Downlands (formerly South Downs) Lost Weekend

Tasting Summary

These comments are the opinion of the individual reviewer and represent what they thought of the beer on a particular day in a particular pub. If a review is less favourable, it may be because the beer suffered somewhere in the supply chain between them and the brewery.

Billi Tap, Billingshurst, West Sussex

Who	Score	When	Notes
Hogan Sampling		31 Jan 2026	Told it was fresh on today and certainly exhibiting a very good creamy head on this dry stout from Small Dole in West Sussex, approximately 15 miles south-east from Billingshurst, and sticking to the plastic beaker. I was surprised a glass was not offered. I did not ask but perhaps it is because you can go out the back to the Saturday food truck and in which case that is the reasoning behind it. In any case it did not detract from my enjoyment of this ale. A berry-fruited first hit. A dry maltiness rising but balanced by the use of Eureka, a modern American hop variety. A hint of chocolate and coffee joining in, in an emerging bitterness prevailing on my taste buds. It is brewed with naked oats* and torrefied wheat** to provide a silky, thick mouthfeel that I detected. A lingering malty sweetness paddling out. Downlands was first set up as South Downs Brewery in 2011 (initially cuckoo-brewing at Kent Brewery in Birling). The company rebranded to Downlands Brewery in July 2012 when they moved into their own facility. *Naked oats are a type of oat cultivar that naturally shed their husk (hull) during harvesting and threshing, unlike conventional oats which require a separate industrial de-hulling process. **Torrefied wheat is raw wheat that has been subjected to a flash-heating process (at temperatures around 400°C–415°C) until the kernels "pop" like popcorn.

Artillery Arms, Ramsgate, Kent

Who	Score	When	Notes
Dosser		02 Apr 2025	Superb stout went down a treat. And at £4.30 the big price rises we here are coming haven't hit the Artillery. Yet.
Dosser		26 Jul 2024	In good condition but needed an ice cube on a hot afternoon.
Dosser		25 Jul 2024	Lovely stout, a tad too warm but this was solved by one ice cube.