to me over Christmas... 😉 Further down I will discuss quite a few other excellent Kent ales too.

Also from Kent, Angels & Demons (website), who I'm guessing aren't brewing, for now anyway, as their facebook page is unavailable. Anyway, I had a newer ale from them, another great brewer that likes to use plenty of hops, their Evil Thieves (5.1%). Billed as an IPA, really another APA, although you never know these days, American hops are now being cultivated in Britain too, but I'm guessing hops from the USA were used for this ale. A big citrus aroma, and tropical and citrus fruit in the flavour, a pale golden bitter, very nice indeed. I just hope they get brewing again when the COVID-19 Crisis is under control, fingers crossed. I would miss their wonderful I Spy Dragon Fly and A.D.H.ME, and particularly miss Goldilocks is Dead... 😢 

Also from close to me down here in East Sussex, Gun Brewery (website) who brew mostly 'vegan' beers, and many gluten-free beers too, and I did enjoy their rather tasty strong-ish Zamzama (6.5%) back in July during my second pub visit post-lockdown (blog). A 'Vegan IPA'  although more like an APA again, I'm pretty sure hops from the USA used, a big fruity aroma, plenty of body and flavour, with citrus and tropical fruits, very drinkable, very nice!

The only pub I visited away from home in a year now was in August (blog), so you can see my predicament trying to write about different ales from around the country. On that visit to London I very much was brought back to life by drinking a couple of lovely, refreshing, if expensive, pints of St Austell Proper Job (4.5%) after walking for an hour in 37 degrees! Pale golden colour, citrus fruit, dry, bitter and very refreshing, just what the resus doctor ordered, phew... 😷 

St Austell Brewery has been much remembered over the past year, not just for being the only local brewery surviving from when I lived in Cornwall back in the early 1990s, but particularly because of the sad death of the brewer who rejuvenated the brewery after I moved away, Roger Ryman (blog), and the appointment of Georgina Young as his replacement (blog). Also, the lockdowns have meant that their local representative to us has not been able to visit in December, when she was bringing a very nice Proper Job polo shirt for me, missing you Linda!

From further afield, from way up int' North, in Huddersfield, I had 3 excellent ales brewed by Mallinsons Brewing Company (website), though imbibed down here in Hastings. Tropical Blonde (4.3%) does what it says on the label, it really tastes like 'sunshine in a glass' - well, sort of 😉 Brewed with Calypso, Citra and Nelson Sauvin hops that produce citrus and tropical fruit flavours, and with mango and pineapple in a big fruity aroma. A very easy drinking, pale dry bitter, I did like this, but then, Mallinsons is another excellent brewery.

Also, I had their single hopped Amarillo (4.2%), yes, brewed with Amarillo hops from the USA, unsurprisingly, but surprisingly with a bitter orange in the flavour! A very dry bitter finish, and I definitely liked this, but it is a hop I do enjoy. And Shift (4.3%), what can I say? Brewed with Ekuanot and Centennial hops that produce peach, citrus and tropical fruit flavours, and Mandarina Bavaria hops, a reasonably new variant bred in Germany, released in 2012, and a 'daughter' of the Cascade hop, and which adds a tangerine flavour to the mix! Refreshing and very easy to drink, with a nice dry bitter finish, as I said, another excellent brewery.

Anyway, Mallinsons hasn't been the only Yorkshire brewery whose ales I have enjoyed since the first lockdown, for example, Ilkley Brewery (website) and their 4.2% Pale or All Day Pale. This is a nice refreshing pale bitter, as you'd expect, brewed using Nelson Sauvin, Chinook, Centennial and Hallertau Blanc hops, including dry hopping, and which provide plenty of fruity aroma and flavours, and a lovely dry bitter finish... I liked it! 

Sadly, no Kelham Island of Sheffield ales in 2020, hopefully that will change in 2021, but other excellent Yorkshire ales did get down here, including two 4.3% lovelies from the always reliable Rooster's Brewing Company (website), Cogburn and Union Gap. The Cogburn is an ale I've drunk many times over the years, regularly when I was living in Yorkshire, and the name is a homage to the character played by the actor John Wayne in a couple of films. It is pale and dry, with a subtle citrus fruity aroma and flavour, nice one. 

The Union Gap I recorded as even better! Presumably named after the 1960s band that brought out a single that would be very questionable nowadays, labeled a 'West Coast Pale Ale' and appropriately brewed with Chinook, Cascade, Centennial and Simcoe hops. With these hops you unsurprisingly get a mixture of citrus flavours and aroma, tangerine and lemon particularly. Refreshing, pale dry and bitter, yes it hit the spot, thank you very much!

Coming further down the country, we reach Peterborough and I shall mention 3 of the ales from one of my very favourite brewers, the excellent Oakham Ales (website), including their single-hopped 4.2% 'Session IPA' Citra. Their Citra is, as you would expect from that hop, zesty and with a hint of citrus in the aroma and taste, very pale, and a great dry bitter finish. Another ale I love and could include in my luxury ale on my desert island, along with a cooling system. 😉

The other 2 Oakham ales I particularly enjoyed were the Citra on steroids Green Devil IPA (6.0%), plenty of body, pale, dry and bitter. Also a single-hopped ale with Citra hops, but less subtle, packing a punch with grapefruit and tropical fruit flavours, which could replace the Citra Session IPA on my desert island, and I wouldn't need as much of it! Oh yes, and Bishops Farewell (4.6%), a smoother golden ale brewed with Cascade and Challenger hops, plenty of body and subtle citrus and tropical fruitiness, dry and bitter, also excellent, as are all the wonderful ales in the Oakham range, and I've never had a bad seasonal beer from them either!

I managed to get in this excellent 'green-hopped' ale before Tiers 3 and 4 kicked in, just, not to mention Lockdown Mark 3! This one, Dark Star (website) Green Hopped IPA, a very decent annual arrival for my hopmonster palate, and with a full bodied experience, as you would expect from this 6.5% pale bitter. If you aren't aware, green-hopped ales are brewed using fresh hops, ideally picked on the day and thus seasonal, and this brew used Warrior, Simcoe and Ernest hops. The end result was an amber, subtle fruity bitter with a dry finish, and very good indeed!

I've already mentioned the excellent Kent Brewery above (website), a brewery that competes very well with Oakham Ales and their pale bitter beers, honest, I never thought I'd be that lucky to have another reasonably local brewer so good, and we have some other very fine brewers down here in Kent and East Sussex to compete with them too! But, comparable with their Prohibition and Tropic Ale described above, I'll specifically mention the Brewers Reserve (5.0%). This has a big fruity citrus aroma and taste, with a dry bitter finish, quality!

Quite frankly, I could sing my praises of many of their ales, but will just mention here a few more that I have specifically enjoyed during these upsetting 10 months, and I could add even more, but want to publish this blog today! So, other Kent Brewery ales that helped me cope with the COVID-19 crisis include Mayflower 400 (4.2%, and brewed to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the departure of the Mayflower to the New World), the two 4.5% single hopped ales Citra and Mandarina, and the 4.2% 'session APA' The Quiet American, after recent antics in the USA, surely an oxymoron, but a very easy drinking beer indeed... 😉

Well, I hope this was a reasonably fun read, and here's to the reopening of public houses this year, hopefully sooner rather than later, cheers m'dears! 🍻