Festive Cheer!

By Steve the Beermeister:

Happy/Hoppy New Beer/Year! I wandered around Hastings over the last few weeks, particularly the 'old town' with its better variety and choice of pubs, but I've included a photograph above of the tree in Priory Meadow shopping centre, taken fairly early in the morning.

I started in the town centre, it's where I live, but now walk eastwards, past Iceland, to the old town, where the first pub you reach opposite the seafront, with its other side in George Street, that is the Albion, 33 George Street TN34 3EA (website), which sells 4 cask ales from Sussex and Kent brewers, normally Harvey’s Sussex Best (website) as a regular; sadly they no longer appear to be getting ale from Bedlam Brewery. Plus side, they do now take cash again.

I missed drinking the 7.5% Harvey's Christmas Ale (website) on my last visit, indeed, which I last drank 4 years ago now (blog), but a bit strong to start off the session! However, I did recently drink there, from another East Sussex brewery Long Man (website), their 4.3% old ale Old Man, which I joked about many years ago about a young member of bar staff at the Dolphin Inn serving up 'an old man Old Man' - amused me at the time, sadly I've lost the image of her pulling the pint... Anyway, Old Man is brewed using darker malts, of course, with Bramling Cross and Fuggles hops, producing a fine version of an old ale, dark and bitter sweet, nice one...

Carrying along George Street you reach 2 of the 5 Shepherd Neame (website) pubs in the old town, if you like their ales, you may say 'blessed' with 5! Above is a photograph of Ye Olde Pumphouse, 64 George Street TN34 3EE. It looks old, but was actually built 1955/56, opening in 1956, but using older materials; I suggest reading Hastings Pub History website for more details. Indeed, the first pub that Shepherd Neame acquired in Hastings was The Freemans in Wellington Place, now Jempsons/Rye Bakery, which was their pub from 1928-1958 (blog).

What I did drink at the Pumphouse was the cask Shepherd Neame Christmas Ale (5.0% cask ale - 7.0% in bottle). An amber winter ale, not as impressive as the Harvey's version, no surprise bearing in mind the strength, but a gentle surprisingly easy to drink bitter sweet beer.

Virtually opposite, is another Sheps pub, the Anchor Inn, 13 George Street TN34 3EG (website), a much older pub (blog). Here you get the regular  ales, sometimes the impressive 5.0% Bishops Finger, and the pub is famed for its Sunday roast dinners/lunch!

At the eastern end of the street is another older Sheps pub, the Hastings Arms, 2 George Street TN34 3EG (website), which I have written about before in my older blog. Actually, I visit here quite often, and I really do need to update this blog more with information about pubs I've written about in the past in that older blog; usual Sheps beers served here. They have a locally popular, thus heavily subscribed Curry Night on Tuesdays, and Tapas Night on Thursdays. Also, I regularly meet up with people I know coincidentally at the Sheps pubs in the old town. 😁

Turning left up the High Street, and up on the left is the Jenny Lind, 69 High Street TN34 3EW (website), which I have written about a number of times (eg blog). Here I drank:

A wee bit confusing, because it was in a Long Man glass in this image, but the ale is actually from yet another East Sussex brewery Three Acre (website), and is their 5.1% Chocolate Oat Stout, with the added chocolate flavour coming from added cacao apparently, not just chocolate malt. Does what it says on the label, smooth, chocolatey, with a dry roasted malt finish, strangely nowhere near as heavy as I thought it would be, nice!

Further up the hill, and on the right is the First In Last Out (FILO), 14-15 High Street TN34 3EY (website), with its own brewery, and which I've written about many times (eg blog). Usually meet up with people I know here, indeed, arranged to meet up with a couple of friends here last Thursday, and another friend, Russ, always comes down once a year to visit me, and we always drink here, if not eat here (although it was the Albion where we ate at the Thursday before).

I have imbibed a few of their different styles of ale here recently, best bitter (3.8%), pale and hoppy (4.2%), and the stronger Gold (4.8%), but I'll discuss here their 4.6% Cardinal Sussex Porter. Brewed with chocolate malt and roasted barley this is a very deep dark red, and tastes like it should, with a smooth finish, nice one.

Go behind the FILO via the alleyway by its side, and car park, and you reach The Bourne, once a river, now a sewer below ground, and a road above, cross the road and nip up a side road to All Saints Street, if you turn left and carry on up the hill you come to another Sheps pub in the old town, The Stag. However, I turned right and down to the Cinque Ports Arms (above), 105 All Saints Street TN34 3BE. This pub was originally known as the Chequers and dated back to before 1642, but apparently hasn't been a pub continuously since then. For more information about the history of the pub go to the excellent Hastings Pub History website.

The have had 3 ales on when I've visited before, but it is usually 2 cask ales, including the ubiquitous Harvey's Sussex Best (above), and, replacing the Fuller's ESB that used to be a regular here, now they sell Fuller's smaller sibling, London Pride. Needless to say I had a pint of both, and a nice chat with Tony, who I found sitting at the bar when I arrived, cheers Tony!

Carry on down the hill and you come to the Crown, 64-66 All Saints Street TN34 3BN (website), which sells 2 cask ales, and an array of crafty keg beers. The cask ales are usually from very local brewers, but I own up that I've forgotten what I drank here; I made no notes, oops, sorry! 😕

Anyway, carry on down and you'll reach Rock-a-Nore Road at the bottom of the hill, turn left and you come to the Dolphin Inn, 11-12 Rock-a-Nore Road TN34 3DW (website), which I have to own up to being my favourite among many very good pubs in Hastings; but they sell some of my favourite ales and ales from some of my favourite breweries, notably pale, dry & bitter!

Anyway, recently I've had some very decent dark ales here too, including Titanic Plum Porter and Pomona Island Horngus Mild, but you'll guess from the image above, many excellent pale bitters too. Not just one of my favourite ales Citra, from one of my favourite breweries Oakham Ales (website), both of which I've written about many times before, but many also from another of my two favourite brewers; including Kocasco (4.2%) from Mallinsons (website), brewed with Kohatu, Cascade and Columbus hops, and a few from Kent Brewery (website).

The final Sheps pub in Hastings old town is back to the west of The Bourne and is the Royal Standard, 19 East Street/East Beach Street TN34 3DW (website). The building dates from 1707, when a shoemaker lived there, and was a beerhouse from 1822, and has been a fully licensed pub since 1856. As you'd expect, the usual Shepherd Neame ales are served here, although there wasn't Bishops Finger for my last visit, sadly.

My final seasonal pub is the Jolly Fisherman, 3 East Beach Street TN34 3AR (website), which I have written about quite a few times, eg blog, and which, incidentally, begins a 3-day Dark Beer Festival today, Friday 5th to Sunday 7th January 2024. It will be opening at 12.00 noon for these 3 days, and further information can be found at their facebook page.

I have been intending to write a blog about dark beers, and have been knocking back quite a few recently, but I'll leave that to after I visit over this weekend. However, I have to mention at least one excellent crafty keg I've had there recently, the 12.5% Our Barley Aged Imperial Stout (above), brewed in Glasgow by Overtone Brewing (website). They used 12 kinds of malt in the mash, and this was brewed in collaboration with Lochlea Distillery, aged in a selection of their ex-bourbon and ex-oloroso barrels... Oh yes, and Magnum hops used!

From my notes now: "Very very very dark! Brownish head, rich and thick/full bodied. An aroma of roasted barley, and smooth, rich and chocolatey taste... Very decent!"

HI HO! 🍻

Breakfast and Rugby at the Dolphin

Earlier this year (blog) I reported that Clare was now the chef at the Dolphin Inn, 11-12 Rock-a-Nore Road, TN34 3DW (website), but I have not eaten a Full English Breakfast there since, although I have had many excellent bacon (locally 'smoked' across the road) sandwiches, because I'm being sensible about my diet these days, and despite having eaten breakfasts all around town before, eg at the Anchor Inn (blog). But yesterday, I was there for the Rugby Union World Cup Final, along with many others of various ages, male and female, all of whom were a wee bit upset at the result, except 2 Scotsmen, oh well, I did enjoy my breakfast, ales, and the craic!

So, to the food, of the various breakfasts available, I had to chose the Full English, of course, as it's what I've always compared when writing about breakfasts before, and above you will see a photograph of my meal, costing £6.75, and the price including a mug of tea or mug of various coffees. This is a slight variation on the usual Full English, which includes bubble & squeak, but without the beans and fried potatoes.

They also have a smaller version at £4.25, a Vegetarian Breakfast, Welsh Breakfast, Kedgeree, GEG (a pretty special scrambled eggs on toast, but look up all the breakfasts at the website!), and a Classic Omelette, all at £6.75 and including a tea of coffee in the price too. Breakfast is available until lunchtime (12.00 noon, then lunch) every day, starting at 10.00 am on weekdays, but at 09.00 at weekends. Food is locally sourced, particularly from Hastings Fish Market, which is opposite the pub.

Of course there is always ale, including these 2 excellent guest ales yesterday, another guest ale (Harveys Old Ale yesterday), and 3 regular ales, including 2 ales brewed in Sussex, Dark Star Hophead and Harveys Sussex Best. But to the breakfast I ate!

As I said above, a slight variation on the usual Full English, with Double Bacon (Clare's own and delicious!), a Pork Sausage (very eatable), Fried Egg (perfectly cooked, only a wee bit runny), Plum Tomato, Mushrooms (should always be included in any Full English in my opinion!), Black Pudding (not everyone's favourite, but I'm happy to eat it), Fried Sliced Potatoes (liked these muchly!), Baked Beans and Toast (lovely bread). Also, they are always happy to omit or add other ingredients when asked, eg if you hate Black Pudding, which I don't, indeed, you can create your own breakfast! 😉

Anyway, good value, nicely cooked and presented, thanks to Clare and colleagues, but maybe I shouldn't leave it so long before I have a cooked breakfast next time...

More Christmas Events This Weekend

Further to last my blog last week regarding pre-Christmas events, tomorrow (Saturday the 8th of December) sees even more! From 11.00 to 3.00pm, at the Lifeboat Station is Christmas at the Boathouse (facebook), with tea, coffee and cakes; a tombola, jewellery stall, books and bric-a-brac; carols at 12.00; Ukulele at 12.30; Christmas cards and gifts, and, of course, Hastings new Shannon Class lifeboat to view!

I'm not sure if tickets are still available, but Hastings Winkle Club (earlier blog) has its Children's Christmas Party for children aged 4-8 years old is also tomorrow, 2.30 to 4.30 pm, at East Hastings Sea Angling Association, opposite the Lifeboat Station (OHPS website). To find out if tickets are still available, call or visit the Fishermen's Museum in Rock-a-Nore Road, the Anchor Inn in George Street, or go to Deeday's Yard in Courthouse Street!

Another Full English Breakfast!

It's a while since I've had a 'Full English' recently, but I was talked into having one by a mate, cheers Mark, many thanks for this!

Apparently, the landlord of the Anchor Inn in George Street, Dennis, had recently suggested to Mark that he come in and eat one of their breakfasts, the Anchor being 'dog friendly', so Mark, his dog Rosie, and I, enjoyed a pleasant early-ish morning there! Steve the Beermeister has already added a blog to this publication about the Anchor Inn, its history, and the argument for and against it being the oldest continuous pub in Hastings, which there should be more written soon, I hope... Anyway, we arrived, and the Full English Breakfast variations, including vegetarian options are:

The Anchor Light Breakfast at £4.95 - Includes 1 x Sausage, 1 x Rasher of Bacon, 1 x Slice of Black Pudding, 1 x Large Flat Mushroom, 1 x Hash Brown, 1 x Egg (Fried or Scrambled), Plum Tomatoes or Baked Beans, a Slice of Toast or a Fried Slice, and a Mug of Tea or Coffee.

The Anchor Gut Buster at £7.95 provides 2 of all the above, and 1 Tea or Coffee.

The Anchor Veggie Breakfast at £4.95 - Includes 1 x Hash Brown, 1 x Bubble & Squeak Sausage, 1 x Large Flat Mushroom, Halloumi, 1 x Egg (Fried or Scrambled), Plum Tomatoes or Baked Beans, A Slice of Toast or a Fried Slice, Mug of Tea or Coffee.

Unsurprisingly, the Anchor Veggie Gut Buster at £7.95 also doubles up!

Well, this is what we both had, with slightly eyes bigger than our stomachs, notably Mark's, the same version of the Anchor Gut Buster, though he had coffee and I had tea, a nice strong mug of Breakfast Tea with the tea bag left in the mug, and milk on the side, so up to you how strong to have it; I forgot to ask Mark about his coffee, but he seemed happy with it. I just made little notes, so here goes my opinion:

The sausages were cooked well, not sure if they were Lincolnshire, though not packed with herbs so I doubt it, very tasty, not bad at all, and we all know how important I place the sausage on the ingredients that often need to be improved upon, so a pass here! The bacon was again cooked well, not burnt, nice and thick rashers of Middle, though not with the extra long thin bit. The slices of black pudding, hash browns and baked beans were what you would expect, difficult to go over the top about either of those ingredients. I love mushrooms, so always happy for as many as I can get of them, and the slices of toast were perfect and well buttered, I presume you could ask for this not to be buttered, but suited me, oh yes, and you can get brown toast if you want.

Overall, a very decent breakfast, pretty good value, and nicely presented. As I suggested, Mark left a bit, though not the meat, I didn't leave any, but was well full up, and we both shared various samples with Rosie (so I didn't eat it all!), so she was happy too. It has been suggested by another friend that you can ask for different combinations too, eg if you'd prefer a slice of bacon to a sausage. Mark's final words were "next time I'll just have the "Light Breakfast" - which means he/we'll be back!

Hastings Jazz & Blues Festival 2-4th June 2017

Hastings Winkle Club's Jazz and Blues Festival returns to The Stade Open Space this weekend, Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th June 2017. Free music starts tomorrow (Saturday) at 2pm with the Helen Sharp Jazz Quartet, culminating with the world famous, multi-award winning, Liane Carroll Band, 7.30-9pm. 

Sunday entertainment starts with the Jazz Breakfast, yes, includes food, tea and coffee being available, 10.30am at The Stade Open Space, and winds down with The Tom Fitzpatrick Band 6.30-7.30pm; see website for full details of the free music at The Stade. There will be collection buckets for people, encouraged to make donations to the Winkle Club, who support local charities and poorer folk and people in need (website).

There are 8 other official venues with music starting this evening (Friday), ie the Albion, Anchor, Dragon Bar, Jenny Lind, Old Market, Porters, Nelson and Trader (website for individual gig information). Of course, we're blessed with plenty of live music around the town centre and old town, I know there is music at the Dolphin Inn this evening, and with an act from the Stade crossing the road tomorrow evening (Saturday) to continue their gig! Also, music at the East Hastings Angling Club tomorrow evening! If you know of any further music venues, please let me know, cheers!

Break In Last Night at The Anchor, George Street

Link to facebook video, do you know who this is? And another link!

Macmillan Nurses: Where the donations came from!

You may remember that over the Christmas period, and earlier this year, Paul Denny raised £359.62 for Macmillan Nurses by making homemade pickles and leaving collection boxes at a number of sites, as mentioned in earlier blogs. He since ran the London marathon and raised a further £891.53, thus bringing the total raised to £1,251.15, again blogged about here previously (and don't forget, another £100+ in 'gift aid', so he probably raised over £1400 in total!).  

He took just over 5 hours to complete his 12th marathon; 10 London, 1 New York and the Hastings Marathon in 2008 (only staged every 100 years!). Though not his fastest run in a marathon, taking into account he injured his ankle 2 weeks previous to the race, which prevented him training, and that the same injury reoccurred at the 10 mile mark of the marathon, it was some achievement just to complete the course, so very well done Paul!  

So, where did the extra £891.53 come from? 

  

Well, money raised at John the Cobblers amounted to £110.00, here is Paul presenting John with the certificate from Macmillan Nurses. 

The Dolphin raised a further £62.00. 

The Jenny Lind contributed a further £50.00. 

Together with a little more 'pickle money', the First in Last Out contributed a whopping £669.53 more!  

Debbie McSweeney (1962-2014) R.I.P. 

Folk Festival continues...

Hastings Folk Festival ends this weekend; For times and further details see website... 

Friday 8th :     

Cafe Tour in the Old Town. 

Comhaltas Irish Session at The Stag. 

Green Diesel at The Jenny Lind. 

Stone Junction at The Anchor Inn. 

Saturday: 

Workshop at St Mary Star of the Sea Church Hall. 

Cafe Tour in the Old Town. 

Folk Club at The Stag. 

Wakin' Snakes at Ye Olde Pump House. 

Folk Funk DJ Session at the Dragon Bar. 

Stuart O'Connor at The Jenny Lind. 

The Full English at St Mary in the Castle. 

Bal: French and Swedish Dancing at St Mary Star of the Sea Church Hall. 

Ingrid Pitt Orchestra at The Stag. 

Garry Blakeley Band at The Dolphin Inn. 

Sunday: 

Ed Boxall at The Crown. 

Tatsmiths at The Stag. 

Good Squeeze Session at The Plough. 

Comhaltas Irish Session at The Jenny Lind. 

Elijah Blue at The Jenny Lind. 

Roger Carey & Jim Board at the First In Last Out. 

Enjoy!   

   

Dressing up for Jack in the Green!

Being 'dressed' earlier today at the Dolphin, the first pub the Jack reaches when released, and it will be open from 09.00 on Monday, cheers Mark! 

The Dolphin 'dressed' for Jack in the Green...

The Standard 'dressed' in green...

This used to be the 'Jolly Fisherman' pub in the 19th century, and was first licenced in 1834, but is now a great pie & mash shop! Now 'dressed' too...

The Anchor et al... Hastings is 'dressing' up already for the weekend, and Mayday! 

Too many to photograph today, but on Monday Hastings will be rocking, no doubt!  

Shepherd Neame in Hastings

By Steve the Beermeister

There seem to be Shepherd Neame pubs all over Hastings, so I've carried out a tad more research, with this being another updated and rewritten article of mine, whose earlier version was published in the Hastings Independent last year. 

Shepherd Neame Beers at The Bull Inn

Shepherd Neame are situated in Britain’s oldest brewery, based in Faversham, Kent, recently still thought to be since 1698, but new evidence supports a brewery being established on the site by 1573, and historian, John Owen, believes it may go back many more years, at the latest since 1507. So beer at their site in Faversham will have been brewed for over 500 years, though not what is on offer in their pubs now, obviously!  

The Anchor and Pumphouse (just) George Street

Their pubs in Hastings are quite prolific, and who doesn't pass one, or three, of their pubs in the town every day, certainly if you walk down George Street. George Barnes, the company Property & Service Director, told me that the brewery has been trading in Hastings since the 1920s, their first 'tied house' in Hastings was the Freemasons Tavern in Wellington Place (now Jempson's Café), from 1928-1958. 

Jempson's Cafe, once The Freemasons

More recently, they bought a number of pubs in the town following the Government's 1989 "Beer Orders", which restricted the number of 'tied' pubs that could be owned by single large brewery groups. These include the Fountain in Queens Road, and the Anchor Inn and Hastings Arms in the old town, indeed, 7 of their pubs are situated in the central Hastings area.  

You may have noticed that I keep going back to the "oldest pub in Hastings" question, and most of the pubs I've been looking at are in the Shepherd Neame portfolio, eg the Stag, Anchor and Bull Inn at Bulverhythe. Still more of to come quite soon...  

The Stag, All Saints Street

Shepherd Neame beers are brewed using spring water drawn from their own artesian well, in brewer's terms 'liquor', purified and filtered in the chalk strata deep beneath the brewery. They use barley for malting grown in Kent or East Anglia, and yeast strains cultured by their own microbiologists, ensuring they remain as locally sourced as possible. 

East Kent Goldings Hops

The brewery now proudly asserts that it is "a guardian of the nation's hop-growing heritage, preserving the lifeblood of rare varieties more than a century old. We have put aside an acre of land at Queen Court Farm, near Faversham, to house part of the National Hop Collection." They certainly like to remain traditional, indeed, still using a rare oak mash tun that has been operational since 1914!

The Shepherds married into the brewing industry in 1731, when Samuel Shepherd, who, it is believed had no previous knowledge of brewing, wed Mary, the widow of the previous owner of the brewery, Richard Marsh. Whereas the Neames, well-known hop growers at the time, were relative latecomers to the brewing business in the 1860s. 

The Bishops Finger, Smithfield

Shepherd Neame brew a broad range of regular and seasonal cask ales, my favourite from their regulars is their 5% Bishops Finger, a strong full-flavoured ale. The first time I ever tasted this was in my youth at a pub called "The Bishops Finger" at Smithfield Market in London, which used to be open from the early hours to quench the thirst of market workers, and others who may fancy an early drink; thereby hangs another tale!  

Blonde Ambition

They also have a smaller 'pilot brewery' called the Faversham Steam Brewery, which was installed in 2007 to produce 'speciality' ales, notably the Whitstable Bay range. They sometimes brew in collaboration with others, eg Samuel Adams of Boston, USA (eg the excellent Blonde Ambition), and, consequently, more styles of beer are brewed... Of course, I'm always on the look out for them, cheers! 

Update on Debbie's collection boxes

Yesterday, we counted up the money that had been donated at the FILO and Anchor Inn to Macmillan Nurses in honour of Debbie McSweeney, as I have already explained. There was a combination of money being placed directly into the collection boxes, and a more significant amount in return for piccalilli and hot spicy pickled onions, as made by her good friend Paul Denny. 

From those 2 pubs, a total of £302.62 was collected, and our thanks goes to all those who contributed. Certificates will be provided by Macmillan Nurses once they receive the money, as appropriate, and these will be presented to the respective pub. 

There is still a collection box at the Jenny Lind in the High Street, and one at the Olde Bell in Rye, should you still wish to donate to Macmillan Nurses in honour of Debbie. These will be collected soon though. 

In addition, Paul will be running in the London Marathon in April, and I believe he will be running for the same charity, I shall keep you informed of his plans plus, of course, of the 2 collection boxes still to be brought in. 

In memory of Debbie McSweeney R.I.P.