A Brief Visit to Norfolk

I returned early last week from a brief visit to Norfolk. My parents retired to the county nearly 20 years ago and whilst I do obviously visit from time to time, it’s probably not as often as I should, especially considering their advancing years. Having said that, they’re in pretty good shape and it was good to see them both looking quite hale and hearty. It was also good to, exchange news and generally catch up on things.

I say I should visit more often, but the area of Norfolk where they live isn’t that easy to reach. It’s only 140 miles door to door, but once you get a little passed Newmarket, the dual-carriageway disappears, and is replaced by much slower single-carriageway roads, which always seem to make the last part of the journey drag.

My visit was obviously not a beer related one, but I did manage to slip away for an hour or so on the final evening for a brief visit to the local pub. My parents live in a large, elongated village called Swanton Morley, which is roughly five miles from the town of Dereham. There are two pubs in the village; there used to be three when they first moved there, but the Papermakers closed quite a few years ago and is now a private house.

One of the remaining pubs is located in the centre of the village, just down from the imposing church, next to the local shop and Post Office,  It goes under the name of Darby’s,  but has only been a pub since 1988 when it was converted from a pair of 18th century farm cottages.  It is named after Ann Darby, the last person to farm from the site. For some time Darby’s featured regularly in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide, but seems to have lost its listing in favour of the Angel. This is the pub at the far end of the village, and the nearest one to my parent’s bungalow.

I like the Angel; it is obviously CAMRA friendly with a small, but good selection of well-kept cask beers. It also holds regular Beer Festivals; in fact one is scheduled to take place this Easter weekend. The couple that run it are very much involved in village activities. Despite this I had it in mind to give Darby’s another try. I had accompanied my father down to the village shop, and we were planning to pop in next door for a quick drink. However, we soon discovered that the pub closes between 3 and 6pm during the week. This makes sense I suppose; given there is probably very little trade during the afternoon.

Foiled in my attempt for an afternoon pint I put plan B into action, and nipped out, on foot, later the same evening to the Angel. It was a freezing cold night, and I wasn’t planning to stay long, especially as I was feeling a bit under the weather. Apart from the young lad behind the bar, there were only two other people in the pub. There was a welcoming log fire burning in the grate though, and although the barman was engrossed in his laptop he looked pleased to see another customer. Three cask ales were on sale – Woodforde’s Wherry (inevitable really in Norfolk), Hop Back Summer Lightning (something of a rarity these days) and, as guest beer, the award-winning Trawler Boys Best Bitter from Green Jack Brewery of Lowestoft. I opted for the latter, which turned out true to form as an excellent beer, before moving onto the Summer Lightning.

Like other legendary beers such as Taylor’s Landlord and Exmoor Gold, Summer Lightning to me tastes somewhat bland these days. I had a conversation with a friend about this phenomenon just the other day, as he had also reached the same conclusion. Is it just that our palates change with time? Is it that more “extreme” beers have excited our taste buds to such an extent that beers we once regarded as full of character, now seem dull and one-dimensional? Or is it just that the afore mentioned beers have grown in popularity, gained mass-acceptance, and the  brewers have been tempted to cut costs, go for cheaper ingredients, and cut maturation times?

To return to the Angel for a moment; the two other customers, a couple of ageing bikers, (rather them than me on a motorcycle on such a freezing cold night), donned their gear, said farewell to the barman and left the pub. I wasn’t far from being ready to go myself, and on the way out I told mine host that I hoped he would get a few more punters that evening. Not to worry, he said, there will be more people coming in a minute. He was right, for on my walk back to my parents, I noticed a couple of people heading for the pub. I suppose given the inclement weather and the fact it was a Monday evening, the pub wasn’t doing too bad!

That wasn’t quite my only pub experience of the trip, as earlier the same day, we stopped for lunch at a large, newly-built new Marstons pub, attached to Norwich Retail Park. The Copper Beech has a popular carvery, offering good value for money roast dinners and we took full advantage of this. My parents claimed it wasn’t that busy, but again given the aforementioned weather, and day of the week it seemed busy enough to me.

Beer-wise there were the usual Marston’s beers on offer, including Bank’s Bitter, Hobgoblin and Oxford Gold. I went for the latter, but it was a little on the chilly side and had been spoilt by being pulled through a sparkler! It didn’t matter too much, the roast dinner was tasty and filling, and we were only intending to stay for one anyway.

I will be returning to Norfolk in a few weeks’ time for the CAMRA Member’s Weekend and National AGM. Before the weekend gets underway, I will be spending a few more days with mum and dad. Hopefully the weather will be a bit better by then!

The High Weald by Bus

 Our eagerly awaited bus trip to a number of rural pubs we rarely get to visit, took place last Saturday. The weather was appalling, certainly for late March with snow in the morning, and a biting easterly wind that made it a day best suited to staying indoors. Five of us braved the unseasonal cold and headed out to the part of West Kent known as the High Weald, where we were joined later, at the last pub on our itinerary, by a sixth member who'd been called into work during the morning.

Taking advantage of the Explorer Day Ticket, offered by our local Arriva bus company we travelled from the centre of Tunbridge Wells out into the wilds of  the very wet and dreary looking  Kent countryside. Apart from one other passenger who joined the bus in Cowden, we had the bus to ourselves. Our driver though seemed in a tearing hurry, speeding along the narrow lanes and flinging the vehicle around some of the tight bends. It was therefore with a sense of relief that we alighted from the bus in the tiny village of Mark Beech, right outside our first port of call, the Kentish Horse.

Our driver's need for speed hadn't done us any favours as we were left outside in the snow waiting for the pub to open at midday. Fortunately we only had five minutes or so to wait, and there was a  bus shelter opposite to keep the worst of the elements at bay. We were please though when we saw movement from inside, followed by the sound of the key turning in the lock. With a friendly greeting  from the landlady we were ushered inside and, after ordering our beer, grabbed the nearest table to the roaring welcoming log fire.

Beer wise there were just two cask beers on sale; Harvey's Best and Larkins Traditional, but they were both in fine form. Soon we were settled down warm and secure from the snow that was still falling quite heavily outside. The pub was starting to fill up quite rapidly, so we thought it best to order ourselves some lunch as soon as possible. There was a chalkboard above the fireplace advertising the day's specials, but I opted for the chicken curry, very reasonably priced at £6.95, and satisfying and filling as well.

The Kentish Horse had a good feel to it, and it was encouraging to see so many customers on such a cold and bleak afternoon. Most of them seemed to be regulars as well, which was even more encouraging. It was therefore with some reluctance that we had to say goodbye to the pub and head off down the road to the Greyhound at Hever, our next port of call.  We were on foot for the relatively short journey, but fortunately the mile or so walk was all downhill and it had also stopped snowing! On the way we disturbed a flock of deer, who ran off into the surrounding woodland. Their presence was a hint as to why venison dishes featured quite prominently on the menu at the Kentish Horse.

We were glad to step in from the cold once again. The Greyhound is a quirky sort of pub combining a mixture of both old and new to good effect. There are lots of recesses and tucked away drinking areas, with a larger section given over to dining towards the rear of the pub. Like at our previous stopover, there was a welcoming log fire and this, combined with subdued candle-lit illumination, gave a real cosy feel to the place.  The Greyhound is some distance from the centre of Hever village, but still appears to attract a good trade. It is unashamedly more upmarket than the Kentish Horse, but we still received a warm welcome from the landlord and some of the regulars. Beer-wise there was a choice of Harvey's Best and Thwaite's Lancaster Bomber. I opted for the Harvey's, but most of my companions went for the guest ale.

The Greyhound officially closes at 3pm for an afternoon break, but with our bus due shortly after that time, we ventured outside and awaited its arrival. To our horror, it was the same driver we'd had on our earlier journey. He seemed to be in no less of a rush than before, so after another hair raising journey it was with a sense of relief that he deposited us safely in Edenbridge, right outside our last official port of call.

The Old Eden is easily the best pub in Edenbridge, an attractive town on the Kent-Surrey border, whose character was somewhat altered following the creation  of two ‘overspill’ estates, by the Greater London Council, during the 1960's. The Old Eden undoubtedly counts children, or even grandchildren, of some of these "newcomers" amongst its regulars, but is none the worse for that.

The pub itself is an attractive old tile-hung building, which dates in part from the late 15th Century. It is situated  a short distance from the River Eden, which is named after the town, rather than the other way round! Internally there is one long, low L-shaped bar, divided by an exposed staircase, which leads up to a separate restaurant area. There are plenty of exposed beams, as one would expect of such an old building and. especially welcome on a freezing cold Saturday, three welcoming open fires. It is a family run pub which has deservedly featured in the Good Beer Guide for a number of years.

The beer selection included Taylor's Landlord, Young's Bitter, Hog's Back Hop Garden Gold, Westerham 1965,  plus a house beer also from Westerham, called Old Eden. I started with the Landlord, before moving onto the rather malty 1965. I have to say I found the former rather disappointing. This was no reflection on the pub, or the way the beer was looked after, but rather reinforcement of what I view as the debasement of this once classic beer. This was the second time I have found Landlord lacking in a GBG listed pub; the previous occasion being at the Dolphin in Canterbury back in December. What was once a very complex and interesting, multi-level beer, has now become very one-dimensional, so much so that I was left wishing I'd gone for the Hog's Back beer instead!

We departed the Old Eden shortly after 5pm, in order to catch the last bus back. Had we wished we could have stayed a lot longer and returned by train, but it would have been a long cold walk up to Edenbridge station and besides, we had bought "Explorer Tickets", entitling us to unlimited bus travel within the area. The bus ran all the way to Tunbridge Wells, but as I was due to drive up to Norfolk the following morning, I decided to alight at Bidborough, from where I caught a  bus back into Tonbridge. This was probably a wise move, as my companions would undoubtedly have ended up at either the Bedford or the Grove (and possibly both), where further copious quantities of ale would inevitably have been consumed!

Footnote: It was encouraging to see the three pubs visited so busy, especially on such a bitterly cold day. It was also good to let someone else do the driving, even if he was a bit of a maniac!

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam

Apologies in advance to anyone wanting to comment on a particular post. Like many other bloggers recently, I've been increasingly plagued by spammers. It's tedious in the extreme, having to backtrack and remove the stuff, and I've got far better things to do with my time. The answer. I'm afraid, has been to introduce the dreaded word verification, which I know is a pain, but can't be helped.

The Taste of Things to Come

Apart from an enforced day off from work last Tuesday, due to heavy snow, there’s not been much for me to blog about just recently. It’s a strange time of year, with winter continuing to drag on despite an all too brief hint of spring the other week. On the local CAMRA front there’s not been a lot happening either, apart from a bit of a spat over one of the choices for next year’s (2014) Good Beer Guide. In a nutshell, if people can’t be bothered to turn up to the selection meeting, then they can’t really expect to be taken notice of after the pub’s been chosen. Even more to the point, all branch members were contacted, either by e-mail or snail mail, prior to our AGM, which took place back in November, and were asked to nominate pubs for possible selection, and also for feedback on current entries. No excuses there then, although two somewhat self-opinionated people, one of whom is no longer a member, did manage to stir up an awful lot of trouble which, quite frankly, my colleagues on the committee could have done without.

This withstanding, we’ve got a bus trip scheduled for next Saturday, see here, and then the following Friday I will be joining friends and colleagues from Maidstone & Mid-Kent CAMRA for their annual Good Friday Ramble. This will start from a convenient railway station, and then take in a rural watering hole along the way. (I understand this year's choice is a pub which majors on Goacher’s beers, served straight from the cask). In between these two events, I’ve got a trip planned to the wilds of Norfolk, in order to visit my parents. Mum and dad are both in their early 80’s, and I’ve not seen them since the autumn, so it will be good to spend some time together catching up on things. Doubtless there will be the chance of visiting a local pub or two and sampling a few of Norfolk’s impressive selection of locally-brewed ales.

 The following month will see me returning to Norfolk, this time for the CAMRA Member’s Weekend and National AGM, which takes place from 19^th to 21^st April, in Norwich at St Andrew’s and Blackfriars’ Halls. I attended the Member's Weekend three years ago, when it was held on the Isle of Man, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite numerous visits to Norfolk over the past 20 years or so, Norwich is a city I have never really had the chance to drink in. My parents live some 20 miles from the city, and on the occasions I have visited, I have always been driving. It will therefore be a pleasure to explore a few of the city’s many fine alehouses, including such gems as the King’s Head, the Gardeners Arms (Murderers), Kett’s Tavern and the legendary Fat Cat. It will also be good to meet up with friends from other CAMRA branches, and to spend some time in the member’s beer exhibition which is being held in Blackfriars Hall.

Later in the year, the third week in July to be precise, I will be attending the legendary Annafest, which takes place every year around this time in the small Franconian town of Forchheim, between Bamberg and Nuremberg. Although billed as a folk festival, beer is one of the main features of Annafest, where around 20 Kellers (beer gardens) offer beer from Forchheim’s four breweries, alongside others from the surrounding area. Most of the breweries brew a special festival beer at around 5.5 to 6.5%. The Kellers are situated in a wooded area just outside the town; some are open all year (within season), whilst others open just for the ten day duration of Annafest. As well as various live music acts, there are fairground attractions, including a large Ferris wheel, plus plenty of stalls selling food to help soak up all that beer!

Annafest is an event I’ve wanted to attend for some time, but for a number of reasons I’ve never quite managed it. This year though I’ve booked the flights and have also secured a holiday apartment for son Matthew and myself, right in the centre of Forchheim.  As well as attending the festivities at the Kellers, we’re planning to explore the local area, which is home to a number of small, local breweries, most of which produce beers that are both flavourful and full of character. A return visit to Bamberg will also be on the cards.

So, as March drifts along and Easter fast approaches, there is plenty to look forward to on the beer and pubs front.

A Night in the Bedford

There was a great selection of local ales on sale in the Bedford last Wednesday evening. Around a dozen West Kent CAMRA members had pitched up for a social, and to take advantage of the pub's weekly Cask Ale Club, when all cask beers are sold for just £2.50 a pint.

Since drinks consultant and  brewery owner Simon Lewis, took over this Tunbridge Wells pub a couple of years ago, the Bedford has gone from strength to strength, and is now rightly regarded as one of the town's premier alehouses. When we arrived, fresh off the train, we were greeted with a packed pub, and a choice of eight different beers, from three different Kentish breweries. Two of these breweries are not often seen in this part of the county, so close to the border with neighbouring Sussex. Goacher's of Maidstone are the oldest micro-brewery in Kent, having been established in 1983.  Hopdaemon of  Newnham near Faversham, whilst not quite so old, have still been around since 2000.

Three Goacher's beers were on: Real Mild,  Fine Light and Best Dark Ale, and there were also three from Hopdaemon: Golden Braid, Incubus and Skrimshander IPA. Complementing the above were a couple of beers from relative newcomer, Kent Brewery, who pitched in with Black Gold and Porter. I started with Goacher's Mild, a traditional dark mild with a pronounced grainy taste, before moving on to the Kent Brewery  Black Gold, a well-hopped "Black IPA". Light-coloured, session beer, Hopdaemon Golden Braid followed, and I was going to finish with the Kent Brewery Porter, but unfortunately this, together with the other Kent beer, ran out. Hopdaemon Skrimshander was therefore my final pint of the evening, a clean-tasting, aromatic copper-coloured pale ale.

It was good to see a pub so busy mid-week. The Cask Ale Club undoubtedly helped, but the Bedford has become a welcome addition to the drinking scene in Tunbridge Wells and is popular with a wide range of people. It is also good to see a pub putting so much weight behind local breweries, and long may this continue.

Getting to the Pub

Our local CAMRA branch covers a wide area of West Kent, taking in not only the major towns of Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, but also smaller ones such as Edenbridge and Westerham. There is a considerable amount of countryside in between,  interspersed with picturesque rural villages and, as might be expected, some attractive country pubs. Covering this rural chunk of the county can be a bit of a logistical nightmare, but during recent years the branch has adopted a policy of holding socials in the easy to reach  towns on weekday evenings, and then at the weekend, (usually during daylight hours), getting out to some of the much less accessible villages.

Despite its largely rural makeup and in spite of  cutbacks to local government subsidies, West Kent does still have a half decent public transport network. It may be fragmented, with a host of different bus companies (both large and small) covering the different routes, but with a bit of forward planning and a bit of additional effort, it is possible to reach most parts of the area and, more importantly, the majority of its pubs without  resorting to the private motor car.

It always amazes me just how lacking in knowledge the majority of the largely car-owning general public are when it comes to using public transport. It seems people have become so used to the convenience, and comfort, of jumping into their vehicles and driving off to wherever it is they want to go. For beer lovers and pub goers alike this simply isn't an option, not unless one wishes to severely curtail ones consumption or just plain stay off the beer altogether. None of us seriously want to follow that option though, which is why as a branch, we have always made as much use as we can of public transport. Our award winning "Gateway to Kent " guide not only includes public transport information for all the rural pubs (providing it is available), but also includes a section at the rear of the guide about getting to the pub, either by train, bus or a combination of the two. For the more energetic there are articles on both walking and cycling, with suggested "refreshment stops" along the way!

In three weeks time we've a Saturday outing, by bus, to a couple of remotely situated pubs we don't normally get out to. I wrote about one of them, the Kentish Horse at Markbeech, here, but we'll also be visiting the isolated Greyhound a Hever, before catching the bus on to Edenbridge where the Good Beer Guide-listed Old Eden, awaits us. Between Christmas and New Year, whilst looking for some possible pubs to visit with a group of friends, I came up with several  possibilities, all involving bus journeys, to different points of the compass. The pubs it was possible to visit by these bus routes, include the Crown at Groombridge and the Dorset Arms, Withyham Bus 291); the Spotted Dog and Bottle House, Smart's Hill, plus the Chafford Arms, Fordcombe (Bus 231); and the Fountain, Cowden (234). Last year we also visited a number of pubs to the north of the branch area, such as the Golding Hop at Plaxtol and the National Inventory-listed Old House at Ightham Common (Bus 222).

Don, who is acting Social Secretary for the branch, and a mine of information about bus travel and the various ticketing options, made a point in his report to our 2012 Branch AGM that many members, as well as the general public, are unaware that public transport IS available to most of our more remote pubs, and spoke of the need to emphasise these options more, together with likely costs, in our publicity for such outings. This lack of knowledge has been brought home to me on a number of occasions by comments posted on this blog. Some people appear incredulous that it is possible to visit most of the rural gems I write about, using either buses or train. One correspondent wasn't even aware that there is a regular train service between Tonbridge and Frant (the Hastings Line), which enables evening visits to the Brecknock Arms, our nearest Harvey's pub.

It is important not only to support our rural pubs by visiting them as often as possible, but also equally important to travel to them using public transport wherever possible. Many of these bus routes operate at a loss, and most are  very under-used. There have been occasions when were it not for us CAMRA members, the bus would have been running empty. I mentioned near the beginning of the article about the importance of subsidies from the local authority, in our case Kent County Council. Most of these rural bus routes rely on subsidies to keep going, At a time when the reins on spending are continually being tightened, the old adage of "use it or lose it! is more appropriate than ever. It would be a tragedy if, through a mixture of apathy and ignorance, we were to lose these rural links. It would certainly make going to the pub a whole lot harder!

Club Festival Scoops Rare Beers

Orpington Liberal Club seems an unlikely venue to hold a beer festival, but as a small group of West Kent CAMRA members found, when they attended on Saturday afternoon, it turned out to be a really good event. We had been alerted to the festival, via Facebook, by club chairman Duncan Borrowman, and were previously aware that cask ale features very high on the clubs' agenda. Three of us therefore took the opportunity to make the 20 minute journey to Orpington, by train, on one of the coldest days of the winter so far to see what was on offer.

Because of the freezing temperatures we were glad that Orpington Liberal Club was just a five minute walk, downhill from the station. The club itself wasn't that easy to spot as it's basically a converted 1930's suburban house, with a period style garage attached on one side, but once in we announced our presence at the bar and collected, and paid for, our pre-ordered tickets.

There were around twenty beers on offer, the majority of which were housed in the adjoining function room. With the exception of an American IPA from Adnams, all the beers were locally sourced from breweries in London, Surrey, Kent, Sussex and Essex. They were divided into the following categories: Milds; Traditional English Bitters and IPA's; Golden Ales; American IPA; American Brown Ales; Black IPA's; Porters and Stouts. Amongst the beers were a number of rarities and one-offs, including #4 American Brown Ale from Shamblemoose Brewery - the first beer, from a new brewery, that was launching at the festival; another American Brown Ale, called Altered States, this time from Kent Brewery of Birling, launched the previous week and the 2013 recipe for Gardenia Mild, from Kissingate Brewery, again launching at the festival. The latter has rosemary and rose petals added to the cask to give a floral and somewhat unique flavour. There was also a couple of beers from new brewery Clarence & Frederick of Croydon. All in all some pretty interesting and unusual beers.

For much of the afternoon there was a variety of different folk acts playing in the function room. Some were quite good, others were not, so we adjourned next door, where we found ourselves a bit of space literally propping up the bar. We made regular forays into the other room to re-fill our glasses, and late on to procure some solid refreshment in the form of cheeseburgers.

Shortly after six o'clock, another of our regular members arrived, freezing cold from sitting on the terraces watching Charlton Athletic lose to Nottingham Forest. Having previously lived in Orpington, and been a member of the local CAMRA branch, Don was able to introduce us to a group from Bromley CAMRA, who were sitting at a nearby table; they even had a few empty chairs and invitied us to join them. After standing for a couple of hours, it was nice to take the weight of ones feet!

I'm not quite certain as to the exact time we left, but I think it was around 9pm. It had certainly been a good festival, with some new and interesting beers to sample. I found the following beers particularly noteworthy: Brentwood Marvellous Maple Mild, Clarence & Frederick's Golden Ale, Portobello Pale,
Shamblemoose #4 American Brown Ale, Franklin's Pudding Stout  and Ramsgate Oatmeal Stout. There were three others I would liked to have tried: A Head in a Hat - Titfer, Canterbury Ales Black IPA and Late Knights Hairy Dog Black IPA. However, as my head told me next morning I had sampled enough, so it was probably just as well that I ended up saving these beers for another day!

Bloomsbury Brown Ale

There's been quite a bit of talk recently about low-gravity beers. Tandleman, in particular, posted about a couple of them; one dark and the other light - both produced by well respected brewers, Dark Star and Saltaire respectively.

I experienced an almost "Road to Damascus" - like conversion the other night, whilst drinking one of the beers I was given for Christmas. Amongst several beer-related festive gifts, was an eight bottle presentation box of Harvey's beers. Harvey's are quite unusual in that they still offer a wide range of beers in traditional half pint (275ml), returnable, multi-trip  bottles. Twenty or thirty years ago there would have been nothing remarkable about this, but those breweries that still produce bottled beers today, do so in non-returnable, one-trip 500ml bottles, designed to fit on supermarket shelves.

I've been gradually drinking my way through them. and indeed the other day drank, and reviewed, their Diamond Jubilee Elizabethan Ale. Lurking in the box was one called Bloomsbury Brown (formerly Nut Brown). It weighs in at just 2.8% yet is bursting with flavour, and proved to be a remarkably pleasant drink. The bottle features a picture of  the artist Duncan Grant, who was a member of the influential "Bloomsbury Group" of  writers, painters and intellectuals, during the 1920's. Along with his partner Vanessa Bell,   Grant made his home at  Charleston Farmhouse,  on the South Downs, not far from Lewes. With his long greybeard, straw hat and farmers smock, he looks every bit the bohemian artist of legend. The blurb on the bottle tells us that Harvey's Nut Brown was reputed to be one of  Grant's favourite drinks.

It certainly is very pleasant and, given the right mood,  is a beer I could quite happily drink all night. I'm wondering whether this beer is a bottled version of Harvey's Sussex Mild, in the same way that their Blue Label is a bottled version of their Best Bitter. Anyone got any thoughts on this?

Czech Out This Porter

I've just been enjoying a bottle of Porter I brought back with me from my visit to Prague last September. Pardubicky Porter 19 Originalni Tmave Pivo - Original Dark Beer.  I can't remember exactly where I bought it, but I think it may have been in Tesco's large outlet in the centre of Prague, of all places!

It's a bit of a mouthful both in name and beer wise, but seeing as I'd be saving this one for some time. it was well worth the wait when I finally opened it. Rich, velvety-chocolate overtones, balanced with a background of roasted barley and brewed at a decent strength of 8.0% abv. There is a nice warming feel to the beer as well, despite my serving it chilled.

From a land famed for its golden, Pilsner-style lagers, this dark, traditional porter is a real eye-opener, and a thoroughly excellent beer.  I noticed that Boak and Bailey posted on this beer, amongst others, back in 2008, so it's not that new.

Whilst on the subject of  non-indigenous beers, I remember now that I enjoyed a 6.3% IPA at the Strahov Kloster Monastery,  near Prague Castle, on the same trip, so it looks as if the Czechs are, like other nations, experimenting with other beer styles. Interesting!

Black Malt

I don't like black malt in a beer. It imparts a nasty burnt, acrid taste to the finished product and I wish brewers would stop using it to colour their dark beers! Actually, I think most have, preferring instead to add chocolate malt, which not only imparts the desired dark colour, but also contributes a lush chocolate-coffee flavour which is much more acceptable to my palate.
  
I am writing this because the other day I cracked open a bottle of Harvey's 2012 Elizabethan Ale, which was included in a selection box of the brewery's beers that I received as a Christmas present from a work colleague.The blurb on the side of the bottle states "An exact replica of the "Coronation Ale" brewed by Harvey's Brewery in 1952 and marketed as Elizabethan Ale. In contrast to its modern counterpart, the original recipe includes flaked barley and black malt. This dark barley wine with its full, rich malt character is well hopped with local Fuggle and Golding hops and is brewed in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.".

I instantly recognised the black malt, which was hardly inconspicuous and lurking in the back ground! My familiarity, and dislike of this ingredient, dates back to my home brewing days, when having just mastered the technique of full-mash, rather than extract, brewing I keenly followed some of the recipes in the late Dave Line's "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy". A number of recipes, particularly those for darker beers, included a proportion of black malt in the grist. I think this was more because the vastly superior chocolate malt just wasn't available for the home brew market but, unfortunately, black malt was.

I remember being disappointed with both the flavour and overall balance of beers brewed using this malt, and made a resolve not to use it in the future. Later, when Graham Wheeler's brewing books appeared, chocolate malt had become available to home brewers, so I was able to recreate a whole variety of porters, stouts, old ales, dunkles etc. that were much more in agreement with my palate.

The taste of Harvey's 2012 Elizabethan Ale therefore brought back a few slightly unpleasant memories, but was for me, as well as for the brewery themselves, an interesting look back on the world of brewing 60 years ago.

Black Malt - made by roasting high nitrogen malt at a temperature marginally below that which would carbonise the grain. Used to add flavour and colour to mild ales, porters and stouts. Black malt should  not be used in high quantities else its flavour becomes overpowering.

Half and Half

Looking back on my recent visit to the Castle Inn at Chiddingstone the other week, when my friends and I met up with Bob Dockerty, from Larkins Brewery, I was reminded of a practice which was once common-place, but which I thought had virtually died out. In the pub, Bob was drinking a mix of his brewery’s Porter and Traditional Ale (Trad), which he referred to as “half and half”. We all gave this blend a go and had to admit it was rather good, combining the rich chocolaty notes of the Porter, with the refreshing hoppiness of the much weaker Trad. I also remember Larkins supplying this blend as a brewery mix to the Wheatsheaf pub at Marsh Green, near Edenbridge, a few years ago, where it was sold under the name “Wheatsheaf Wobble”. 

When I started drinking, some 40 years ago, it was quite common to see beers being drunk in “mixed form” in pubs. The most common blend was “light and bitter”, a drink that consisted of half a pint of ordinary bitter, with a bottle of light ale to top it up. Whilst this mix was fairly common in East Kent, where I grew up, it was always much more a London thing.

 The reasoning behind it's popularity was two-fold. First, back in the 50’s and 60’s, the quality of the draught (cask) beer in many pubs was rather variable, to say the least, so the addition of a bottle of light ale helped pep it up (it would certainly add condition to a draught beer that may perhaps have lost most of its own, and would to all intents and purposes be virtually flat). It may also have helped mask “off flavours” associated with poorly-kept cask beer. The second reason was a slightly crafty one on behalf of the drinker, in that before the advent of marked glasses, and metered pumps, many landlords would dispense slightly more than half a pint of draught beer meaning, that when the light ale was added, the drinker would receive a bit more than a pint of beer!

The other common, but slightly less popular mix, was “brown and mild” (sometimes referred to as a “boilermaker”); basically a half pint of draught mild, topped up with a bottle of brown ale. Again the reasons for the popularity of this mix were exactly the same as described above. Other, less common mixes were “old and bitter” (known universally as a “mother-in-law”), “black and tan” - Guinness (or other stout) and bitter. and “mild and bitter”, sometimes simply abbreviated to “AB” – these letters standing for “and bitter” and date back to when mild ale was the most common and popular draught beer sold in pubs. The abbreviation inferred the publican knew you wanted your half pint of mild topped up with draught bitter.

During my late teens, my friends and I went through a phase of asking for this mix, partly because it was quite a pleasant drink, but also out of a sense of mischievous curiosity, just to see what reaction we would get from the bar staff. Actually, most landlords and landladies knew what we were asking for, especially old school licensees. Back then most had either been in the trade for some time, or had come from pub-owning families, and there was certainly not the high turnover of publicans there is in the trade today.

The late Richard Boston, in his excellent book, “Beer and Skittles”, lists several more mixtures, and reminds readers that drinks such as shandy and lager and lime ( the latter not often seen these days, but very common back in the early 1970’s) are of course, mixtures. Incidentally, the strange practice of requesting a dash of lemonade to be added to one's pint, in the form of a “lager top”, has taken over from adding a shot of lime juice to lager  He also informs us that mild and bitter is known as “Narfer narf”. (Perhaps my friends and I should have tried our luck with this name back in the 70’s!)

The mixing of different types/styles of beer to achieve the taste desired by the drinker, of course dates back many hundreds of years. Many people know the story (true or otherwise), about the origin of porter, or Entire Butt to give the beer its correct name. Formerly, drinkers would have mixed three different beers - pale, brown and stale (old ale), to create a blend known as "Three Threads", but in 1722  Ralph Harwood of the Bell Inn, Shoreditch hit on the idea of combining the different attributes of this blend in one single beer hence, name Entire Butt. However, despite the popularity of porter, drinkers continued to mix beers, well into the 20^th Century, in the way I have described.

I’m not quite sure what caused practice to die out; it may have been the increasing popularity of keg beers during the 1960’s and early 70’s, when drinkers were presented with a much more consistent, albeit bland, product. Alternatively, it may have been the influence of CAMRA and the growing interest in beers from different parts of the country, combined with the desire to sample and enjoy them in their pure, unadulterated form (ie. on their own and not mixed with another type of beer). Most likely it was a combination of both factors which caused the mixing of two different types of beer to virtually vanish; but not in Chiddingstone it seems!

As a way of rounding off this subject, I would be most interested to hear other people’s thoughts and experiences of drinks such as light and bitter, brown and mild etc, along with any other strange combinations they may have come across, (and even tried!).

Two Kentish Festivals

Beer festivals are like buses, you wait ages for one then two come along at once! This was certainly the case last weekend, when two Winter Ale festivals were held at opposite ends of the county and I was lucky enough to attend both!

The White Cliffs Festival of Winter Ales  is organised by Dover, Deal and Sandwich CAMRA, and is now in its 20th year. It is held at the historic Maison Dieu (God's House), a lovely old medieval building in the heart of Dover that now functions as the local Town Hall. Being a winter ales festival the organisers make great play of the fact there are no beers on sale that are below 5.0% abv. A degree of caution is therefore both advisable and, indeed, necessary when approaching and selecting which beers one wishes to sample.

The other festival took place much closer to home, in fact it was a mere 20 minutes walk  from my house. Successful local Rugby Club, Tonbridge Juddians (TJ's for short), have acted as hosts for the SIBA South East Regional Beer Festival (normally held in July), for a number of years now. Last years event had to be cancelled, owing to unseasonal weather which flooded the sports ground where the marquee housing the festival is sited. The club did manage to salvage something from the flood though, and held a mini-festival in the clubhouse, which is constructed on stilts above the level of the floodplain. This event proved so successful that it prompted  event organiser Gary, and cellar manager, Chris to run the club's first "stand alone" beer festival and, seeing as it was taking place at the beginning of February, a winter ales festival at that.

Originally I had only planned to attend the latter, local event, having previously been caught out at Dover, by too many strong ales (and by the ease at which they seem to slip down), but was persuaded the previous weekend, by a group of friends that providing we all took it easy, it would still be a good festival to attend. The group were also looking for a fourth member to make up the party, as this would allow us to take advantage of South East Trains admirable Group Travel offer, where four people can travel for the price of two, providing all four travel together as a group. This brought the return ticket price down from £22.20 each to a much more reasonable £11.10!

The four of us met at Tonbridge station, on a wet and windy Friday, to make the hour or so journey down to Dover, arriving in the town at around 12.30pm. The festival didn't open until 1pm, so we headed for the Eight Bells, the town's JDW outlet, for a bite to eat as a sensible precaution prior to the strong ales we would be drinking later. The Eight Bells is a very pleasant Wetherspoons outlet that features in the current CAMRA Good Beer Guide. A range of local ales were on offer and I opted for the Gadds' No.5 a clean tasting 4.4% bitter from the Ramsgate Brewery. It went down well with the "All Day Brunch" that I, plus the rest of my companions, selected.

As well as providing the chance of a bite to eat, our diversion into Wetherspoons meant that by the time we'd finished our meal and wandered along to the Maison Dieu, not only was the festival open, but the entrance queue had disappeared. Our CAMRA membership cards entitled us to free entry, after which it was purchase a glass, plus some beer tokens, and then set to with the sampling. Although billed as a "winter ales festival", there were a substantial number of paler, and even a few golden ales on the list; the sole criterion for selecting them was they were above the magic 5.0% abv cut-off. I resolved  to stick to the darker ales, wherever possible, and  apart from a glass of Saltaire Stateside IPA, which I just couldn't resist, kept my resolution.

As in previous years, the beers  were stillaged in a long line beneath the stained glass windows that light the right hand side of the medieval hall. Hanging from the top of the walls are a number of large, full-sized portraits of past Lord Wardens of the Cinque Ports, including the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill and the Queen Mother. Leading off to the left is a later addition to the Maison Dieu, built in Victorian times, and it was in here that long rows of tables and chairs were set out for thirsty punters to sit at. I was quite surprised when we walked into this part of the building at just how many people were present, as it was not at all obvious from the hall where the beers were kept. We still managed to find  a space that accommodated the four of us, and we took it in turns to wander off into the adjacent hall for fresh supplies of beer.

Sticking to my other resolve I was quite moderate in my consumption, but I did enjoy some truly excellent beers. Beer of the festival, so far as I was concerned, was Gadds' Black Pearl Oyster Stout (6.2%), from Ramsgate Brewery, closely followed by Tsar Top Russian Stout (8.0%), from Old Dairy. I also enjoyed  Kent Brewery's Porter, Nightlight Mild from Elmtree Brewery and the aptly named, I Can't Remember, from Tripple fff. Whilst there I bumped into some old friends from Maidstone & Mid Kent CAMRA, who had also travelled down in a group like ourselves.

I said the Tripple fff beer was aptly named, and I'm really not certain as to what time we eventually left the festival. I think it was some time after 6.30pm in order to catch the train which left a few minutes before 7pm. Our colleagues from Maidstone branch accompanied us for part of the journey. Fortunately I felt ok, having moderated my consumption throughout the afternoon. There was certainly no repeat of the time when I literally fell through my own front door after putting the key in the lock!

The next day (Saturday), was the second day of the TJ's Festival, but as I had a number of domestic duties to attend to, it was mid-afternoon before I was able to wander down there. I had looked at the beer list in advance and knew they had 30 beers on; all of them local from either Kent or Sussex and, being a winter riles festival, plenty of dark ones. The clubhouse was quite crowded as the two wide-screen tv's were showing the Wales v Ireland game. Later on, when the England v Scotland match started, the place got really packed.

The majority of the beers were racked on stillages tucked away in the opposite corner to the main bar. The casks were all jacketed, with a cooling system in place, so the beers were in tip-top condition. As at the Dover festival, I stuck in the main, to dark ales, although I did relent once in order to try the Hop Rocket India Pale Ale from Westerham Brewery which, as its name suggests, was pure hops in a glass! The biggest scoop, so far as I was concerned, was TJ's managing to get hold of a couple of beers from Rectory Brewery, run by Godfrey Broster, the Rector of Plumpton, to generate funds for the maintenance of three parish churches, with 107 parishioners as shareholders. Godfrey's 5.0% traditional dark Old Ale was particularly good,

Whilst at the bar I had a chat with TJ's cellar manager, Chris who told me they had taken a deliberate decision to source locally-brewed ales and that they had been especially lucky to get hold of the brews from Rectory. There were also a couple of beers from a brewery I hadn't heard of before; Pin-Up Brewery. Based at Stone Cross, East Sussex, but originally from Essex, Pin-Up according to their website, plan to take the world of brewing by storm. Their slogan is "The best of British brewing mixed with foreign hops . What are you waiting for?". The beers, as their name suggests, are named after a series of 1940's style "pin-up girls", with pump clips to match. This is definitely one for Jeff Pickthall's Pump-Clip Parade!, but also one to look out for as they definitely seem to mean business.  Sticking to my dark beer pledge, I sampled their 4.8% Milk Stout, which was a fine example of this almost forgotten style of beer.

Whilst at the festival I met up with Jon and Nigel, who I had  journeyed down to Dover with the day before. I also bumped into several of my near neighbours, all enjoying the excellent selection of beers on sale. I left shortly after the England v Scotland ended, with England keeping hold of the Calcutta Cup in spectacular style! As for my favourite beer, well Dark Star 1910 Porter, with Black Cat, Black Cat (their new 4.9% seasonal dark ale), coming in a close second. Special mention should also be made of Rectory Old Ale, Pin-Up Milk Stout and Westerham Hop Rocket.

Thanks to all the staff and volunteers for putting on such a fine festival. Not only are they hoping to repeat it next year, but this July they are once again hosting the SIBA Festival. It runs from 12th - 14th July, so put these dates in your diary!