2 Pale Beers + 3 Very Different!

The 2 very decent pale ales I have drunk recently are, unsurprisingly, both from Kent Brewery (website). Their single-hopped Centennial (4.5%) is described as 'citrusy, lemon and floral' although I noted grapefruit rather than lemon. The Centennial hop was developed in the 1970s from Brewer's Gold, Fuggle, East Kent Golding and Bavarian hops (hopslist), and described as "earthy and floral with an element of citrus." It's a lovely pale golden colour, and I got grapefruit rather than lemon, but hey, they're both citrus! Oh yes, and a lovely dry bitter finish.

By the way, I had both of the Kent beers at The Dolphin Inn, 11-12 Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings TN34 3DW (website). The second one was Kent Maia (5.0%), basically an APA as well, labelled a 'springtime IPA' and packed with hops, but I haven't been able to discover which hops yet, although certainly from the USA. Anyway, it's seasonal and named after Maia (pronounced the same as Maya), one of the Pleiades, and the mother of Hermes in Greek mythology, and you can easily guess Zeus was the other parent, as he certainly was the Johnson of his day. 😉 Indeed, it is believed that the month of May was named after Maia. Again, pale golden colour, I noticed citrus, and with a dry bitter finish, just as I like, excellent ale indeed!

Where I had the 'very different' drinks yesterday was at The Jolly Fisherman, 3 East Beach Street, Hastings TN34 3AR (website). I'll first mention my final drink of the visit, and cheers to Oliver, the landlord, for this delight from a collaboration between Sussex based breweries Burning Sky (website) and Abyss (website). Dark to the Core is a 9.5% Imperial Stout and comes from dark chocolate malts and Munich, Marris Otter and Cara malts, and with Chinook hops in the boil. Chinook is a cross between Petham Golding and a USDA male, and features pine spicy aroma and grapefruit flavour, and is regularly used for porters and stouts (hopslist). Does what it says on the tin, delightful!

Then the 2 extra-different drinks, first, another collaboration, this time from Sheffield based Steel City Brewing (facebook) and Lost Industry Brewing (facebook), and Sofia based Alchemik, although James was originally from Manchester (website). Imperial Yellowcake is a 8.5% Sour, with lemon zest and vanilla in the brew to produce a lemon meringue cheesecake 'sour' and certainly not too sweet and not too sour for me, strangely delightful too, cheers to Dave Unpronounceable and his collaborators! 👍

Finally, not a beer, but a mead from Belgium, De Meaderie (website), Experimead #15, 15.0% whisky barrel aged for 17 months, with maple syrup, I told you it was different! Look at it above, crystal clear and pale, which surprised me, and nowhere near as sweet as I thought it would be, in fact, incredibly light and easy to drink considering. If you see it anywhere, drink it, well worth it, believe me, and cheers to Oliver as well for providing beers you don't see very often!