Another Beer Festival starting tomorrow! In Hastings this time...UPDATED 17th April

For this weekend, From Thursday 17th in the evening to Monday 21st of April, though I doubt all the planned ales will still be available by Easter Monday, and to be held at the First In Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings 'Old Town', East Sussex TN34 3EY. The 'festival' ales will be sold in the room at the back, and FILO's own ales will be available at the bar, of course...  

The photograph below shows last years offerings, but this year include: 

FILO Mike's Mild (3.4%) 

Elgoods Spring Challenge (3.7%) 

Moles Moles Gold (3.8%)
Dark Star Seville (4%) 

Hammerpot This England (4%) 

Elgoods Golden Newt (4.1%) 

Roosters 41 degrees South (4.1%) 

Hopback Spring Zing (4.2%) 

Lymestone Flagstone (4.2%) 

St George's Midas (4.4%) 

Wharfebank Golden Ticket (4.5%) 

Cairngorm Wild Cat (5.1%) 

As you can see, ales from all over the country, and many typical of the month, ie Spring and St George's Day 'specials', plus FILO Crofters Best, Churches Pale Ale, Old Town Tom (flavoured with ginger), Cardinal Sussex Porter and Gold in the main bar. No doubt a couple of surprises will appear on the bar, indeed, today (17th) there is Nine Standards Silver Standard (4.3%), plus 2 real ciders will be available as well: Westons 1st Quality and Thatchers Cheddar Valley, plus food...

Thursday evening 18.00-20.30 Indian Thali. 

Friday and Saturday evenings 18.00-21.00 Hot bar snacks. 

Monday evening 18.00-20.30 Tapas.

Friday, Saturday and Monday Lunchtimes 12.00-14.30 Regular FILO menu. 

Not sure when the Beermeister will be there, but it has to be done and enjoyed, cheers! 

The FILO's own website is www.thefilo.co.uk 

www.drinkaware.co.uk

Meeting a Caveman (nearly), and at the Albatross too!

No, really! A lovely walk along the coast to Bexhill on Sea, and pop into the Albatross Club (RAFA), the regional CAMRA Club of the Year 2013; a must for a CAMRA member, who also happens to be an associate member of the RAFA and the Club, it would be rude not to.

4 pumps, awaiting a fifth, and 2 from my (not so) old favourites Dark Star Brewery, the APA and Hophead, both much written about by me, another from the Hastings brewery, FILO, their Cardinal, a very good 4.6% "Sussex Porter", and one from Kent, the Caveman Mesolithic, a 4.5% pale, refreshing bitter, with a hint of dark roasted malt in the flavour. Oh yes, and the 2 Sussex ales from Dark Star both were changed as heavily drunken by regulars, so another 2 came on! 

Another FILO ale, The Churches Pale Ale (4.2%), pale-ish, as you would expect, and I'm sure I've reported on this before, though didn't taste this one today, and one I did sample, the only non-local ale, from the Potteries, Titanic Engine Room, a 4.6% pale dry bitter, very nice! 

So, meeting the caveman? Not quite, but I met the brewer's parents, who run the George & Dragon pub in Swanscombe, Bob and Bron. A very pleasant chat ensued, and good to see them taking their time off in East Sussex, and hence, how Jeff at the Albatross Club has got hold of the Caveman ales recently, Bob and Bron deliver them, nice one.

The two that came on, above...

So, I've not written much lately, thank goodness some may say, but I do have a lot of work on at the moment, but I shall carry on sharing my, and friends' experiences regarding ales, pubs, and yes, even going to football matches, now and then, cheers! 

Thursday 8th November - Hastings

Visited by the 'Larkmeister', a Mackem today, so, we had a few pints over the course of the day, first at the First In Last Out (FILO) in Hastings Old Town, (High Street).

 

Mike, the landlord, was at the bar when we arrived, but was not staying for a drink, however, as usual, he's great company, and always a good conversation, although only brief today. However, the lovely new Latvian barmaid, Elina, was there for when Mike had left, not so bad company either to be honest, and a good pint puller to boot, thanks for the ales Elina! 

 

Four of their own beers were on sale, and Harveys Hadlow Bitter (3.5%). The 4 FILO ales were Crofters Best Bitter, their 3.8% session ale, Old Town Tom (4.5%), if you haven't visited for a while this is a renamed ale due to another brewery's threat of prosecution over its old name, Cardinal Sussex Porter (4.6%), and Gold, a 4.8% Premium Bitter, which I rather enjoyed, nice and pale, quite bitter, with a good body. 

From the FILO, we wandered over The Bourne (now a road, not a river anymore) and walked down All Saints Street, enjoying the medieval buildings; I make a reasonable tour guide, I hope.  Anyway, we wandered down to the seafront and westwards to the White Rock Hotel, near the pier, which has a reasonably priced bar with 4 real ales, always sourced locally, not so bad for a bar very close to the centre of Hastings.

 

The 4 ales were Hastings Best (4.1%) and Pale Ale (4.7% and using American hops), Harveys Sussex Old Ale (4.3%, not bad, but not a patch on their 4.5% Old Ale, more of which another day), and the 4.1% V S Old Ale from 1648 Brewery. I had to try the 1648, as new to me, the ale, that is, not the brewery, and it's a very decent seasonal ale with a hint of licquorice, like many of these darker ales.

Now we were a wee bit hungry, so wandered back to the Old Town and visited what many locals regard as the best Fish & Chip shop/restaurant in Hastings, the Life Boat Restaurant, where we enjoyed our meals, and the Larkmeister even 'supersizing' his meal up to a large piece of cod for just 20p extra, and it was a huge piece of fish too, he even ended up leaving some food! Anyway, I stuck to a normal sized piece of fish, which was fairly large in itself, and we were served by an enchanting young woman, originally from Eastbourne, I believe her name was Jess, but regret, for once, not making a note of her name, sorry if I'm wrong, Tess/whoever, I'll buy you a drink...

Our final port of call was the Dolphin, for the Thursday night quiz, which was a great laugh as ever! I shall update details of the Dolphin's ales very soon, in another blog, as I was there a few times in the following days.

 

Cheers!

Friday 11th May

Had a wander round the countryside close by Icklesham this Friday, bit of research, so had to drop into the Robin Hood Inn before returning to Hastings...

 



It's becoming a bit of a regular for me now, chatted to Ollie behind the bar, and Fred this side (it was his birthday on 10th, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (Belated)  A Wells & Young bitter was rebadged with his own pump clip produced, "Old Git Ale" at 3.6% (Youngs 'Ordinary' Bitter).  There was also, the more local(e) Hastings Best Bitter and, a newer locale brewery, Longman Best Bitter at 4%, which did what it said on the label, it is a bitter of copper colour, typical South East bitter style, I would say, and pretty good too!

There were also 2 Welsh ales on the bar, Brains SA and, another newer brewery, Bragdy Conwy's Rampart, another bitter, 4.5%, slightly sour taste and bitter aftertaste, I liked it ;-)

 

I caught the 100 bus back to Hastings (leaves Icklesham at about 5 minutes to the hour) and first visited the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, down by the fishing beach, opposite the net huts; you'll have probably guessed by now that this is my 'local', in effect, though there are some very good other local public houses too.  I had some chips and Dark Star Hophead here, giving their APA a miss today, bit strong...  

 



I then crossed The Bourne to the High Street and visited the First In Last Out (FILO), which usually serves 4 of its own ales and a guest ale, which today was an old favourite, Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted, had to be drunk first, good bitter!  Chatted to Tony, the manager and brewer, and also chatted to Mike (landlord) and his wife, Sharon (landlady and chef) too, always nice people to meet up with.

I drank their own FILO Crofters, their 3.8% 'session bitter', a very drinkable ale: they also had their own Cardinal Sussex Porter (4.6%), a very good porter; Churches Pale Ale (4.2%); and Old Town Tom (4.2%), their 'ginger' flavoured ale, which used to be called Ginger Tom, but threatened legal action from Robinsons Brewery (they have copyright of the name it appears), who mix their Old Tom with 'ginger beer' to make their own 'shandy' version of Ginger Tom, meant a rename for the FILO real ale version... You couldn't make it up!   

Cheers one and all, crackin' day :-D