Wandering round Hastings and its environs...Part I

What with all the good news about beer duty, and following a bit of a hint by a fellow customer at the Dolphin, I thought I'd start reassessing beer prices in Hastings, and anywhere else I visit.  So, where better to start my research, than at the pub that sells its own ales, where you would expect a bargain, hence, to the First In Last Out, or FILO, to the initiated, and joy! Mike and Sharon, the landlord and landlady, were in attendance this side of the bar, so I had a good chat with Mike, but Sharon had her attention more drawn by other customers, sadly for me.

There are now 6 real ales and a real cider at the FILO, 4 of their own, which were the Cardinal, Old Town Tom, Churches Pale Ale, and the 3.8% very good session bitter Crofters (£3.00 a pint), that I had a pint, and a half of, cheers Mike.  The 2 guest ales were Westerham British Bulldog, a "bronze, malty, hoppy" 4.3% bitter, and my old favourite, Dark Star Hophead at £3.30 a pint. The real cider was the locally sourced 5.5% Laughing Jester.

The FILO is holding a beer festival for the Easter weekend, starting on Thursday 28th March, in the evening.  Mike assured me there would be a variety of very interesting ales from independent breweries, sounds like a must go to me!

The Dolphin was where this quest had all started, following their increasing the price of ales by 20p a pint, sounds harsh, but they hadn't increased prices when the brewers had earlier in the year, and they were envisaging the Chancellor increasing prices significantly; we'll wait and see if there are any more changes in their pricing structure to come.  Anyway, all their ales are now £3.50 a pint, which is a bit expensive for Hophead etc, but a good deal locally for the stronger ales.  Changes to ales since my last mention are the Portobello Star being replaced by Great Yorkshire Yorkshire Golden, a 4.2% rather malty pale golden ale, and the Trade Winds has been replaced by Okell's Castletown, a pale and very easy to drink, as in quite nice thank you, 4% bitter.  

For this blog, the Hastings Arms was visited as well, and, incidentally, they have already taken over the Smugglers Inn at Pett Level, opening on Wednesday just gone. Good to see them keeping on both pubs, and excellent to see the Smugglers coming back to life, for now, opening at 12.00 daily, and no food there yet, but selling Fullers London Pride, Harveys Sussex Best and Sharps Doom Bar.

 

However, back to the Hastings Arms, and 4 Shepherd Neame ales, the regular Bishops Finger (5% and £3.60) and Kents Best (4.1%), and two seasonal ales, Early Bird (4.3%) and I drank the 4% Double Stout at £3.60 a pint.  This was a surprise to me, plenty of flavour, full flavoured, but slightly thin, as I'd expected at 4%, but certainly a very nice pint!

 

So, for now, the FILO leads as selling the best value ale in Hastings, but more to come in Part II, and at least Part III, cheers in the interim!

New Year 2012-13 - Hastings

Happy New Year!

So, apart from visiting the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, 'Old Town', have I been anywhere different, or drunk anything special over the New Year?  Well, yes, actually... The Dolphin had it's usual Dark Star Hophead, Young's Special and Harveys Sussex Best on, as well as the Harveys Sussex Old and Hastings Porter, plus the 4.2% St Austell 'Cornish Pale Ale' Tribute, another pale and hoppy beer, so Christmassy beers no more...

But not at the White Rock Hotel, on the seafront, vitually opposite the Pier, where I wandered in on the off chance to see if the Dark Star Imperial Stout, a massive 10.5%, was on tap yet, and, luckily, it was being drawn through by Kerry as I waited!  A whopping £2.50 a half, but then, when considering the strength, a half of this is like drinking a pint of strong ale at an equivalent 5.2%, so not so expensive really. "What was it like?" I hear you ask, well, it was nothing like the 10% Imperial Stout I remember drinking many years ago, that was brewed by Durham Brewery, in fact, if given this in a blind tasting, I would have guessed it was either a barley wine or Christmas beer, because it released a Christmas Pudding basinful of flavours in my mouth, very full bodied and nice, but a tad too sweet really for me really.

What else did I get up to? I visited the Tower, London Road, to watch a football match on Sky, and to take advantage of their excellent value ales. I started with a couple of pints of the Kent KGB, that I recently reported on, gave the Sharp's Doom Bar (only £1.99 a pint for a seasonal special price until New Years Eve), and even the Dark Star APA, a miss, because the 5.7% Dark Star Revelation was available at £2.90 a pint, crackin' ale and crackin' value...  The Revelation, as I've probably said too often, is a revelation, a pale ale bursting with hops and flavour, and from this month, it becomes a permanent ale on the Dark Star inventory, crackin'!   

Finally, I also visited the Hastings Arms, George Street in the 'Old Town', a Shepherd Neame pub, so the choice was... well, as you can see in the photograph above. Although the ale you can see me about to drink is in a Bishop's Finger glass, I had that fine ale last time I was here, as recently reported, but I drank the 5% Christmas Ale, at £3.50 a pint, more the norm for Hastings prices, a more easier to drink ale than the Imperial Stout, which had tasted like a 'Christmas' ale to me, maybe even like one of those big beers from Belgium, like Gulden Draak.  No, Shep's version of Christmas Ale was lighter than expected, quite bitter, and with a nutty, maybe 'walnut', hoppy aftertaste. Liked it! 

So that was it, I've plans to go further afield soon, but in the meantime, it's Hastings for me, cheers!  

13-14th December, back in Hastings

On the Thursday morning I visited The Albatross Club at Bexhill on Sea, five miles walking there, along the front, and 5 miles back, for a pre-Christmas drink and to meet up with the folk of the RAFA, as, in my capacity of being a CAMRA member, I am allowed to imbibe there, thankfully. As ever, great company and Geoff had 4 excellent ales on, including old favourites Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) and Youngs Special (4.5%), both of which I've written plenty about before.  There was also the excellent stout from Anchor Springs, the 5.2% Black Pearl, and Franklin Citra IPA (5.5%), both very good beers! A merry Christmas had commenced...

That evening, and the following afternoon, I had missed the Dolphin, so I attended the quiz on the Thursday night, then just a 'normal' visit in the pouring rain on the Friday, following a bit of a beer drenching too at the Hastings Arms, which I shall add about at the end of this blog.  Didn't do too bad in the quiz, our team came third, in a very difficult pre-Christmas Quiz Christmas Quiz, yes... Ales on were the usual Dark Star Hophead, Youngs Special, Harveys Sussex Best and Old Ale, and Wadworth Swordfish (5%) and a not a bad little pale beer from Isfield, their 4.1% Straw Blonde.

On the Friday afternoon, I popped into the Hastings Arms to try one of Shepherd Neame's seasonal ales, and to dry-off in front of their fire, and found out the latest news of the Smugglers at Pett Level, which sadly isn't now re-opening soon, the once prospective 'deal' being off, it is now rumoured that it will not open until Easter at the earliest and no-one knows who will be doing the opening, if it happens at all, sad, that pub needs some loving!  Anyway, Shepherd Neame ales, the well-known Spitfire (4.2%) and Late Red (4.5%) were on, but a much lesser known ale from their 'pilot' brewery, which I cannot find out about on the internet, and I've noted as South Downs Premium Ale (4%), a nice 'ordinary' bitter, and the very seasonal Christmas Ale (5%), which I thought would be a dark beer, but was a very easy to drink reddish brown ale, I do enjoy being seasonal! 

Oh yes, I was nudged by a friend whilst he quickly turned in the pub, hence the ale down my fleece and trousers, and me smelling of beer until I got back in that evening, I suppose drinking ale helped too...

I returned to the Hastings Arms on 20th December to find the Late Red replaced by Bishop's Finger, 5% of dark strong flavour, always loved this beer, certainly my favourite of their ales ever since I drank it in my youth at a pub that was nicknamed "The Bishop's Finger" and was situated at the edge of a thriving Smithfield Market, I cannot remember the real name of the pub, but just looked it up on the internet to find it is now called "The Bishop's Finger", well well! 

Oh yes, and Sue of the Hastings Arms was involved in the brewing of the South Downs Premium Ale at the Shepherd Neame's pilot brewery in Faversham, so it really is a one-off, so if you want to try this good session bitter get in quickly, nice one Sue.

Cheers!

The Scot invades Hastings

My mate, Jeff MacDonut, stayed with me a couple of days, which meant I had to show him some of the delights of Hastings and its environs... I met him at the station early afternoon on Monday, but had enough time to have a quick pint of Youngs Special, bought from the lovely Ellen behind the bar this time, sadly, at the recently refurbished and reopened General Havelock...

So, I went and met Jeff, dragged him back the 5 minute walk to my place (he was thirsty, so in a hurry to drink), dropped off his bag, and we immediately returned to the General Havelock via the bank.  Jeff had a pint of Special, this time I had Wye Valley HPA, and Jeff was dead impressed by Ellen too, but for a different reason to mine...

We then rushed along the front, being pushed by the wind and rain, nipped up George Street, and visited the Hastings Arms, which Jeff really liked, calling it a "Working Class" pub, happy that the bloke behind the bar said we could come back later, however drunk, provided we didn't start a fight in there, "US?!?"  Haha, anyway, we moved on from there and I had a pint of Dark Star Hophead at the Dolphin, which was incredibly quiet this afternoon.

We then walked up All Saints Street to the Stag, where Jeff was impressed, again, by the barman, this time, and the ales and interior of the building.  When we left, we crossed The Bourne to the High Street and dropped down to the First In Last Out, knocking on my mate John's window to wave at him as we passed, he'll be happy with that!  In the FILO, John's good mate, Paul, was quickly finishing his beer as we entered (maybe he had an early warning from John we were on our way), had a quick chat before he scurried off, and chatted to Tony, the manager/brewer whilst supping a lovely pint of his Church IPA (Jeff had chosen his porter, Cardinal).    

So, on leaving the FILO, we were feeling a bit weary, but ventured back across The Bourne to the Cinque Ports, where we had our final pint (Fullers ESB, lovely jubbly), before returning back to eat and sup some Leffe Blonde with our meal.  Cheers!

Back to Hastings

OK, only the first photo here is new, after all, the other two are pubs I've been to many times before, and it was a pretty dire day, what would be the point of taking damp photographs? So, the Hastings Arms...

I've not been here before, hence it's dominance in this blog today, a Shepherd Neame pub that sells food, although, on this Bank Holiday Monday, they were fast running out of some food options; much food was still available, however, but it had been very busy yesterday + it was wet and relatively cold today, so, on this bank holiday Monday, people were soon seeking shelter in pubs and eating, good business...

4 of their own (Shepherd Neame) ales are on sale; today, I drank Bishop's Tipple, always a very good beer! They also had Dragon Fire (for St George's Day, a strangely newly visited 'celebration' in England, as I can't remember ever caring about celebrating a Turkish or Hungarian knight, whichever version you believe, in my early years), Amber Ale, and Spitfire had just run out. Spitfire and Kent's Best are regulars, usually...

Their lagers are above average choices, with Orangeboom and Hurlimans Export on sale, live Blues is performed on Monday evenings, 9-11pm, and a warm and friendly reception I did receive. The manager, I presume he was anyway, and barmaid, were both easy to talk to, and at least one customer caught my eye, nudge nudge ;-)

Of course, as it is my local, I had visited the Dolphin first and had a few pints there. As you know by now, I love the regular Dark Star Hophead, among their 5 ales on sale at the moment. Mark, the landlord, accepted a glass of Hastings HPA, a guest ale, from me...

Then, I met up with 2 friends, Paul and John, both from South East London, Millwall and Charlton respectively, this is South East London on Sea, after all, at the Cinque Ports...

As they always sell Fullers ESB here, that's what I drank today, as ever, also the ubiquitous Sussex Best was on sale, and Hastings HPA too. Happy Easter!