Promenading in Hastings...

Only a short stroll along the seafront, in the sunshine, from The America Ground to the bottom of London Road, St Leonards, and I found 3 bars that sell real ale, at prices mostly cheaper than the town centre, ie at £3.20-£3.50 a pint, nice!

Almost immediately I start walking, below the Grade II listed, late Victorian, 'gothic' Palace Court (star of the vampire film Byzantium, which I still haven't seen), I reach the Pig in Paradise, which changed hands earlier this year. I didn't eat at either of these establishments on the day, and they all serve food, but the Pig also has regular 'comedy club' nights, and music, a recent gig saw The Lambrettas playing! 

In addition, they have 2-4 real ales available, always an ale from the East Sussex brewer Long Man, and regularly a more common beer like Wychwood Hobgoblin or Sharps Doom Bar. On this visit I had the Long Man Best Bitter (4%), which was very pleasant, I do like their ales, as recently discussed. They also have a huge range of bottled beers, including 'craft' beers, eg from Meantime Brewery,  BrewDog and many American beers, and not a few Belgian beers either! They also sell a crafty keg from Long Man, ironically (to me) called Crafty Blonde (4.1%).

Next stop was the regular CAMRA Good Beer Guide entry, the bar of the White Rock Hotel, with its fine balconies looking out onto the seafront and pier. Here, one is blessed with a choice of 4 Sussex-brewed real ales, on this visit including the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best, Rother Valley Golden Valley, and Dark Star Hophead and The Art of Darkness, a pleasant easy to drink 3.5% deep dark red bitter with loadsa hops used. I do understand how they make these dark hoppy 'pale ales', but it's still an oxymoron, and still I'm always amazed at the flavours coming through from the hops... I do like this ale!  

My final port of call was in-between Warrior Square Gardens and London Road, St Leonards, the Gecko Bar & Bistro, 22 Grand Parade, which also has regular music, and which is a very recent find for me, though David, the licensee, assured me he's been here for 2 years now! Anyway, beers, in addition to the one real ale they have available, which David is planning to increase to two, and we had a bit of a chat about this, they sell a couple of BrewDog beers on draft. OK, crafty kegs, indeed, but BrewDog do know how to get the best out of the hops for their Punk IPA (5.6%), though a bit more costly at £4.60 a pint, though I've seen it for much more.

The Gecko Bar has an ale from Long Man as its regular, and it looks like it should be their excellent 4.2% bitter, Copper Hop, for some time to come now, and what a good choice too, though I'm looking forward to seeing what other ales may be appearing in the future, cheers! 

Playing cards at the Tower?

Pale and hoppy ales actually, not playing cards, though there is a connection, also a connection with the previous blog about 'black IPAs', starting off very obviously, though also about hoppy pale ales. Maybe trying to be too clever, and just trying to explain it to myself, but this blog starts by reporting a beer I drank early last week, Black Jack at the Tower in Hastings. Black Jack Shuffled Deck is a 3.8% pale bitter with a hint of fruit in the aroma, slightly sweet taste at first, drying out into a decent bitter, very much enjoyed by me and many others. 

Maybe not so obvious, but on Sunday the 4 ales pictured below were available at the Tower at the same time, "Four of a Kind"... From the right, Sussex brewer Dark Star's well known, and reported on in these blogs many times, American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%), pale, hoppy, and gorgeous... Next, from further afield, Bristol Beer Factory's Nova, a weaker 3.8% 'session ale', a dry and pale bitter with decent body for the strength, and very refreshing too... 

The third ale, again from Sussex, is Burning Sky's response to Dark Star's APA and Revelation combined, though being closer to the strength of Revelation (5.7%) and with a significant use of hops, the Aurora (5.6%) also has already been reported on by me... but I am quite happy to make further comment, this is a stronger 'APA' style bitter, a pale amber, with much fruitiness, peach and grapefruit, in the aroma and flavour, with a dry and bitter aftertaste, and, quite frankly, it is gorgeous! 

The furthest on the left is another pale and hoppy ale, this time from the Kent brewer Caveman, their 4.1% Citra, which, as you'd expect from the name, and from the American 'Citra' hops used, is a pale strongly citrus flavoured bitter with a dry and slightly nutty aftertaste. So, four of a kind indeed... 

Another connection to the previous blog though? The Citra had replaced the very hoppy, but dark, Dark Star The Art of Darkness discussed in depth in my previous blog... See? It all comes together, cheers!  

My interests in Dark Star...

Some people must think that I work for Dark Star, or have shares in the company, so I must declare my interests, much as politicians should... The only interest I have in Dark Star Brewing is drinking their excellent hoppy ales! If I was living back up in Sheffield, I'd be talking about Little Ale Cart or Steel City perhaps, or if Magic Rock or Oakham ales were more available to me locally, I'd be talking about them... 

Indeed, I love my hoppy ales... so let us begin with 2 Dark Star ales recently spotted at the White Rock Hotel, overlooking the beach and pier in Hastings. The Hophead (3.8%) is readily available elsewhere, and reported on lots by me, but I see the Art of Darkness (3.5%) much less, so I had to try another pint of it here, dark and hoppy, not easy to get too drunk on, consequently an excellent session ale, I love it! They also had Harveys Sussex Best (4%), and another interesting darker bitter from Rother Valley, the 5% Blues, which was bitter with a hint of coffee, and a dry finish, not bad at all.  

Of course, the Tower, London Road, 'higher' St Leonards/Bohemia, is another regular supplier of Dark Star ales for me in the locality, American Pale Ale (4.7%) being a regular on the bar, and Winter Meltdown (5%) a seasonal medium dark copper coloured bitter, a 'winter warmer' some say, but not up to the level of my old favourite ale of that style the Winter Warmer (5%) from Youngs, as was, which I was weaned on as a baby ;-) The Tower also recently had the very local brew, Hastings 'Vanilla' Porter, a special vanilla flavoured version of their 4.5% Porter at just £2.50 a pint! This has a roasted malt flavour, more what I would expect from a stout, with a dry aftertaste, not bad at all. Oh yes! A hint of vanilla too...  

Talking about Hastings Brewery, at the Albatross Club (RAFA club in nearby Bexhill on Sea), another regular supplier of Dark Star ales too, I recently re-tried the Hastings 'Handmade' number 5, the award winning (eg at the recent Eastbourne and York Beer Festivals) Hop Forward Pale Ale (4.8%). This is brewed with just a single hop, as the 'Handmade' brews are, in this instance 'Galaxy' hops, and like them all, plenty of hops are used too, which is likely why I prefer them to their regular brews. Number 5 is pale, very bitter, and very good too, so good that they brewed a lot more of it, and it is available in bottles and the recent mini-keg version of 'Party Sevens' (just in time for Christmas).

Talking about hoppy ales, the Dolphin at Rock-a-Nore, opposite the Fishermens beach and huts in Hastings 'old town', always has Dark Star Hophead on sale; my nickname in that establishment being 'Hophead Steve' unsurprisingly. However, also, recently, saw the return of Oakham Scarlet Macaw (4.4%), another excellent hoppy ale from Oakham, and this must be at elast the third time it has been on sale at the Dolphin, great stuff, cheers!