Working more-or-less full time for a spell, and a week's "Let's get away from everything" holiday last week have both prevented me from having much to say...and having any time to say anything on line: about beer, at least, of late.
Much of our beer drinking has been from the usual haunts although we've added the Crown & Anchor on Eastbourne's seafront to our list of frequently frequented places.
It's a Greene King house which would normally have me running for the hills but, of late, they've been putting on guest beers - in summer there was Hopback Summer Lightning which is one of the first golden beers I ever had and it still tastes great, and last night after a return to work for the evening there was Twickenham Naked Ladies which was just what we wanted - light and hoppy without being too in your face.
Anyhow, where have we been for the last week? Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. Some might think it's a strange sort of venue for us, having no pub (there's a private hotel bar but our one attempt to go in there didn't yield any staff in the bar...or confidence there'd be any any time soon) and no practical way of leaving the island of an evening.
So we'd planned to go off the island every day to try the pubs of Poole, Studland and Bournemouth. In the event, we found ourselves not wanting to leave this tiny (1.5 miles by 0.75 miles) paradise of woodland, bird hides and waders and the odd beach.
We made two trips over to Poole for the collection and delivery of a houseguest and to provision up (there's no shop on the island, either). The first time we went we found the pubs a little lack lustre - although we missed seeing that there's a branch of "The Stable" with it's brilliant pizzas and real cider. When we returned we went into the Poole Arms (not in the GBG) purely on the strength of its fishy lunch menu and we weren't disappointed. The beer was fine (Ringwood 49er) but not its selling point. Then, after shopping and whilst awaiting the ferry we tried "The Drift" which is a microbar on the quay front which you can easily overlook.
Wow!
In Bristol, it probably wouldn't even hit the radar - three cask beers on pump and a fridge full of interesting bottles. But in Poole it was a breath of fresh air (and a mouthful of great beer). The owner, Alex, is a genial chap and engaged us in conversation and giggles about certain sorts of CAMRA members whilst chatting about beers we liked (and didn't). His three beers were a mix of styles and breweries and we had a stunningly good pint of Black IPA (whose brewery I can't remember).
The place is quirky and charming (although with the most uncomfortable stools I've ever experienced...although S didn't find them so bad, so maybe it's my anatomy) and deserves to succeed. Well done, Alex.
Back on the island we made do with Oakham Citra and Scarlet Maccaw and Harbour IPA in bottles (and some wine). Not a patch on the real thing and goes a long way to explain the findings in the 2015 real ale report that cask ale drinkers go to the pub more often, and spend more when they do. It's simply because cask conditioned ale is only available via a pub.
So now we've left the red squirrels behind (that's Sid in the picture at the top) and returned home to pints of Hophead at the Crown (still great).
Now all we have to do is to find a way of setting up a pub and/or a brewery on Brownsea and the place would absolutely perfect.
