Cask Ale Week AND Oktoberfest Together!

Indeed, both on now-ish! National Cask Ale Week 18-28 September 2025 (website) is a time to celebrate drinking cask ales in pubs, so essentially very British, as cask ale is lauded as our national drink. I'll have to drink a few pints of ale this coming week then... 😉 

 Oktoberfest

And the 190th Oktoberfest begins tomorrow (20th September - October the 5th 2025), and the beer halls of Munchen will be brimming with beers and unfeasibly full litre steins (website), but!

A pub very close to where I live starts its own Oktoberfest celebrations TODAY! At the Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street, Hastings TN34 1SS, the festival will run from today to the 28th of September 2025 (facebook). I wrote about the Prince Albert Oktoberfest 2024 in this blog last year, when some pretty impressive Bavarian beers were imbibed by me, including Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Bier (6.0%) and Hofbrau Munchen Oktoberfestbier (6.3%), and some very decent German style food was eaten too! What do I do, choices!?! 😏

Whatever you do, have a great weekend and coming week, cheers folks! 🍺

Comparative Analysis of an Imperial Stout and a Pilsner!

OK, I'm being unfair saying this is a 'comparative analysis' because the beers in question are so different in styles, and despite the fact that one of the collaborators in this Imperial Stout, Gravity Well, does mostly brew paler beers, and even dry hopped pilsners! But, it's because I'd been given the opportunity to try the pilsner below (in can and from the keg gratis, many thanks to Mark and Mo of the Dolphin Inn, Hastings), and last night I just had to try the seriously stronger stout at the Jolly Fisherman in Hastings, cheers Oliver! 👍

So, to this collaboration between Gravity Well Brewing (website) and the Low Key Barrel Project (facebook), the 10.2% You Are Here Imperial Stout, described as Chocolate, Coconut, Tonka and Vanilla Brownie! Before you ask, Tonka isn't a metal toy, but a bean/spice with a vanilla flavour and hints of almond, marzipan, cinnamon and cloves (Spice Mountain). I'd only recently looked this up relating to another beer, but it does what it says on the label, rich, smooth and luxurious, and dangerously strong, yummy! 😁

And the unfair comparison is with Harvey's Brewery (website) 4.0% Pilsner, see, I said it isn't fair. 😂 They describe this as 'Prussian hopped' with Lubelski hops grown in Poland; also known as Lubelska, this is a hop variety originally developed from Saaz hops (hopslist) in the Czech Republic, it is now a 'mainstay of Polish breweries' (hopslist). Again, quite a session beer, and I'm not really a lager drinker, but I did enjoy the stronger beers I drank during the Hastings Oktoberfest at the Prince Albert last year (blog), but I was surprised as it's quite drinkable, despite the lack of strength. 😉 Indeed, quite crisp, dry and slightly bitter, and refreshing with a hint of citrus and cinnamon in the aroma and taste, not bad, cheers! 🍺

Oktoberfest in Hastings!

Oktoberfest at The Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street, Hastings TN34 1SS (website), comes early each year at this genuine free house, which I believe has a relationship with the London brewery Anspach & Hobday (website). I'd been meaning to check up on when its Oktoberfest was being held, as I remembered from last year I just got in at the end (last day), which I did again this year! But they do have quite a busy period coming up... 🍺🎉🍻

I started off with the cask ale, brewed by Anspach & Hobday (website), their 4.3% session IPA Wunderbar, brewed in collaboration with German Kraft Brewery (website). German hops are used in abundance, Callista (BarthHaas), Hersbrucker (hopslist), and Huell Melon (hopslist), producing a cornucopia of fruit taste and aroma, notably, melon, dark berries, forest and citrus fruits. The beer was slightly cloudy and, yes, packed full of fruity flavours indeed, with a dry bitter finish, and I thought a wee bit different, and not bad at all! 🍺

I then started on the lagers, first from Edinburgh brewery Newbarns (website), who the pub featured during Hastings Tap Takeover last year (blog). I drank their 5.6% Festival Bier (5.7% last year) brewed using a blend of 10 different malted barleys, producing a German style golden lager. It was slightly bitter, with plenty of flavour, and very easy to drink for its strength! 😁

I then moved on to the real thing 😉 from Bavarian brewery Hacker-Pschorr (website), their special seasonal 6.0% Oktoberfest Bier, brewed with Alpine Spring Water and 'noble' Hallertau hops (hopslist), and brewed in March specifically to mature for Oktoberfest. This was a slightly darker amber colour, a subtle maltiness with a clean finish; my notes say 'folks will realise I'm not a lager drinker, but this is pretty damn good!" Which says it all really, nice one. 👍

Then, from another Bavarian brewery Hofbrau Munchen (website) and their 6.3% Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier, another festival 'special' beer brewed with Herkules (hopslist), Perle (hopslist), and Spalter Select (Hop Alliance) hops. This is a pale golden colour with a subtle sweetness and hints of grapefruit and dried fruits to the taste, very refreshing, and 6.3% (!) so dangerous to drink. My notes say "so much better than the commercial lagers brewed over here." So obviously true, no comparison, I could (shouldn't) drink this all day, cheers. 🍻

I finished off with another Bavarian brew from Flotzinger Brau (website) and their 5.8% Wies'n-Marzen, brewed specifically for the Rosenheim Autumn Festival, not Munchen Oktoberfest like the previous 2 😉 but available all year round. Brewed with Hallertau (hopslist) and Tettnanger (hopslist) hops, and I'll just repeat my notes: "I could get addicted to proper European beers brewed in their own country, pale, drinkable, in fact tasty! Nice one 👍"

Oktoberfest done for another year, cheers folks! 😁