"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".
Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"
Was out for a cycle the other day and thought it was way over time for me to see if I could get a better picture of the remains of the gun boat sheds that I touched on a few posts ago [clicky]
As a reminder, this was how it was pictured at the time
|
| Patent Heaving-Up Slips' at Haslar Gunboat Yard (from Mechanics' Magazine, 3 January, 1857) |
...and here is how it looks now from the closest I could get to them*.. the tower in background is part of the old Haslar Hospital (now "luxury retirement living" 😏)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yet again Yapton Beer Festival has come and gone in a delightful slightly hazy, bucolic, relaxing, errr.. blur... 😏
Not so good on the weather front this year, but good enough to sit outside once a brief shower passed though, and a prime position to watch the Goodwood Spitfire do a low roll over the village hall where the festival was being held.. magic..
| Brewery (click for more info) | Beer | ABV | Notes (from brewery website) | What I can remember... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darkland Indie Brew Co | Boardwalk Bliss | 4.4% | Combines new hops with classic core varieties creating truly exceptional tropical flavour notes of passionfruit, mango, papaya, lemongrass and melon. Triple Dry Hopping with Citra, Mosaic and Galaxy to further enhance the aromas and flavours. Creating a well balanced ale akin to sliding into a hammock between two palm trees, whilst keeping things soft and light to the palate | 👎👎Hideous.. either sour or off.. this one went to irrigate the grass outside.. |
| Arundel | Smash | 4.5% | Single hop (Mosaic) and single malt (Chevalier), lovely easy drinking pale ale | 👍Had tried this a few weeks before at one of my local pubs so it was a known quantity (unlike most of the ales at the festival it has to be said) - this one has the unique privilege of being the only beer made by this brewery that I like.. and I've tried most of them! |
| Bristol Beer Factory | Powerslide | 4.4% | Bringing the Aussie energy Vic Secret [a hop variety apparently 😏] kicks off with power levels of tropical and pineapple goodness, twisted to amplify the hop power with both T90 and Spectrum. Motueka follows up with fresh citrus depth | 👍BBF are safe hands when it comes to breweries in my opinion, so I may not have heard or seen of the beer before but knew it was going to be OK, and so it was.. |
| Goldmark | Citra Smash | 4.4% | Single hop and single malt pale ale classic, generously dry hopped with Yakima Valley Citra hops | 👍Another safe brewery - pleasant beer, not outstanding.. |
| Kelburn | Jaguar | 4.5% | A golden, full bodied ale with undertones of grapefruit and a long lasting citrus, hoppy aftertaste. This beer has bite! | 👍Nice beer, one of the better one's, but no, no bite..😏 |
| Magic Dragon | Green One | 4.2% | A refreshing Citra hopped IPA with crisp, grapefruit, lemon notes and a slight citrus aroma | 👍I drank it but can't remember anything standout or unusual about this brew, other than that like the others it was nice.. 😀 |
| Urban Island | Quiver | 4.5% | Session cask brewed with Mosaic, Cashmere & Citra hops, pale ale malt & oats | 👍One of my local breweries and I have actually been to it for a beer, but again not what I would call a standout brewery - they make OK beers though and despite the fact that this was a hazy style beer it was OK.. |
| Kirkstall | Dissolution | 5% | Brewed in memory of the dissolution of Kirkstall Abbey by Henry Vlll, in 1539 AD, and the disbanding of the Abbey’s Cistercian order. This is a classic India Pale Ale, with a resolute hoppy kick and lasting citrus finish | 👍Going stronger by this stage of the festival as I was looking for distinct flavour and extra ABV usually helps.. |
| Downlands | Endless Circles | 5.5% | After many cycles of discussion we settled on Mosaic, Centennial and Citra for the hop build | 👍👍All the thumbs up beers were above average but not outstanding, this was slightly more above average than them, so if there was one - this is my best beer of the festival |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laters, as the young people are want to say...
