To Cornwall and back again

Last week was our annual trip to Cornwall, we join our friends and their families for fun, food, sun (sometimes) and yes drinking.
The boys see it as a great opportunity to get reacquainted with breweries we have discovered over the last five years, local beers and have done a pub crawl around a new town each year, Padstow, Wadbridge and Bodmin being the last ones. This year we thought about doing a brewery tour and plumped for Skinners in Truro, who were very helpful when contacted, more on that later.
Due to the general poor mobile reception in Cornwall, really bad in so many places, and the ultra slow wifi at the farmhouse I didn't check into Untappd as many of the beers as I could have, but as usual I bought a few bottles home to blog about.


The first cask beer of holiday for me however was from a more well known company, namely Sharp's brewery from Rock nr Padstow.
A lot of people are down on them since their acquisition by Molson Coors a few years ago, but I still like their beers, and from what I've read about Stuart Howe, chief overlord or some such similar title, he seems a bloke who hold very high ideals and integrity, certainly someone who knows his own opinions.
Whatever, judge them on the beers.

We stopped for lunch on the way from South Wales to Cornwall just of the A30 past Exeter into a village called Ide for a pub called the Poachers Inn.

Sitting in the sun in the lovely beer garden we enjoyed a well prepared and reasonable lunch, my daughter (and the rest of us) loving the huge whitebait she had ordered. I went for a classic lunch, and got large slices of ham and beautiful fresh eggs with chips.
To drink they had several south west breweries on but I went for the Sharp's Six Hop IPA, which at 3.8% you could put it into this new 'sessionable IPA' category that seems to be mentioned more and more.
Light golden yellow, good carbonation. Minimal head retention. Light citrus aroma, which on taste seems a little light also, nice balance with the malts. Subtle bitterness afterwards. With the six hops I was expecting something a little more upfront and punchy in the mouth, this was gentle but refreshing and certainly sessionable.

Then it was onto Cornwall.

Wooden Hand Brewery Cornish Gribben

Every year when we go to Cornwall I seem to end up drinking or bringing back some of Wooden Hand's beers, based in Truro they seem to have reasonable penetration of the south west market.

The only one I brought back this time was Cornish Gribben, a 4.1% bitter.
There was some lemon and orange aroma, but as I poured it the lack of carbonation was evident, this bottle was totally flat.
Shame really as the few mouthfuls I had were quite promising, with some toffee and citrus clearly there.


Oh well, there's always next year.

Keltek Brewery King

Another from the south west of England, this time its the Keltek Brewery, based in Redruth Cornwall.
King is a 5.1% ESB style of beer, 500ml bottle also purchased from Tesco like in the last post.

My photo makes it look a little darker than the amber it actually was, little aroma which was mostly of malt, toffee, and rich fruit.

Traditional in style, good body, strong flavours of malt, caramel, again some rich fruit alongside some spiciness.
Nothing complicated and a nice pint.

St. Austell Korev Cornish Lager

I cannot remember if this is one I brought back from holiday or whether I purchased it since then, but it doesn't matter. This is Cornish brewers St. Austell's lager, 4.8% abv, brewed with actual Cornish grown barley.

Thin head of tightly packed bubbles, small aroma of grass and a little creamy too.
Pleasant and light with little hits of honey, cream, its crisp and dry, no nasty after taste.
Whilst not that exciting I'd choose this over most other lager's on the market if in a pub and it was an option.
Nice label design too.

Pubs in Padstow, Cornwall

On our holiday back in May the guys got a night out, last year we went around the pubs in Wadebridge, this year we went to Padstow.

A beautiful fishing port town in North Cornwall, in recent times its probably fair to say its more well known because the celebrity chef Rick Stein has based his operations there. His influence is everywhere in 'Padstein' , his fish shop, restaurant, deli, culinary school etc. We'd bought some mackeral and a sea bass for a BBQ, and they were quite reasonably priced actually and damn tasty.

Padstow, taken from Rock beach

The last few years we drive to Rock on the other side of the harbour, spend some time on the beach and then water taxi it across to the town for ice creams, shopping etc. (plus you pass Sharps Brewery shop on the way to Rock!)

Despite his involvement with Sharps brewery to make Chalky's Bite and Chalky's Bark, two excellent beers, I don't think he's branched out his reach into the pub business yet.

So onto the pubs of Padstow. I tried to do a little research beforehand but there was little information and reviews online, beyond saying the 'London Inn' was a good locals pub.

We started at 'The Old Custom House', a St. Austell pub, large and spacious main bar, with a few comfy chairs which we sank into. A large TV screen silently showed some cricket as we ordered, from the choice of Tribute, Trelawney and HSD. I went for the Trelawney, a 3.8% bitter, i got alot of toffee and malts, medium body with light bitterness, a nice start to the evening.

We went next door but one to the 'Harbour Inn' which is another St. Austell. There is literally one art gallery shop between their two pubs, but the styles of them both are quite different, the Harbour being smaller, more 'local' vibe going on, its décor heavily showing the fishing port they are based in.
 They also had on Tribute and Trelawney, two seasonal - Torchbearer (olympics theme as the torch was to start it journey in the south west) and Dartmoor, and Korev on tap.
Dartmoor bitter, 3.5%, sweetish malt, fruity, fairly standard bitter, all the beers here in good condition it must be said.

We moved onto the the 'London Inn' just up the road away from the harbour. We started to spot a pattern here as guess what, its St. Austell again! Smaller place, reasonably busy, a lot of fishing paraphernalia around the walls, and the first sighting of Proper Job. Now that's what I wanted on this pub crawl, a pint of hoppy goodness.
Except it wasn't. Both my mate and I had it and felt it was quite muted in aroma and taste, and our other companion wasn't overly impressed with the Tribute either, it being rather lacklustre also.

A pub, mate and invisible friend.

We hot footed it out of there, up and across the road onto the Golden Lion Hotel. It was quite inside, a free house where the bar area was a little tired looking whilst the back courtyard, toilets, all look very modern. We got a friendly welcome from the barmaid, and someone's dog, and on cask they had Doom Bar, Skinners Betty Stoggs, and from the Tintagel Brewery 'Castle Gold'. All three of us had this, and found it in good condition, its a 4.2% golden ale, crisp and clean, a light citrus hoppiness, and honey sweet malts. Overall it appeared a relaxed and friendly place, it was good for a couple of pints and banter with your mates.

Moving back down towards the quay we went into the Old Ship Hotel. This seems to have had a little face lift since we were last in it, a big spacious place that I think is a free house. Its going for the 'gastro' look in my opinion, the menu looked nice if a little pricey, and to drink the choices were that day Sharps Doom Bar and their 'Special' and Brains SA which amused me, being so used to seeing it everywhere here in Wales to then find it on a night out in Cornwall!
The beer we felt seemed a little on the overly cold side, but after warming up a bit the 'Special' was great to try after enjoying it previously only in bottle form. Fruity, toffee, good solid body that gives you strong malts combined with rich plum and sweetness, excellent.

We then stopped in Rajano's restaurant for a pizza fuel stop, then on to the last pub in the town, the Shipwrights Inn, right on the dockside. Completing their domination of the local scene with the 4th out of 6 pubs in the town it was another St Austell joint. But in a way I was glad it was because their Proper Job was in great form, juicy, hoppy, clean and thirst quenching. It sat alongside Tribute, HSD, in a large open building, which also has a great outside seating area right on the harbour side. I can imagine on a sunny day sipping proper job, with that view, it would be heavenly.

Overall we had a great evening, you cannot ask for more than drinking good beer with your two best friends.

I was surprised considering the close proximity to Sharps brewery we didn't see more of their beers. To have 4/6 pubs in one town might normally not be a good business model but i think the regular tourist trade they get in Padstow its obviously sustainable for St. Austell.

Beer of the night - for me its between a good conditioned Proper Job, and the Tintagel 'Castle Gold'.

I would happily drink in any of the pubs again, I'm sure the London Inn was just having an off day beer wise, it would have been easy to sit there for a few otherwise.
I think I would visit the Harbour Inn before some of the others first though, purely because they seem to have a couple of the less well known and seasonal casks on rather than just the Tribute, Trelawney and HSD that the others all had. Shame no one had Black Prince on that day though.
 

Back from hols...

Another great week in Cornwall was had by our family and our friends, so much so plans for next year are already set out.

Family, friends, BBQ, beer. What more do you need?

The last couple of years we've endeavoured to try all that we could find from Cornwall's breweries, a  search on here for 'Cornwall' labels shows a lot of the bottles, and one of my flickr sets shows many others too.

This year we were aware of the number of beer runs we had done in previous years, and with the cost of petrol these days we planned ahead a bit better, bringing some beers with us, and buying a bit more selectivly when shopping in the week.
One thing we did was to aim to bring a couple of beer boxes with us, my friends bringing a 10litre from their local Ringwood brewery of 'Boondoggle'. I had hoped to bring a one from Otley via Real Beer Box as its within pick up distance for me but unfortunately they had none available, awaiting delivery of the boxes.


The Boondoggle is a 4.2% blond ale, in the box it was sediment free so the settling period was short.
Light, amber gold in colour, with a fruityness, and floral and grassy hoppy notes. Very drinkable, this was emptied swiftly necessitating further beer purchases.


On one of our days out we passed through Truro and I spotted the Skinners Brewery sign and headed in there and picked up their only boxed offering (that day, and at short notice I must add) which was Cornish Knocker.

If you ring the brewery a day or so ahead they can pretty much put any of their range into a box for you I was told, but as I dropped in without ordering this was what was on offer.
It was also still with sediment in it, (this can be removed if you order ahead) and I was advised to let it stand for a good 24hrs to settle. Also if you keep, clean out and return the box when ordering a refill you'll get money off the price.
Cornish Knocker is one I was have had in bottle form, okay pint but thats it I'll be honest, its also a blond ale a little stronger at 4.5%.
However I must say we were all quite impressed with this box, tasted nice and fresh, more body than the boondoggle, it was citrusy with a light bitterness, lemon, caramel sweetness, cereal malts.
Again this hit the spot as an easy uncomplicated afternoon and evening drink that week.

Myself and my two friends also did a tour of the Padstow pubs one evening, I'll write that up next, a lovely place dominated by Rick Stein and St. Austell it seems.

On the last day (friday) we visited the Sharps brewery shop in Rock, something we've done the last two years and I've posted about, picking up some great beers. Selection this year was not as wide, but I found in the fridge bottles from the new Sharp’s Connoisseur’s Choice range. As I still have previous years offerings of the Single Brew Reserve I was keen to add this years bottle for comparison. 
My hopes were dashed as I was told they were not being launched until monday next week and not for sale!! A little pleading and I was told I could get them on Saturday but this was still really not going to happen as we were travelling back then.
A purchase of Sharps 'Special' was some consolation however. That lucky man Leigh over at The Good Stuff has a great review of this range. No jealousy here, no sir. Grumble.

Padstow next!

Off to Cornwall to drink some more

like this.

Atlantic Discovery Smooth Blonde Beer with Elderflower & Lemon.

We are off on our holiday down to Cornwall next week, but a couple of weekends ago I drank a beer I bought on last years holiday. I previously reviewed one of these 'fine dining' beers by Atlantic and very nice it was too.

This one actually had expired going by the best before date by almost a year. Great looking label, and I was quite looking forward to this as I had recently been to Zero Degrees in Cardiff and had their new blond beer with Elderflower which was very good indeed.

This was a 330ml and bottle conditioned, 5.5% abv. Conditioning very good, had to be careful on the pour though as it was easily disturbed and floating sediment despite being stored and undisturbed for a year. You can see what I had to leave in the bottle.

Orange golden in colour, aroma is light and hoppy, lemon and orange.

Light body, again the citrus is there and floral elements of the elderflower, which is very pleasant I find. Nice and dry, a little bitterness but not much. A very light summery beer, my wife who is a dry white wine drinker I thought would like this and she did indeed enjoy a taster of it.

Despite not actually using it as an accompaniment to a meal as it is intended it stood up nicely as a late afternoon drink to quench a gardener's thirst.

Penpont Brewery 'An Howl'

The Penpont brewery in Cornwall produce this beer with, and a percentage each time goes to the Cornwall Rural Community Council (CRCC).

A golden ale, and a strong one at 5.6%,  it is called 'An Howl' which is Cornish for 'the sun'. It is 500mls, and I think it was bottle conditioned, although I didn't note it at the time.

It has a very fruity aroma, juicy oranges or a strong marmalade.
It's got a nice freshness about it, a good bitterness accompanies a dryness around the front of your mouth.
Satisfying is a word that springs to mind, the fruit and malts are balanced well, the body medium, its strong and refreshing.
One I'll definitely look out for on holiday on Cornwall this year.

Atlantic Discovery Rich Cornish Porter

This was another of the bottle's I bought in May on our Cornish holiday, from the Atlantic brewery its one of their Discovery range. These are their 'fine dining ales' produced in collaboration with chef Michelin starred chef Nathan Outlaw. 

This range also includes a smooth blond beer with elderflower and lemon; a pale ale with lime, chilli and ginger; and a red Celtic bitter with cinnamon and orange. All have food matching advice, and the Rich Cornish Porter was supposed to go with stronger meats, venison, beef or wild boar.

I'd been waiting for suitable meals to try one of the 'dining ales' i've accumulated, including the Blond Beer above, and another two, some Sharps/Rick Stein bottles.

For a change on a Sunday roast we had beef, normally its chicken or pork, the last time we had beef the kids were not keen on it, but we tried again this time slow cooking brisket. That turned out fantastic if I do say so myself!

Onto the beer itself.
Lightly carbonated, perfect for the style, small head that soon faded away though.
Its body is light to medium, not to thin just right.
This porter is brewed with blackcurrants and molasses, and you certainly get a rich sharp fruity aroma.
The blackcurrants follow through in the taste, sharp, with the dark malts giving it body, nice bitterness, all went with the rich meat really well.
Overall its a nice porter on its own, and it went very nicely with the roast beef.

Penpont Brewery 'Roughtor'

From our Cornwall holiday back in may, this bottle is my second from the Penpont Brewery, in fact my very first post on this blog was one of theirs.

It is 500mls, not bottle conditioned, 4.7% abv.
Describing itself as a well hopped amber ale, "Roughtor (pronounced Row-tor) is the second tallest hill in Cornwall, situated on Bodmin Moor, near Brown Willy".

Its amber gold in colour, very clean and fresh, and has good carbonation. On top is a small white frothy head and an aroma of malts, some oak and strongly of raisins.

With a light to medium body, you get juicy dark fruit, a predominately malty bitter, a little sweet, raisins,  and a little spicy too.
A very enjoyable strong bitter, and i have 2 more of their range in a box for me, cant wait.

Sharps Special 5%

This actually is a bottle i bought last year (2010) at their brewery shop, when i put this years purchases down to the shed i brought this one back up to the house.

Its a shame there was no more bottles in the brewery shop when i visited, i would have loved to have compared last years with a new one.

It is 5% bottled conditioned beer, 500mls. A lovely red brown colour, minimal head, an aroma  of rich toffee and a deep wine fruityness.
Taste is really good, a malt sweetness that is full but not heavy or coying, well balanced hop bitterness, plum, bready, a light drying quality. Perfectly carbonated too.

Very enjoyable pint indeed, pick some up if you see some.

Thank you Cornwall.

Well our holiday to Cornwall may be over, and it was great fun again, so much that re-booking by all three families for next year is in process, but i brought home some beers to keep the memory lingering a bit longer.

The selection of most shops does seem to be limited to Sharp's, St. Austell and Skinners mostly with the occasional smaller brewer getting a beer in there, and that was the same for the pubs we visited. Some good pints of Doom Bar were sunk, some indifferent ones too, and the same to be said for St. Austell beers really, going from one good conditioned Proper Job to a flattish Tribute in the next place.
In an attempt to find a cask beer by another brewer we popped into the Wadebridge social club and found a lovely pint by Dartmoor brewery, although its name escapes me.
But fun was had by all, our livers severely pickled!! Luckly i'm on a run of night shifts now to give it a chance to recover!

We had a great morning on the beach at Rock across from Padstow, and then popped into the Sharps brewery shop. The friendly chap serving said unfortunately there was no Massive Ale or St Enodoc Double available, and teased us by showing the last bottle, not for sale, of the Honey Spiced Triple. I picked up the two Rick Stein collaboration beers which i passed up on last year, and also took a few of the new Single Brew Reserve 2010. I did try one of these last week, no notes, but hazily remember a light pleasant beer with massive foamy head, well hopped.





From another shop i picked up two bottles from the  Atlantic brewery Discovery range, another collabaration with a chef , this with Nathan Outlaw. These bottles are intended to partner food, with detailed descriptions given on the label for guidence. It'll be interesting to try these as i was not overly impressed with their 'core' range beers when i tried them last year.





The Penpont brewery Porter was the first beer i blogged about here when starting last year, and very nice it was too, so i gladly picked up 3 more of their bottles from the shelf. They are the oddly named 'An Howl', 'Roughter' and more normal 'Cornish Gold' although as you can see from the picture the last one is hand labeled, and a quick look on the website gives no information so i'll try and get some information from them via email before i blog it.

One other beer we drank was bottles of my Brubox North German Pilsner, so i'll get a post up about that soon too.

Cornwall holidays, and recommend a pub!

This weekend we are of on a weeks holiday to Cornwall, staying somewhere between Wadebridge and Padstow. We did this last year, same place and with our friends and their families from Bournemouth, had such a good time we re-booked immediately.
 

Last year we managed to sample many new breweries, Wooden Hand, Penpont, Greenroom for example, and beers more familiar and new from Sharps and St. Austell breweries.


Plus a trip to the Sharps brewery shop where i picked up a few bottles, a couple i still have in the shed.
I intend to go back and hopefully pick up some more Massive ale bottles, one to compare with last years, and i still have a Single Brew Special 2009, perhaps they have some 2010 now in, alongside the wonderful St Enodoc . Seeing as Mr Howe seems to be breaking  all manner of stupid EU work time directives by working insanely long hours perhaps we'll even catch a glimpse of him too!
Anyway enough of the Sharps love in!,

 

One thing planned is a boys day around the pubs of Padstow so recommendations now please.

Plus we intend to start the Saturday with a pub lunch somewhere before or after Exeter (not wanting to go into the centre at all) either just off the M5 or the A30 towards Okehampton, so if you know a good place for food, my first holiday drink, and (well behaved) kids please post below.

If i choose somewhere i'll post its name so that Mudge can plan around that pub his Saturday tipples  ; )

Sharp's Monsieur Rock

Just as Sharp's head brewer Stuart Howe embarks on a year's round of brewing collaborations i managed to get hold of his last effort, brewed with Orval maestro Jean-Marie Rock.
'Monsieur Rock' is a lager brewed with Saaz Hops, full details are are on Stuarts blog throughout last year.
Its a beer that's been widely talked about on the beer blogs, and those reviewing are ranging from generally positive up to gushing (nothing wrong with that either, its still an opinion).
Probably one word which has been used in a lot of those reviews too was 'drink-ability', and rightly so. It has the thirst quenching factor in spades, but combines it with what i would call the 'nod-factor' (or is it the 'head tilt' factor?!). When you take a mouthful of a beer and for that second you pause, nod to yourself saying 'damn that's good!'.Thats what this beer has.
Not wishing to be crude, but as a nurse i would say its colour is a good urine sample pale yellow. Sorry.
Lots of carbonation, a little bubble bath head on top. Aroma was to me a whiff of light lemon, and fresh apricot when you tear one open. On the tongue i thought it reminded me of a recent kids sherbet sweet I had, light and lemony fizzles, some pine and grassy notes, dryish apple. Afterwards there is a nice light bitterness, but you soon cover that with your next mouthful, as reported: drink-ability. A very good beer, buy some if you can, if its still around in the summer (if we get one) it'll be the perfect drink.
Its also a damn photogenic bottle!

Sharp's St Enodoc Double

Bought last may (2010) whilst on holiday in Cornwall, this was from the Sharp's Brewery shop in Rock itself, bought alongside their Massive ale, and some Single Brew Reserve 2009 bottles.
We're taking the same holiday this year we had such fun, so another visit is definitely on the cards, who knows that i might be lucky to see Mr Howe himself!
I was trying to keep this for, well i'm not sure really, perhaps this years holiday but decided to open tonight.
It popped open with a good smoke arising, aroma was a rich alcohol, caramel and plummy.  It is a reddy brown colour with a lovely white bubbly head, bubbles rising nicely. Drinking this was lovely, its a small 330ml bottle and i wish it was more, as i got towards the last 30mls i really wanted another few mouthfuls of its brown sugar muffin top taste,  toffee, sherry, a rich alcohol warmth, and a sharpness from the hops. After some dried fruit, raisins, it was short in the mouth but as it warmed it was welcoming you, but teasing almost as you came towards its end.

St. Austell Admiral's Ale

St. Austell Admiral's Ale

I have not seen many St. Austell beers here in South Wales apart from their Tribute and the gorgeous Cornish IPA that they make for M&S, one of my favorites of the last year. 
So i was quite surprised when down in South West Wales, in a Londis convenience store i spy not only their Clouded Yellow   but this Admiral's Ale too.

Actually i'm not sure why i was surprised as the last few times i've been in there they have had a good selection - Marstons Owd Roger, Fullers London Pride, and welsh brewers based near Carmarthen Ffos y Ffin last time.


Anyway back to the beer. After two bottles of Clouded Yellow i opened the Admiral's Ale in great anticipation. I was not disappointed, a beautiful aroma of toffee and biscuits to start with followed by a mouthful of flavours. Lovely crisp taste of fruit and and quite nutty, and slight bitterness i presume coming from the hops. Best thing is that it is a mouthful that stays, the flavour fills and lingers with you, unlike say the Felinfoel Celtic Pride i had the other day which was gone from your mouth, and memory, in a split second. 

St. Austell Clouded Yellow

St. Austell Clouded Yellow

Again, when in Cornwall earlier this year, this was the one beer i was really hopeful to find. And on the last day i found one, then dropped it in my car boot but luckily not breaking it. Obviously i explained to my friends that now the sediment was disturbed i would have to drink it another day thus depriving them of trying it. Shame.

Not quite sure why i have waited until now to drink but it was well worth the wait. Gorgeous flavours, so well balanced, vanilla and banana, smooth as anything, excellent excellent beer.

Penpont Porter

Whilst in Cornwall on holiday this May i was in a wine merchants scanning the beer shelves and at my feet were two unopened boxes, so i had a peek inside and found some new bottles from the Penpont brewery, a local Cornish company. Wish i picked up more of their range but i already had my arms full!.

A lovely and light in the mouth porter, good aroma of chocolate and coffee, lovely smooth drink, little aftertaste.
I suppose i say light in the mouth,  but it was very enjoyable
www.penpontbrewery.co.uk