The Smuggler - Pett Level

The Routemeister and myself walked over from Hastings, in the mud, wind and rain to The Smuggler at Pett Level, t'other day, and, not long after taking this photograph, hailstones, and then a rainbow impressed themselves on us... 

I hadn't been to The Smuggler for a while, and it's a bit of an achievement, worthy of an ale certainly. 3 ales on at the moment; they had Doom Bar and Sussex Best, not my favourite ales, but OK when nowt else available, but on this day they had a pearler! The Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) was in crackin' form, we enjoyed it immensely, pale and hoppy, as you'd expect, luvverly, indeed... 

More to come very soon, ales aplenty, cheers! 

26 mile pub crawl, Hastings to Rye, and back...

I'm hampered with ankle and lower lumbar injuries at the moment, so time to report on walks, pubs and ales experienced before yesterday. On Tuesday (9th July), the Routemeister, my brother Dan, and I walked a little over 25 miles in a 'figure of 8' route, starting in Hastings, over the cliffs and Hastings Country Park to Pett Level then along the Military Canal to Rye, where we popped into the Queens Head (twitter), where we were treated to the efficient and friendly bar service of the bar manager (I do believe she is), Kate. 

The ales are on sale here for £3.30 a pint, which is a decent deal when considering the strength of most of the ales, especially the one I drank. There were the 4 in the photograph, plus, being served by gravity directly from a barrel on the bar, Long Man Blonde (3.8%), so 4 of the 5 ales are brewed in East Sussex, nice one.  Indeed, there is regularly at least one ale each from Long Man and Franklin's breweries.  The 4 you can see are Franklin's Grumpy Guvnor (4.5%), reported before, all the way from Somerset, Cotleigh Buzzard Dark Ale (4.8%), and the 2 we drank.  Dan enjoyed the Long Man Golden Tipple, a 5% very pale golden bitter with a hint of cider in the flavour, and I had the, favourited many times in the past and excellent, Dark Star Revelation, 5.7%, and in your face hops, delicious, many thanks Kate!  

Anyway, we came back via the Castle Water wildlife sanctuary, and seafront, to Pett Level and the Smuggler Inn, now run by the 2 sisters from the Hastings Arms, Sue and Hazel, this was where we came to the middle of our 'figure of 8', and some more sustenance.  4 ales on, Sharp's Doom Bar (4%), their regular ale, Harveys Sussex Best (4%), a semi-regular, Youngs Bitter ("Ordinary" in Wandsworth terms, and 3.7%) which is soon to be replaced by Youngs Special (4.5%), and the very good Otter Bitter (3.6%) that I drank.  Good to see this fine pub open again, and glad for the sisters, cheers!  

We then walked up to Pett Village, and revisited the Two Sawyers, another fine hostelry.  The ales on this day were Ringwood Fortyniner (4.9%), Harveys Sussex Best (4%), and Youngs Special (4.5%), all regularly seen, and discussed before. There was also Old Dairy Brewery Red Top (3.8%), a darker bitter than my usual, with a dry roasted bitter taste, not bad at all!

We then finished off with a walk back to Hastings and a visit to the Dolphin at Rock-a-Nore, where Jason was working this night, with Mark, the landlord, in attendance too, and fine chat and imbibement was had by us 3... 2 guest ales on, including the Elgoods EP (4.3%), a "rich malty bitter", but we ended up knocking back a few pints of the excellent Dark Star American Pale Ale (4.7%) aka APA. Dark Star are certainly maintaining a decent version of the APA, much more bitter than when I first tasted it.  But I shall be adding more about the Dolphin in a future blog, very soon.

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!

Tuesday 15th May 2012

So, another day out walking with my brother, to start we walked up onto the East Hill above Hastings and up above the cliffs, heading east.  Surprise surprise, it rained, was windy, but not straight into our face this time, and not as heavy rain or strong winds, easy!

After 2 hours 30 minutes from home (11.00 hrs), we walked down into the Smuggler Inn at Pett Level (website), a great pub overlooking the sea.  The photo is from the roadside, looking slightly east of south, the beach behind the pub.

Usually 3 ales on sale these days, with Sussex Best and London Pride as regulars, plus a guest ale.  We had the Pride, and very nice it was too.  Good food here, lunches and evening meals, but the breakfasts from 09.30 are no more, sadly, not enough custom to continue with them!  This is a great stopover for us, used regularly, ie whenever we pass this way ;-)  

From Pett Level, we headed due east along the beach to Winchelsea Beach, up into the medieval village, which is built on a grid system and has an excellent church remaining from Henry VIII's vandalism of the Abbey during the 'Reformation'.  From here, we carried on back eastwards to Icklesham, with its own Norman church (website), and the Queens Head Inn. 

The Queens Head (website) is a 17th century inn, known for its good food and good ales, whatever day I've been in here has seen a large number of people eating, but don't let that put that off if you just want a pint or two, because it sells a good range of real ales too! Yesterday were Knots of May Light Mild (3%), Greene King Abbot Ale and IPA, Taylord Landlord, Rother Valley Level Best (4%), TSA (Traditional Scottish Ales) Red Bush - a 4.8% raspberry beer, fruity and like drinking liquidised alcoholic and beer flavoured raspberry ice cream! Finally, we also drank the Dark Star Sunburst, a 4.8% golden ale, not as bitter as some of the Dark Star ales we've recently drunk, but still very refreshing.

I wanted to show Dan the Robin Hood, but I'd forgotten it closes at 3pm, so missed that, we therefore headed back to Hastings by bus (£4.70! I won't be doing the single fare again when it's only 50p more for a return... I'll be walking back next time), where we stopped in the FILO for a pint of their Gold ale and a pint of Hophead at the Dolphin.  Cheers!

A midwinter pub crawl in Pett, East Sussex

My brother, Dan, and myself had a bit of a walk, bit tiring start over, up and down, the cliffs from Hastings walking eastwards to Pett Level, where we reached the Smuggler Inn. Up to 6 ales can be on, but just the two Tuesday morning. I had Fuller's London Pride and Dan had Harveys Sussex Best. You can get a drink here as early as 09.30, as they open to serve a very impressive breakfast, and other food too! See www.thesmugglerinn.co.uk

Then we walked uphill, over fields to miss the busy (at times) road, we reached the very recently restored Royal Oak, Pett Village. Can have up to 4 ales, for now though, usually 2 or 3. The unbiquitous Sussex Best was on sale, but we drank Rother Valley Level Best, a 4.0% bitter, very nice too. Food served as well. See www.royaloakpett.com

Finally, we reached my favourite pub of the three (all very good pubs) the Two Sawyers, Pett Village. Food again on sale, and 4 real ales, Harveys Sussex Best and Sussex Old Ale, Ringwood Fortyniner, and we drank the always cracking ale, Dark Star American Pale Ale (APA) 4.7% of pale, dry, hoppy scrumptiousness! We walked back across the top to Hastings, but you can get the hourly bus from over the road (appears to leave about a quarter to the hour, but check for exact times if depending on the bus, I may be wrong). See www.twosawyers.co.uk

3 Sunday - The Smuggler at Pett Level

Again, last night we visited a couple of other pubs in St Leonards on the way back, the Dripping Spring and the North Star, both good ale houses, and we watched much of the England v Spain match in the Dripping Spring, whilst quaffing Wye Valley HPA an excellent couple of glasses of ale, indeed.
However, on Sunday, we caught the first train of the day to Rye, the inland Cinque Port, and visited the church for a brief spell, as there was a service shortly after our arrival. We then left to begin our trek back to Hastings, first following the Royal Military Canal to Pett Level and The Smuggler, which serves an excellent looking breakfast from 09.30 to 11.30; you guessed it, I'd prepared a packed lunch, so was again envious of those eating here, saving the experience for another day! We had a couple of excellent pints of Ringwood Fortyniner at only £2.50 a pint, whilst sitting outside, looking at the sea, bathing in the warm sun, and eating my delicious sandwiches!

We also experienced another minutes silence at the Lifeboat Station, before finishing our beers and wandering up to the cliff tops and heading west for Hastings, where we drank Dark Star Hophead, yet again, at the Dolphin and also Fullers ESB at the Cinque Port Inn in the early evening.

So an excellent weekend, lots of walking, a few pints here and there in great surroundings, and marvelous weather too, what more could one want from a weekends entertainment, except for a football match of course.