Constellation Brewery

Having been passed this nice little collection of beers from Mo, many thanks, I had to try them, of course, beers, including lagers, true (!), from the reasonably new brewery, Constellation Brewery, Unit 21 Orchard Business Centre, Sanderson Way, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1QF (website). Noting the name of the brewery you can guess that the theme of their beers' names is constellations, consequently, I shall also share the extra information about the constellations that they provide on the cans in addition to my tasting notes...

I'll start with Lupus Lager, 4%, and I was surprisingly pleased by the taste, apparently brewed using a French hop variety, preceded by a big aroma, with wheat malt prominent, indeed, I was surprised to see that wheat malt is included for all these beers! Golden coloured, refreshing, with a subtle flavour from the wheat, and a nice dry finish... this was my favourite of the lot! 

"Lupus is a constellation located in the deep Southern sky. It's name is Latin for wolf. Lupus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations., although it was previously an asterism associated with the neighbouring constellation Centaurus. Symbolism: The Wolf. Brightest Star: a Lup."

Staying with the lagers, the 4.7% Hydra is brewed to be a Czech Pilsner style. This one has less aroma than the Lupus, guessing less wheat malt is used, but what do I know?!? My notes say "basically a lager" and OK, I'm not an expert on lagers, sorry, that's as good as this gets...

"Hydra is the largest of the 88 modern constellations, measuring 1303 degrees, and is also the longest at over 100 degrees (OK, I don't understand, but they're sharing this, so I am too!). It's southern end abuts Libra and Centaurus and its northern end borders Cancer. I was included among the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy (above). Symbolism: The Sea Serpent. Brightest Star: Alphard."

I'll now deal with the ales/bitters, first, the session bitter Indus (3.9%) is brewed using English and new world hops, producing an easy to drink dry refreshing pale ale with a dry bitter finish, not bad at all, I wrote...

"Indus is a constellation in the southern sky first professionally surveyed by Europeans in the 1590s, namely Dutch astronomers, and mapped out on a globe by Pieter Platevoet by early 1598 and thus included in Bayer's keynote, consolidated sky atlas of 1603. Symbolism: The Indian. Brightest Star: The Persian." 

And my final review is of the American Pale Ale styled Cassiopeia (4.5%), 'heavily hopped with mainly American varieties' and comes out cloudy... I know it's fashionable to produce cloudy beers, but knowing brewers who produce 'vegan friendly' beers that are clear, eg Marble (website) has been brewing 'vegan friendly' beers for years, clear as a clear beer can be, well, anyway, to this beer. Not bad, big fruit aroma and grapefruit in the taste and a dry bitter finish, it would be interesting to drink a cask version, if they produce one, but preferably clear. 😉

"Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the vain queen Cassiopeia in Greek mythology, who boasted about her unrivalled beauty. Cassiopeia was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Symbolism: The Seated Queen. Brightest Star: a Cass."

Cheers Mo! 👍

Beers from Black Tor Brewery, Devon

Friends of mine were lucky enough to enjoy a holiday, during the recent sunny week, in Brixham in Devon, and brought back a nice wee presentation box present for lucky me, and many thanks to Mark and Mo! The bottled beers they brought me (above) were from Black Tor Brewery (website), Unit 5&6 Gidleys Meadow, Christow EX6 7QB, on the edge of Dartmoor, and a wee village I used to drive through regularly on my way back into Exeter from walks on Dartmoor back in the days I used to live down there.

The 4.0% Pride of Dartmoor, described as an Amber Ale, was a lovely refreshing ale with a fruity aroma, slightly sweet at first taste, but with a slightly bitter aftertaste and dry finish, and not bad at all, very enjoyable!

The 4.2% Raven, a Best Bitter, was a deep chestnut/red hue, with a slightly malty aroma. This is very much a traditional best bitter brewed with English hops, again, a bit sweet to start with, but with a nice nutty bitter finish, very decent again...

The 4.5% DPA, or Devon Pale Ale, was a golden bitter brewed with hops from the USA as well as England used in the brewing process. There were hints of tropical and citrus fruits in the taste, but subtle, and a smooth refreshing drink, slightly dry finish. Mark drank this one 'cask conditioned' and, apart from Devon Dumpling (which he didn't realise was 5.1% 😉 - Bays) was his regular and favourite tipple down there.

Cheers again to Mark and Mo! 👍

A Book I Must Read, and I shall review it!

Weird, Wondrous and Historic Pubs of the UK by Mikey Swann looks to be a decent read, especially as it has a photograph of Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem beneath the castle in Nottingham (website) on its cover; the photograph above of this crackin' historic pub is my own. A great place to visit anyway, I shall post again when I get hold of a copy of the book!

Haven't been writing much recently as haven't been to more than just the one pub with everything that's (not) going on, hopefully travelling again soon, cheers!

CAMRA - Happy 50 Years! And more pale bitters...

The choice for me today (above) at the Dolphin Inn in Hastings (facebook page), and what a great choice! I must admit I've been drinking mostly excellent pale bitters from Kent Brewery (website) and Oakham Ales (website), and I can't complain about that, cheers!

I will write much more soon, but have to mention the CAMRA 50th anniversary (website).

What can I say? Prohibition, cheers!

So, back drinking a quality real ale at a pub (blog), and gorgeous too, despite the snow yesterday, 😉 which didn't stop the Dolphin Inn in Hastings nearly selling the whole firkin of one of my favourite ales on the first day of reopening, and I returned today too...

And yes, it was the award winning Kent Brewery Prohibiton (website), 4.8% of 'American Pale Ale' style pale dry hoppy bitter that I imbibed, quality! With a variety of hops from the USA, and plenty of them used too, this is, as I've said before, really pale, with a big citrus fruity aroma, grapefruit flavour and dry and bitter finish, refreshing and so easy to drink, quality! 

And the view from my seat on the balcony, the Stacey Marie (facebook page) in the heart of Hastings historic fishing quarter. Oh yes, there were 3 cask-conditioned ales on offer, reduced from the 'usual' 6 due to understandable circumstances these days, including Prohibition, the ubiquitous Harvey's Sussex Best (4.0% - website), and Dark Star Hophead (3.8% - website), 2 from East Sussex and my favourite from Kent, all very local indeed, cheers! 

Roll on tomorrow!

So, tomorrow lunchtime I shall be sitting outside the Dolphin Inn, Hastings, as I suggested I would be in my recent blog, and drinking Kent Brewery's Prohibition,  an excellent APA style pale bitter, and also the first ale I imbibed at the first reopening in July last year (blog). The pub will be opening from 11.00 to the evening (closing time depending on the number of customers, and weather), but likely the early evening until we can drink indoors, so roll on May the 17th too... 

Oh yes, ale-wise they will be selling Harvey's Sussex Best and Dark Star Hophead too.

Whatever you do, enjoy, but stay safe, and cheers! 

Happy Easter and 3 Dolphins for you!

First of all, Happy Easter! Not that it will be all that ''merry' with no pubs open, but I'll make an effort with good memories here, so 3 Dolphin Pubs that I have frequented at different times in my life, and will happily return to whenever close by. They are all excellent pubs and were in the 2020 CAMRA Good Beer Guide (I presume they are all in the 2021 Guide too, but with all that's been going on I really haven't had the inclination to buy one so soon after buying the 2020 Guide, which I have hardly used anyway!). And the most recent Dolphin that I have latched on to is my current 'local', and is likely to be the first pub I return to in 2021, fingers crossed.

First, The Dolphin Hotel (facebook), down at The Barbican in Plymouth, which I first visited when I lived in Devon in the 1980s. My earliest memory is of a pretty basic pub, but selling the best Bass I'd ever tasted, served straight from casks stored and cooled behind the bar, I think they were kilderkins, which is still the case. Plus, they now sell up to 7 guest ales, and St Austell Tribute as a regular, at least they were before Lockdown. I cannot remember there being ales served from handpump when I first visited, only the gravity-fed beer, but, as I only thought of drinking the Bass at the time, that's no surprise.

I have visited many times since, but my most recent visit was a few years ago, before going to a football match at Argyle, we sadly lost (Argyle won), and not a lot had changed, and, apart from a sensitive redecoration, the GBG suggests the same still. The walls are adorned with Beryl Cook paintings, many images are of the pub's regulars, as she used to live in the area and frequented the pub herself. The pub is situated very close to the waterfront, from where you may catch a ferry over to Turnchapel, where lies another old favourite pub, and ex-employer, of mine, The Boringdon Arms. The Dolphin Hotel in Plymouth, though, is a must visit, if you like real ale and old pubs, and are in Devon... and the Bass is to be savoured 🍻

The second is Ye Olde Dolphin Inne (website), close by the cathedral in Derby, the oldest and, allegedly, 'most haunted' public house in the city. The building dates back to 1530, but the pseudo-Tudor additions to the exterior were made about 100 years ago, but it's still a great little building to investigate, with nooks and crannies in an unspoilt interior. I first visited here in the 1990s, as I lived in Sheffield at the time, and Derby is very close, and I obviously had to investigate this nearby city with its wealth of very good pubs. More often than not, subsequent visits were in connection with trips to to football matches at Pride Park, or made in conjunction with visits by friends or family.

Coincidentally, the first pint I ever drank here was of cask-conditioned Bass, though served via a handpump and not gravity fed, but it was still very good. I've also even seen cask-conditioned Worthington E here, which is very rare; I think Marston's now brew Bass for AB InBev, but that may well have changed with all that's happened! Ye Olde Dolphin Inne also sells a good variety of other regular and guest ales, which I've always found to be in good condition, including a 'house ale' (that I haven't tried, since it wasn't around at the time of my last visit), but which is brewed for them by Nottingham Brewery apparently, ie a 4.4% bitter called Dolphin 1530AD... but that may soon be old news, who knows? Anyway, if visiting Derby, which does have a great selection of good real ale pubs, Ye Olde Dolphin Inne should be on your list of visits.

The third choice is my current local, The Dolphin Inn (website), situated in Rock-a-Nore Road, opposite the fishermen's net huts and Stade, and at the southernmost point of Hastings 'Old Town'. The situation means you do get fishermen, and retired fishermen, frequenting this pub, a sign of the great continuity here. There are also a variety of other regular locals, and visitors to Hastings too, a true diversity of customers, male and female, young and old, professionals and labourers, I shan't go on, you'll get the point. It's a proper family-run pub, landlord and landlady, son and 2 daughters, and good regular staff, who may as well be family!

The Dolphin Inn supports local breweries from Sussex and Kent, with many local beers served regularly (5 out of 6 on my last visit, I seem to remember), having 3 regular ales, which were Dark Star Hophead, Harvey's Sussex Best and (non-local brewed in Bedford, not London anymore) Young's Special, also a 'changing' regular from the excellent Kent Brewery, plus seasonal regulars, eg Dark Star American Pale Ale and Harvey's Old Ale; usually, in 'normal' times 6 real ales are served by handpump. They are probably re-opening the balcony, with service at the benches, and weather permitting, but fewer ales available, though starting with the excellent Kent Prohibition, from the 12^th of April, ie Step Two/Three/whatever of the steps to freedom! I can only add that, like the other 2 Dolphins, definitely worth a visit if in Hastings, cheers!