Happy Belgium National Day!

The 21st of July is 'National Day' in Belgium, the anniversary of the swearing in of King Leopold I, the first recognised King of Belgium nearly 200 years ago, in 1831, following the revolution the previous year against the last of many empires encompassing Belgians over hundreds of years, the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Therefore, much celebration will be had in Belgium today as it is a public holiday, nowhere more so than in Brussels (The Brussels Times). 

Sadly I cannot make it to Belgium today, although I will be making another visit in the not too distant future, consequently today I had to go shopping for Belgian beer, and this (above) is what I returned from the shops with. I had to go shopping because the first two places I would have gone to for Belgian beers in Hastings would have been the Eel & Bear (blog) and The Jolly Fisherman (blog), who both sell an impressive array of bottled beers. Sadly, both are also closed on Mondays, so woe is me, I was unprepared... 😣

BUT, next year will be different, no doubt, as Belgium National Day falls on a Tuesday! 😁

Anyway, I bought 4 bottles of an Abbey style beer this year, brewed by Leffe (website), where brewing has been ongoing only since 1240 😉 and that is their 6.0% Blonde. Sadly, not as potent as the 6.6% Leffe Blonde we drank back in September (blog), but my brother Dan had brought those back with him from Brussels, we get weaker stuff served up in Britain. 😒 This is pretty much a 'go to' beer for Dan as it's very dependable. Even though a wee bit less body and strength than the Belgians enjoy, there are still hints of caramel and spices in the aroma and taste, particularly cloves, a very gentle bitterness, and a slightly dry finish, nice one.👍

So, Happy Belgium National Day! Cheers 🍻

Hastings Tap Takeover 11-13 October 2019

This weekend, to help kick off Hastings Week (website), 12 venues in Hastings, from The Dolphin Inn in the East to The Tower in the West, will be holding 'tap takeovers' (Hastings Tap Takeover facebook page). That means each venue will be celebrating 'exceptional independent breweries' from near and far, not necessarily just cask conditioned ales, but crafty kegs too! 

Venues and breweries involved:

• The Dolphin Inn (facebook) - Kent Brewery (website)
• The Crown (website) - Burning Sky (website)
• The Jenny Lind (website) - One Mile End (website)
• The Jolly Fisherman (website) - Wylam (website)
• The Albion (website) - Harveys (website)
• The Imperial (website) - Cloudwater (website)
• The Drift In (facebook) - Good Things (website)
• Eel & Bear (website) - Pressure Drop (website)
• The Pig's Palace (facebook) - Battle (website)
• The St Leonard (website) - Franklins (website)
• Farmyard (website)  -  Three Legs (website)
• The Tower (facebook) - Downlands (website)

Sour Beers, well I do seem to like some of them!

There's been quite a bit written about 'sour' beers in the CAMRA press recently, an article in the August edition of What's Brewing discusses Belgian beers, reminding me of my visits to my brother over the 15 years he lived in Brussels, and our visits to Cantillon Brewery (website) in Anderlecht. Luc De Raedermaeker's article looks at the different styles in Belgium, and specific for this blog are the Lambics and Gueuzes, which are spontaneously fermented ales (with local wild yeasts) from around the Brussels area that he describes as complex, sour and acidic.

I was never a great lover of these sour beers beforehand, but our wandering around the brewery, and tasting beers in the brewery, changed my mind quite a bit. Indeed the Cantillon Vigneronne (6%) I found to be like a rather fine dry white wine, perfect with fish dishes or just supping as a refreshing ale. The Vigneronne is one of Cantillon's rarer ales (less than 5% of the brewery's total production), and is a blend of lambics aged 16-18 months old, with Italian Muscat grapes added. If you ever see it, and it comes in 750ml bottles, I'd recommend buying some!

Chorlton Mango Sour

In Britain now though, with the recent trendy move among many smaller brewers to brew crafty keg beers, they not only appear to have been influenced by the big hopped craft beers produced in the USA, but also by the Saisons, Lambics and Gueuzes brewed in Belgium. There's a very interesting article in CAMRA's Autumn 2018 Beer magazine, written by Adrian Tierney-Jones called 'Supping on a sour beer style' which explains the different ways of brewing 'sour' beers. These are either by adding lactobacillus (the bacteria found in yoghurt) to the wort in the kettle, or by using wild yeast and ageing in barrels after fermentation, just like the Belgian brewers. I've even seen brewers adding salt, though that shouldn't be great for drinkers with hypertension!

Anyway, now I have a craft beer shop around the corner, the Eel & Bear (blog) I have been sampling some of these sour beers brewed in Britain. The first that I appreciated was from Manchester brewer, Chorlton Brewing Company (website), and their Mango Sour (4.5%), brewed with pale malt, mango extract, and Bramling Cross hops, I believe. This was draught, and packed a big fruity mango aroma and flavour with a hint of biscuit from the malt. Slightly hazy with plenty of body and a dry tart finish, a bit like an alcoholic smoothie, and not bad at all!

Next I had a "Gooseberry Gose" (apparently Gose is a German sour beer style) from Huddersfield brewer, Magic Rock Brewing (website), their 4.1% Salty Kiss, which is brewed with lager malt as well as extra pale malt, Cascade hops, gooseberries, sea buckthorn, and, you've guessed, sea salt! I couldn't quite work out the aroma, I wrote "a bit strange & sea-like", the flavour was gooseberry fruity and salty, with a dry sour bitter finish, and it's oddly refreshing!

I've also enjoyed a bit more colourful sour beer from Aberdeen brewer, Fierce Beer (website) and their 4.5% Very Berry, a "Sour Berry Ale." These tend to include wheat malt in the mash, so wheat malt as well, plus Chinook hops. Cloudy, of course, with a deep red colour and a big fruity aroma and flavour, raspberry, blackberry and blackcurrant, and a dry tart finish, very nice!

I've left what I consider the best to last, a collaboration between Buxton Brewery (website) and Norwegian brewer Lervig Aktebryggeri (website), that is, Trolltunga! This 6.3% 'Gooseberry Sour IPA' is named after a jutting rock in Norway (guess the translation!), 700 metres over lake Ringedalsvatnet. Trolltunga is a pale golden colour and has a subtle aroma, tasty gooseberry in the flavour, and a nice sour bitter finish. Like the Cantillon Vigneronne mentioned above, I wrote "would go well with fish!" I certainly like it, and have gone back for more, more than once. The photograph below is the draught version, which looks cloudier than from the bottle, however, I did pour it carefully for the photograph above, and there was still lees in the bottom of the bottle.

Trolltunga

Whichever, draught or from the bottle, with little lees or very hazy, I enjoyed the Trolltunga very much, and I will carry on drinking it every now and then, no doubt, cheers!

Now I've Tasted Britain's First Trappist Beer!

I've written about this new addition to the wealth of beers available in Britain very recently (labelled as an "English Trappist Ale" though I know of no other trappist beer brewed anywhere else in Britain - see blog), and now I've tasted it. As you can see from the photograph I poured out a bottle at home. Brewed by Cistercian monks at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire (website), Tynt Meadow is a mighty 7.4% trappist ale...

A deep dark ruby red/mahogany colour and big gorgeous fruity aroma and flavour means that this isn't my typical tipple, but I swiftly went back to buy more, to 'lay down' and to share with friends, it's that good. Not the citrus fruits I normally enjoy, but rich darker fruits, with a touch of chocolate and malt in the taste, plenty of body and smooth to drink, though a wee bit sweet, my notes say "good stuff!" Interestingly, Tynt Meadow is bottled conditioned, consequently it has a long shelf life, so store in a cool place, drink quite chilled, and be careful when pouring the ale out, unless you enjoy the addition of yeast particles from the lees, cheers!

I'll have a few of those, many thanks!

Where did I purchase my Tynt Meadow? Luckily for me, just around the corner is the Eel & Bear, 28 Waldegrave Street, Hastings TN34 1SJ (facebook), who brought some in, but it's available online, if you lack a similar craft beer seller in your area; Google lists a few suppliers.

Eel & Bear, Hastings

 

OK, this isn't about real ale, sorry, but I recently visited the Eel & Bear, which opened a couple of weeks ago in Hastings at 28 Waldegrave Street TN34 1SJ  (01424 602055 - facebook), and a mighty fine find too, and very close by the town centre. Consequently I had to pop in and admire their many varied beers from local breweries (some I'd never heard of before) and many from further afield, and I've been back since too! Opens, for now, Tuesday-Friday 12-9pm; Saturday 12-10pm; Sunday 12-7pm.

So, what is this place? Well, they sell a decent old range of beers as 'off sales' here (bottles and cans, and they can provide the draught craft beers available in containers too), but it is also a bar, with 3 crafty kegs on draught, it is run by a friendly young couple who moved in very recently, and it is well worth the visit, unless you don't like craft beers, of course! It's quite small a small establishment, used to be a newsagents, a bit like a 'micropub' crossed with an off licence, and, well, I enjoyed myself...

I tried 2 of the draught crafty kegs, from Brighton, Cloak & Dagger (website) Komodo Bozo (4.2%), a fruity bitter beer, heavily hopped with Mosaic, very nice, and from Abyss Brewing of Lewes (twitter), a rather fuller and hazy beer, but similar in taste, their 6.2% Hank Marvin.

A convivial time was spent here. indeed, and an old friend, Larry, turned up whilst I was there the first time, cheers!