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!  

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas, Bon Noel, whatever... Christmas and St Stephen's/Boxing Day were spent in Hastings for me and with no work this year, yay!  Most of my drinking outside my home was spent at the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, opposite the fishermen's huts, and Santa Claus/Father Christmas/St Nicholas/whoever, had landed a bit early on the lower roof.  The day started very wildly, with driving wind and rain, but the sun later came out, so it was a very mixed bag of weather of, what will become, the wettest year on record in the UK.

Ales at the Dolphin included the usual Dark Star Hophead, Harveys Sussex Best and (lately) Youngs Special, all very well known to readers, if not most ale drinkers in the World, by now, and the seasonal regular Harveys Sussex Old Ale, and RCH Pitchfork (4.3%), which I believe I have noted elsewhere to be a decent pale ale, nice and bitter, and all the way from Cornwall, Sharp's Winter Berry Ale, more about below.

However, before I visited the Dolphin, on both days, I walked up the hill to the Tower, on the corner of London Road and Tower Road, (upper) St Leonards, and bordering Bohemia.  Good to see Louisa, the Landlady, here on Christmas Day, when she had Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%) and Critical Mass (7.4%, hence why I gave it a miss at 11am), a darker strong ale from the Sussex brewer; Sharp's Doom Bar, seen all over the Country and only £1.99 a pint here until 6pm on New Years Eve. 

The previously reported Rother Valley Golden Valley had finished at the end of the previous evening, but Kent Brewery's KGB, aka Kent Golding Bitter (4.1%) was being pulled through as I left, hence my Boxing Day visit to try that one too.  So, Christmas Day saw me drinking the more bitter than usual APA, a very nice surprise, and the single hopped (presumably) KGB was my drink on Boxing Day, a nice refreshing golden hued bitter with a dry aftertaste, worth the revisit indeed!

I had planned to try a half of the ludicrously strong Dark Star Imperial Stout (10.5%) at the White Rock Hotel on Boxing Day, but it was not on and they only had two ales, not the most exciting either, so I made a deviation to the Dripping Well, Cambridge Road, and a wee drink and chat with Mark the landlord (and other patrons, of course).  OK, no Christmas ales here either, but I had a decent pint of Hastings Best, and the usual Wadworth Henry's IPA and Adnams Broadside were on sale too.

So, I ended my 2 days Christmas 'bar drinking at the Dolphin, where I met up with all the family barstaff, though not all working both days, including Mark and Mo, and Laura and Louise, and had drinks bought for me by Joe and Mark, cheers mateys! Following a pint or two of the Dark Star Hophead, I finished both days, actually, by drinking the Sharp's Winter Berry Ale, a seasonal ale flavoured with morello cherries, and very tasty too...

Seasons Greetings to everyone who reads this... well, to everyone anyway, cheers!