[This
article originally appeared in John Simpson's
Beer News monthly email - you can sign up
for it on his World
of Beers website]
This was an excellent Festival
and well organised. We particularly appreciated
there being a 'Sussex bar' where the products
of the county were all assembled in one
room. We aim to work our way round the local
brewers but this made the task easier, in
that they were all in one place, and harder,
insofar as there were too many to tackle
in one session. This meant we spent the
entire time (11.00-15.00) in the Sussex
bar and we still had to make some hard decisions
on which of 60 local brews to sample. These
are some of the beers we encountered. You
will see that many were deserving of our
4-tick status (out of a maximum and rarely
awarded 5). With several of the established
breweries gaining classic status, and the
newcomers showing enormous promise, Sussex
today is a great place for beer!
Custom Beers of Haywards
Heath
For students of brewing history
this company should make a nice case study
for a PhD thesis and you can start your
research using various links within the
quaffale
website.
It seems that everything started in 1994
when Peter Skinner and Peter Halliday set
up a small brewery in the cellar of their
pub, The Evening Star, Brighton - at that
time they called it Skinners Ales (not to
be confused with Skinners Cornish brewery
in Truro). In 1995 they were joined by Rob
Jones - he was formerly with the Pitfield
Brewery (and just to add to the confusion
Custom Beers are currently brewing for Pitfield
while the latter tries to get new premises!).
This new partnership was called the Dark
Star Brewing Company and over time the Skinners
name was dropped. In 2000 Peter Skinner
left the partnership and set up Skinners
Custom Brews using the Rectory Ales brewery
but production was halted in 2001. Meanwhile
the Dark Star brewery set up a larger plant
at Ansty and by 2002 all their production
was concentrated there. Peter Skinner now
brews as Custom Beers (based in Haywards
Heath quite close to the Dark Star brewery).
Custom Beers started operations in February
2005 yet already has an impressive list
of beers to their credit which you can see
here.
If you can order in sufficient quantity,
Mr Skinner will brew beers to order for
you. So now we've seen a brief history,
let's get on to the beers...
- Custom Beers - Chinook 4.2%
This one uses Chinook hops giving a rather
different aroma and taste but still leaving
a good hoppy bitterness in the taste and
finish. We didn't think this reached classic
status, so it got 3.5 ticks, but I've
included it here because of its individual
nature. If you see it, try it, and it
may well grow on you.
- Custom Beers - Dark Roast Porter
5.5%
This traditional dark porter caused a
lot of confusion for the Festival organisers.
The printed programme and the sign on
the cask was initially 'Honey Porter'
and the programme notes assured us it
was 'tempered with the addition of honey'.
However when the brewer turned up he categorically
denied that any honey was added and the
cask label was quickly changed to read
'Dark Roast Porter'. When we tried it,
we could understand where the confusion
arose, as there was a distinct impression
of honey in the aftertaste, and this was
confirmed by others at our table who tried
it. Well, however it's done, Mr Skinner
has produced a very nice beer which merits
4 ticks.
Dark Star Brewing
Company [http://www.darkstarbrewing.co.uk/]
See above for the history
of this company which has won lots of CAMRA
awards in its short life. Now a confession:
considering we are just a short train ride
from Brighton, and the Dark Star's brewery
tap, the Evening Star is very close to the
station, I'm ashamed to say we've never
been there, although we have been consistently
impressed with all the Dark Star beers we
have encountered at festivals. However,
it looks like Dark Star is coming to us
as they have very obligingly taken over
the Duke of Wellington pub in Shoreham so
a trip there is a must for the near future.
- Dark Star - Oatmeal Stout 4.5%
A nice dense black colour, it's a rich,
smooth drink with caramel and liquorice
flavours and a good bitterness in the
aftertaste. No question, 4 ticks.
- Dark Star - Nut Brown Ale 4.5%
Another Dark Star offering which we just
had to try. It is a traditional ale with
a nice mid-brown colour and nicely balanced
malt and hops in the flavour. Another
member of the 4 ticks club.
Other Beers Tried
- 1648 Brewery -
Ginger Nol 4.7% [http://www.1648brewing.co.uk/]
This is one of their 6 seasonal beers,
being on offer from November to March,
and it's a nice winter drink combining
smoked malted barley with fresh root ginger
- both tastes are discernible individually
and yet blend well. Definitely 4 ticks.
- FILO (First In Last Out) -
Cardinal 4.4% [http://www.thefilo.co.uk]
We had heard of this Hastings brewpub
and were keen to try their products. The
website has a nice write up of their brewery,
ingredients and procedures. We agreed
with their description of Cardinal as
'a dark porter with burnt caramel malt
and dry finish' although we didn't pick
up the 'coffee' flavour in the finish.
A pleasant drink, above competent but
not quite special enough for 4, so it
got 3.5 ticks.
- FILO (First In
Last Out) - Ginger Tom 4.4%
Having enjoyed 1648's ginger offering
we looked forward to trying this but found
it disappointing. The ginger was evident
in the aroma but the body was thin, and
the ginger flavours were, to say the least,
unsubtle. With our background of Belgian
beers we are open minded about the practice
of flavouring beers, having met some classics
of the style. However, trying this one
gives you some sympathy with the views
of those who say 'Why add anything to
beer?' It just made 2.5 ticks
- Gribble - Pigs Ear 5.8%
[http://www.gribblebrewery.co.uk/]
From the website: 'A fuller bodied Old
Ale with a rich ruby brown colour, brewed
from a well researched old traditional
recipe, which has been handed down from
father to son'. The colour is good and
although we found the aftertaste did not
linger long, it's very refreshing for
a beer of this type, and we thought it
worth 3.5 ticks.
- Hammerpot - Madgwick
Gold 5.0% [http://www.hammerpot-brewery.co.uk]
Hammerpot only started in August 2005
and we encountered Red Hunter, the second
beer they produced, at the Worthing Beer
Festival. We gave that one 3.5 ticks and
said 'If Hammerpot can continue to produce
beers of this quality they will be a force
to be reckoned with'. With Madgwick Gold,
which received its first outing at the
Sussex Beer Festival, they can only enhance
their reputation. It is a golden ale,
with intriguing flavours of citrus and
hints of spice. It is a very easy drinking
and refreshing beer, and is an excellent
addition to their range, well desrving
4 tick status.
We had a very pleasant session at Hove,
enhanced by good company. We were pleased
to see Stephen Wallace and Emma, who introduced
us to Roy who has the task of arranging
the 200+ beers for the Festival. We had
also arranged to meet up with Rob Beer,
who we had previously encountered only in
cyberspace, in the Belgian beer discussion
group. One of Rob's main interests is collecting
beer cans, for which he frequently visits
Japan, so we were delighted to pick up some
tips from his experiences over there. And
if you'd like to know everything there is
to know about the art and science of beer
cans, check out Rob's website at
http://www.beercannews.com
Thanks to John Simpson for kindly
allowing us to reproduce this article
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