Iron Pier Beer in Cans; A Chore to Sample!

OK, not really a chore, more like a 'calling' 😉 but I had these 3 cans of beers from Iron Pier Brewery in Kent (website) to report back on. Silly me, I forgot to take photographs with them in a glass or three, but sensible enough to keep the empty cans (photograph above).😏

Even though I have no images of these beers in a glass to share, I do have fond memories of drinking a couple of dark 'barrel aged' ales from Iron Pier Brewery in the past, up at The Tower pub above St Leonards in Bohemia, for example this 9.0% Speyside Whisky barrel aged Imperial Stout (blog), which was absolutely gorgeous, cheers Louisa!😁

But back to the cans, and a wee bit less luxurious stout, their Cast Iron Stout (4.7%), based on a Victorian recipe, and brewed with 7 different malts. The roasted malts producing chocolate and hints of coffee in the taste, slightly sweet to start with, but with a dry finish. The colour is very dark and the beer opaque, but to me this was what a stout should be like, plenty of body, smooth and warm, with roasted malt taste, very nice; see this blog explaining my thoughts on stout.👌

Second, their Rosherville Red (4.8%), a "hoppy red rye" ale brewed with Citra, Ekuanot, Bullion and Mosaic hops, and malted barley, wheat and rye. This is like a 'souped up' red APA, but with a more packed fruitiness including, not just grapefruit and citrus, but forest fruits and dark red fruits too, no doubt heavily influenced by the Bullion hops! A big fruity aroma and taste, with the red fruits dominating at the end, indeed, not bad at all.👍

And, knowing my preferences in taste, I was looking forward to the pale hoppy one, their 4.2% Session IPA, brewed with Citra, Denali (Sultana), Columbus and Amarillo hops, producing what you would expect... An abundance of citrus and forest fruits in the aroma and taste, an American style IPA, indeed, an APA, with a dry fruity finish too, again, not bad at all, cheers! 👍

For more information about hops, see the hopslist website.

Not to mention Cask Conditioned Ale, cheers!

I recently posted a blog about ale, cider and perry delivery initiatives around Britain, and elsewhere a blog about similar but specifically closer to where I live in Hastings. Indeed, last Friday I had delivered by the jolly crew of The Jolly Fisherman (website) Alfred, Becky and Oliver (respectful social distancing), 2 litres of genuine cask conditioned ale, a luxury indeed!

The cask ale, you will have gathered from the image immediately above, was the Kent-based Iron Pier (website) 3.9% Long Ferry, described as an 'easy-drinking dry-hopped golden ale' which I shall disagree with a smidgeon...  It is certainly 'easy-drinking' cannot argue with that, very drinkable indeed, however, it was a wee bit darker than one would expect from the description, I'd written down pale copper colour, and for a style of ale I noted it as tasting like a "very good traditional best bitter, light and refreshing!" Anyway, much enjoyed...

Oh yes, and also delivered were 2 litres of a genuine real Perry, from Bartestree Cider Co (website), their 7.0% Taynton Squash, made from a specialized single Perry Pear, believe it or not, the Taynton Squash. 😉 Apparently (see, I do undertake a wee bit of research other than just drinking beers, ciders and perries), a highly rated Perry Pear going back to the 17th century, so drinking a real bit of history too. So, what was it like?

Well, I'm not a great expert on ciders and perries, but I know what I like, and I've drunk some rough stuff in my time, particularly when I lived down in Devon and sourced from local farms, or went to the Cider Bar in Newton Abbot, which is a great experience, please do read the blog regarding this award winning bar! What was it like, get on with it Steve!?! (Too much time alone in this 'lockdown' is encouraging me to talk to myself 😮) Well, I've ordered another 2 litres to be delivered this week, which lets on that I liked it, but then I do tend to prefer perries to ciders, not always though, but they tend to be more dry and bitter, like the ales I tend to drink. Yes, it's dry and bitter/sour, with that more subtle pear flavour that you get rather than the more robust flavours of apples in cider, very more-ish, cheers!

And cask ales being delivered from The Jolly Fisherman this week are local, from Gun Brewery (website) Project Babylon, a 4.6% APA that is vegan friendly, and from Pig & Porter (website) a 4.0% Blackbird Stout which I would imagine is also vegan friendly, knowing their beers, and a stout. You can guess what I've already ordered, or just wait until I write about it/them... If you live down here in Hastings, go to the website to order for this Friday delivery, and they provide keg beers, bottled beers and ciders, wine, well, look at their website for more detail.

If you don't live down here, check in your own locality for suppliers, or I provide some ideas in a recent blog, anyway, good searching and drinking, and cheers!

This is International Stout Day!

OK, I announced the other day that today is International Stout Day 2019, so I had to go and find somewhere selling a stout, or hopefully two, and I was really praying for an Iron Pier stout/porter (website) special, but no luck there... However, I walked up to The Tower in London Road (facebook) and drank, before drinking 2 excellent strong pale bitters (that will come out soon in another blog), a very nice dark bitter, virtually a dark mild/bitter, and a milk stout. 

You can guess the milk stout, but before that I drank, from North Yorkshire, Great Heck (website) Dave, a 3.8% deep dark red bitter/mild (oxymoron maybe, but drink it and you'll know what I mean!), roasted barley in the taste, hint of liquorice, so much flavour for such a session ale, virtually a weak stout, with a dry bitter finish, and very good indeed! 

Then it was the Sussex brewery Gun (website) Milk Stout (4.1%), which does what it says on the label, vanilla milky, hint of chocolate and coffee, so very smooth, and so easy to drink! What more can I say, but cheers... Happy International Stout Day! 😀