Happy New Beer!

Best wishes to one and all!

Ales on the Dark Side...

Apologies for not writing for so long, I've been a bit caught up with my other blog about Hastings, and other stuff, but I have promised to write about darker ales since I wrote about the Milestone Plum Porter and International Stout Day (blog). Since when, I've had a few goodies!

OK, I said "goodies" but actually I meant VERY good darker ales! Staring off with the excellent Black Pig (4.8%) from the 12-barrel plant of Kent brewer Wantsum (website). Described as a "Smooth, Dark Russian Porter", it has a very deep and dark red/brown colour and a hint of liquorice in its aroma, and liquorice and chocolate in the flavour. This is rich, smooth and full bodied, and very drinkable, loved it!

I thought, there's no way I can have any more this year as good as those previous two, but then I had this stout, from Yorkshire brewer Revolutions (website), the excellent stronger Belgian Stout (7%). What can I say, I was only going to have the one pint of it before leaving the pub, but stayed on for a couple more and floated home afterwards! Again, a very deep red/brown colour, a slight liquorice aroma, rich and full bodied, with a hint of roasted malt in the taste. I'll censor how I described it, but suffice to say I thought it was very good... 😉 

Then I found a porter with a difference, from the Sussex brewery Franklins (website), whose pale hoppy ales I regularly enjoy, but this was a very different 'special' from them! Their 5% Smoked Chilli Porter, with beech-smoked malts and chipotle chillies providing the difference, was an amazingly subtle and flavoursome ale. I could taste the chilli, but it was not overpowering, though I can think of a few people who would find it overpowering, no doubt. Actually, it was very easy to drink, so I didn't just have the one pint of this either, VERY nice!

Now, I don't know what you think about chocolate and ale going together, not to everyone's taste I admit, but I have fond memories of eating chocolate fudge cake whilst drinking at the Double Locks (website) on the Exeter Ship Canal, when I lived down there. Also, I used to enjoy drinking Young's Double Chocolate Stout when you could get it on draught from the Ram Brewery in Wandsworth, sadly demised. Anyway, I digress... 

So, my most recent darker ale was from another Sussex brewer, Downlands (website), from whom I had to p..p..p..pick up a Penguin! This 4.7% 'Christmas' ale tasted of chocolate, indeed, with hints of spirit, vanilla and spice, but essentially chocolate+++, rich and smooth, my tasting notes state "gorgeous!" There you have it and, yet again, I drank more than just the one pint...   

Consequently, 5 excellent darker ales were enjoyed recently by Hophead Steve, one of my other nicknames! Quite different, but well worth the change of style from my usual pale hoppy bitters, though I have been drinking many of them recently too, more of very soon, and I will do my best to keep that promise this time. Seasonal greetings and cheers!

Ye Olde Cider Bar, Newton Abbot

"Ye Olde Cider Bar?!?" I hear you question, "but you write about real ales and pubs, and sometimes brewing, Steve." Indeed I do, but I'm writing this blog for a number of reasons, not least, because I used to visit the Cider Bar quite a bit in my youth, though I haven't been there for getting on for about 25 years now... Also, they've just won the award of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) National Cider Pub of the Year!

Ye Olde Cider Bar is at 99 East Street in Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 2LD (tel: 01626 354221), which I first visited in about 1978 with an ex-girlfriend, Teri, and two friends, who are still together and still living in Newton Abbot, Steve and Jude, who we were visiting after making friends with them on a holiday to Austria. I visited Steve and Jude many times before moving to Devon to train in Mental Health with Exeter Health Authority in 1985, obviously nipping into the Cider Bar every now and then, and also when visiting Newton Abbot races in the 1990s. Though Steve, Jude and I have met up in Exeter more recently, I do need to visit Newton Abbot again, soon.

As you can see, many ciders are sold, and straight from the barrel too, which has changed over the years. When I first visited in the 1970s, they had 3 ciders from handpumps, a dry, sweet and medium, that cost 25p a pint, no spirits or beers, but fruit wines and mead, I'm guessing it's sold as a honey wine, and they do still sell mead and fruit wines, plus ciders (though many more!) and perries, and I note from their facebook page "a few selected spirits" are sold now, and it is believed to be one of the "four remaining cider houses in the UK." 

My first impression, at lunchtime I believe, was of a small bar (it has been enlarged since) with a number of small older men seated around the edges, each with big red noses, which is more like a description of me now! The dry cider tasted to me of apple flavoured white spirit, not that I've ever tasted white spirit, but proper cider was new to me, the sweet was like sweet apple flavoured spirit, and the medium, well, I could happily drink that at the time, though I am obviously an ale man, I do enjoy drinking cider from time to time, though I do prefer a good perry. 

By the late 1980s, Julie (ex-wife who I met in Exeter, no, that's not us in the photograph!) and I regularly were travelling over from Exeter on the train, often with friends, and you should have seen the state of some people returning to Exeter after enjoying the delights of Newton Abbot, though not us, of course! The bar was bigger, there were still the 3 'rough' ciders, and a collection of keg stuff too. By now, if not drinking the medium cider, we sometimes drank the dry with a lemonade top, how things change over the years. Indeed they don't appear to sell 'keg' anymore.

So who are the two people in the photograph? Well they are Kim Leonard and Jonathan McCool, who have been running Ye Olde Cider Bar for just 2 years now, and have already won the prestigious CAMRA award, so congratulations to the both of them!

I have borrowed images from CAMRA and Devon Life, many thanks.

Old Favourites at The Tower

I've visited The Tower, 251 London Road, Bohemia, Hastings TN37 6NB (tel: 01424 721773) on a few occasions recently, last time a couple of days ago, when I enjoyed drinking a couple of old favourites!  In addition, I enjoyed chatting with the lovely landlady, Louisa, and with a friend, Darren, who's birthday it is today, so Happy Birthday Darren, have an excellent day!

There was a mild and a stout available too, but I'm going to be writing about darker ales very soon, so not in this instance, but, all the way from the beautiful west of Scotland, from Fyne Ales (website), was their refreshing 3.8% session ale Jarl. I've written about this before, and what can I say, it's a dry, pale golden hoppy ale, with citrus flavours, a slightly nutty flavour too, and a fruity aroma. Good old Citra hops are used in the brewing of this ale, and it finishes with a slightly sour bitterness, and at just £3.20 a pint, nice one!

And the ever excellent 5.7%, more than a session ale, indeed a 'revelation', Dark Star (website) Revelation! This is packed with hops, Warrior, Columbus, Crystal, Chinook and Cascade, and dry-hopped too, I seem to remember, so in your face hops! The Revelation is a deep coloured golden ale bursting with flavours with a fruity aroma, tasting of mango, peach and plenty of citrus too, plenty of body with a dry finish, and just £3.50 a pint... Yes, I do love this!

Of course, there are 6 ales in all, plus 5 or 6 real ciders and perry, and the two regular ales are also from the Dark Star Brewing Co. Their 3.8% Hophead, is the regular session ale, brewed with Cascade hops, with more flavours than you would expect for a session ale, indeed, one of my nicknames is 'Hophead Steve' and not just because I'm a 'hophead', but because I regularly drink this pale golden bitter, it is excellent, and costs just £2.90 a pint at The Tower. The other Dark Star ale regularly sold here, at only £3 a pint, excellent value, is their 4.7% American Pale Ale (APA), brewed with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops, obviously with more body than the Hophead, and with a greater variety of citrus and tropical flavours too, and a yeast strain from the USA is also used to create this APA style ale, again, an excellent beer!

Many thanks again to Louisa for keeping and serving up excellent ales, and a Happy Birthday again to Darren, cheers! 😎

International Stout Day 2017

Well, I thought it was today, but it appears it was yesterday, so apologies for being a wee bit late, but I did drink a 'Porter' yesterday, so I sort of got there... anyway, celebrate dark ales! Louise, the barmaid and youngest daughter of the publicans at the Dolphin Inn (website), asked me what the difference was between Porters and Stouts, and I sort of knew, but thought I'd better do a bit of research before publication. 

Dolphin Inn

Stouts appear to have developed from Porters, a dark ale favoured by London market porters 300 years ago, though a blend of ales originally, before brewers started brewing Porters themselves. Whereas 'Stout' tended to be a term to describe stronger beers. Stout, as in Stout Porter, was a strong, dark brew that London's brewers developed, and the dark beer that we think of today as a typical Stout style.

Technically, nowadays, Porters are brewed using dark malts, and are usually a very deep, very dark, red in colour if you put your glass up to the light, whereas Stouts are brewed using Roasted Barley and are black or very dark brown, notably in the colour of the head. Of course, I've drunk different brewers' Stouts, Porters and even strong dark Milds that taste as you would expect one of the other styles to taste, but, for me, I would define the Stout from the roasted barley taste, though no doubt many would argue with me there!

Anyway, back to the Dolphin, and yesterday I drank the 5.2% Plum Porter from Nottinghamshire brewer, Milestone (website), which does what it says on the label. This was a very deep dark red in colour with a definite sour plum fruitiness in the aroma. There was plenty of body, quite rich, smooth and sweet at first taste, with hints of sour plum, and I even got chocolate when well down the glass, also that hint of a 'stout' with a slight roasted barley flavour; see what I said about telling the difference between the styles, not so easy! The finish though was quite dry and bitter, not bad, which is good coming from a 'hophead' like me, cheers!

A Trip to Cardiff...

OK, this isn't solely my blog, indeed, I haven't been to Cardiff for quite a few years now, but I've written this following feedback given to me by the 'Two Golfers' aka the 'Two Davids', many thanks to them, and I've done a bit of research myself too...

They've pointed me to 3 'great' pubs/bars they visited recently, all in the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide currently (and there are many more Cardiff pubs in the Guide too of course). I'm starting with The City Arms, 10-12 Quay Street, CF10 1EA (tel: 02920 641913, website), built in the 1880s, as you can see from the website, this is a Brains owned pub, so regular cask ales include their Bitter (3.7%), SA (4.2%), and Rev James Original (4.5%). Plus they sell 7 guest ales from near and far. David, not Dave G, said he'd enjoyed drinking a London Porter (5.7%) from Old Soul Brewing (of Florida! website), travels well it seems. The pub is situated close to the Millennium Stadium and, in addition to 10 real ales, they also sell 10 crafty keg beers, 10 traditional ciders, and many more craft beers in bottle! 

Next is Zerodegrees, 27 Westgate Street, CF10 1DD (tel: 02920 229494, website), with its Grade II listed 1930s frontage, this former bus garage also sits close to the Millennium/Principality Stadium, and is described as a brewpub/microbrewery and restaurant. There are another 3 Zerodegrees establishments in the chain, one being at Blackheath in London, obviously where they get their name from! They sell 6 beers, 4 regulars of their own, Wheat Ale (4.2%), Pale Ale (4.6%), Pilsner (4.8%), and a 4.8% Czech-style Black Lager, which David extolled the virtues of, and 2 guests, usually locally sourced, and often brewed on the premises, eg their 4% Mango (flavoured wheat beer). Though other food is sold, they specialize in pizzas, which Dave G describes as "excellent", as he describes the ales as being too!

The final bar for this blog is the basement bar Hopbunker, 5-7 Queen Street, CF10 2AF (tel: 02920 398889, website), only established in the last couple of years, it has already been voted CAMRA Cardiff Pub of the Year, and Cider pub of the Year, for both 2016 and 2017! Though neither David  singled out any particular ale enjoyed here, the bar has up to 15 real ales from all over the UK (don't be surprised to see something from Hopcraft Brewing as this is their 'brewery tap' - website), at least 6 real ciders, and 20 crafty keg beers, so, plenty of choice indeed. Dave G described this as an "excellent place to visit, being spotlessly clean with very pleasant and helpful staff." Can't put it better than that, thanks again to Dave and David, cheers!

Walking Along/Close To the Thames...

With my brother, The 'Routemeister' Dan, we covered a fair number of miles in two days, certainly 20+ on the first day, probably just a dozen or so on the second day. Leaving Putney, we walked along the Thames eastwards and left the river at Vauxhall Bridge, heading towards Kennington, and a new favourite pub of mine, The Mansion House, 48 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4RS (tel: 0207 582 5599, website).

The Mansion House is one of the few Oakham Ales (website), of Peterborough, hostelries in the country, in a new building opposite St Mary's Church, with 'Pan-Asian' cuisine served from the kitchen. 4 regular Oakham Ales on tap, all excellent of course, their 3.8% pale and hoppy session ale JHB, and three stronger pale hoppy bitters, Inferno (4%), CITRA (4.2%) and I think they alternate the 4th between Scarlet Macaw (4.4%) and Bishops Farewell (4.6%), as you can see from the photograph, the Bishops Farewell was on when we visited; prices above £4 a pint (20p off for CAMRA members) and a 'Happy Hour' of 2 hours between 5 and 7pm, when a pint of all cask conditioned ales costs just £3! A veritable delight for a lover of Oakham Ales like me, but...

They also have a fifth 'seasonal' ale at £3.50 a pint, which for October is the 4.4% 3 Witches, an excellent pale golden ale with hints of fruit in the taste and a dry bitter finish, very refreshing! The hops used in the brewing process are Amarillo, Cascade and Willamette, so you can see where the fruity flavours and aroma come from, Oakham setting the standard...

We then cut by the Elephant & Castle to get back to the river at Tower Bridge, and wandered westwards to Borough Market and The Rake, 14A Winchester Walk, London SE1 9AG (tel: 0207 407 0557, website). There are 4 ales on offer, though one finished whilst we were there, so 5 available... We only drank the one here, the other 4 being Ghost Mango Reaper (4.4%), Northern Whisper (3.8%), and Burton Bridge Mild (4%), which was replaced by my old employer's Kelham Island Porter (4%). The ale we did drink was Manning Brewers Sha Man (4.5%), a "pale passion fruit beer" which was slightly fruity, pale golden bitter with a hint of sourness in the finish, not bad at all.

The next day we wandered away from the river to begin with, up to Putney Heath, then crossed Wimbledon Common, then across Richmond Park to Sheen Gate, where we left to return to the river at Mortlake, and visited The Ship, 10 Thames Bank, London SW14 7QR (tel: 0208 876 1439, website). I do like this late 18th century pub, and, a surprise! Just after we entered, 3 gentlemen arrived, one of whom I know, Keith, who used to drink at the same pub as me in Hammersmith, and supports the same football team as me too, we hadn't seen each other since meeting up by chance at the CAMRA beer festival in Hove in 2011, great stuff! Keith owned up he had been chatting to another friend about me only recently at the Andover Arms, but I shan't tell you the event they were talking about...

So, great to see Keith again, and meeting his two mates was good too, pleasant chaps all, meanwhile my brother was drinking outside, communicating with his daughters and wife, no doubt, but we did have a drink here, of course. Now, I'm not the best fan of Greene King ales, but this was so good I had to go back for more! This was the 4.2% Starry Night, brewed with Australian Galaxy hops, a pale copper coloured ale, with a hint of biscuit in the aroma, and a hint of citrus in the taste, with a nice dry bitter finish, pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed drinking it. Oh yes, 4 ales on in total, and although I can't remember the price, CAMRA members do get 10% off the price of the cask conditioned ales, nice one!

Then we walked back to Putney along the river...