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!

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

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!

...and a happier day (9th May)...

A beautiful day, and I headed for the Hastings Arms and Jeny Lind first, but forgot, neither open til 12.00 on Thursdays...

So, down to Rock a Nore, and the Dolphin, hardly arduous, a wee chat with Mark the landlord, and the wonderful Louise behind the bar, what more could I want? Oh yes, Laura made a cameo appearance, and Debs turned up a little early before her shift started, and ale of course!

 

The usual regulars, Sussex Best, Youngs Special, and Dark Star's Hophead and American Pale Ale (APA). The quite exquisite Kelham Island Mistress Flames (5%) was near the end of its second firkin, and the other 'guest' was Moorhouse's Blond Witch (4.5%).  Now the Blond Witch ain't bad, and you'll be aware I love Dark Star's paler and hoppy ales, anyway, I had a pint of the Hophead, and Mark gave me a half of the Mistress Flames, so I was mellow when I made my way back up High Street to the Jenny Lynd, which was now open.

In the Jenny Lind were Tony, this side of the bar, who I'd seen in the library earlier, and who asked for a bit of advice about drinking in Greenwich; I suggested he ignore the pubs near the Cutty Sark and head westwards for the Dog & Bell, but he wanted an easier pub to find, so I now suggested he walk eastwards along the river, past the Palace, to the Trafalgar, which I believe used to be, if not now, a Youngs pub.  But even better, is the Yacht, just around the back of the Trafalgar, and in a little alley, fronting onto the Thames too. 

 

In addition, the second Pre-Raphaelite barmaid I approve of in Hastings {I saw the first working at the Dolphin again the next evening, where Otter Head (5.8%) had replaced the Mistress Flames, a paler ale, a bit of a 'sweet & sour' taste}, ie Sarah, was working behind the bar, dead enthusiastic, and a pleasure to be served by.  Anyway, ales there included regulars Directors, Theakstons Best and Old Peculiar, a couple of Hastings beers, Blonde and Pale Ale, and I had a pint of the Palmers Dorset Gold (4.5%), unsurprisingly, a golden ale with a hint of caramel. 

My final visit of the day, partly because I wanted to meet up with buddies Paul and F***ing John, you need to know him and you'd understand why I call him that, was the First In Last Out (FILO).  Good to meet up with them both again, as it's been a while since I've had a drink or three with them, though I've seen Paul quite a few times outside of pubs recently.  Mike the landlord was behind the bar, and one of his sons too, Sharon the landlady was in the kitchen with their Eastern European colleague, Elena (spelt something like that anyway).  And the manager, Tony, turned up a couple of times too...  

 

5 of their own ales on sale, and Orkney Raven Ale (3.8%) too, which I'm sure I've had before, but today was to be spent drinking their own ales.  The FILO beers were Mike's Mild (3.4%), Old Town Tom (4.5%), Churches Pale Ale (4.2%), and the two I had, first, Crofters, 3.8% and £3 a pint, is a good session bitter.  I was pleasantly surprised to see both Paul and John drinking this too as they're usually Guinness drinkers, so it has been a while since I had a drink with them! 

Anyway, I finished off with the FILO Gold (4.8%), a nice stronger pale bitter with plenty of body, and some of it was served up from the wee cask you see in the photograph above, reyt cute!  Then I had a pint from the cellar...

 

Oh yes, both the FILO and Jenny Lind sell a local real cider too, the 5.5% Laughing Jester, 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!

Thursday 8th November - Hastings

Visited by the 'Larkmeister', a Mackem today, so, we had a few pints over the course of the day, first at the First In Last Out (FILO) in Hastings Old Town, (High Street).

 

Mike, the landlord, was at the bar when we arrived, but was not staying for a drink, however, as usual, he's great company, and always a good conversation, although only brief today. However, the lovely new Latvian barmaid, Elina, was there for when Mike had left, not so bad company either to be honest, and a good pint puller to boot, thanks for the ales Elina! 

 

Four of their own beers were on sale, and Harveys Hadlow Bitter (3.5%). The 4 FILO ales were Crofters Best Bitter, their 3.8% session ale, Old Town Tom (4.5%), if you haven't visited for a while this is a renamed ale due to another brewery's threat of prosecution over its old name, Cardinal Sussex Porter (4.6%), and Gold, a 4.8% Premium Bitter, which I rather enjoyed, nice and pale, quite bitter, with a good body. 

From the FILO, we wandered over The Bourne (now a road, not a river anymore) and walked down All Saints Street, enjoying the medieval buildings; I make a reasonable tour guide, I hope.  Anyway, we wandered down to the seafront and westwards to the White Rock Hotel, near the pier, which has a reasonably priced bar with 4 real ales, always sourced locally, not so bad for a bar very close to the centre of Hastings.

 

The 4 ales were Hastings Best (4.1%) and Pale Ale (4.7% and using American hops), Harveys Sussex Old Ale (4.3%, not bad, but not a patch on their 4.5% Old Ale, more of which another day), and the 4.1% V S Old Ale from 1648 Brewery. I had to try the 1648, as new to me, the ale, that is, not the brewery, and it's a very decent seasonal ale with a hint of licquorice, like many of these darker ales.

Now we were a wee bit hungry, so wandered back to the Old Town and visited what many locals regard as the best Fish & Chip shop/restaurant in Hastings, the Life Boat Restaurant, where we enjoyed our meals, and the Larkmeister even 'supersizing' his meal up to a large piece of cod for just 20p extra, and it was a huge piece of fish too, he even ended up leaving some food! Anyway, I stuck to a normal sized piece of fish, which was fairly large in itself, and we were served by an enchanting young woman, originally from Eastbourne, I believe her name was Jess, but regret, for once, not making a note of her name, sorry if I'm wrong, Tess/whoever, I'll buy you a drink...

Our final port of call was the Dolphin, for the Thursday night quiz, which was a great laugh as ever! I shall update details of the Dolphin's ales very soon, in another blog, as I was there a few times in the following days.

 

Cheers!

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