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!

 

 

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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!