Hastings 'Tap Takeover' Day 1

On the first day of the Hastings Tap Takeover 2023 (website), which was part of the opening weekend of Hastings Week 2023 (blog), I visited the Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street TN34 1SS. However, the 'festival' was held in 16 different venues in Hastings & St Leonards, with a different brewery featured at each venue, subsequently, on the final day, I visited the Jolly Fisherman, 3 East Beach Street TN34 3AR. I was elsewhere in-between, so did not make all venues, just the two, but I know people who did go to all; I prefer one at a time for thorough research. 😉 Consequently, my next blog will be about my visit to the Jolly Fisherman.

Indeed, at the Prince Albert they featured ales and lagers from Edinburgh brewery Newbarns (website), with 3 cask conditioned ales (above), 2 of which they had keg versions of, and another 8 keg beers too, taking up all their taps! I started with their cask ales, with the friendly and knowledgeable Imogen pouring a pint of Newbarns Sparkling Ale for me, a 3.8% pale ale, doing what it says on the label, though not actually sparkling. A refreshing, easy to drink, session pale, slightly sweet to start off with, but drying out at the finish.

I then moved up to the 4.8% Pale Ale, which was more complex and had much more body, and a big fruity aroma and taste, which I believe comes from the use of Citra, El Dorado and Cashmere hops. No wonder there was a predominantly tropical fruit flavour overlaying the citrus fruits, before the ale drying out with bitterness...

My third cask ale was the 5.5% Kynoch IPA, named after the brewer's grandfather, and brewed using Citra and Cashmere hops too. As you would expect, even more body, but not the same fruit 'punch' as the Pale. Surprisingly, despite it being a very pale beer, I detected a hint of toast in the taste, certainly a much more complex ale.

Before moving on to the lager beers I drank, yes, I do drink lager sometimes, notably at beer festivals like this one, I shall mention their Stout Beer, a 5.0% very dark 'dry stout' with plenty of body. Rich, full-bodied, hints of toast (as I expect in a stout), caramel and chocolate, and strangely it was quite light for such a full bodied beer! Oh yes, and for the keg beers I was now drinking two-thirds of a pint, in case you were concerned. 😉

Lagers then, of which I drank 3, first their 4.8% Haná, a German styled Helles lager (craftbeer), brewed with a Czech malt variety grown in Norwich. A pale lager, slightly sweet to taste, quite light with little hop character, easy drinking.

Then I drank their 5.0% 12 Plato Pils, similar to the previous beer, with the Czech malt variety used, indeed, apparently inspired by a trip to Bohemia, and a Czech style pilsner. However, the additional use of plenty of Tettnang and Saaz hops providing a much more complicated beer, which I found very pleasant. A light and refreshing lager that I did enjoy drinking!

The third lager I drank was their 5.7% Oktoberfest lager, Festival Bier, brewed using a blend of 10 different malted barleys, and a German style golden lager ensues. My notes say "interesting" and I found it slightly bitter and easy to drink for its strength.

I met Ben and Della here for the first time, amongst many other people that I already knew, cheers to you all! 🍻

Only With Love!

I was asked by a publican couple who are friends, to taste 5 beers in cans from East Sussex brewery Only With Love (website) for them, and who am I to turn down a challenge of this sort? Cheers Mark and Mo! 😉 So I worked up in strength, sort of... 

I begin with their 3.9% 'Super Session Pale' Swift, and a very pale golden ale, as expected. Brewed with Amarillo (hopslist), Columbus (hopslist) and Mandarina Bavaria (hopslist) hops, providing a fruity aroma, notably orange. There was a hint of orange in the taste too, but quite subtle. Nice and refreshing with a dry finish, not too bitter, I liked it.

Second is their 4.2% 'Extra Pale Ale' Wingding, brewed with Citra (hopslist), Cascade (hopslist), Goldings (hopslist) and Apollo (hopslist) hops. Pale again, unsurprisingly, with a light fruity aroma and taste, they suggest 'gooseberry' and I got that too! Finished nice and dry, my notes say, 'not bad at all' 👍which is a decent compliment from me. 😉

 

Third is the 5% 'Tropic IPA' Bongo (rebadged from 'Summer Beer' I guess, but I forgot to take photographs before the cans went into the recycling bag, so had to scour the net for images 😒). Brewed with El Dorado (hopslist), Cascade (hopslist), Mosaic (hopslist), Citra (hopslist), Sabro (Yakima Valley Hops) and Simcoe (hopslist) hops, producing big citrus and forest fruits aroma and taste in this pale ale. A nice crisp dry finish, shame about the thickness of this 'vegan friendly' ale, or it could have been a belter... 😞

Fourth is their 4% 'Helles Lager' Banger, brewed with Magnum (hopslist), Hallertau (hopslist) and Mandarina Bavaria (hopslist) hops. Pale, quite dry with a subtle fruitiness in the taste, it's 'vegan friendly' too, but nice and clear, see, it can be done! Okay, I'm not a lager drinker, but I noted that it's "pretty good!" Indeed, I can be open to new things... 😁

Finally their low alcohol/alcohol free (0.5%) Juicy AF, brewed with Columbus (hopslist), El Dorado (hopslist), Mosaic (hopslist) and Citra (hopslist) hops. Big fruity aroma and taste, as you'd expect from the hops used, but I may as well have had an orange or mixed fruits smoothie, probably cheaper! If it had been crisp and clear I may consider it, but much too thick sadly.

Overall, they use hops that I like in my ales, I was surprised about the lager Banger, which I thought was pretty good, sadly the Bongo and Juicy AF were much too thick for me, which could be improved if fined, and I shan't go into the 'vegan friendly' ales can be crisp and clear saga yet again here, and the Swift and Wingding were both not bad at all. Decent enough brewers, shame about the vegan influence, although I've heard they do provide clear ales in casks if requested. Cheers folks! 🍻

Many thanks for the images too, cheers! 👍

Applecross, West Scotland

By another friend David, AKA Jalfreziman, many thanks!
Please note scenic images are from Applecross Photographic Gallery (website), many thanks!

Applecross Inn

Applecross, Scotland. Where? I must confess, I hesitated about writing this little review. For 42 years, my wife (Management) & I (Jalfreziman) worked in tourism and catering. Daily we dealt with queues, screaming little darlings, noise and mayhem. When we wanted a holiday, we wanted peace, tranquility and above all, no screaming little darlings. It helped that we had to take our holiflops out of season. We found our sanctuary in Applecross. So where is it? Miles from anywhere is the answer, on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, 100 miles north-west of Fort William, 80 miles west of Inverness. Don’t let those mileages fool you. The roads are nearly all mountainous and single-track with passing spaces. From Fort William, allow 3 hours and from Inverness, allow 2. And only if the weather’s good. If there’s ice or snow about, add to that quite a wide safety margin. More about that in a mo.

Many thanks to Google for the map

Rule one… don’t go in the summer. Too many people have discovered it and it’s loony-tunes time. Add to that the famous west coast Scotland summer midges. Go off season. We usually go early November when the great unwashed have cleared off. And yes, it’s a gamble with the weather but we’ve always been lucky. And that’s why I hesitated to write this. We don’t really want to encourage more visitors to go then. We want to keep it all to ourselves. So, Applecross. The village where the pub is, is usually what people call ‘Applecross’ but the name really applies to the whole peninsular, about 25 miles by 15 miles and sparsely populated. 

Until the 1970’s, the only way in was over the Bealach na Bà, a mountainous winding road first built in 1822 and is engineered similarly to roads through the great mountain passes in the Alps, with very tight hairpin bends that switch back and forth up the hillside and gradients that approach 20%. It has the steepest ascent of any road climb in the UK, rising from sea level at Applecross to 626 metres (2,054 ft), and is the third highest road in Scotland. The name is Scottish Gaelic for ‘Pass of the Cattle’, as it was historically used as a drovers' road. The Bealach, as it is known for short, is considered unsuitable for learner drivers, large vehicles and motorhomes. The route is often impassable in winter. Consequently, before the ‘70s, Applecross was frequently cut off in the winter, with access from the sea only. In the 70s, a coastal road was constructed around the north coast of the peninsular, which adds nearly 30 miles to the journey and is in itself ‘a bit of a challenge’.

View from the pub across Applecross Bay 

Anyway, you get there one way or another. What is there? A fabulous coastline; views across the bay to Raasay and the Isle of Skye behind it, usually with snow on the peaks in November; wonderful, clean air; fabulous walks; otters; deer; highland cows wandering down the road; lovely, warm, welcoming people - and THE PUB! The Applecross Inn (website) is the only pub, literally for miles. It has justifiably won awards for its food, particularly the local game, crab & langoustines, the latter of which are caught in the bay daily and served fresh in the pub the same night.

The pub does accommodation (7 rooms). (Always try and get room 7 - it’s the nicest and quietest). The views are stunning. The bar is small with limited seating and with a roaring log fire in the winter. You can’t book a table for food (unless you’re a resident) but it doesn’t seem to matter, they always seem to be able to squeeze you in somewhere. In the summer there is outside seating aplenty, right on the beach. Over the years, the menu has changed little but then, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! The specials change daily and if you get the chance, try the haddock, highland lamb, venison, haggis or (only seen once), calves liver. Yum!

Now here’s a negative… (or at least it was), the beer. For years, the only ale on offer was Skye Red (4.2%, brewery website), which frankly is down there with Doombar in the ‘don’t bother’ department. But in 2019, things have changed! Check out the Applecross Craft Brewery at 5 Camusterrach Place, Camusterrach, Applecross, Strathcarron, Wester Ross, IV54 8LQ, whose beer brewing is much better than their website maintenance (never yet been able to successfully access it). Anyway, Google it yourself and see how you get on. The beer though is a huge improvement on Skye Red.

I promised myself I’d try all three of the main brews but after my first pint of Applecross Inner Sound (4.7%), the dark ale, I was hooked. I never did try the other two but I’m reliably informed they are very good. The dark ale is as you would expect… nutty, malty, very tasty! One is not enough so get someone else to drive. Excellent beer and a stunning location.

The other two ales on offer are Applecross Sanctuary Red Ale (4.0%) and Applecross Pale Ale (3.7%). It’s good to see the local pubs and restaurants supporting the local brewery. We did even spot them on sale in Portree on the Isle of Skye but at an eye-watering price of £6.70 per bottle. And yes, you can buy them by the bottle from the Applecross Inn as well (at a much more reasonable price). 

So that’s it! Applecross, Applecross Bay and the Applecross Inn. Don’t go there. It’s crap (ed: I love satire too!). Stay away (at least in November when we’re there).

Cheers Jalfreziman!