I'm on the go now, Peterborough and Rye Again...

I have been travelling elsewhere too as the pandemic appears to be easing, and will soon (honest!), be writing about old haunts in particular, but on Saturday I revisited Peterborough, with a new pub added to those I mentioned in a blog last year. Indeed, my 'new' pub is the reigning local CAMRA Pub of the Year, the Ostrich Inn, 17 North Street PE1 2RA  (website). This pub first opened nearly 200 years ago, and maintains great character, serving up 5 real ales and a real cider from handpumps. Now I only found this great pub because, fortuitously, I again bumped into the brothers/son/nephew, Steve, Tony and Mark, although I had expected to meet up with them at Bumbles later, as we'd arranged. 😀

I drank 2 of the ales, first, from Zest Brewery of Grantham (website), their 5.5% Blond Volupta, their website says 5.0%, but I noted that the pump clip stated 5.5... Anyway, described as a "zesty tropical blond" which I found very easy drinking, with a slightly dry finish, not bad. But here I preferred, from the much more local Nene Valley Brewery (website), their 4.4% Release the Chimps, brewed with hops I do like a lot, including Magnum, Ella, Topaz, Simcoe, Ahtanum and Ekuanot, now there is a flavoursome mixture, and including late dry hopping!  It's a pale golden bitter with a dry fruity aftertaste, very decent indeed.

We then wandered round the corner to the Bumble Inn (Bumbles) at 46 Westgate PE1 1RE (website and mentioned in my blog last year), where I sampled the local Rockingham Ales (couldn't find a website, sorry) Dave's Not Here (4.3%), an American Pale Ale. Thus hops from across the Atlantic producing a pale fruity bitter with a dry finish. liked it, just a shame I couldn't find out more, though CAMRA's Good Beer Guide suggests they've been brewing for some time!

And a visit to Peterborough wouldn't be complete without a visit to Oakham Ales' (website) The Brewery Tap, (website and also mentioned in my earlier blog, as was their Charters Bar, though this, sadly, was very packed Saturday!), 80 Westgate PE1 2AA. Anyway, they always seem to have an ale on at £3.00 a pint, and on Saturday this was the excellent Inferno (4.0%), packed with hops from across the Atlantic, Sterling, Amarillo, Centennial, Cascade and Chinook, no wonder I love Oakham's ales! With a light golden colour, tropical and citrus flavours and aroma, and a light dry bitter finish, another great ale from Oakham Ales, and just £3 a pint, cheers! 👍

I also revisited Rye on Thursday, and the Rye Waterworks micropub of course, but seem to have lost my notes! As I have written about this excellent and very friendly establishment recently, I shall refer you to that blog, if you haven't already read it, otherwise it was again good to see David, Ulla, Eddie and Lotte, all serving up great ales and ciders, and an enormous Scotch Egg to me, many thanks! I also met a couple who know my mate Mark, from his parish...

I didn't drink anything I haven't drunk and mentioned before, I think, cheers!

And some details of, and history of the Waterworks, can be read at this older blog.

And, as I mention Peterborough Cathedral in my alter ego's blog, which I visited for the first time on Saturday, I'll mention the Parish Church of St Mary, Rye, in that blog too.

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!