Sussex Beer Festival, Hastings, starts tomorrow! 20-21 September...

Well, not actually a beer festival, but at the Hastings Seafood & Wine Festival, the FILO has a bar in the main marquee, with 12 different ales brewed in Sussex + more! Here you can see the bar being constructed yesterday... 

So? What ales are there? 

From Hastings Brewery, there is their Porter, and 2 of their 'Handmade' ales, number 5, the single-hopped Galaxy Pale Ale, and number 14, their 3 Cs American Pale Ale. You can find reviews of them elsewhere within my blogs, nice and hoppy! 

From Long Man comes their very good Copper Hop and darker Old Man, similarly reported on before. 

Dark Star provide their ever hoppy Hophead and Vice Beer, a new one for me! 

Of course, the FILO Brewery are also providing 5 of their lovely ales too: Gold, Crofters, Old Town Tom, Churches Pale Ale and Bourne Blonde, so a good variety of their ales, indeed! 

Come and enjoy, cheers!

Meeting a Caveman (nearly), and at the Albatross too!

No, really! A lovely walk along the coast to Bexhill on Sea, and pop into the Albatross Club (RAFA), the regional CAMRA Club of the Year 2013; a must for a CAMRA member, who also happens to be an associate member of the RAFA and the Club, it would be rude not to.

4 pumps, awaiting a fifth, and 2 from my (not so) old favourites Dark Star Brewery, the APA and Hophead, both much written about by me, another from the Hastings brewery, FILO, their Cardinal, a very good 4.6% "Sussex Porter", and one from Kent, the Caveman Mesolithic, a 4.5% pale, refreshing bitter, with a hint of dark roasted malt in the flavour. Oh yes, and the 2 Sussex ales from Dark Star both were changed as heavily drunken by regulars, so another 2 came on! 

Another FILO ale, The Churches Pale Ale (4.2%), pale-ish, as you would expect, and I'm sure I've reported on this before, though didn't taste this one today, and one I did sample, the only non-local ale, from the Potteries, Titanic Engine Room, a 4.6% pale dry bitter, very nice! 

So, meeting the caveman? Not quite, but I met the brewer's parents, who run the George & Dragon pub in Swanscombe, Bob and Bron. A very pleasant chat ensued, and good to see them taking their time off in East Sussex, and hence, how Jeff at the Albatross Club has got hold of the Caveman ales recently, Bob and Bron deliver them, nice one.

The two that came on, above...

So, I've not written much lately, thank goodness some may say, but I do have a lot of work on at the moment, but I shall carry on sharing my, and friends' experiences regarding ales, pubs, and yes, even going to football matches, now and then, cheers! 

Hastings 1 - Old Town, West Side

Yesterday, visited the Old Town, Hastings, really the medieval part of Hastings, a little along from where the Normans first set up shop at the castle (above where I now live), and where the 2 oldest churches in Hastings now sit on the East and West Hills of The Bourne (was a stream, now a road).

The First In Last Out (FILO), a cracking pub with its own micro brewery, was inside the pub, but now moved up the hill to a new home. No food for now, as the kitchen has been moved within the pub out to the back, and should be ready by the end of March (looking forward to my next meal there). Above you see the focus of the pub, the very interesting and positively addictive fireplace, with Elaine at the bar. Also, met Mike, the landlord, and Tony, the manager, for the first time in a while.

The ales at the FILO above, 4 of their own ales and one guest ale is the usual offering. My favourite, Gold, wasn't on the bar on this day, but the Crofters is a great session bitter, and the newer Church Pale Ale (10p a pint goes towards the Church, I believe), a paler bitter.

Finally, for this blog, the Jenny Lind, just down the road from the FILO, 5 ales on at any time, all well known; Directors, Old Peculiar, Betty Stogs, Doom Bar and Wainwrights.