Green-hopped beers appear to have lost their sparkle

As forecast in the previous post, I managed a visit to the Festival of Green Hop Beers, hosted by the excellent Dovecote Inn at Capel. My visit was almost a last-minute decision, following on, as it did, from a number of “errands” in Tonbridge (mainly banking and other boring stuff), that took up a large chunk of the morning. I got lucky when a No. 219 bus came along, and after a semi-sprint, I was able to jump on board, and head for home.

Mrs PBT’s was keen that I had a spot of light lunch before heading back out again, but even so I was an hour later than the rest of the CAMRA crew, when it cam to heading over to Five Oak Green, and the walk to Capel. If you were following the previous post, you will probably be thinking, what happened to that trip to Dunelm you were talking about, the other day – the one you agreed to undertake, with Mrs PBT’s? Well, at the risk of entering into the “smug zone” buying a new window blind, to replace the rather sad, fading and partially collapsed current one, wasn’t quite as simple as just rocking up at Dunelm, and loading a new one into the back of the car.

Unbeknown to my dear lady wife, I’d already carried out a spot of online research, only to be told, “Leave this to me.” She didn’t quite go as far to describe the task as a “pink job” primarily because she knew I would be the person up a ladder, fitting it, but the following day I found her scrolling through the same Blinds2go, and other similar websites that I’d looked at the night before. So, a suitable blind has been sorted and purchased from Blinds2go, or similar, but I did have to supply the measurements. No trip to Dunelm, necessary then – the nearest outlet is on a retail park on the edge of Maidstone. Paul was therefore free to go and sample a few Green Hop Ales with his buddies from the local CAMRA branch.

The 205 Autocar bus, which runs hourly between Tonbridge and Paddock Wood, was to be my means of conveyance, but as often happens with buses, it was running late. I was on the verge of giving up, when the bus eventually appeared, and sitting there towards the rear of the vehicle, was another member heading towards Five Oak Green. Tony’s connecting bus, over from Tunbridge Wells, had been badly delayed by roadworks – our crumbling infrastructure really is a reflection on the lack of investment by successive governments, regardless of political persuasion, over many years, and we are now paying the price!

Lecture over, the 15-minute journey saw the pair of us leaving the bus at the strangely named Sychem Lane, for the 20-minute walk along the lanes to Capel. Tony rushed on ahead, anxious to reach the Dovecote in advance of the 2pm cutoff for lunchtime food orders. He’d missed out last year, (I didn’t!), so was determined not to let the same thing happen. I said I would see him at the pub, and followed along behind, at a more leisurely pace. I timed the walk as this was information I needed to know for the return journey. 

Fortunately, the rain held off, and I arrived at the Dovecote at 13:50, in time for lunch, had I been eating. Tony was
already there, of course, as were the half dozen or so, other CAMRA members. The pub wasn’t as crowded as it was the previous year, but there were still quite a few customers getting tucked into the hearty looking food – including friend Tony. The Dovecote was featuring 12 Green Hop Ales in total, although only half that number were available that Friday, which was the first day of the weekend-long festival.

After a brief introductory chat with the CAMRA crew, I ordered myself a beer. Tasting notes were available for those that wanted them, but I let myself be guided by instinct. I also decided to stick to pints which, whilst a smart move, did mean care was needed when making a selection. Capel Pale from Tonbridge Brewery was my first pint and, as it turned out, was also the best and most tasty beer of the day.  Brewed using freshly harvested Pilgrim hops, from a grower in Capel, this was a truly local Green Hop beer. 

Second in the running was Harlequin, from Three Acre Brewery. This 5.0% abv, English IPA is brewed using freshly picked Harlequin hops and was billed as the Dovecote landlord’s personal favourite. It wasn’t bad, but nowhere near as good as the Tonbridge beer. The same has to be said of my final beer of the day- Southdown Harvest from Harvey’s. The latter is one of the Lewes brewery’s regular seasonal beers, and although it had an addition of freshly picked hops, it wasn’t brewed exclusively with green hops. An enjoyable beer, nevertheless, and a good one to finish on.

Three pints was sufficient for that particular afternoon session, and to a man we all departed the pub in sufficient time to allow for the walk back to the stop at Sychem Lane, for the last bus of the day, back to Tonbridge. I enjoyed the session, and it was good to catch up with friends and acquaintances who I hadn’t seen in a long time. The Dovecote too was good, even though it wasn’t as busy as I expected. The same too, could be said of the previous Friday’s pub, the Wheatsheaf at Jarvis Brook, but not being a regular enough drinker on the last day of the working week, I’m probably not the best person to be making these judgments.

What I will say is, that apart from the standout Green Hop beer from Tonbridge, there wasn’t anything that out of the ordinary to convince me I was actually drinking a green hop ale. As I wrote in the previous post, the novelty surrounding Green Hop beers has definitely dropped off, certainly when compared to what was the case when they first burst on the scene, a dozen or so years ago. Full marks though to the Dovecote for hosting this relaxed, and relatively low-key event, and for keeping the Green Hop concept alive in the minds of local drinkers.