18th-19th October - Hastings

As you would expect, the guest ales keep changing at the Dolphin, down opposite the fishermen's net huts at the Stade, Hastings. The female section of the host family were in attendance Thursday evening for the weekly quiz, always good to see, and I had a good chat to Mark at the early session Friday lunchtime.  

So, which ales have changed? Well, there will obviously be more changes, probably the Sussex Pride will be changed this weekend, but, already, the Britannia has been replaced by Whitehorse Saracen IPA, a 4.5% ale, a little darker than my usual choice Hophead, but I had to try a pint on Thursday, and on Friday too, just to be sure of my analysis.  The IPA has an immediate caramel flavour coming from, presumably, the roasted malt, with quite a dry aftertaste, very nice, but I returned to my Hophead to finish the sessions both days, unsurprisingly, and we didn't do too well in the quiz, oh well, can't win all the time.   

I'm not one to regularly visit Wetherspoons pubs, but I've been quite impressed with The John Logie Baird, Hastings version, and their choice of local ales, so thought I should make a point and pass this information on, good luck to them, I say!  I'd just missed Keisa going off shift, shame, but the equally interesting and efficient Chrystal was behind the bar Thursday afternoon. The manager of this pub does seem to employ interesting young women, who are also very good at their job, another plus for the pub.

 

So, the usual ales you see all over the country were on sale, but there were 4 ales from local microbreweries, excellent!  2 ales from Longman, Sussex Pride and Long Blonde, both of which I've reported on before, so I tried the 2 from WJ King.  King's India Pale Ale (IPA) was a not very bitter ale, quite nice, but with less body than I expected it to have at 5.2%, but the Autumn Mist, at 4.1%, was a very good ale, a typical 'Autumn' style, darker, like an 'old ale', I liked it very much. The IPA was £2.15 a pint (less my 50p CAMRA token/discount = £1.65) and the Autumn Mist £1.99 a pint, though I only had a half of it, bargains.  

 

Cheers!