21st September and Central Hastings

Pissarros, sadly, has had a repaint, now Battleship Grey on the outside, instead of the Green it used to be, what came over them was my immediate thought, but, apparently, this was it's colour many years ago, so reverting to the past (though the photo they have from then isn't in colour, so grey, hmm...).  They usually have 2 ales on sale, the regular is the ubiquitous Sussex Best and a guest, at the moment from Long Man Brewery (see website) Long Blonde, 3.8%, a pale golden ale, not my favourite ale, but very easy to drink. There are plans to bring in a darker guest ale soon for the Autumn/Winter. 

 

 

I then popped into Frank's Front Room, which is certainly a comfortable bar to visit, it sells coffee, food and bar drinks too, eg the 2 regular ales are Hastings Best Bitter and Blonde, and a guest ale, today it was Black Sheep Best Bitter.  It really is a bright and airy watering/feeding hole, very woman friendly, and not just full of old men quaffing beer! Near the railway station, and certainly worth a visit when in Hastings.

 

I had a very friendly and informative chat with the barman, Paul, and another young woman working there (sorry! I missed your name), talking about pubs, ales and 'fishermen's rolls', one of which was eaten by me at the food & wine festival on Sunday last.  Today, I drank the Hastings Blonde (a lot of 'blondes' about today), which is 3.9%, was clear, quite bitter too, best I've tasted it so far. Hastings Brewery are brewing their ales without finings, to cater for vegetarian and vegan diets, so they can sometimes come up cloudy, but not today! 

Then I walked up to the Dripping Well, where I drank the Hastings Best Bitter, 4.1%, again an unfined ale, medium coloured, what I always grew up to think a bitter should look like... It's a fair enough bitter to drink, does what it says on the label, so I was happy to imbibe. They usually have 3 ales on sale from their 4 handpumps; the 2 others, regulars really, were Henry's IPA from Wadworths and Courage Directors. 

 

Also, Nick the Landlord made a short visit, whilst they received a delivery from Hastings Brewery (see website). Always friendly and easy to chat around the bar here, to other customers and staff alike, and good to see Nick, even if only briefly.

 

I ended my session by visiting the Hastings only Wetherspoons, the John Logie Baird, as, being a CAMRA member, I can get 50p off a pint there each day, which for me is every now and then, but worth taking advantage of every now and then.  They had the usual suspects, including Fullers London Pride, but I like to drink their guest ales for 2 reasons, they usually come from micros and are even cheaper!

 

The guests included Blindman's Icarus, a 4.5% ruby ale; Stonehenge Danish Dynamite, a 5% dry bitter; Orkney Raven Ale, at 3.8%, a session bitter; and my choice for a mere £1.49 a pint after my CAMRA discount, Exe Valley Shepherd's Crook, which I had to try as I lived in Exeter during the 1980s and regularly drank Exe Valley bitters at the Welcome Inn there, which is a medium coloured bitter, whose aroma was a bit off-putting, it smelt of wet dog, but was easy enough to drink, if a shade more boring than I expected at 4.7%.

 

So, report over, cheers!