Reasonable Priced Real Ale... Well, Plus an Update!

From my Steve on Hastings blog... Well, I've not been to many pubs since it became closer to 'normal' times (being careful), whatever that is, but, most appear still to be aware of the Covid-19 Crisis, and hand sanitizer seems to have become 'normal' in many, and many people continue to wear masks , not so worrying, in some, obviously., but not all, so please stay safe...  

And, I was surprised to find out that the best value real ale in Hastings, ignoring 'spoons, was sold at the Nelson at the bottom of The Bourne in the old town, a very decent pint of Fullers London Pride at just £3.20, I have been told, nice one, cheers!  

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!