Lifting the gloom

It was pretty obvious from my post yesterday, especially after re-reading it in the cold light of dawn, that there was more than a touch of melancholy about me. But after a good night's sleep I woke up feeling refreshed, and with the sun shining through the trees behind the house my mood shifted and whilst I didn't exactly leap out of bed, I still felt fired up and ready to face the world again.

The sunshine didn't last, but we'd already decided to take a drive down to Bexhill-on-Sea, in order to visit Mrs PBT's sister and her husband. So shortly before midday, we headed off in a roughly south-easterly direction, along the A21.

Upon reaching the outskirts of Hastings, and before turning off towards Bexhill, we called in at the large Sainsbury's superstore, to pick up a few items of shopping and, more importantly, to fill the car up with fuel. Diesel is around 6p a litre cheaper in this part of Sussex than it is in Tonbridge, so it makes sense to take advantage of this price differential.

We spent a pleasant afternoon catching up on family news, before moving onto the subject of cruising. I probably mentioned in a previous post that the pair of us are looking at taking a short cruise this spring, so as my sister-in-law and her husband are avid cruisers it made sense to have a chat about the various options on offer.

Before heading for home, we rounded the afternoon off with some rather nice fish & chips, bought from a chippy just a short drive away, called Peter's Fish Bar.  The latter establishment is obviously a family-run business, with Peter doing the fish frying, and his son taking the orders and then wrapping them for customers. This meant that both the cod and the chips were freshly cooked, and all the better for it.

Now we're back home, I thought I'd share a few beer-related good news stories, to further help lift the gloom. The first story is a report from veteran beer writer Roger Protz, on the very welcome news that, after years in the doldrums, dark beers are making a comeback. As consumers rush to embrace the rich flavours of beers made with roasted malts, there were reports of some Tesco stores selling out of stout over the Christmas period.

You will need to click on the link to read the whole story about  porters and stouts coming into their own, but with winter still firmly in charge of our weather, there's still plenty of time to stock up on some of the fine dark ales available in local pubs and shops. My only regret is still not having sampled any of the delectable Harvey's XXXX Old Ale, this season.

Another positive story, albeit not a local one, is the news that the Black Sheep Brewery of Masham, have bought the York Brewery, thereby rescuing it from administration.. The move will safeguard  40 local jobs, and  will see York Brewery and its brands continuing in operation. The full story is again available on this link to Roger's site.

Kim Traynor [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons

The final item of good news is the fact that Scottish Brewers, Belhaven, will be celebrating their 300th anniversary, later this year.  Established in 1719, Belhaven is Scotland’s oldest working brewery, and has been making beers at its historic site on the outskirts of Dunbar, around 20 miles east of Edinburgh, ever since. It took its name Belhaven, which means “beautiful harbour”, from its attractive coastal location.

Belhaven has unveiled a year-long programme of celebrations to mark its tri-centenary, and amongst the events planned to mark the 300th anniversary are the opening of a £500,000 visitor centre, scheduled for this summer, a summer music festival plus 300 days of celebrations across Belhaven and Greene King pubs.

Greene King  pubs are involved because they purchased Belhaven Brewery in 2005. Prior to this, the brewery had a succession of different owners, and when I first read about the company - in Frank Baillie's pioneering "Beer Drinker's Companion", Belhaven was known as "Dudgeon & Co Ltd".

Jeff Alworth [CC BY 2.0] , via Wikimedia Commons

Back then the brewery only had a handful of pubs, but over the years, and prior to the Greene King  acquisition,  Belhaven had built up a tied estate which approached nearly 100 pubs. To their credit, Greene King have invested heavily in the Dunbar site, installing a new brew-house on the historic site, which was  officially opened by HRH Princess Anne in January 2013.

To mark the tri-centenary, Belhaven is launching a specially brewed birthday celebration pale ale, appropriately called 1719. The new beer incorporates three centuries of brewing expertise to create a modern session pale ale, which is triple-hopped using Centennial, Mandarina Bavaria and Galaxy hops. With an ABV of 4.5% , 1719 has notes of citrus and tropical fruit, and  will be available on cask, keg and in 330ml bottles throughout 2019.

The final word comes from Managing director Matt Starbuck, who said,  “We are continuing to invest in Belhaven with a new visitor centre opening this year, bringing tourism to Dunbar, and warmly welcome fans of Belhaven beer to join us in celebrating the brewery birthday this year.”