Another Beer Festival starting tomorrow! In Hastings this time...UPDATED 17th April

For this weekend, From Thursday 17th in the evening to Monday 21st of April, though I doubt all the planned ales will still be available by Easter Monday, and to be held at the First In Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings 'Old Town', East Sussex TN34 3EY. The 'festival' ales will be sold in the room at the back, and FILO's own ales will be available at the bar, of course...  

The photograph below shows last years offerings, but this year include: 

FILO Mike's Mild (3.4%) 

Elgoods Spring Challenge (3.7%) 

Moles Moles Gold (3.8%)
Dark Star Seville (4%) 

Hammerpot This England (4%) 

Elgoods Golden Newt (4.1%) 

Roosters 41 degrees South (4.1%) 

Hopback Spring Zing (4.2%) 

Lymestone Flagstone (4.2%) 

St George's Midas (4.4%) 

Wharfebank Golden Ticket (4.5%) 

Cairngorm Wild Cat (5.1%) 

As you can see, ales from all over the country, and many typical of the month, ie Spring and St George's Day 'specials', plus FILO Crofters Best, Churches Pale Ale, Old Town Tom (flavoured with ginger), Cardinal Sussex Porter and Gold in the main bar. No doubt a couple of surprises will appear on the bar, indeed, today (17th) there is Nine Standards Silver Standard (4.3%), plus 2 real ciders will be available as well: Westons 1st Quality and Thatchers Cheddar Valley, plus food...

Thursday evening 18.00-20.30 Indian Thali. 

Friday and Saturday evenings 18.00-21.00 Hot bar snacks. 

Monday evening 18.00-20.30 Tapas.

Friday, Saturday and Monday Lunchtimes 12.00-14.30 Regular FILO menu. 

Not sure when the Beermeister will be there, but it has to be done and enjoyed, cheers! 

The FILO's own website is www.thefilo.co.uk 

www.drinkaware.co.uk

Battle and its environs...

For a change, I'll start with the last pub we visited, for a number of reasons, including my forgetting to photograph the building myself, very unusual for me; so, many thanks to the Bull Inn (website), whose own photograph I've borrowed. 

Also, we'd walked quite a way by now, my brother, Dan the Routemeister, and me, so were well deserving of a drink, and a great pub too, rebuilt in 1688, with Caen stone from France, via the virtually destroyed abbey kitchens (during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries).  This is a lovely old inn, selling 3 real ales, the regulars being the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best (4%) and, brewed especially for the Bull, Old Dairy Top Bull (4%), though, unluckily for us, they were out of this (another trip will be required, obviously). However, this was replaced by another Old Dairy brew Gold Top, a nice refreshing 4.3% golden bitter. Their 'guest' ale was from Hastings, ie the FILO Churches Pale Ale (4.2%).

We also met many people here, on entry, I straight away headed for the 2 lads at the bar, the 'Battle Boys', Chris and Al, more often seen by me at the Dolphin in Hastings, also Al's daughter, the lovely Claire (always pleased to see a young woman happy to be out drinking with us older types). Our ale was admirably served by Joss, and I also had a chat with the landlady Kerri, nice one. Sadly we had to leave after just the one pint as the last bus from Battle to Hastings left at 18.20hrs! But I'll be back...  

The first pub of the day we'd visited at lunchtime in nearby Catsfield, The White Hart, a 17th century building, but only a pub from 1840. Another nice friendly pub, with a low ceiling and quite large bar, and just the 2 real ales on sale. They had Sharps Doom Bar (4%), all the way from Cornwall, and, you guessed it, Harveys Sussex Best (4%). Anyway, I hadn't drunk Sussex Best for a while, and for the thirsty me, it hit the right spot, not a bad bitter, if a bit light on hops. 

After negotiating confusing woodland paths, that apparently weren't open to the public, we managed to get to The Squirrel Inn, on the A271, 15 minutes before it closed at 15.00hrs. Surprise surprise, the 2 regular ales were Sharps Doom Bar and Harveys Sussex Best, but there were 2 local ales from smaller breweries as guests. We didn't have the Long Man Best Bitter (4%), but each had a pint of Pig & Porter Ashburnham Pale Ale, a 3.8% light copper coloured bitter, very easy to drink, which was just as well. Not the easiest of pubs to get to on foot, but a nice building, and definitely worth a visit, but allow yourself time.

Anyway, amazing how there was a place called Battle in this part of Sussex, quite convenient for the Normans to ring up the Brits and say "let's battle at Battle", and, well, there's another story...

Cheers! 

The excellent ales keep on coming, starting with:

This has to be the most extraordinary, very different, maybe even 'Belgique' in style, because it is SO fruity, personally, I'd have called it "Bramble Porter", but I didn't brew the stuff, so what do I know?!?

The Blackberry Porter, all the way from the Suffolk brewer, Mauldons, has been on at the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings 'old' town, I have had a drink here and there of it, in addition to my usual Dark Star Hophead, and on Tuesday evening, I enjoyed the 'Irish' music, a few cheeky halves, and the craic with Mark, the landlord. It was a good night, not upset by just how easily the 4 pints of Blackberry Porter went down! This is 4.8% of very deep dark red porter, VERY fruity with plenty of body, and, how can I describe it?  It has a very dry raspberry beer flavoured aftertaste, hard to describe accurately really, but excellent!

 

It has been so different to my usual, that, well, I can't say enough of how good it is. Anyway, apart from the Hophead, the usual regular ales include Dark Star APA too, and the Harveys Sussex Best and Youngs Special. The other guest ale on has been Whitstable Winkle Picker (4.5%), a quite pale amber coloured bitter, with good body, and quite a dry aftertaste. I tried a pint of it side by side with a pint of the Hophead, it was very good, but still, my taste buds opted for the 3.8% Hophead in preference, but that's me, as it has been going down very well with others of the regular clientele.

Ah! And the Tower, London Road, St Leonards, with a regularly supply of excellent Dark Star ales at excellent value prices, plus, on my last visit Sharps Doom Bar. The 3 Dark Star ales on that visit were the American Pale Ale (APA), 4.7% of  pale fruity hoppy bitter flavoured and 'bittered' with hops from the USA; Hophead, 3.8%, pale hoppy and an excellent session beer, can say no more; and Sunburst, 4.8%, nice pale golden bitter, that I have drunk before, and another great ale from Dark Star, they certainly are a very good East Sussex brewer. I only drank the APA this visit, a few pints, and very good it was too; cheers to Sara, on the day, and Louisa, for her choice of excellent ales at great value prices, served at her pub, ta muchly!

 

Ooh, where else have I been since London, and what else have I imbibed? From their 6 real ales and real cider on offer, I chose to have a pint of Butcombe Gold, from the West Country, at the Jenny Lind, High Street, Hastings, served up by the lovely Pre-Raphaelite Sarah.  I tend to try their guest ales when I visit, and was not disappointed with my choice on the day, which was a nice golden coloured and quite bitter ale, cheers m'dears!  I also met a couple who now live down here too, and with whom I shared experiences about London AND Sheffield; nice to meet fellow Londoners who know South Yorkshire well too, cheers to Paul and Jackie.  Sadly, no sign of the Pied Piper, oh well... 

Finally, what and where else? I also popped into the First In Last Out (FILO), also in the High Street, and with the usual 5 of their own ales, as seen above, with a nervous looking barman behind, but he only looked it, I think. Anyway, in addition, they had a guest, Adnams Bitter (3.7%), which was never going to tempt me away from the FILO Gold, 4.8% of deep golden bitter with good body, brewed just a very wee way up the hill, nice one, and thanks to John for buying me a pint and leaving before I could buy him one back, cheers! The other FILO ales were Crofters (3.8%), Mike's Mild (3.4%), Old Town Tom (4.5%), and Churches Pale Ale (4.2%).

 

Remember, drink sensibly (see)... Cheers!

 

 

www.drinkaware.co.uk/



The Pied Piper of Hastings

OK, not a local myth, well not yet, anyway, though it may soon become one, the (definitely) female Pied Piper of Hastings, not to be confused with the German male one or St Patrick...

The day started off with my painting the second coat of red and varnishing the barer boards of  the hull of RX134, the Stacey Marie, then I had a quick pint of Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) in the Dolphin (in the background of the photograph).  The gulls that are nesting just behind the wheelhouse (camera shy here) were a wee bit upset at my daubing paint around their abode, but didn't attack me, thankfully.  Anyway, after my nice refreshing pint, I headed off to the Bourne, spotting 2 young women walking close by.  The youngest one, the "Pied Piper", had shortish blond hair in a bob, so looked nothing like the picture below, but you try finding a suitable picture, 'tain't easy!

I crossed over the Bourne, taking advantage of a gap in the traffic, then looked across at the 2 women, and walking in the opposite direction to them, a bloke, looked like he may have been a fisherman, and his border collie. The young blonde just seemed to ignore any traffic, bringing both directions of traffic to a halt, the collie slunk after her, then the bloke, then her friend, and no drivers swore, shouted, or even seemed that upset. I was gobsmacked! She crossed right into my path and I saw she wasn't as young as I originally thought, but quite an attractive young, but mature, woman. I made a reasonably trite comment, carried on up the hill, and thought she was probably going to the Jenny Lind, no idea why I thought that, I just did.

So, I wandered up to the rear of the First In Last Out (FILO), where the landlord's son, Adam, was behind the bar, the lovely Elina was in charge of the kitchen, and I had a wee chat with Tony, the manager, when he dropped in too. Very pleasant company, and a great pint of their own FILO Gold (4.8%), good stuff, and £3.30 a pint. They also had on their own Crofters (3.8%), a nice session ale; Mike's Mild (3.4%); Old Town Tom (4.5%), a ginger flavoured beer which the FILO was forced, under threat of legal action (it's not just the BIG boys who bully smaller brewers!) by the Robinson's Brewery up North, to change it's original name of Ginger Tom; and Churches Pale Ale (4.2%). There was also a guest from another Sussex brewer, Isfield Straw Blonde (4.1%).

So, I then wandered down High Street to the Jenny Lind, where the Pre-Raphaelite, Sarah, was behind the bar, and I had a rather good pint from another local brewery, Arundel Stronghold, a 4.7% deep red 'premium ale', which had plenty of body and a slightly roasted malt flavour, very nice too. Amongst their other 5 ales was the also very good Otter Ale (4.5%), which appears to be making quite a splash in Hastings! 

Anyway, have a guess who was there too, sitting out in the back garden with her friend, presumably, their garden being a nice peaceful wee spot to sit in, though I kept to the bar area of course... Yes, it was Kristina (the Pied Piper of Hastings), I had a wee chat with her as she came to the bar whilst I was heading off, so found out she was Kristina with a "K", daughter at Uni in London, lives near Alexandra Park, not far from me, and quite enjoyed telling me she often just goes off across roads on a whim.  It would be good to meet her again, I have little doubt, a personality and a half, and pretty as well.  Anyway, the Beermeister was still working, but first, dropped into home for a shower and change of clothes before heading up to...



...the Tower at St Leonards.  This is one of my library photographs, I forgot to take any photographs whilst there, too busy drinking and chatting really.  At the moment, there's scaffolding outside as the pub is about to be redecorated, so just think of this photograph with scaffolding up, that's what it looked like.  Louisa was working there today, good to chat with, as I hadn't seen her for a while, and a new barmaid started too, Charlotte, a young lass with amazing big blue eyes! Good banter this side of the bar too, including with Rob and Sean.

And ales, of course! Sharps Doom Bar (4%), and Dark Star Sunburst (4.8%), Hophead (3.8%) and American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%).  As usual, I had my fill of lovely Dark Star ale, mostly Hophead at £2.30 a pint and APA at £2.40 a pint, great value.  Excellent ales, good company, and a great day, many thanks to all the characters in this (true) story, cheers!

Wandering round Hastings and its environs...Part I

What with all the good news about beer duty, and following a bit of a hint by a fellow customer at the Dolphin, I thought I'd start reassessing beer prices in Hastings, and anywhere else I visit.  So, where better to start my research, than at the pub that sells its own ales, where you would expect a bargain, hence, to the First In Last Out, or FILO, to the initiated, and joy! Mike and Sharon, the landlord and landlady, were in attendance this side of the bar, so I had a good chat with Mike, but Sharon had her attention more drawn by other customers, sadly for me.

There are now 6 real ales and a real cider at the FILO, 4 of their own, which were the Cardinal, Old Town Tom, Churches Pale Ale, and the 3.8% very good session bitter Crofters (£3.00 a pint), that I had a pint, and a half of, cheers Mike.  The 2 guest ales were Westerham British Bulldog, a "bronze, malty, hoppy" 4.3% bitter, and my old favourite, Dark Star Hophead at £3.30 a pint. The real cider was the locally sourced 5.5% Laughing Jester.

The FILO is holding a beer festival for the Easter weekend, starting on Thursday 28th March, in the evening.  Mike assured me there would be a variety of very interesting ales from independent breweries, sounds like a must go to me!

The Dolphin was where this quest had all started, following their increasing the price of ales by 20p a pint, sounds harsh, but they hadn't increased prices when the brewers had earlier in the year, and they were envisaging the Chancellor increasing prices significantly; we'll wait and see if there are any more changes in their pricing structure to come.  Anyway, all their ales are now £3.50 a pint, which is a bit expensive for Hophead etc, but a good deal locally for the stronger ales.  Changes to ales since my last mention are the Portobello Star being replaced by Great Yorkshire Yorkshire Golden, a 4.2% rather malty pale golden ale, and the Trade Winds has been replaced by Okell's Castletown, a pale and very easy to drink, as in quite nice thank you, 4% bitter.  

For this blog, the Hastings Arms was visited as well, and, incidentally, they have already taken over the Smugglers Inn at Pett Level, opening on Wednesday just gone. Good to see them keeping on both pubs, and excellent to see the Smugglers coming back to life, for now, opening at 12.00 daily, and no food there yet, but selling Fullers London Pride, Harveys Sussex Best and Sharps Doom Bar.

 

However, back to the Hastings Arms, and 4 Shepherd Neame ales, the regular Bishops Finger (5% and £3.60) and Kents Best (4.1%), and two seasonal ales, Early Bird (4.3%) and I drank the 4% Double Stout at £3.60 a pint.  This was a surprise to me, plenty of flavour, full flavoured, but slightly thin, as I'd expected at 4%, but certainly a very nice pint!

 

So, for now, the FILO leads as selling the best value ale in Hastings, but more to come in Part II, and at least Part III, cheers in the interim!

Friday 11th May

Had a wander round the countryside close by Icklesham this Friday, bit of research, so had to drop into the Robin Hood Inn before returning to Hastings...

 



It's becoming a bit of a regular for me now, chatted to Ollie behind the bar, and Fred this side (it was his birthday on 10th, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (Belated)  A Wells & Young bitter was rebadged with his own pump clip produced, "Old Git Ale" at 3.6% (Youngs 'Ordinary' Bitter).  There was also, the more local(e) Hastings Best Bitter and, a newer locale brewery, Longman Best Bitter at 4%, which did what it said on the label, it is a bitter of copper colour, typical South East bitter style, I would say, and pretty good too!

There were also 2 Welsh ales on the bar, Brains SA and, another newer brewery, Bragdy Conwy's Rampart, another bitter, 4.5%, slightly sour taste and bitter aftertaste, I liked it ;-)

 

I caught the 100 bus back to Hastings (leaves Icklesham at about 5 minutes to the hour) and first visited the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, down by the fishing beach, opposite the net huts; you'll have probably guessed by now that this is my 'local', in effect, though there are some very good other local public houses too.  I had some chips and Dark Star Hophead here, giving their APA a miss today, bit strong...  

 



I then crossed The Bourne to the High Street and visited the First In Last Out (FILO), which usually serves 4 of its own ales and a guest ale, which today was an old favourite, Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted, had to be drunk first, good bitter!  Chatted to Tony, the manager and brewer, and also chatted to Mike (landlord) and his wife, Sharon (landlady and chef) too, always nice people to meet up with.

I drank their own FILO Crofters, their 3.8% 'session bitter', a very drinkable ale: they also had their own Cardinal Sussex Porter (4.6%), a very good porter; Churches Pale Ale (4.2%); and Old Town Tom (4.2%), their 'ginger' flavoured ale, which used to be called Ginger Tom, but threatened legal action from Robinsons Brewery (they have copyright of the name it appears), who mix their Old Tom with 'ginger beer' to make their own 'shandy' version of Ginger Tom, meant a rename for the FILO real ale version... You couldn't make it up!   

Cheers one and all, crackin' day :-D