2) Start trailing those ales!

 

The 2007 CAMRA Brighton & South Downs Ale Trail is now open (28 May to 30 September).    All you need to do to win a fine commemorative T-shirt is to enjoy a pint of real ale in 20 of the 40 participating pubs - no hardship, as there are some excellent pubs with excellent beers on the list.  (3 of them are Dark Star pubs, and many of the others do a good pint of Harveys - that should be enough of an attraction to get you started!)  You need to have a passport, which you get stamped as confirmation of required imbibing - these can be picked up at many of the pubs or by post.  Full details are on the  website at http://www.brightoncamra.org.uk/AleTrail.html    We've found the Trail a rewarding experience, not just because it extends our wardrobe, but because it gets us to pubs we might not otherwise visit.  A first for us this year was a visit to the Cock Inn at Ringmer http://www.cockpub.co.uk/ which serves an excellent range of food as well as good beer.  We're looking forward to working through the necessary 20 - and perhaps qualifying for sweatshirts and or glasses if we score 30 or 40!

 

3) A Taste of Belgium - A

 

At the beginning of June we travelled to Kortrijk, a leisurely journey using Eurostar to Brussels and a regional direct train to Kortrijk.  The latter journey was free, because a Eurostar ticket gives you free onward travel from Brussels to any other Belgian station - worth factoring in to your travel plans.  We had chosen Kortrijk (Courtrai for French speakers) simply because it made a handy base for the HOP festival which is held in the village of Vichte just a few kilometres away.  We were very pleasantly surprised by Kortrijk, which doesn't normally rate highly on any list of Belgian tourist sites.  However it has an imposing square, Grote Markt, which our hotel (the Belfort - very comfortable and we got a good deal via www.expedia.co.uk )overlooked.  Just off the square is the Beguinage, a sort of walled town within a town, which up to the mid 1950's was still inhabited by nuns.  There is a nice old river bridge, guarded by a couple of imposing towers, and a pedestrianised shopping area with some very pleasant cafés.  Definitely a town worth visiting, or spending a relaxing long weekend in.  One oddity, is that there seems to be a local passion for Italian food - most of the café-bars on the square major on pizza, spaghetti or both.  We managed to find something a bit more local by visiting Chez Nous in Graanmarkt who do a nice line in food, and the Ename beers are excellent.  www.cheznous-online.be gives an idea but the photography on their website doesn't really do it justice. 
The members of HOP operate a very efficient taxi service from Kortrijk to Vichte, which means you don't have to worry about Belgium's very strict drink-drive laws.  The Karakterbierweekend was better than ever, and bigger too, with more breweries (27) and more beers (90+) than before.  The nice thing is that nearly all the breweries send a senior manager, or even the head brewer, so you get to talk to the people who really know their stuff.  One of the HOP organisers, William Roelens, is a dab hand with a camera and is a very active webmaster and blogger.  You'll find the blog at http://blog.seniorennet.be/bierblog/archief.php?ID=272  and more pictures of the Karakterbierweekend at http://foto.zita.be/6990744137  - among the latter you may see faces that you recognise about 12 rows down. 

 

4) A Taste of Belgium - B

 

 Among the breweries represented at Vichte were a significant number of new ones.  We won't say too much about them here, but you'll have the chance to try some of them if you sign up for the course we're running in the autumn: 'Master Brewers - Taste the Beers of Belgium'.  The course is on Saturday 10 November at Rydon Community College, Rock Road, Storrington, West Sussex RH20 3AA  and you can book through West Sussex AE on 01903 814880.  Even if you've been on one of our previous Belgian courses we can guarantee that this one will introduce you to a lot of new beers, including, perhaps, the new Belgian classics.    More info at http://www.simpson.uk.com/beers/Belgium/BelgianCourse.htm 
We're also trying out a new course at a new venue.  On Saturday 24 November 'Heavenly Beers - Abbey & Trappist Ales' will be held at Kings Manor Community College, Kingston Lane, Shoreham By Sea, West Sussex, BN43 6YT.  This course will concentrate on monastic brewing, and the imitators of it.  While the prime focus will be on Belgium, and we'll endeavour to include all the famous Trappist breweries, there will be some surprise visitors in the same style from other countries. Details on  http://www.simpson.uk.com/beers/Belgium/BelgianAbbeyCourse.htm  and bookings via West Sussex as above.
For armchair (bar-stool?) travellers we're holding another 'Wide World of Beers' course on Saturday 15 March next year at Steyning Grammar School, Shooting Field, Steyning, West Sussex BN44 3RX.  Our virtual world tour will follow a different route, taking in a lot more new locations, so even if you've been on one of these courses before there will be new insights into brewing around the globe.  Booking via West Sussex AE and details on http://www.simpson.uk.com/beers/RestOfWorld/WorldCourse.htm

 

We managed to make a flying visit (well, bus actually) to the Glastonwick Festival at Church Farm Coombes, just up the Adur valley.   We were glad to have had the chance to see it but left with somewhat mixed feelings.  It was great to have a free shuttle bus from Shoreham included in the price of the entry ticket but were horrified to see the bus having to squeeze along the narrow road to Coombes.  It was only just wider than the bus, so drivers coming the opposite way were equally shocked!  The awkward manoeuvering to get past disrupted the schedule, but it was encouraging to hear that the bus driver had experience of Cornwall, and that by comparison the Coombes road was 'like a motorway'!  After a showery day the weather was kind, giving us a lovely sunny evening.  As the Festival is spread over several barns, and there are also seats in the orchard, some sort of re-entry pass was required, so we were branded with a rubber stamp on the arm, which looked like a large tattoo.  To protect the farm animals plastic 'glasses' were issued, so there's no addition to the collection of Festival commemorative glasses. The list of 66 beers was excellent, with some less commonly encountered brews from all corners of the UK included.  The down side for us was the music. 
Now I know that there is a big debate about having live music at beer festivals, with strong feelings on both sides, and a lot of people who go to Glastonwick do so for the music.  The problem was that the beer stillage was set up along one wall of the same barn in which the bands performed.  The beers were arranged on an A-Z basis, which meant that for any products of brewers starting with M upwards you were very close to the stage.  This made it difficult to push through the crowd standing by the stage but it also meant that the only way to order beer was to point to the relevant item on the programme, as there was no way you could make yourself heard above the number of decibels being pumped out.  We found a retreat in the next barn, where there was a van selling very tempting egg and bacon baps, and plenty of seats where you could taste the beers and still have a conversation. 
Of the beers, we tried Clark's Black Buck 4.0%, an easy drinking mild from Wakefield to which we awarded 3 ticks.  Jeannette supported Cornwall by trying the Organic Brewhouse Lizard Point 4.0% from Helston.  This was a pleasant light golden ale, which had the dry malt finish promised by the notes, but we were not aware of the 'hints of fruit' - still, it was worth 3 ticks.  Next we braved the decibels to collect two beers supplied by the Red Squirrel Brewery of Hertford.  These were Red Squirrel Weiss Bier 5.0% which was pleasant enough, but we doubt whether many Germans would have recognised it as a Weiss - 3 ticks.  Red Squirrel Sweet Stout 6.6% was definitely a stout, and definitely sweet, and rated a score of 3.5 ticks.  In spite of all the interesting brews from further afield we couldn't resist a few of the 'locals'.  First was Custom Beers Tomahawk Strong Ale 5.5% from Haywards Heath, a golden, distinctly hoppy brew rating 3.5 ticks.  Then came two beers from Dark Star of Ansty, also just up the road, and surely a hot contender for the 'Best UK Brewery' title.  Dark Star Brewers Reserve 4.5% was a limited edition amber beer, quite complex, hints of with vanilla - 3.5 ticks.  And yes, we've had it many times before, but who could resist the chance to try the first cask of this year's brew of Dark Star Imperial Stout 10.5% - dark, rich, complex, and still deserving of its high score of 4 ticks. 
Overall, Glastonwick was an interesting experience, but we still prefer peaceful daytime sessions like those at the Worthing Beer Festival (next one due 26-27 October) where you can concentrate on the beers - perhaps it's our age???

1) E-mail address change

 

You'll notice a subtle change in the email address from which this email is coming to you - if you have the old one in your address book, or in a 'friends' list in anti-spam software, would you please make the appropriate change.  You may be interested to learn the background.  Our ISP PlusNet was the target of a hacking attack, apparently from the Russian mafia, and the database of email addresses was 'harvested' and sold to Spammers.  As a result we've got a huge amount of work to do, removing old mailboxes and setting up new ones, in order to avoid the mountains of spam which followed this situation.  The case made the BBC website

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6676819.stm 

and you can read the full story from PlusNet at

 http://community.plus.net/comms/2007/05/23/webmail-incident-report/

Our own systems are well-protected, so we didn't suffer the Trojan attack which some of PlusNet's customers experienced, but it's a good reminder to everyone to make sure that you're up to date with anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-spyware and firewall software on your computer, and that you install all the Windows updates which Microsoft tells you about.  It's a pain that we all need to spend so much time and money on computer security, but it's a sign of the times we live in.

 

2) A Taste of Belgium

 

Our relentless schedule led us to 'The Greys' (Southover Road, Brighton) last Saturday, for their Belgian beer festival.  The entrance fee of £6 advance, £7 on the door, gave you an elegant souvenir glass, which is much more suitable for quaffing Belgian ales than your average CAMRA festival pint glass,  and your first beer.  That first beer was a Poperinge Hommelbier, a great hoppy beer in its own right but it also evokes happy memories for us as it is the local brew and our aperitif of choice when we're staying in our favourite part of West Flanders. 

And if you're not familiar with that area see

http://www.simpson.uk.com/beers/Belgium/GoToBelgium.htm

The festival menu included very tasty and reasonably priced Belgian style bangers and mash - we had to sample that twice during the course of the day just to make sure we got our critical evaluation right. 
Oh yes, it also included well over 40 very interesting Belgian beers.  We regretfully turned aside from old favourites such as St Bernardus 12 (10%), Kwak (8%), Cuvee de Trolls (7%) and Piraat (9.5%), as well as a good range of Trappist and abbey ales, for the sake of researching those which were new to us.
We were pleased to see two beers representing the delightful Alvinne brewery http://www.alvinne.be/  As well as enjoying their beers, we enjoy the cheek of this tiny brewery -  they call themselves a picobrewery rather than a micro, and operate out of an overgrown garden shed in the town of Ingelmunster, which happens also to be the home of the mighty van Honsebrouck brewery, makers of Kasteelbier, Brigand, the St Louis range etc etc.  So quite truthfully Alvinne call themselves 'the second largest brewery in Ingelmunster'!  On this occasion we tried Alvinne Blonde (6%) and Bruin (6.5%), both of which were competent productions, well deserving of 3 ticks, but not quite reaching the heights attained by some of their other beers such as their Extra and Tripel.
Perhaps the most successful newcomer was Gouyasse Tradition  http://www.brasseriedeslegendes.be/  (6%) - described as a 'perfect balance of a dry but not overpowering bitterness and a maltiness which softens the hoppiness'.  We concurred, just adding that it drinks very smoothly and goes down with dangerous ease, and awarded it 4 ticks.
We were also very pleased to have the chance to try Caracole Saxo Blonde (7.2% - 3 ticks) and the same brewery's Troublette Witbier (5.5% - 3 ticks), as well as Graal Speciale (8% - brown and malty, earning 3.5 ticks), Felix Brune (5% - 3 ticks), and Silenrieux Pave d'Ours (8.5% - a rare honey beer which very subtly blended the sweetness of the honey with the beer and gained 3.5 ticks).
The final high scorer was Scotch Silly  http://www.silly-beer.com/  Don't giggle at the name of the brewery, it's actually the town name, and you'd also be well advised to take this beer very seriously.  It's a dark stouty Scotch ale which weighs in at a hefty 8% and has tones of burnt coffee, toffee, chocolate etc.  An instant 4 ticks.

Scanning through those percentages, you'll see why it was a fairly major challenge to navigate back to Brighton station afterwards, but it was a very pleasant way to widen our research horizons, and get in training for our next Belgian beer festival (this time in Belgium) this coming weekend.  (Details below, but you'll have to move fast if you haven't already booked your train tickets!)

 

3) Japanese Taste

We have seen a recent survey conducted to establish what kind of alcoholic drink Japanese people would prefer when they are in a 'luxurious mood'.  The top scorer, at 30.3% was premium beer, beating champagne (with 26.8%) into second place. 
Japan's native brews of sake and shochu ranked 3rd and 5th respectively (20.8% and 12.4%) with still wine intervening at 4th position (17.2%).  Next in the rankings were 'home-made cocktails' (6th with 10.0%) and 'beer served with a beer server for home use' (7th with 9.3%). 
The main spirits, whisky and brandy, formerly so popular with the Japanese for special occasions, have only scraped 7.4% and 7.2% to give them the 8th and 9th places.  At 10th place with 2.9% is that well-known beverage 'Other'. 
So, let's all raise a glass and toast beer's resounding success in the Japanese popularity stakes, not forgetting to convey our thanks to those who carried out this objective and unbiased survey . . . Kirin Brewery Co Ltd . . . ???

1) World Beers

 

It seems ages since our last beer course but in fact it was only on 10 March at Rydon College.  Here's a note of our itinerary:

Canada-Sleeman Porter;  USA-Pumpkin Ale;  USA-Black Chocolate Stout;  USA-Goose Island IPA;  Australia-Little Creatures APA;  Australia-Coopers Extra Stout;  India-King Cobra;  VietNam-Hanoi Beer;  Japan-Orion Premium;  Morocco-Flag Special;  Portugal Abadia ;  Madeira-Coral Tonica;  Russia-Ochakovo Black;  Germany-Andechs Doppelbock Dunkel;  Germany-Rauchweizen;  Belgium-St Sixtus

The dedicated group of students kept careful notes (though we suspect the handwriting may have deteriorated somewhere over Russia!) and seemed to have enjoyed it as much as we did.

We're currently sorting out plans for tastings in the next academic year (September onwards)  but we'll put details in the newsletter as soon as we have anything organised.

 

2) Tasting notes

 

Talking about tastings reminds me that I have been intending to include a reference to the process of tasting.  It can be helpful if you keep notes on any unusual beers you've tried, especially if you subsequently want to get a beer to suit a particular occasion.  So here's a few pointers:

You'll find how to go about it on the Rate-Beer website at

http://www.ratebeer.com/Story.asp?StoryID=103

- that article also includes a link to a very comprehensive tasting form, which can provide some useful ideas when you're trying to find the mot juste to describe an elusive taste.  Please note that even though the Rate Beer website comes from the land of the frozen B*dw**s*r they suggest it's rather difficult to taste properly when your tongue is suffering from frost-bite!

From a Belgian site comes another tasting form (pdf format) which you can print or download - it's in English.

http://users.pandora.be/gerritvdb/rochefort/English/Tastingform.pdf

CAMRA has a suggested procedure at

http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=180700

If you find the idea of filling in two sides of A4 a bit daunting CAMRA uses a much simpler system to rate the beers in your local.  Find the details of the National Beer Scoring System at

http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=180521

Thre's a link from that page to a downloadable card (provided you're a CAMRA member - you are, aren't you?)

That system in facts matches quite closely our own informal 1-5 tick system (including half ticks) which is quite easy to use even when you're well into the menu at a beer festival.

And of course there's always the scientific system devised by the Shoreham-based International Institute of Zythology*.

1 – Yeukh – take it away!	4 – I like it! Ish very nishe . . .
2 – Badly flavoured dishwater.	5 – MORE! MORE! MORE!
3 – Bearable – I could quaff this with my chips, if forced to.	6 – (No verbal comment – this score is awarded by a gentle slide to the floor with a beatific smile on one’s face . . .)

 

 

 

 

 

 

*From the Greek Zythos = fermentation/beer plus Logos = study.

 

3) Japan

Since the last issue we have had a wonderful 3 weeks in the Land of the Raising Glass, Japan.  For many years Japan suffered under legislation which effectively gave a brewing monopoly to a handful of big companies who produced some competent beers, but ultimately the choice when you wanted a drink was lager - or lager.  Recently the laws were changed and a host of micro-breweries were set up.  With the normal Japanese enthusiasm companies bought in equipment and expertise from abroad, and fans can now attend beer festivals at which a large range of offerings from small breweries is available.  Don't expect too much too soon - it's going to take time for Japan's brewers to acquire the skills they would need to compete at a major CAMRA festival. 
Many breweries have sought help from Germany where the fixation with 'purity' has led to the production of many bland and boring beers (but doubtless very pure!)  Some have bought in complete computerised brewery kits:  'Insert mash here, connect water supply there, press red button, then collect beer here'.  Some have tried to imitate foreign styles: 'German Weizen beers have overtones of banana - let's add banana milk-shake syrup to the mash'.  But we must remember that craft brewing is a very young industry in Japan, and give thanks that it is now taking off, as well as giving credit to those brewers who are already succeeding in producing some very acceptable beers.  You'll find notes on some places to try Japanese beers on the website at
http://www.simpson.uk.com/beers/Japan/GoToJapan.htm 

I plan to add to that page some information on the Kumamoto Craft Brewery and Izumo-ji beers.  We were tipped off about both of those by Rob Beer.  He's the Beer (Can) Hunter, and you'll find the Japan portion of his website at
http://beercannews.com/COUNTRIES/Japan/japan.html
No doubt his recent travels will result in some additions to those pages.

As Rob was going to be in Japan at the same time as us, we compared itineraries and arranged to meet up where our paths crossed.  As we were planning to visit the Grand Shrine at Izumo we agreed to seek out some Izumo-ji beer cans for Rob.  This led to an interesting day, when we found that there was only one place where you could get the beers (from the beer restaurant/brewery) which was at Nishi Izumo, a couple of stops down the line.  We got there, only to find that the place didn't open until the evening.  Then we spotted movement inside, and after a bit of jumping up and down and generally looking pathetic, the manager kindly opened up for us, let us buy the beers, and even gave us a guided tour of the brewery.  Subsequently we met Rob by arrangement on Tsuwano station, passed on the cans, and he rewarded us with an impromptu tasting of some of his discoveries in the station waiting room!  We met up again by arrangement in Nagasaki, where we were privileged to watch the maestro racing in and out of all the local beer shops, summing up their stock of cans in the blink of an eye, and racing on to the next.  Rob's route also led us past some antique shops where we found some amazing bargains on antique kimono material and obis to supply our other interest - see
http://www.simpson.uk.com/courses/talks.htm
for an explanation! 
We also met up - twice! - in Kumamoto by a most amazing series of coincidences, which is how Rob came to suggest we tried the Kumamoto Craft brewery.  He wasn't sure it was operating, as he'd never found it open.  It was right by the station, and as luck would have it, just 5 minutes from our hotel.  Which is how we were able to discover that it only opens in the evenings (after 5pm), that they serve a good range of food, and a passable range of beers.

We couldn't concentrate solely on beers, as we had a mission to study all aspects of Japanese culture.  This meant that in Tsuwano we visited their famous sake breweries, which are very conveniently located next door to each other in the main street of old samurai houses.  This does mean that you enter the first establishment, are pressed to try several from their range, stagger to the next establishment, where they insist you try their top products too - and eventually you have the challenge of trying to find your way back to your lodgings!  (Fortunately it's a single straight road!)
In the island of Kyushu their product is shochu, a spirit distilled from a range of different ingredients, but the famous speciality is that made from imo - sweet potato.  We had heard of a bar at Kagoshima station which stocked over 100 varieties of shochu, but although we did our best, we only managed to try 5 of them before our train left.  On Shikoku, the town of Tokushima has its own take on shochu, making it from the sudachi, a local fruit rather like a lime.  This produced a slightly tart drink, which Jeannette assured me would be perfect for the summer time, and could even tempt her away from gin and tonic.

Well that's enough about our arduous research work for now.  I'll let you know via the newsletter when I manage to add more to the Japan pages of our website.

2) Going Dutch

 

While working over in Aldwick, near Bognor Regis, a place we don't get to very often, we were delighted to come across the Little Holland Dutch Pancake House at  49 Aldwick Road, Bognor Regis PO21 2NJ Tel: 01243 865907    The owners, Rob and Marielle van Renssen, are from Delft, but fell in love with England after a holiday in Cornwall in 1999.  They moved to England in 2003 and at the beginning of 2004 opened the Little Holland restaurant.

It's worth going there just to try the range of 65 authentic, freshly made savoury and sweet pancakes but the culinary talents don't stop there - the soups are excellent, and there is a variety of typical Dutch main meals on offer too. 

However, from the point of view of the beer fans reading this newsletter the real bonus is that Rob and Marielle also brought with them a love of beers, and you'll find a good selection of Dutch and Belgian brews on the menu.  When we were there Rob had several varieties of La Trappe (the Dutch Trappist brewery, and the only Trappist outside Belgium).  You can sometimes find La Trappe Dubbel in supermarkets but at Little Holland I was able to try the La Trappe Blond, and thought that was superior.  As we were working that day I couldn't carry out further research into the La Trappe Tripel or Quadrupel, but we shall certainly make another trip to Aldwick to check out the rest of the beer menu.  Until we do, we'll just have to tantalise our tastebuds by looking at Rob's website, and drooling over the menus.  You can find it at

http://www.littleholland.co.uk/

 

3) West Country delights

On a recent trip to the West for some genealogical research we took the opportunity to try out some local hostelries and beers from some of the many microbreweries in the area.  We picked up Somerset CAMRA's magazine, and found we could tick off several of the oustanding pubs mentioned in it.  First was the Hatch Inn, at Hatch Beauchamp near Taunton Somerset, which brought back happy memories of a weekend where we dropped in for lunch, found an outstanding beer festival in progress, so took advantage of their B&B to stay over so as to fully explore the festival!  Website www.thehatchinn.co.uk/

On the next page was the Half Moon at Mudford, near Yeovil.  We used that as a base for attending a family history conference last year, using their handy motel-style accommodation.  It's difficult to say whether the greatest appeal was their first class restaurant or the excellent RCH beers they have on tap.  My favourite was Firebox 6% described as 'A reddish deep brown coloured beer which is a deceptively drinkable strong bitter with a fine combination of citrus hops and cherry fruit bittersweet flavours which gives a strong dry bitter finish.'  I would definitely agree with the 'deceptively drinkable' description but when you've got excellent food to soak it up and you know that your bed is only a short stagger across the courtyard, no problem!   The inn's website is www.thehalfmooninn.co.uk/ and RCH Brewery is at www.rchbrewery.com

The magazine carried details of Tuckers Maltings (see Diary below) and an intriguing ad for the Old Stagecoach Inn at Crewkerne - described as 'The House of Belgian Beers and food run by a Belgian'.  A quick look at the website www.stagecoach-inn.co.uk reveals a beer list of nearly 40 Belgian brews.  Even when you deduct the run-of-the mill Leffe etc there's more than enough to keep an enthusiast interested.  And the restaurant menu promises moules (of course!), rabbit cooked in Kwak, and waterzooi among other authentic dishes.  There's accommodation to sleep it off too.

Reading that ad might have made me distressed that Crewkerne wasn't on our itinerary this trip, were it not that at the time we were sitting in a pub which is also listed in that magazine and which is a strong contender for the pride of Somerset, if not the whole South West - the Ring O' Bells at Ashcott.  This seems to embody everything a pub ought to be. 

It's in a pleasant rural setting in the village High Street (but check your navigation carefully - there's another pub of the same name nearby, and our satnav, aimed at the postcode which apparently covers a wide area, initially took us to the wrong side of the main road).  The decor is attractively traditional without straying into 'theme park Olde Englande'.  The landlord, whose family has been running the pub for 20 years, is relaxed, friendly, happy to chat, and makes you feel thoroughly at home - even when, like ourselves, you're a first-time visitor.  The beer list always features 3 real ales, mainly from microbreweries, usually but not exclusively from the West Country but one of them is always a local beer.  The local beer comes either from Glastonbury Ales or from Moor Beers, (slogan 'Drink Moor beer'!!!) whose brewery is on a farm just up the road, and you can't get more local than that.   www.moorbeer.co.uk

The menu on the website  www.ringobells.com  only gives you a hint of what to expect from the restaurant - you need to check out the specials of the day.  When we were there the soups of the day were Tomato and Orange, and Duck and Vegetable - either of which would have made your journey worthwhile.  Also on the blackboard was the fresh fish of the day from Plymouth - superb plaice.  The attention to detail was second to none - the vegetables were perfectly cooked, and plentiful, the bread which came with the soup was a rustic-style delight and the coffee was excellent.  We cast regretful glances at the splendid dessert menu which we just couldn't manage - perhaps another time.

If you've read right through this section, you will now be faced with only two options - sell up and move to Somerset, or plan your next holiday touring the county!