Seeing out the XXXX Old with a drop of Eiche

Tuesday 31^st December, the last day of 2024, and yours truly set off in search of something that little bit special on the beer front. Harvey’s was what I was looking for, but not just the common and widely available Sussex Best Bitter, but rather the dark stuff in the form of the brewery’s XXXX Old Ale, but more precisely the company’s strong and quite rare, Christmas Ale. The latter is a darkish and rather strong barley-wine, style beer that that tops the scales at 7.5% abv.

Christmas Ale is available in bottles, and if truth be known I’ve got a couple stashed away at the back of the kitchen. Instead, it was the cask version I was after, and to get hold of some I knew I would need to visit a Harvey’s tied house. Having said that, cask Christmas Ale from Lewes, had been spotted at Tonbridge’s Nelson Arms, over a couple of days before the run-up to Christmas.

By all accounts, it went pretty quickly, which wasn’t surprising, although it does beg the question why didn’t the Nelson order several casks, rather than one? It might be a simple question of supply and demand, but if cask Christmas Ale is in short supply, why haven’t I seen it on sale? Well, I haven’t been in that many Harvey’s pubs recently, so I can’t really say, but what I do know, and this is something that dates back to when Eileen and I had our off-licence, is that the brewery offer Christmas Ale packaged in small 4 ½ gallon casks, known as “pins.”

Small containers have the advantage that the beer therein sells out quickly, but equally should the beer prove popular, it’s unlikely that to be around for long. Our off licence managed to shift a couple of pins, most Christmases, proving that in certain cases, there is a demand for strong beers, but I still feel that Harvey’s are veering on the side of caution, regarding the supply of this excellent, strong, darkish winter beer. Back to the search, and as logic dictated, I’d be more likely to find Christmas Ale on sale at a Harvey’s tied outlet, that in the free trade, I jumped onto a train and headed down to Frant station, just three stops down the line from Tonbridge. Frant station is one of those anomalies, that date back to the original coming of the railways, back in the 19^th Century, because Frant station is a couple of miles away from the village of Frant, and the location where trains actual stop is a small hamlet, known as Bells Yew Green. And it is at Bells Yew Green that the Brecknock Arms, a small and unassuming Harvey’s pub,  overlooking a cross roads in the middle of the settlement,  can be found,

I’ve known the Brecknock over many years, almost as many as I’ve lived in Tonbridge, and like may rural pubs it’s has its ups and downs. From what I’ve heard, it’s a pub on the up, although I must confess that it’s quite a while since the last time I visited. This time around, I left the train and walked the short distance along to the pub. There was a couple standing outside, having a puff when I walked up, although after seeing me, one of them made her way in and popped up behind the bar.

Disappointed at seeing no pump clip for Christmas Ale, but relieved at the presence of a clip for XXXX Old Ale, I ordered a pint of the latter. It took the barmaid a fair bit of pulling to draw the beer through, which left me thinking I might be getting the first pint out of the lines that day. Fortunately, my fears proved groundless, and I was presented with the perfect looking glass of Old which, fortunately tasted every bit as good as it looked.

There were a few people in the pub, two of whom had just finished eating, the other smoker reappeared from outside, and found a spot, at the end of the bar, where he’d probably been standing, before my arrival. He seemed quite chatty, but unfortunately loud with it, as he continued questioning the barmaid as to who had been in, and who hadn’t. Doubly unfortunate, as every other word seemed to be a profanity. That was enough to convince me only to stay for the one pint. I was sat just the other side of the bar, and was thinking to myself, do I want to be listening to this irritating individual for longer than I have to?

South East Trains were operating a Sunday service, which meant trains back to Tonbridge were running on at 60, rather than a 30-minute basis. With the next return train due to depart in 13 minutes, there was just enough time to finish my pint and take a leisurely stroll  along to the station, rather than wait for the next one, and suffer mouth almighty for a further hour. A shame, but some you win and some you lose, and that time and that occasion wasn’t the right one, so onwards and upwards, as I waited for my train to arrive. A significant amount of passengers boarded at Tunbridge Wells, presumably revellers heading up to London to watch the fireworks and see the New Year in. On the other hand, I alighted from the train at Tonbridge and then walked up to the north end of the High Street, where I knew Fuggle’s Beer Café had a beer on tap that I was eager to try.

Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche Dopplebock is a seasonal, smoke beer from Bamberg’s legendary Schlenkerla Brewery. Located in the heart of the city's historic old town, Schlenkerla can trace its history back to the 14^th Century. Today, the brewery is owned by the 6^th generation of the Grasser/Trum family, and their smoky flavoured beers are still brewed from malt that it kilned, in the traditional way, over beech wood. Before the advent of modern kilning methods, it is thought that all Central European beers would have had a smoky flavour. Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche is different from the brewery’s usual smoke beer, because the malt is kilned using oak wood, rather than beech.

According to the brewery, this gives it a smoother and more multi layered smokiness than the intensely aromatic beech wood. When paired with the bitterness of finest Hallertau aroma hops and matured for several months in the deep brewery cellars beneath Bamberg, it creates a special Christmas treat for lovers of smoke beer. With an abv of 8.0%, it’s not a beer to be trifled with, and whilst I have enjoyed the beer in bottled form on several occasions, here in the UK, it is rare to see it on draught. Only once have I experienced that pleasure, and that was 14 years ago, at the Aecht Schlenkerla tavern, in the heart of Bamberg.

Seeing its availability on Fuggle’s website, was too good an opportunity to miss, hence my visit to their Tonbridge café. It was by far the best beer that I’ve drank so far over this Christmas period, and I was left wishing that I’d ordered a pint, rather than a half, but given its high gravity, is definitely is a beer to be treated with respect. Also drinking in Fuggle’s was Keith, from West Kent CAMRA, who’d called in with his small, canine companion. It reminded me of our own dog, now sadly long departed, but the perfect excuse for calling in for a “swift one” at the local pub.

Although tempted to stay for another glass of Eiche Dopplebock, I thought it best to call it a day, and get the bus home. Mrs PBT’s was surprised to see me home so early, but I knew there was a long evening ahead, until the chimes of Big Ben would be heralding in the New Year. I also knew that my lovely wife had cooked a nice fish pie for our supper, and a posh one as well, containing smoked haddock, salmon and prawns. She certainly knows the way to a man’s heart, and with son Matthew staying over at his cousins, for New Year, there was all the more for us.