CoffeeBeer >> Pint Pleasures >> Seahouses 3


Last September, when my friend Mike and I drove up north to spend a few days in Edinburgh, we took a route along the Northumberland coast to get a good dose of the sea. Mike’s brother had told him about the village of Seahouses, so that was where we decided to spend one night. "A large seaside village situated on the North Northumberland coast, approximately 12 miles north of Alnwick. The village harbour is lined with several boat companies offering various excursions to the Farne Islands, where one can view grey seals and puffins and also go scuba-diving around the shipwrecks. Having originally started as a sea shanty festival, the annual Seahouses Festival has become a very popular cultural event. And it is believed that kippers were first created in the village in the 19th century.

Grace Darling, a local lightkeeper’s daughter, became nationally famous in 1838 for rescuing survivors from the shipwrecked paddlesteamer Forfarshire, and the current Seahouses lifeboat bears her name. Between 1898 and 1951, Seahouses was the north-eastern terminus of the North Sunderland Railway. The defunct station is now the town car park, where we left our car overnight for a fee because the two-car carpark of our hotel was already full. So much for the "free" parking…

After parking the car and checking into our rooms, Mike and I took off across the road to the Bamburgh Castle Inn for our first pint of the day. There were two cask beers on, so we tasted the Farne Island (4.0% ABV, Hadrian Border Brewing Company, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne & Wear), which was a very balanced amber bitter that featured a puffin on the pump clip. We also tasted the Northumbrian Gold (4.5% ABV, Hadrian Border), which offered floral hops and a biscuit malt flavour.

But we decided to both go for keg pints of Alpaca Lypse (4.3% ABV, SALT Beer, Shipton, West Yorkshire), which seemed like a good session IPA to start our Seahouses evening. The pub features a big smoking garden on two levels, with the upper level looking over a wall out to the sea. We stood out there for a while, enjoying the view out to the islands; but as there was a strong nippy wind we quickly moved back inside. If it had been a bit calmer, this garden would be a great place to hang out.

We moved on to check out where we might want to eat. There was a pizza place and an Italian restaurant inland a bit, but neither of them were open yet. So we went back to the seafront and walked along until we got to the Black Swan. We took a table in the main room next to a couple who had their three pug-like dogs with them. The moment the big pug mutt saw me, it started to stare deeply into my eyes. This made me a bit nervous, as it was the same deep, penetrating stare that I had received from a friend’s dog earlier in the year, just hours before she died of a hemorrhoage.

(I probably shouldn’t mention this, but a couple of months later when I was visiting an old friend in Southern California, I got the same look from her oldest dog just days before she died. As if that wasn’t enough, a couple of weeks later, when I was staying with my sibling group in Bakersfield, the oldest cat there kept giving me that same exact look--and he passed away two weeks after I returned to the UK. I mean, I hope I haven’t become some sort of pet-death whisperer; but as I didn’t know this couple at all, I certainly wasn’t going to mention my concern.)

As I was engaging so deeply with this couple’s dogs, they quickly started to chat with me and Mike. And we learned that the dog that was giving me that gaze was already an elderly 18 years of age. So I was a bit relieved to hear that.

Anyway, I ended up having a pint of Hazy IPA (5.0% ABV, Stewart Brewing Company, Edinburgh, Scotland), which was hopped with a great combination of Ekuanot and Amarillo. After checking out the food menu, we decided to eat here, so we went for a second round of beer as well. For my meal I went for a starter: the Pan Seared Scallops Meuniére with Cauliflower Sicilian Violet Purée and Crispy Celery Nest. This consisted of four sea scallops, which was a perfect amount for me, but the celery nest seemed to just get in the way, and the sauce tasted too much like tomato sauce and detracted from the delicious perfection of the scallops themselves. Mike went for the Vegan Chicken Burger, a massive thing consisting of two patties stacked redundantly on top of each other, along with a big bowl of skin-on fries and salad. We also shared a side salad and a bowl of mixed vegetables, so there was plenty of food to soak up our pints.

For a final pint of the evening, we walked back to the Olde Ship, which was where we were spending the night. I have to say that our ensuite rooms were very comfortable, my top-floor room had a great view of the harbour, and our breakfast was very nice as well. But I’m here to talk about the pub downstairs.

We sat at the bar where we first tasted a cask ale, Proper Job IPA (4.5% ABV, St Austell Brewing Company, St Austell, Cornwall). It was nicely hoppy, with Cascade, Chinook, and Willamette hops. But Cornwall is a long way from Northumberland, and I knew I had tasted Proper Job years ago. And I really wanted to taste something local as well. So both Mike and I ended up going for pints of Dead Island Pale Ale (4.5% ABV, Anarchy Brewing Company, Morpeth, Northumberland), a hazy pale hopped with Citra and Cascade. The taste was definitely tropical fruit, all the way through.

In the morning after our breakfast, we strolled around the harbour, and I was sad to see that we were too late to see puffins on one of the boat tours. Oh well, we needed to move on up the coast , so perhaps a return trip one day to Seahouses in the late spring would be in order. I mean, I love islands, and I spent a week once in the Orkney Islands, so it would be pretty cool to cruise around the Farne Islands, and perhaps visit Lindisfarne as well. There’s even a pub there...

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PUB UPDATES:

  • HALLAMSHIRE HOUSE, SHEFFIELD: On a recent visit I had a taste of Panela (5.0 ABV, Thornbridge Brewing Company, Bakewell, Derbyshire). And you know what? It does taste just like a cup of coffee! To paraphrase my friend Mistah Rick paraphrasing an old Yuban TV commercial, Yes, I think I will have another cup!

    I also had a tiny taste of Necessary Evil (13.0% ABV, Thornbridge), a barrel-aged Imperial stout. Only a little taste, mind you, but oh my, this is like one of those intensely pretty amazing and wildly complicated dessert beers with which Rick and I often end (or begin) a hoppily adventurous trek together. Ooh, yeah, I wish I could WhatsApp some of this over to Oakland for him to try.

    On another quiet afternoon, I chatted with barman Fin as I sipped a pleasant pint of Venn (4.2% ABV, Thornbridge). Both of us instantly thought of Venn diagrams, and we wondered just what aspects of this beer were intersecting with which other aspects to create the common set. But when Doug arrived he told us this had just won Beer of the Year for 2026, and he thought it might be named after a person. Venn is a common name, because obviously the diagram was named after somebody. Anyway, the taste of this suggested a pretty even diagram of Flowers, Citrus, and Biscuits, all culminating in the center with this brew.

    Another time, on another frigid day, I enjoyed my pint of Dreamless NEIPA (4.4% ABV, Redwillow Brewery, Macclesfield, Cheshire). The hops dance of Citra, Mosaic, and Idaho 7 warmed my tongue with a wonderful fuzziness, and I enjoyed sitting at the bar admiring the colourful pump clip art as well, with pint glasses leaping over a country fence like insomniac sheep.
  • TWO SHEDS, SHEFFIELD: On a recent stop in February with my friend Mike, I went for a pint of Parallel DDH Pale Ale (4.2% ABV, Atom Beers, Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire). Good, but a bit on the sweet side. Mike, on the other hand, went for the Green Acre West Coast IPA (4.8% ABV, Buxton Brewing Company, Buxton, Derbyshire). And oh, WOW!

    On my next visit I had a pint of Coney (4.5% ABV, Brew York, York, North Yorkshire). This hazy session IPA was quite fruity and pleasant to drink. I was hoping it might have something to do with Coney Island, the amusement area in New York famous for hot dog carts. But it’s actually named after a street in York, and it’s also a "nod" to rabbits (but shouldn’t that be a hop instead?) It’s hopped with Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe, so no wonder it was pleasant.

    And on a recent ridiculously crowded Saturday afternoon, I had a sneaky taste of Lupulus Pink IPA (5.4% ABV, Buxton Brewery, Buxton, Derbyshire). Oddly enough this wasn’t pink, but it was basically pleasant IPA. But for that strength, and the promise of a pink tinge, I wanted something more exciting. Apparently Pink is a hops descended from Idaho 7, so it’s not going to give me a Valentine’s Day experience of drinking pink beer. Anyway, I had a lightbulb moment and went for the always satisfying Lightbulb (4.5% ABV, Verdant Brewery, Penryn, Cornwall), which once again delivered a citrus-dank experience across my palate. It made the deafening cacophony of good beer drinkers yelling at each other in the tiny wood-floored micropub a bit easier to take.
  • WALKLEY BEER COMPANY, SHEFFIELD: On one finally sunny and warmer Sunday afternoon, the mood in here seemed to be much happier than recently. And Jay greeted me with two tasters which I decided to go with. But first, I also asked if I could have a taste of the Gatekeeper Porter (4.1% ABV, Buxton Brewing Company, Buxton, Derbyshire), which is just what one wants in a porter: smooth, dry, and full of that coffee character. But I stuck with my two original halfs (instead of three, as Jay suggested. The first was Columbus Session Pale Ale (4.0% ABV, The Kernel Brewing, Bermundsey, Greater London) on cask, which was just a nice quality single-hopped session cask. The other nother half of Freddy’s Drop (4.3% ABV, Vaux Brewery, Sunderland), which is a really nice New Zealand IPA, just what my body and soul needed: crisp and hoppily satisfying. Apparently Vaux do a stronger version of this, Fat Freddy’s Drop, at 6.3% ABV. Ooh, I can almost smell that wonderful cat piss character of the hops...
  • OLD SHOE, SHEFFIELD: I met my friends Mel, Matt, and Mike here after work one Wednesday. I had a pint and a half of West Coast Pale Ale (4.8% ABV, Left Handed Giant Brewery, Bristol). Described as "tangerine, pine, citrus, bitter", this is ooomyumyum, like kicking up bits of fragrant tangerine peel while walking through a damp pine forest.

    Another time I was bored with my life, so I stopped in here by myself. And I’m so happy I did. First I had a taste of the surprising Dill With It Pickle Sour (5.5% ABV, Bullhouse Brew Company, Belfast, Northern Ireland), which was surprisingly nice. It seemed very light with a slightly salty tang to it. But I sensibly went for a pint of Asylum West Coast Pale Ale (Otherworld Brewing, Dalkeith, Scotland). The "pale" in the name is surprising, because the beer is brown and opaque. But oh, my, it was quite excitingly good: resiny hoppy with a definite malt base that is happily very dry and evenly weighted. It brought to mind some of the first local hoppy beers I fell in love with when I lived in Seattle, as some of them were about the same colour. The hops are Chinook and Simcoe, so no wonder it tastes nostalgic.

BOTTLED/CANNED BEER UPDATE:

  • Morana Cold IPA (5.8% ABV, Neepsend Brewing Company, Sheffield, South Yorkshire). Hopped with Citra, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops, and fermented with a lager yeast at a warm temperature, then hopped like a West Coast IPA. "Citrus, resin, tropical fruit". Ahh, yee-ess, cracking! Mighty zippy refreshing, welcoming me home to a dry sofa. Tasting this makes me want to leap up and hop on my sofa, yippie-yippie! But I wouldn’t do that, because I respect my sofa. But man, I really needed this beer!
  • Daydream Hazy IPA (6.0% ABV, Only With Love Brewery, Uckfield, East Sussex). Hopped with Galaxy, Simcoe, and Centennial, this is described as a "citrus and stone fruit piney giant, just built for lounging around." Yeah, good! It’s good for a thoroughly boring and lonely day and week, wishing for warmer weather and more daylight. It’s saying there, there, JC, ya gotta chill out and relax! Which is very, very true. A chill-out IPA that sparkles around the tongue like gold flakes.
  • Turtles All The Way Down (5.5% ABV, Duration Brewing, Kings Lynn, Norfolk). "If the beer world is balanced on the back of a giant hop, what supports that hop?" "Why, it's hops all the way down, of course." This is actually really nicely hoppily refreshing, if I can recall. I had got completely frozen waiting for another bus when my bus was cancelled due to mechanical problems, and it took a good two hours for my Raynaud’s Syndrom (sp?) fingers to come back to their normal state. A sudden bitterly frigid evening after a slight reprieve of just normal cold winter weather. So it’s hard to decipher just what’s going on in this beer, but my god, it was a godsend.
  • Dear April IPA (6.0% ABV, Nothing Bound Brewing Company, Bewdley, Worcestershire) With Citra, Mosaic, and Riwaka hops. MmwoomyepYep! A welcome swishy hops wave to reward me after an exhausting day. A yellow haze of a brew, reminiscent of pineapple juice in looks. Fruity but with zingy additions. And it’s only February!