Spring Ale, a Chocolate Ale too, plus...

Well, last week heralded the beginning of Astronomical Spring (Met Office), and Stonehenge Ales (website) have again brewed their seasonal ale Sign of Spring (blog). As you can see above, this is a pale ale which they label a 'Premium Bitter' but it has a touch of green (food dye presumably) about it 😉 and it's a jolly good 4.6% pale dry bitter indeed! There's a general fruitiness, with a nice dry bitter, slightly nutty, finish, please can I have another? 👍

And then I had this totally different ale from Saltaire Brewery (website) up in Skipton, West Yorkshire... their 4.8% Triple Choc, an ale I last remember drinking in December 2019 (blog), and my opinion of it hasn't changed at all. With chocolate and a hint of liquorice in the aroma, it's proclaimed as an 'Indulgent Chocolate Stout' and who could argue with that, unless I wanted to suggest it's a porter, not a stout, but see my blog which discusses the difference between stouts and porters. So, whichever style we call it, Triple Choc is brewed with Fuggles hops, and is a very deep red colour, and very rich ale, tasting of chocolate indeed, but incredibly easy to drink, though I probably wouldn't drink too many pints in the same session 😉

And then a pale hoppy ale that isn't green. The Kent Brewery (website) 4.5% Loral, a single hopped very pale ale with a hint of citrus, not too overpowering for those who don't like citrus flavoured ales, slightly spicy and with a crackin' dry bitter finish, very refreshing. This is an ale that I have had quite recently too, before yesterday, but my notes were included in my last destroyed note book 😞 so I quickly included this ale in this blog, I would hate to mess up again 😏 Kent Brewery is my favourite local brewer, and they do brew very excellent ales of all styles. Anyway, to the Loral hop, which has forbears from the USA, that is Glacier and Nugget, and Tardif de Bourgogne from France (Yakima Valley Hops), billed as 'floral, herbal and citrus' but I didn't pick up the 'floral' myself, but a very decent ale indeed, cheers!

I enjoyed the above ales this week, imbibing at the Dolphin Inn, 11-12 Rock a Nore Road, Hastings, East Sussex TN34 3DW (website), until the next time, cheers! 😁

December: Visiting the Dark Side!

Over the last couple of weeks I have tasted 5 excellent darker beers, stouts, porters and Christmas Ales, what you expect to flourish at this time of year. Two of them, sampled a week apart, come from Kent Brewery of Birling in Kent (website), a consistent brewer of fine ales, mostly pale ales provided where I drink regularly, but they can brew excellent darker beers too, as these 2 prove. First, their Comfortably Plum (4.9%), described as a 'plum stout' on the pumpclip, but, although there is a hint of roasted barley in the taste, more like a porter to me. Now I have gone on about the difference between porters and stouts before (eg International Stout Day 2 years ago blog), and some stronger dark milds too, they tend to be interchangeable depending on the brewer. This was a deep dark red colour, dark fruits in the aroma and taste, smooth and velvety with plenty of body, and a nice dry bitter finish; my notes say "pretty damn good!"

Just a couple of days ago I drank the Kent Yule Log, a 4.5% 'chocolate cream stout' and what can I say, other than more of the same, I certainly summed up with a very similar comment to the Comfortably Plum! A big aroma of chocolate with a hint of molasses, a dark dark red colour again, tasting of chocolate and with plenty of body, certainly does what it says on the label!

Before I forget, I mentioned in my last blog that I had a few halves of Harvey's of Lewes, East Sussex, Christmas Ale, a mere 7.5% (I'm sure it used to be stronger?), described as a 'traditional barley wine' (website). A wee bit sweet to begin with, though a nice bitterness is produced by the hops at the finish, a bit of a Christmas Pudding of a beer!

OK, there's a hint of where I'm going with my next blog in this image above, but there are also 2 more excellent darker beers I drank on Wednesday, and both from further away. First, from Goffs Brewery in the Cotswolds (website), Black Night, a 5.3% 'ruby red porter' and it really is a deep dark ruby red colour, okay a hint of roasted barley in the aroma, but Bramling Cross hops provide a dark fruity flavour, plenty of body, rich and flavoursome, another excellent dark ale.

You will also be able to see, at the far right/back in the photograph above, from West Yorkshire's Saltaire Brewery (website), the 4.8% Triple Choc, an 'indulgent chocolate stout.' Brewed with Fuggles hops, and with a hint of chocolate in the aroma which belies the stronger chocolate flavour to the taste, a deep dark, almost black colour, though not as heavy as you would expect, pretty easy to sup actually, another excellent black ale.

Which was best? I'd hate to judge, I loved drinking all 5, particularly the 2 chocolate flavoured beers, maybe the Black Night 'shaded' it, but no, very happy to drink any of the 5, cheers!

Novemberfest at Bexhill on Sea's Albatross Club

From today, the RAFA Albatross Club at 15 Marina Arcade, Bexhill TN40 1JS, is holding its Novemberfest! There will be live music each day, food available, and, of course, 10 extra ales served straight from casks downstairs, in addition to the 5 poured by handpump on the bar at ground level. Opening hours are 11.00 to 23.00 today (Friday 23rd) and tomorrow, and 12.00 to 17.00 on Sunday (25th), and you don't have to be a RAFA member or CAMRA member to visit this weekend, all sensible drinkers are welcome, cheers!

The Albatross Club (RAFA)

Festival ales come from up and down the country and include Gunpowder Mild (3.8%) from Coach House Brewery in Cumbria (website); Blackthorn Sloe Porter (5.0%) from North Yorkshire Settle Brewery (website); Saltaire Blonde (4.0%) from the excellent Saltaire Brewery in West Yorkshire (website); the ever excellent Titanic Plum Porter Grand Reserve (6.5%) from Titanic Brewery in the Potteries (website); Pop Up IPA (5.0%) from The Cronx Brewery in Croydon (website); Gadds Dogbolter Porter (5.6%) from Ramsgate Brewery in Kent (website); plus 4 more pale, golden and copper coloured bitters from Rudgate Brewery (website), Acorn Brewery (website), Potbelly Brewery (website), and Westerham Brewery (website)!

The Albatross Club (RAFA), Bexhill on Sea

Yesterday, I visited the Albatross Club (Royal Air Forces Association) at Bexhill on Sea, the 2016 winner of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) National Cub of the Year award, and congratulations to them for winning this, and this years local CAMRA Club of the Year too (the national winner in 2017 is the Cheltenham Motor Club). This a members club (RAFA, which I belong to, but you don't need to have been in the Air Force to join as an Associate Member), but CAMRA members are allowed in too, and sensible people should be able to get a member to sign them in, though a £1 donation to the club would be appreciated. Today, whilst the Ale & Arty Beer and Music Festival is on today at the wonderful nearby De La Warr Pavilion (see the festival website), the Albatross Club is open from 11am for all beer lovers to visit.

Four real ales on sale from handpumps (and blackboard behind showing some of the ales to come on soon!), all at £3.20 a pint, and as you can see, yesterday this included Yorkshire brewery Saltaire New World Red (5.2%), and local brewers Pig & Porter Temporary Truth (4.2%), one of their single hop pale ales (Centennial hops), and Bedlam Benchmark, a 4% copper coloured bitter, with a hint of roasted barley in the flavour.

The fourth ale was an incredibly sumptuous milk stout from Bristol brewery, Wiper and True, (website), their Milk Shake (5.6%). Brewed with chocolate malts, and enriched with vanilla, to present a creamy rich stout with body+++ and liquorice flavour too, sweet for my usual palate, but what an enjoyable pint, cheers! 

For more information about the Albatross Club see their website.