The Malt Shovel, Horsham 21st April 2013

We were a little premature in celebrating St George's Day two days early, with our favourite local border side, Mythago.

Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter (4.0%): Great beer in great form.

Sharp's Doom Bar (4.0%): Excellent but just not quite as good as the Harvey's on this occasion.

Fuller's London Pride (4.1%): Crisp and tangy, in a good way. Smashing beer.

Timothy Taylor Landlord (4.3%): Creamy and hoppy, another classic.

Blessed with one of the first sunny days of the year, I could have stayed here all day just checking that the beer quality didn't deteriorate.  At one stage this pub had some issues with lines but clearly that is all in the past as the beer is stunning.  I don't expect to be able to find anything this good anywhere else in Horsham... but it won't stop me looking...

The Greyhound, Tinsley Green, Crawley 22nd April 2011

Here again for the World Championship Marbles that is played every Good Friday. This year there was a beer festival. In fact it's still on, it runs until Monday or until the beer runs out.

Cotleigh Buzzard (4.8%): A dryer, darker version of the Honey Buzzard. Tastes like an Old Ale.

Cotleigh Honey Buzzard (4.5%): Pleasant, strong bitter with a sweet aftertaste.

Cotleigh Golden Seahawk (4.2%): Smells like dark beer but is a beautiful orangey colour. Very bitter but very easy to drink.

Kissingate Storyteller (3.5%): Sweet, light and blonde. A lovely summer easy-drinking delight. The sort of beer people say appeals to women.

Kissingate Moon (4.8%): Tastes like a refreshing fruity soft drink, which at this strength is very dangerous.

Kissingate Warlock's Strong Ale (5.2%): Sweet, fruity, dark and strong. A decent pint.

Kissingate Black Cherry Mild (4.2%): Heavenly sweet dark mild. Can't pick out the cherry flavour though.

Adnams Broadside (4.7%): Delightful, strong and warming. A stunning drop of ale.

Fuller's London Pride (4.1%): Delicious rounded flavour with a lovely straw-hoppy taste. When it's good it's great, and this is.

Shepherd Neame Spitfire Ale (4.2%): Distinctively Shepherd Neame, this is too alcoholic for the flavour. Not one of my favourites.

Wells Bombardier (4.3%): A bit soft and woolly drunk straight after the London Pride. Still a decent pint.

There were three bottled beers (Shepherd Neame Tanglefoot, Marston's Pedigree and Wychwood Hobgoblin) and four draught ciders (Thatchers Cheddar Valley and the local JB's, plus two others), so for a first ever beer festival for this pub, it was a good range and I hope to attend many more. The beer seemed to sell well and the marbles crowd were pleased to have a variety of decent beers on tap.

The Malt Shovel, Horsham 10th May 2008

Popped into my local for some more drinking after a family wedding.

Fuller's London Pride (4.1%): Pleasant and refreshing bitter without a strong flavour.
Hepworth's Pullman's First Class Ale (4.2%): A disappointment from this usually excellent brewer. An unpleasant hop taste.
Wadworth 6X (4.3%): Nicely balanced strong ale. Lovely.

Pic to follow.

Horsham Beer Festival 29th - 30th September 2007

This year saw a larger festival than previously, with three sessions over the weekend.

As usual, I was serving behind the bar for all the sessions, which gave me the opportunity to sample every one of the fifty real ales on offer.

It’s always a great weekend and this year was no exception. I met up with people that I only ever see at the festival but at last I’m beginning to remember their names now, as well as lots of friends from different areas of life.

I had a tough time deciding on my beer of the festival, and in the end feel I have to mention four that particularly stood out. Skinners Betty Stogs was an excellent bitter, Hepworth's Harvest Ale was a good strong hoppy beer, and Essential Beers Festival Special was delightful golden and moorish. Of course the festival would not have been complete without Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby which is one of the best beers on earth (see picture).

After the event, Gareth, the event organiser who runs the Beer Essentials beer shop on East Street in Horsham (see link on the right), told me that about 4,100 pints were sold and only a little beer was left over from the 84 barrels delivered for the event. This is now being sold in the shop.

Acorn Old Moor Porter (4.4%): Traditional porter. Very good.
Adnams Bitter (3.7%): Lovely dry hoppy session bitter.
Archers Farmers Boy (3.8%): A bit sharp with a hint of smokiness.
Arkells Kingsdown Ale (5.0%): Very malt heavy; rounded and smooth.
Arundel Sussex Mild (3.7%): Gorgeous and creamy if a little sweet.
Bateman's Valiant (4.2%): Very pleasant bitter.
Bath Gem (4.1%): Lovely malty bitter. Tastes stronger than it is.
Brains SA (4.2%): Creamy caramelly taste to this bitter. Very good.
Burton Bridge Golden Delicious (3.8%): Mellow and not too strong. A good beer to drink all night.
Caledonian Deuchars IPA (3.8%): Hoppy but weak beer.
Cotleigh Barn Owl (4.5%): Strong with a bitter flavour which continues to the aftertaste.
Cottage Metropolitan (4.7%): Fruity well balanced mellow bitter. Good but not dark coloured as described in the programme notes.
Downton Red Hop (4.3%): Pleasant malty red coloured bitter.
Elgoods Black Dog (3.6%): You’d have to do well to find a better mild than this at this strength. Even people who profess not to like mild were happily consuming pints of it.
Essential Beers Festival (5.0%): As always an excellent pint. One of my favourite beers.
Essential Beers Festival Special (4.2%): This gorgeous beer was made for the festival by blending Dark Star Hophead (which it tastes similar to but a little stronger) and Dark Star Sunburst. Fantastic beer.
Everard's Original (5.2%): Far too much alcohol and not enough flavour.
Exmoor Gold (4.5%): Slightly citrusy golden beer. Very tasty.
Felinfoel Best (3.8%): A delicate hop flavour to this Welsh session bitter.
Fuller's ESB (5.5%): Good flavour which copes with the high alcohol content.
Garton's Liquid Lobotomy (8.0%): A challenging black beer with a smooth start and tangy aftertaste.
Goddard's Ducks Folly (5.0%): Caramelly strong bitter.
Green Jack Ripper (8.5%): Excellent sweet strong beer with enough flavour to carry the alcohol.
Hadrian and Borders Gladiator (3.8%): Very malty red bitter with a crisp hoppy finish.
Hampshire Pink Elephant (5.4%): Unusual beer with a hint of the taste of red wine but no pink colour. Somehow this was voted “Beer of the festival” by drinkers over the weekend.
Hart Ice Maiden (4.0%): Pleasant bitter but with no distinguishing features.
Harviestoun Ptarmigan (4.5%): Very pleasant beer with a light spicy and zesty flavour.
Hepworth's Harvest Ale (4.5%): An excellent beer with a sharp hop taste. Almost tastes like an IPA.
Hogs Back HBB (3.7%): Mellow citrusy tones to this pleasant bitter.
Hop Back Entire Stout (4.5%): A very palatable and easy drinking stout.
Leyden Black Pudding (3.9%): Lovely creamy well balanced mild.
Moorhouse's Black Cat Mild (3.4%): Tasty mild with a mellow roasted malt flavour.
Oakham JHB (3.8%): Very fresh and citrusy beer with bitter undertones.
Oakleaf Green Gold (4.3%): Pleasant ‘chewy’ hoppy golden coloured bitter.
Old Bear Hibernator (5.0%): Seriously smoky dark beer.
Orkney Dark Island (4.6%): Dark Scottish beer with a chocolatey burnt malt taste.
Palmers Copper Ale (3.7%): Pleasant and hoppy beer.
Ringwood Fortyniner (4.9%): Tasty strong bitter.
St Austell Proper Job (4.5%): Very sweet bitter.
Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby (6.0%): Wonderful. I always look forward to drinking as much as possible of this mild at this festival. One of my favourites.
Sharp's Doom Bar Bitter (4.0%): Well balanced bitter with a good hop taste and hints of caramelly malt.
Skinners Betty Stogs (4.0%): The name put me off a bit but this was a delicious fruity hoppy bitter. An excellent find.
Thornbridge Jaipur IPA (5.9%): A lovely delicate IPA with a big hop and honey taste.
Timothy Taylor Golden Best (3.5%): Darker than most golden beers, this was thick tasting and disappointing.
Titanic Stout (4.5%): Lovely dark, bitter, roasty stout.
Wadworth 6X (4.3%): Fresh and fruity; well balanced.
Welton's Percy Bysshe (7.0%): This tastes like it’s got apples or some other fruit in it, and is good but a little strong with a strange murky brown colour.
Westerham British Bulldog (4.3%): Smells of roasted malt and tastes like excellent bitter.
Wickwar Autumnale (4.5%): A hint of burnt flavour to this popular yet thick dark bitter.
Wells and Youngs Waggledance (5.0%): Warming honey tones with some hoppiness are present in this strong bitter.

The Sir Charles Napier, Brighton 12th September 2007

Down a residential street, this pub is a little off the beaten track and presumably is very much a locals pub.

Butcombe Bitter (4.0%): An excellent well balanced bitter. Lovely.
Fuller’s Discovery (3.9%): A sweet golden beer with honey tones, served fairly cold. Just right for those women and lager drinkers.

A pleasant old pub with a large collection of golfing memorabilia displayed on the walls. What on earth are they doing playing rap music?

The Basketmakers Arms, Brighton 12th Septmber 2007

We came all the way here looking forward to the unbeatable steak and ale pie, and were disappointed when it wasn’t on the menu. But the food we had was excellent, as was the beer.


Butcombe Bitter (4.0%): Pleasant standard bitter with a tangy hop character.
Fuller's Gale’s Seafarers Ale (3.8%): Mellow bitter with a good balance of warming malt and bitter hops. The pump clip informs us that 5p per pint goes to “Seafarers UK” maritime charity.

A lovely pub that was a pleasure to visit again.

Harper's Wine Bar, Broadstairs 11th August 2007

Found a plate of ham, egg and chips and a pint of Fuller's London Pride (4.1%) in this comfortable wine bar, a rare change from the Shepherd Neame served in most of the pubs in town. It was tasty, well balanced, hoppy bitter, although at £3.00 a pint, a treat rather than a good place to drink every day.