Tuesday 16th October - Bexhill and back...

A 10 mile round trip today on foot along the seafront, first eastwards to Hastings 'Old Town' to drop something off for a mate, then westwards to Bexhill-on-Sea, to the De La Warr Pavilion, no longer sporting a bus falling off the roof (work of art, apparently)...

To the RAFA Club, The Albatross, with it's 3 ales on sale, a slight mix up, but soon sorted out, the good company of Jeff, the 'steward' and purveyor of fine ales, and many others, including Jonathan and Tim, who both bought me a half, and I shall have to remember the mutual round on my next visit, many thanks, gentlemen! Jonathan had also told me about a local 'get you home' service he's been using, where someone turns up on a wee bike, puts it in your boot and drives your car home with you in it, see www.booterscooter.co.uk for more details; this branch is obviously for the Hastings and Bexhill areas in East Sussex, but I've heard of similar around the country.

So, what were the ales this Tuesday? Well, it was there, so I had to have a pint of it... Dark Star Hophead, love it! But, to prove I'm not just a 'Hophead', I had to try at least a half of the other two ales, both from Rother Valley Brewery. So I had a half of each, the Ruby Wheat Beer (RWB), a 4.4% ruby wheat ale, does what it says on the label, though more a brown colour than ruby red, but who's quibbling? The flavour is distinctly of toasted walnuts to me, Jonathan suggested another nut, but we agreed this must be from the use of the wheat in the recipe, whatever, very nice.

 

But, to the Northiam IPA, a 5% IPA, you may not be surprised to read.  Now this was excellent! I can't believe I wanted to drink more of this rather than go back to the Hophead, but I did, how can I describe it? It was refreshing, though full bodied, a crackin' dry pale bitter, I loved it, and, frankly, as it was 5% I did get a wee bit merry, cheers lads!  And so, back eastwards, walking very much on the beach as the tide was a fair way out...

To the White Rock Hotel, virtually opposite Hastings Pier, and Johnny the bartender here this afternoon, good chat inbetween other customers, cheers, good service. As ever, 4 local ales; one of the good things about both the White Rock Hotel and The Albatross is that they sell local ales from the smaller breweries, great support! 1648 Britannia (4.1% and reported before); W J King Kings Old Ale, a 4.5% darker ale for the Autumn, presumably, the norm for this time of year; Weltons Sussex Pride, a 4% pale-ish bitter; and Dark Star English Pale Ale, a 4.5% ale made from "100% English malt and hops", plenty of body and pale, very nice again, as I sat on the veranda quaffing my pint and completing the sudoku in the Metro.

 

A very enjoyable day, cheers!

Friday 12th October - Hastings, and a new pub too!

Below, posing outside the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings in my alias as 'Snoopy' on the facebook 'Steve the Beermeister' page (link), Friday was a foray into a few central Hastings pubs too.

 

 

The Dolphin had the usual Hophead, Sussex Best, Youngs Special and Dark Star APA; together with guests 1648 Britannia, a pale, dry and fruity 4% ale, which early in the barrel was almost apple or cider like, but as it carried on conditioning, was even better, maturing into a very good bitter; ale doesn't fail to surprise me at times!  The other ale was Long Man Old Man, which has since been replaced by Long Man Sussex Pride, what I would call a very decent traditional bitter, 4.5%, and very pleasant, it has certainly improved since I first tasted it, Long Man are fast becoming a very consistent brewer, excellent news for Sussex.

 

As ever, great company in the Dolphin, Mark the landlord in fine fettle, mostly on our side of the bar, and the landlady's daughters, Laura and Louise, behind the bar, always pleasant, cheers!

From the Dolphin, in the 'Old Town', I walked back into the town centre and, at first the General Havelock, which lies between Cambridge Road and Havelock Road; in fact, there's an old 'right of way' through the pub, indeed, there used to be an alleyway, which can be noted quite easily! 4 ales on, and Westons Old Rosie, the real cider available. Ales included Hophead, Doom Bar, Landlord and the ubiquitous Sussex Best; I of course, chose to drink the Hophead, tasted good, as it should, and well served by the lovely Ellen, who has worked behind the bar since the pub reopened (not literally). Food looks good, especially the paninis, and the chips looked excellent, only £1.50 a bowl (LARGE portion) and £1 as a side dish, good value. 

 

I then ventured round the corner/across the road to The John Logie Baird, Havelock Road, the 'spoons of Hastings, which also features Old Rosie as it's real cider, and millions of ales, well, quite a few, including London Pride, Abbott Ale, Youngs Special, Bishops Finger, Deuchers IPA, Hook Norton Old Hooky, and my choice today, Elgood's Greyhound.  The Greyhound is a 5.2% bitter, pale, it was slightly hazy, not as great as I'd expected, but not bad, certainly at £1.45 a pint (priced £1.95, but with my CAMRA 50p off voucher, thank you Mr Spoon). Very happy to see the interestingly adorned Tash working behind the bar again, always a pleasure. 

Finally, I visited a new pub, for me, under new management, which has been a Shepherd Neame pub, The Fountain on Queens Road.  I believe it is now a freehouse, but still getting their beers from Sheps; a bit confusing the status! The only ale they had on was Shepherd Neame Master Brew, though there are 2 handpumps, so room for variety as they develop their new regulars.  The ale was very good, actually, well conditioned, and much better than I remembered, though I hadn't drunk it for a while.

 

The barstaff were friendly, though it was very quiet for a late Friday afternoon, and the pub was quite bright and 'airy', ie quite large and well served by good sized clear windows.  I got the feeling of a bar for younger people as my first impression, and they do have live music at weekends.  Good luck to the new management, we could do with better ale houses in this part of town.

 

Cheers!

9th & 10th October, still in London.

Thursday evening, the 'Routemeister' and I drank in his new local, though he likes to say it's MY local in Putney, The Bricklayers Arms, (website) which had had a Kent beer festival very recently, and was still selling just ales brewed in Kent... A sort of home from home for me these days!

 

Anyway, we had a choice of Kent beers that included Downton's German Pale Ale and Quad Hop; Old Dairy Soft Top, a 3.5% dark mild; Kent Brewery Cobnut, a 4.1% ruby ale; Nelson Brewery Powder Monkey, and a few others...

 

We drank the 2 Downton ales, we both had the German Pale Ale, a 4.2% pale bitter, and I also tried the Quad Hop, which I'm sure I've had before, a 3.9%, even dryer and more bitter pale ale. Both were very drinkable, thank you!

 

We returned to The Bricklayers for our Wednesday late lunch, having done a bit of work in the Routemeister's flat into the afternoon.  Now, they don't do meals here, but we sat outside with sandwiches we'd brought with us, which they were happy for us to do, swilling even more ale; Dan sticking to the German Pale Ale we'd had a few pints of the evening before, but I progressed to a few pints of the Nelson Powder Monkey, a 4.4% even dryer pale bitter! Loved it...

 

Just to the left of the bar as we entered, the same bloke was drinking there who had been there with a mate the evening before, not sure if he'd moved, but, with the lovely Hungarian barmaid, Anett, very ably serving the ale today, I could see a good reason for being there that afternoon session too.

I returned home, late that evening, via Clapham Junction, and a drink at The Roundhouse (website) at nearby Wandsworth Common, and I have written about this place before.  Indeed, I used to go there quite often when I still lived in London, as they had a lot of live music in those days, but not so much these days, apparently.  

 

I had a good chat to the barman, a Scot from Stirling, and I drank the Hobsons Town Crier, another pale golden ale, 4.5%, with a slightly nutty hop character.  This was not even a 'Hobson's Choice' though, as they also had Sambrook's Wandle Bitter and a 3.4% Adnams beer Lighthouse. 

 

Then I walked the short distance to Clapham Junction Railway Station and caught the train home... Cheers!

Edinburgh, capital city of Scotland!

An interesting report from Marcus’ recent visit to Edinburgh, many thanks. I’ve not visited for a while, so very grateful for this.  He reported back favourably of 4 pubs in particular, including The Kenilworth, a Nicholson’s pub in Rose Street, originally built in 1789, but converted to a pub in 1904, The Kenilworth is tiled inside from floor to ceiling.  

 

 

Marcus pointed out 4 ales he really enjoyed, including, what appears to have been his favourite ale on this visit, ie Yakima IPA from Great Heck in Yorkshire, a 7.4% fruity ale with a slightly bitter aftertaste, that he drank at The 'Bow Bar', West Bow (aka Victoria Street), which serves an excellent selection of ales. A very friendly pub, and very nice, says Marcus, and good ales too, it appears!

 

The other 3 ales he enjoyed were all from Scottish breweries, ie Stewart Brewing Zymic from Edinburgh, a citrusy 3.5% light ‘mild’, that he found slightly bitter; Williams Brothers of Alloa Harvest Sun, a 3.9% fragrant, light, sweetish hoppy 4% ale; and Harviestoun of Alva Natural Blonde, a light, refreshing and “lovely” ale. However, it appears that drinking too many of them has effected his memory, so not quite sure at which hostelries they were imbibed! 

 

Marcus also recommends trying ‘haggis balls’ bar snacks (if that takes your fancy) at Dirty Dicks in Rose Street, which was established in 1859, a pub that sells 200 whiskies and fine ales, and is covered inside with thousands of 'random items'.

 

Finally, despite it not having real ale, Marcus suggests a pub to finish the evening at is the Jekyll & Hyde in Hanover Street, which is open until late, has “crazy chandeliers, false bookshelf doors, scary medical equipment, and ‘crazy’, but nice, customers!”    

 

Cheers Marcus!

9th October and 2 new pubs, and microbreweries, for me

2 'sister' brewpubs I heard about a couple of weeks ago, so I had to visit as I'd been given the opportunity!   

The first is The Lamb Brewery at Turnham Green, and please don't get confused like me and think it's near the underground station in the road called Turnham Green, because it isn't, it's actually at Turnham Green itself (I didn't realise the Green wasn't by the station, not one of my usual West London haunts, I confess).  This brewpub sells 6 ales from handpump, though has 12 handpumps in all, so potential for beer festivals etc. There was only one of their own ales on handpump Tuesday, Lamb Dark Ale, a 4% bitter with a strong aroma of honey from the malt, but a dry aftertaste, very nice.

 

They also had guest ales, such as Sambrook's Junction and Powerhouse Porter, and 2 of their own beers on keg, ie a 5% American Pale Ale, which I sampled, and was very tasty, plenty of flavour, and a 4.8% Pilsner. More information can be found at their website.

From the outside, The Lamb didn't look very large, but it goes back a long way, and has a fair sized dining area to the side, near the back, too!  Apart from the gleaming brewing equipment which is in front of you as soon as you enter the pub, my image of the pub was very comfortable, clean, with varnished bare floorboards, wood panelling and glass. I liked the feel of this place a lot.

Also, the barstaff were very friendly, and the helpful barmaid gave me plenty of information about the microbrewery, ales, etc, and directions to their sister pub at Kew Green, The Botanist (website), which we walked down to via the Thames towpath.

 

The Botanist appears to concentrate more on it's own real ale, compared to The Lamb, with all 6 of the ales on handpump being their own brews.  We tried 3 of the ales on offer, OK Bitter, a 4.2% what I would call a traditional bitter from London and the South East, Q Gold, a more flavoursome 4.5% bitter that I thought would be paler than it was, and my favourite of the session, Maximus, a 6.2% hoppy, malty, amber ale, delicious! 

The overall feel at The Botanist was of an airy, clean modern bar, not really a pub feel to it, and it was enormous, stretching out through about 4 shopfronts!  Of the 2, I preferred The Lamb, but The Botanist had my favourite ale, maybe because it concentrated more on its own ales?

 

The ales were pretty good, nice flavours, and varied styles, but some beer at both pubs was a bit hazy, nothing wrong flavour-wise, but some customers may be put off by the presentation... Whatever, I enjoyed myself, so cheers!

Old Man at the Dolphin in Hastings

OK, for me, a dark beer that I drank all lunchtime! Long Man's Old Man, an "original old ale", 4.3%, a deep red coloured bitter with a strong roasted malt flavour, delicious! Served by the lovely Laura, and great chat with Mark and others...

 

The other guest is still Oakleaf Brewery's Squirrel's Delight (4.5%), plus the Summer regular (no doubt to change soon) Dark Star American Pale Ale, and the regulars now, Hophead, Sussex Best and Youngs Special.

 

Cheers!

Friday 5th October in Hastings

Following a rather large brunch at Unwind, George Street, I started my wandering and drinking at the nearby Dolphin, where the wonderful sisters, Louise and Laura, were behind the bar.

I drank my usual Hophead from Dark Star Brewery, though I had tried a pint of one of the guest ales on Thursday evening, ie Oakleaf Brewery's Squirrel's Delight, 4.5%, medium coloured bitter, a bit sweet at first, with a roasted malt undertone and hint of coffee, well, that's what I thought.  There were also the other semi/regulars, Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA), Youngs Special, Harveys Sussex Best, and Sunny Republic's Dorset Cross (5%) is still a guest ale. 

 

I then walked west along the front and uphill at St Leonards to the Tower, London Road, where I still missed Louisa, I'll have to time my visits to this pub a bit differently, obviously, but Linda was there again, so still crackin' bar staff, and crackin' ales too! This is one of the best value pubs in the area, where you can get a pint of real ale for well under £3 a pint, I had my Hophead, of course, and tried a half of the 1648 Laughing Frog too, 5.2%, rather easy to drink, a bit sweet but with a bitter aftertaste. There were also Dark Star APA and Long Man Sussex Pride (4.5%).  After a good chat and drink there, I crossed Bohemia Road and entered the North Star.

Tasha was behind the bar at the North Star, always a welcome sight, some lovely barstaff around today!  The 5 ales today were Timothy Taylor Landlord, Sussex Best, Laughing Frog, Jennings Crag Rat, a 4.3% golden ale, and Rother Valley Ebulem, which I had a pint of, and which filled my loyalty card, meaning, a free pint on my next visit to either the North Star or their sister pub, the General Havelock in town. The Ebulem is a dark 'elderberry' porter, fruity aroma, and a dry porter/stout, really delicious.  I then wandered homewards and down Bohemia Road to the Wishing Well.

Although he wasn't working until later, I had a brief chat with the landlord, Nick, and then his partner, the lovely Pinar, took over the bar. As ever, good banter around the bar, and the usual 3 ales on sale, Courage Directors, Wadworth Henry's IPA, and Hastings Best Bitter, which I am happy to drink for just under £3 a pint, thank you very much!  I had started maudlin a bit, so I was happy to be cheered up and then go home to polish off some wine and cheese.

 

Cheers!