Hastings Tap Takeover But No Oktoberfest!

I'm disappointed that Oktoberfest at The Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street, Hastings TN34 1SS (instagram), has not happened this year, despite an excellent festival last year (blog), and I doubt they'll even have a late one sadly, as the bar staff seem to have no idea whether on or not. 😞 Anyway, too late for that now methinks, but they did take part in the Hastings Tap Takeover (blog), with London brewers Anspach & Hobday as their takeover brewery (website). 

Taking into account the Tap Takeover and Oktoberfest, I'm starting off with their 5.8% Ansbacher Festbier, their take on the 'Oktoberfest' biers of Munich! The hops used are not shared, as far as I can find, but they do say 'noble hops' so I'd guess similar to the hops used for their lager (below). A nice golden beer, light malt/bready taste, with a dry bitter finish, certainly an English twist to the Oktoberfest biers of Germany, very decent, but sadly not the same. 😕

Next, their 5.0% Ansbacher Lager, in the style of Helles lagers, and they have shared the hops used for this, with German Hersbrucker (hopslist), Czech Saaz (hopslist), and making this a bit different, from the USA, Mosaic (hopslist)! Pale golden colour, refreshing, slightly fruity, the result of the Mosaic hops no doubt, hint of malt to the taste, crisp and fresh, very good too. 👍

I didn't do too many of the participating pubs this year, too many fizzy beers for me, 😕 but I drank a proper cask ale at The Albion, Marine Parade TN34 3AG (website - also has an address at 33 George Street TN34 3EA, but the entrance is actually on the other side of the building in Marine Parade, although you can exit into George Street). The brewery adopted here, unsurprisingly, was East Sussex brewery Lakedown Brewing Co (website) and their 4.7% Phoenix Green Hop IPA (hopslist), brewed with local fresh hops picked in the morning and immediately delivered to, and used by the brewery straight away.

The first green hopped ale I've had this year, I've had another since, so expect a blog about green hopped ales in the next month or so folks. What can I say, the Phoenix is an excellent English style IPA, indeed, I had the last near-pint poured, as you can see, and it was still in fine form. Copper coloured, slightly spicy hoppy bitter ale, pretty damn good, cheers! 😁

My last beer of this 'festival' (I did drink more than just reviewed here, but these were the best!) at The Jolly Fisherman, 3 East Beach Street, Hastings TN34 3AR (website), whose guest brewery was Azvex Brewing Co of Liverpool (website). A very different style of beer, brewed in collaboration with Welsh brewery Polly's (website), Danish Pastry 8th Birthday Imperial Stout (11.0%), brewed with fresh vanilla, raisins and cinnamon. Review of this excellent beer? I'll just copy out what I wrote at the time, which says it all: Hint of coffee and the Danish pastry, yes, in the aroma. Taste? Gorgeous, rich, hints of chocolate and almond, very nice indeed!

Cheers m'dears! 😁

Don't forget there are many things that can go wrong drinking alcohol, be aware of limits and potential physical, social, and legal factors. The drinkaware website offers advice, tools to help, where to get support and 'facts' you may not be aware of. Stay safe folks! 👌

Dark Beers in Hastings...

I was going to post a blog about 'beers and ciders' in Hastings, but decided to divide it into 3 different blogs, and I'm missing out some recent beers and ciders, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it folks. 😉 So I'm starting with 7 darker beers, and kicking off with this cask ale from East Sussex based Three Acre Brewery (website). I drank this at the Dolphin Inn, Hastings (written about many times by me, eg blog), their 4.6% Skylark Stout, which I thought was more like a porter, and I have discussed the difference between stouts and porters in this blog a while back. Brewed with English hops according to Three Acre, a deep chestnut colour, smooth, and nutty with hints of chocolate and coffee in the taste. Not bad at all folks! 

The second beer I am writing about was enjoyed at The Jolly Fisherman in Hastings: see this blog for the pub's history, but no longer a B&B or providing food, although there are some excellent bar snacks available. This was from Polly's Brew Co (website) in North Wales and their 6.0% Winter Slope Stout, as I've already said my piece about porters and stouts I'll not repeat myself! A mixture in the grist of black, chocolate and crystal extra dark malts, and oats, dominate the taste. My notes say it all: "slightly toasted flavour with a hint of chocolate, very tasty and full bodied, yet smooth and easy to drink, surprisingly easy to knock back!"

This is a rather excellent beer from Manchester's Sureshot Brewing (website), their 11.0% Imperial Stout, Beware Oblivion is at Hand, indeed! Brewed with vanilla and cacao nibs, strangely not a lot of aroma, but packed with flavour, maybe my nose was overloaded at the time, 😉 I noted a hint of coffee, however, predominantly chocolate in the taste, and luxurious!

Next is another 'Imperial Stout' Wookie Mistake (11.0%), a collaboration between Electric Bear Brewing of Bath (website) and Emperor's Brewery, from Coalville near Leicester, who are currently on facebook; website being set up. Apparently, this beer is salted, which I didn't detect, and only discovered on checking Electric Bear's website. Indeed, the full flavour and sweetness of chocolate dominated, the chocolate coming from cacao nibs added to the brew, and a hint of caramel in the taste from caramel essence. Yes, another luxurious dark beer! 😁

The strongest and most luxurious of the 'Imperial Stouts' reviewed here comes from Yorkshire brewers, based in Leeds, Tartarus Beers (website), and their Bokkenrijder Triple Chocolate Imperial Stout (12.2%), another collaboration, this time with Dutch Bargain of the Netherlands (website). As you can see, I bought this as a takeaway, and I see from the Tartarus website they brew another same strength stout too, and an even stronger one, and even a stronger IPA! 😲 The Bokkenrijder is brewed with cacao nibs and vanilla, and cacao powder is added too, so yes, plenty of chocolate in the aroma and taste, luxurious indeed, nice one. 👍

Finally, yes I lazily have included only one photograph for 2 beers, one of which came home with me. 😉 At the pub, so in that glass, was this blog's penultimate brew, another collaboration, this time between Cloudwater Brew Co of Manchester (website) and Puhaste Beer of Estonia (website), and their 7.0% Behind The Sun And The Stars, brewed for Baltic Porter Day. Yes, definitely a porter, the aroma had a hint of coffee, dark fruits and chocolate, with chocolate dominating the flavour, strangely lighter and more refreshing than I expected, very good.

The final beer above, in the bottle, was another 'carry out' for me, from the historic Schlenkerla brewpub in Bamberg, Germany (website), and their more modest 5.1% Aecht Schelnkerla Rauchbier Marzen. This is a bottom fermented, thus lager style, lightly smoked beer, deep red in colour, with a smoky aroma and taste, a hint of toast to my taste, and a dry finish. I've even had 2 friends since tell me they've visited the pub/brewery, not that I'm jealous, cheers! 😁

There you go, a fairly diverse selection for me. 😉