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

Twickenham to Sussex via places up North...

Well, I did visit London, which is up North to me, plus some ales from much further North than London reviewed here. Anyway, I included a visit to the Eagle Ale House, off Northcote Road, and close to the Junction; I never thought it would happen to me and a girl from Clapham, you know the one! This is a decent ale house, though seems to have less of the pale and hoppy ales I prefer. On this visit, they did have a golden ale from Hackney Brewery, H3 (4%); Clarence & Fredericks Best Bitter (4.1%); Woodforde's Wherry (3.8%); and I thought I should try the resurrected Truman's Swift (3.9%), another 'golden' ale, with quite a rich flavour, plenty of body for a lower gravity ale, and nice and bitter. They now have their own new brewery in the East End, and I'd love to have one of their glasses! Anway, more about them @ their website, and good luck to them too.  

I also visited my 'local' in Putney, the Bricklayers Arms, which had apparently been drunk dry by Fulham and Villa fans over the weekend! Anyway, they did have 4 Twickenham ales on sale, sadly, just ran out of Naked Ladies too (I'm sure it used to be called 3 Naked Ladies, the landlady said they certainly had changed their pumpclips, and had a similar opinion to me, though others present didn't agree, oh well). Anyway, Twickenham ales they did have were Grandstand, a 3.5% session beer; Redhead, a 4.1% "red ale", believe it or not; a very nice 3.7% pale and hoppy "golden" ale, Sundancer; and a 4.4% winter ale, Winter Cheer, a not too bad darkish bitter with a mellow maltiness and dry aftertaste.     

I have to mention the Tiny Rebel ale (which is from way up North) Hank (4%), reported on before, and still very good, but this time drunk at the First In Last Out, High Street, Hastings 'old town', nice one, cheers! Of course, the FILO also sells 4 or 5 of their own ales, also well worth trying, of course, but they had the Tiny Rebel on, so... 

Back to the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings, and this time I did manage to have a pint of the excellent pale and hoppy Oakham Bishops Farewell (4.6%), see my recent blog about pale ales that mentioned Oakham too, I do believe. In addition to their regulars, Hophead, Sussex Best and Youngs Special, they also had Ilkley (see, from Yorkshire) Rye N' Dry (5%), a deep copper coloured bitter with a roasted malt flavour, and the more local Franklins Pudding Stout (4.2%), a bit sweet with a hint of coffee and smoky malt flavour, not bad either.  

At the Tower, London Road, Hastings (upper) St Leonards/Bohemia, a number of crackin' ales, including from Dark Star, of course, have been enjoyed recently. They have had Hastings 'Handmade' number 11, their Black IPA, which I've also had at the Albatross Club in Bexhill on Sea, and more to be reported on soon with a blog just about 'Black' IPAs, which sounds like an oxymoron, and also the very good Hopback Citra (4%), which has a very citrusy aroma, hint of malt in the flavour, more than usual in such a hoppy ale, and a dry aftertaste. 

Since then I have enjoyed the great array of ales in the photograph above, with the 'session' ale being the 4.7% Dark Star APA, still just £2.60 a pint! First, I drank the new local Sussex brewery 360 Degrees (website) Pacific Pale #49, a 4.9% pale and hoppy dry bitter, a very good new ale indeed, and at £2.80 a pint, nice one, ta. Also, had a couple of pints of Thornbridge Jaipur, well you have to, don't you, when you can get this 5.9% Derbyshire ale for just £3.10 a pint? It was the best Jaipur I've tasted for a long time too, it appears more bitter and dryer than it used to be, what I always preferred about their Kipling, pale, dry and bitter; could be a good side effect of an accountant getting the grist reduced, so it is fermented out further to reach the strength... it's a thought? Oh! And Dark Star Critical Mass, which I have never had before. The reducing of the strength from 10% to the more manageable 7.4% was lamented by locals, but a darker roasted malt flavoured bitter (£3.20 a pint, usually up to £5 a pint elsewhere!), very good too.

And Louisa the landlady serving me on this visit too, cheers, and many thanks Lou! 

Hastings and even more great ales!

So, starting with the Tower, London Road, St Leonards, and, as you can see, it is about to get a makeover, hence the scaffolding... Anyway, great to see Lousia behind the bar, always good to keep in touch and be aware of the local updates.  Because of the refurbishment, Louisa has put the price of ale up by 10p a pint, hardly bank breaking, and very understandable, Louisa, and you do keep your prices extremely competitive; great ales at great value prices still, so, what to drink this time?

Whilst watching England thrash South Africa in the cricket, I drank a pint of all the 4 ales on offer, starting with the 3.9% Hopback Hop Medley, a slightly biscuity flavoured and dry pale bitter, very nice and just £2.40 a pint. Then the 4.4% Bristol Beer Factory Sunrise, a dry pale golden bitter with plenty of body at £2.60 a pint, followed by a pint of the 4.7% near-regular here Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA), the brewery having certainly kept up the excellent quality of this ale in recent months, pale and very hoppy, and at a great value £2.50 a pint! Finally, another excellent ale, Triple fff Brewery Ramble Tamble, the most expensive ale here on Wednesday at £2.90 a pint, but for that you get 5% of a pale-ish bitter with plenty of body and a fruity aroma and flavour that smacks your palate into submission!  Great stuff again Louisa, cheers!

 

I sat outside the White Rock Hotel bar, looking at the Channel and pier, (it was a bit foggy over the sea) and I sampled 2 of the 3 local ales they were serving on Tuesday, all at £3.10 a pint; 1 handpump not being used this day. I ignored the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best (4%), and, as you will see from my photograph, I had a half of the Arundel Sussex Gold, a 4.2% "golden bitter", quite pale though, with a slightly tart flavour, very nice by the second mouthful.  I also had a pint of the 1648 Saint George, a slightly darker bitter with a sweetness to the initial taste, then dry, slightly malty and bitterness coming through with the aftertaste. Not bad at all, and I do like to sit beside the seaside!

Finally, at the Dolphin, where all the ales are £3.50 a pint, here in the posher end of town, there were the usual 4 regulars, Sussex Best, Youngs Special and Dark Star Hophead and APA, and the ale pictured above from Nottingham.  Castle Rock ales are being seen a lot more of down here these days; they also have Elsie Mo (4.7%) coming on soon, and it's like never having left the North, with beers from Yorkshire breweries too, notably Kelham Island and Rudgate, more of shortly.  Anyway, one of the guest ales was Castle Rock Preservation "Fine Ale", a 4.4% 'heavier' ale with plenty of body, sweetish to taste and then with a dry aftertaste, not bad, but... 

...I'd missed them having the excellent Oakham Bishops Farewell, sadly, as it is a favourite of mine, it must have gone down a bit too easily, but now, on the bar, there was the Rudgate Norse Necta, 4.3% of pale dry bitter, reyt easy to drink, so I did!  If you see it anywhere, and you have a similar taste to mine, go for it...

Cheers!

Hastings updates and some excellent ale

So, where haven't I visited for quite a while in Hastings? Oh yes, the Cinque Ports, All Saints Street, in the medieval 'old town', rather than post another photograph of the outside of the pub, I decided to post this photograph of a model of the bar constructed for the crackin' Greek barmaid, Andee, and it's not a bad likeness to the bar either!

Ale-wise, they're selling up to 3 ales now, the usual 2, ie Fullers ESB (5.5%), an excellent darker full-bodied ale, that I usually imbibe here, and the ubiquitous 4% Harveys Sussex Best, which I rarely imbibe, it's very drinkable, but lacks hops and flavour for me!  They are also trying guest ales, and I had a couple or three pints of the Otter Ale, a 4.5%, very nice, premium bitter at £3.30 a pint, enjoyed the visit and seeing Andee again, cheers! 

 

I had a meeting at The Windmill, Seddlescombe Road North (A21), the 'Brewers Fayre' part of the Premier Inn in Hastings, a couple of miles inland, and up the hill from me, so I thought, have a drink (I got there earlier than I thought I would).  As they only had Shepherd Neame Spitfire (4.2%), that's what I drank a pint of, not bad for £3.14 in a hotel bar, and not bad to drink either, maybe I should drink Sheps a bit more...  

 

Anyway, rather than turn down towards the award winning Alexandra park, more directly to home, I carried on down London Road after my meeting, and visited the Tower, and what a great spontaneous decision that was, with the excellent Sara behind the bar, good banter, and a great ale or 4!

 

The always good Hopback Summer Lightning (5%), an early example of the pale hoppy ales I drank many years ago, and 3 Dark Star ales: Summer Meltdown (4.8%), always good American Pale Ale (APA), a 4.7% pale hoppy ale, and a new one to me, a bit of a rarity, a darker ale I loved, the, also 4.7% Genesis, an excellent dark, porter coloured bitter with a lighter taste, and at only £2.60 a pint, loved it.

 

Many thanks to the landlady for the choice of ales, Louisa, and to Sara for the excellent service on the day, cheers!

 

Back again, Hastings updates...

Sadly, mostly because of a 'bug' that decided to help me lose 6 or 7 pounds in weight, ie be ill for 5-6 days, I haven't been drinking for a while, so a bit of 'catch up' required. First, again, sadly, Franks Front Room closed down in Hastings on Saturday 4th May, a loss, indeed!  Good luck to the ex-owners, I see the building is already going up for auction... 

But I have been to the Tower, London Road, with 5 ales there on the day; I just missed the Hopback Summer Lightning as it went off before I could order a pint, but it was replaced by the also excellent Ilkley Lotus IPA (5.6%), already commented on. There was also Sharps Doom Bar for the maltier ale lovers and 2 pale-ish ones from Dark Star too, the virtually ever-present American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%) and Revelation, at 5.7% a bit more interesting, and, again, been reported on before. So, 4 excellent paler ales, and the Doom Bar of course...

I visited the Dolphin on the May Day public holiday and they had a Kelham Island beer on, a 'ruby mild' called Mistress Flames, 5% and a hint of spice in the aftertaste, loadsa body, smooth, frankly, delicious!  There were also the usual Youngs Special, Harveys Sussex Best, and Dark Star's Hophead and American Pale Ale, and one other new guest, ie Harveys Bogie Man (4.3%), brewed especially for the Hastings May Day celebrations, apparently; it was pale, a bit thin, with a strange flavour I couldn't distinguish properly, but certainly a biscuity maltness flavour in the bubbles.

Hastings seems to have more celebrations than anywhere else I've ever known, the May Day celebrations including a significant motorcycle rally, and 'Jack in the Green', it's very own fertility tradition, procession etc, so many people are dressed in greenery.  Here is the Dolphin's very own living Pre-Raphaelite portrait, Maz, serving up a fizzy drink; I tried to get a good picture serving up real ale, and, if I'd persisted, I would have got a good one, but, I have to own up, I lost patience, and this is a very good photograph, nice one...

I'm back... Cheers! 

The Bell Inn, Bath

Following the Chancellor's decision to get rid of (we hope for ever) the Beer Duty Escalator, today's news is about the offering of shares in a cooperative to own the CAMRA Good Beer Guide entry, The Bell Inn, Bath (site).  OK, we're not likely to see any decrease in the price of ales in pubs due to this tax reduction, but it should help publicans to keep increases in prices to a minimum, taking into account the brewers' own price rises, which many pubs have already passed on, but some have not awaiting the Chancellor's announcement.

The Bell Inn is a music venue, as well as offering 9 real ales, and has the support of many celebrities, including Peter Gabriel, Clare Teal, Robert Plant, Midge Ure and Will Gregory of Goldfrapp, who should all be able to contribute a few coins between them.  This looks to be an interesting project, and great if it keeps a good real ale house, and music venue, alive and kicking.

 

The Bell has 7 regular ales, that include quite a few I have recently commented on: RCH Pitchfork (4.3%); Stonehenge Danish Dynamite, a 5% light golden ale much enjoyed recently at the Dolphin in Hastings, and both soon to be available there again; Abbey Ales Bellringer, a 4.2% amber ale; Otter Brewery Otter Ale, a 4.5% bitter; Bath Ales Gem, a 4.1% ale that includes wheat and barley malt; and 2 of my favourite all-time ales, the excellent 4% Butcombe Bitter and the 5% pale and hoppy trendsetter from Hopback, Summer Lightning, always sampled by me if available. 

 

In addition, 2 weekly changing guest ales are available, usually chosen from a host of reasonably local small brewers, including Arbor Ales, Cotswold Spring, Milk Street, Plain Ales, Spinning Dog, and many more.  If you're ever in Bath, I'd suggest you pay this pub a visit, if you do, I'd be happy to publish your findings, cheers!

Saturday 10th November - Fires and pubs, Pett, East Sussex

The Routemeister had visited me for the weekend, so Saturday meant a fairly long walk, this time across the top of the cliffs and Hastings Wildlife Park, a fairly arduous trek to Pett Level, where we hoped to drink at the Smugglers, which we had sat outside looking at the beach virtually a year ago to the day. Sadly, it's temporarily closed, but soon to re-open, I have been reliably informed by one of those taking over the pub, when I spoke to her this Tuesday, there being just a few technical problems, so, fingers crossed!

Addendum and update, even, The Smugglers deal has fallen through, it is now rumoured to not be re-opening before Easter at the earliest! 

Anyway, we headed uphill, through fields (along a right of way) to Pett Village, only a mile or so away. Our first port of call there was the Royak Oak, which has 3 or 4 ales on at a time, today was Hopback Summer Lightning, Morlands Golden Hen and Harveys Sussex Best; a little disappointed that we just missed Triple fff Brewery's Jabberwocky coming on, which was soon to replace the Summer Lightning.  All these ales are either well known and/or already reported on by me, so I'll get onto the fires...

We sat right in front of the smaller fire, note our Beermeister caps drying out and warming up in the photograph above, we had been walking through rain for about 3 hours by now!

The larger fireplace is pictured above, though we'd have been hogging a table nearer to people eating if we'd sat there, so we relaxed in front of the previous fire, well away from people, though two older women did come and sit to the left of that fire; we're obviously not intimidating people.

We then walked along the main road to the Two Sawyers, a favourite of my brother's I believe, and one of mine too.  Here was Ringwood Fortyniner and Harveys Sussex Best, both well reported ales, and Harveys Trundle Bitter (3.5%) and Isfield IPA, a 4.2% pale bitter, with a biscuity flavour and dry aftertaste; from this you can guess this is what we drank there, and I've been reasonably impressed by the ales from this new brewery so far. 

Of course, it being a cold and wet day, a fire was lit at the Two Sawyers too.  Cheers!

Part II - Chesterfield (the town)

After lunch at Mama's & Leonies with Debra (more soon) and dinner at Phil's and Amanda's, Phil and I met Will at the Rutland Arms in Chesterfield... 

As he prefers darker ales, Will was a bit put out by the lack of beer to his taste at the Rutland, though hard to see why, he tried a half of The Brew Company's Crystallised (5.5%) but said it was too much to my taste for him... I tried the Idle Brewery's Idle Tongue (4.3%), a pale and bitter ale, as did Phil. They also had Doom Bar, Abbot Ale, and The Tap House Dark & Dangerous (5%).   

From the Rutland we chased behind Will to the Gardeners, where we watched the football, well, the second half of it. Tried the Ringwood Boondoggle (4.2%), their only real ale on, though they can have two ales, and another ale was coming on the other pump very soon. The Boondoggle is a very easy to drink pale ale, not too bitter, and the lad behind the bar, a great bloke, and I had a bit of a chat about ales, food and blogging, he also gave us a free drink each, I think he was just glad to have people in his bar that appreciate and like to drink real ale... 

Our final stop with Will was Joplins, where Will complained about the loud music on the speaker, well, apart from us three, the only other person present was the barman (a couple were leaving as we entered, not sure of the loud music drove them out or not). Hook Norton Hooky and Old Hooky were on sale, together with Hopback 25th Celebration Ale (4.6% and 35 years behind the times ;-), a pale dry bitter.

Will went home from here (to catch the train back to Sheffield), as I was staying with Phil and Amanda in Chesterfield we headed for the bus stop on leaving Joplins, but had enough time for another pint at the Rutland, where we had the Crystallised, and it was the best ale of the evening!  In my humble opinion... 

Cheers!

8th June 2012

A very windy day in Hastings, and I reached the Dolphin in about 5 minutes quicker time than usual (wind behind me!)

First port of call was the Dolphin, the whole family here today, though only for a short time together ;-) Ales on were the usual Hophead, Directors and Sussex Best, plus Dark Star APA, Hopback Taiphoon and Adnams Broadside.  Then walked back westwards and against the wind now, lost my shades!

To the White Rock Hotel, met a couple of Charlton fans here, including the barman and a postman this side of the bar called Darren, cheers gents! Ales on were Hastings Best Bitter (which I had a few pints of), Dark Star The Original and a 2% ale from Weltons called Light Duty, despite the low gravity it actually had some flavour, and was a medium coloured bitter, surprisingly... Sadly, I had just missed drinking the revelation that is Dark Star Revelation!

Cheers!

Dolphin, Hastings

So, a bank holiday Monday in Hastings, not great weather, what does one do? Yep! The Dolphin... Good ales, good food deals, even better, though, Laura and Maz working behind the bar, consequently, crackin' cakes for nowt for the regulars (always fun to see Maz working here, not only from the selfishly greedy point of view either).      

Despite the amazingly quick to change weather, not such a bad day then, chatting to Mark, Laura and Maz, and Mo for a while, behind the bar earlyish (later, Debs and 'Scootah' too), good ale and better company.  This side of the bar and I chatted to Steve the (retired) fireman and Jim (family in South Yorkshire) as well as to Mark.  

 

Laura and Maz (not in that order, thanks to Marcus for the photo) 

The 6 ales were Dark Star Hophead and APA (you need to look no further than those 2 to know what I drank), Directors, Sussex Best, Broadside and Hopback Taiphoon...

Cheers!

   

Hastings 3 - St Leonards and the front

OK, another lovely day, beautiful sky, mild, and, well, I'm nearly finished in my 4 part quest to provide knowledge of the real ale pubs and bars worth visiting in Hastings...

First, the White Rock Hotel, provides accommodation (dah!), but great to visit even if not a 'guest'. Virtually opposite the pier, non-smoking throughout, even on the terrace and it's sea view, decent breakfasts (I enjoyed eating the "Full Audrey" on Sunday morning, ie their full cooked breakfast) and 4 real ales served up to non-guests as well after 10.00 every day. Today, one pale ale, Hastings HPA (5 hopped IPA) at 4.7%, not so bad, does what it says on the label; Harveys Porter 1859, a 4.8% porter, easy to drink; Dark Star Black Coffee Pilsner at 4.8%, sounds weird, but actually quite a subtle coffee flavour, drinkable again; and the very good WJ King Kings Old Ale at a meagre 4.5%, dark, hint of coffee and strong roasted malt, reyt nice! They've 2 dark Star beers coming soon, Rye & Juniper and Revelation... which is a 'revelation', crackin' ale, I recently drank at the Evening Star in Brighton!

Next, the North Star in St Leonards (a way above Warrior Square), serving up 5 real ales, Hopback GFB, Hastings HPA again, Harveys Sussex Best, Timothy Taylor Landlord, and Dark Star Sussex Extra Stout. This is a crackin' pub, the landlord, Jamie, soon to reopen the General Havelock, see next posting! Always a good visit, and they have a 'loyalty card' for real ale drinkers (and for food), drink 9 pints and get one free... works for me ;-)

Finally, the Dripping Spring, which has new managers, great pub, the first I ever drank at in Hastings. They appear to be wanting to keep up a similar way of working, ie supporting real ales in their pub. 4 ales on today, though can have up to 7 or 8 at weekends. Today, the 2 regulars, Wye Valley HPA, an ale I particularly like, and this is the only place in Hastings it can be found, so my drink today, and Harveys Sussex Best. The 2 guests today were Adnams Broadside and Fullers ESB (I saw a regular from the Cinque Ports in the Old Toan drinking the ESB here today). Good luck to the new landlord and landlady, I support you!