OK, Sunday, afternoon, and a chance to get to The St Leonard, London Road, St Leonards, just a little way up the hill, on the left, from the seafront. Why "a chance" then? Well, this new addition to real ale drinking on the South East Sussex coast currently opens only Wednesday to Saturday evenings, 5-11pm, and Sunday afternoons/early evening, 12-9pm. This is quite an airy room inside, on two levels, with one bar, bare floorboards, 'traditional' pub furniture, and an art deco feel about the decoration.
So, what was on offer? Well, I've seen Hopback Summer Lightning on offer before, which I love, but the pub was closed that time I walked by, sadly. The St Leonard also appears to be regularly providing ales from the very local brewery, Hastings, this time their Best Bitter and Blonde were on the bar, both discussed before, and very good ales to have on sale; I've drunk them before, reported on them before, but they also had on an ale I haven't tried before (please don't call me a 'ticker', I just wanted to try a pint of an ale that was new to me).
So I drank the Woodforde's Once Bittern, a 4% bitter, which I presume a portion of the profits goes to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, which they support. This was a bit more expensive than the usual local prices, £3.50 a pint, but had to be tried. So, it was new to me, plus I'm a member of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, and fraternal feelings took over too! A decent ale, like all Woodforde's ales tend to be. Nice one.
I then walked up the hill, intending to take advantage of the Dark Star ales that usually adorn the bar of The Tower, a 10 minute walk further up London Road, and I wasn't disappointed. I also got to watch some football and have a bit of banter in a decidedly more busy local. In addition to the 3 Dark Star ales was Bass Bitter, now brewed by Marstons; I've given much time to Bass recently, nb the 3 Dolphins blog, so, though I was very tempted, there were much more ales to my taste on offer.
So, the 3 Dark Star ales were ones I can happily drink, the APA, not my favourite, but very hoppy, a little too sweet for me, the Hophead, probably my favourite among their regular brews, and the 5.7% Revelation, at £2.90 a pint, a bargain! What can I say about the Revelation that I haven't said before, full bodied, pale, in your face hops... I can only add I ended up a wee bit 'merry'. Cheers!
