A walk in the country, starting and ending at Robertsbridge, Sussex, 5th April.

As I say above, this started at Robertsbridge, a bit of a hike through muddy fields ensued, with our final drinks at the Salehurst Halt, about a mile from Robertsbridge.  It was wet, cold, strong winds, snow, sleet, let's face it, not nice walking weather, but each of the following pubs had real fires (I'll post some more photographs soon on my facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Steve-the-Beermeister/220910834601992), so not so bad...

Our first stop was at The White Horse Inn (site) near Hurst Green.  Shirley was behind the bar, a font of information about Hastings, in particular, and very happy to share her knowledge, as we (my brother, the 'Routemeister' and I) were happy to hear. A lovely big pub, with a great looking restaurant area, and, we were assured, excellent views out the back in better weather, but only selling the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best (4%) ale-wise, which we all know by now, but it was still greatfully imbibed, and a big CHEERS to the great barstaff! 

We then walked the long way round (avoiding roads whenever possible) to Bodiam, it's late Norman castle, and The Castle Inn (site).  This is a Shepherd Neame pub, and a fine example of one, though, sadly, not much call for Bishop's Finger here, as most patrons are drivers... One real cider, Thatchers Heritage (4.9%) and 3 ales from the Kent brewer, ie the paler Early Bird (4.3%), Spitfire (4.2%), and we drank the Master Brew, a typical Kent session ale at 3.7%, and still with more flavour than the Sussex Best!  The lady behind the bar, not sure if she was the landlady or not, but very amazingly, didn't complain when the Routemester took his walking boots off to dry his feet, very friendly and a nice one to 'boot', cheers! 

Our favourite pub of the day was our last choice of the day, the Salehurst Halt (site), which used to be a railway station, but is now a nice 'free house', a mile away from our destination, Robertsbridge, and not as bad a walk between the two as we'd worried about, and the weather had improved significantly by now. This was a very friendly establishment, a helpful barman/landlord (forgot to ask), who let me try the excellent cider, cheers!  This was obviously a popular pub, being Friday evening by now, people had already booked tables for dining and it quickly became quite busy. 

The 1 real cider was East Stour's 6% Traditional Cider, and the three local ales included their 'regular', Harveys Sussex Best (4% and yawn!), and two guest ales. The first was Pig & Porter Red Spider Rye (5.5%), which I've seen elsewhere very recently, and our choice, OK, I'm not too original, but I do love the stuff, as does the Routemeister, ie Dark Star Hophead, 3.8% of lovely pale hoppy bitter, and in fine fettle too, we didn't try the suggested (by the barman) 8 pints extra, but did stay for a lovely second pint.

I'll be back, as indeed, I'm sure Dan will, cheers!

FILO, Hastings, Easter Beer Festival

The beer festival started on Thursday evening, I visited yesterday (Good Friday) and it is due to finish on Easter Monday. The Full list of ales available can be downloaded from the FILO's website (site) and many of the available ales can be seen in the photograph below.

Mike, the landlord, who was in fine form, was serving in the festival bar in the conservatory towards the rear of the pub, which houses the ales and ciders below, and 2 ales, the Castle Rock Harvest Pale Ale and Pig & Porter Red Spider Rye, were being served from handpumps in the bar, together with the 4 of their own ales I have recently reported on. Except for the 2 stronger guests (£3.50 a pint) the guest ales were all £3.40 a pint, and their own ales at their usual prices, starting at £3.00 a pint for the FILO Crofters (3.8%).  I shall only report on the 5 ales I drank yesterday.

The 5 ales I sampled were the Pig & Porter Ashburnham Pale Ale, a 3.8% bitter with a hint of roasted malt; an old trusted favourite of mine, Oakham JHB, a pale hoppy 3.8% bitter; also, Oakham's even better Bishops Farewell, a 4.5% pale and hoppy bitter, with good body and a grapefruit aroma and taste, excellent as ever; Milk Street Beer, fuller bodied at 5%, a bit sweet, with a slight citrusy aroma, I'll borrow Mike's description of 'mango', and a dry aftertaste; and my personal favourite 'beer of the festival', the Salopian Hop Twister, 4.5% and here was hops and aroma 'in your face'! This had a peachy aroma, with grapefruit too, and tangerines in the flavour, and with a dry aftertaste, I loved it, it was excellent.

Try to get there before they run out of ales, certainly the Hop Twister, and the food looked excellent too, cheers!