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.
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! 👍
