Beer and Cider to Your Door Update!

By Steve the Beermeister:

I have undergone some more research and appear to have found quite a few extra ways of getting locally brewed ales, plus quality beers, cider & wine, and in some instances food, delivered to your door from pubs AND from local breweries. As I said before, The Jolly Fisherman is offering a delivery service for beers, ciders and perry on Friday afternoons, please go to their website to order: delivery is free of charge in Hastings & St Leonards, and £2 to Bexhill and within 7 miles of Hastings. Last week the draught beers available were a Citra and Eldorado hopped 4.1% Pale brewed by North Brewing, a 4.2% Best bitter from 360 Degrees, and a 5.9% keg IPA from Belgian brewers The Musketeers. Go to their website for this weeks offerings.

In addition, Rod has advised me that Bob from the Albion (website) is also delivering cask ale, for £3 a pint, on Friday afternoon/evening: last week a 3.9% 'American Extra Pale Ale' Phoenix from Bedlam Brewery. Payment is by PayPal and I presume you need to telephone to order (I can see no link on their website or facebook page to place orders), which is 01424 439156.

Further, I have since discovered that the Eel & Bear is providing a local delivery service, Click & Collect (pre-ordered) at 28 Waldegrave Street TN34 1SJ, and nationwide courier deliveries (website). This does not include cask-conditioned ales, but they do have an excellent and wide range of interesting and exceptional craft beers.

In addition locally, around the corner from the Eel & Bear in Queens Road TN34 1RL, at The Imperial, the Brewing Brothers also appear to be offering a takeaway service, and delivery, including their delicious pizzas as well as beer (website).

I have also discovered that a further 3 breweries are advertising delivering to your door, unsurprisingly. bearing in mind I have published the image above, Battle Brewery (website) is one of them. Indeed they offer free local delivery, I would guess they expect a minimum expenditure by their customers (but within 10 miles of the brewery, well within the Hastings area!) and a courier service nationwide (at cost).

Furthermore, Three Legs Brewing Co (website) offer to deliver their own beers, and unique wine and food produce, and 1648 Brewing Co (website) their own beers.

So, very decent beer is still available to the folk of Hastings, cheers!

I've got a ticket to Rye

By Steve the Beermeister

It seems to be a regular event this, visiting the Rye Waterworks micropub (a few blogs now, for example this blog says a bit about it!), this time I traveled by train, but well worth it, yet again! Plenty of pleasant company, obviously the landlord and partner, and Alan (someone I know from Hastings) arrived later for his first visit, coincidentally. Plus five Norwegian lawyers, very pleasant company, women friends from university, who meet up every year, they work all over the place now, coming from Malta to London! Primarily, the lawyers meet up, not just to keep in touch, but to visit vineyards, this time they were about to go to Carr Taylor in Westfield (website) after a quick drink here, and having visited Chapel Down (website) the day before.

As ever 8 real ales, all £3.70 a pint, served straight from the cask by gravity, and a similar number of real ciders, and the odd perry or two. I only tried 3 ales, one more than once, first the Romney Marsh Brewery (website) Romney Gold (4.1%), single hopped with Citra, pale golden bitter, not bad at all! Then the Battle Brewery (website) Black Arrow Porter (4.5%), as usual, porters and stouts are difficult to differentiate (see older blog), as in, it depends on the individual brewer what they call their beers, I'd say this was more like a stout... Anyway, dark, lovely taste and body, though a wee bit lacking in the liveliness stakes, not bad at all though!

The ale I drank the most of was Old Dairy Brewery (website), their excellent session ale, Uber Brew (3.8%), pale dry and bitter, with a lovely fruity aroma and taste from the Citra, Chinook and Equinox hops used. Great that you can get this much flavour and body into a 3.8% ale, wonderful, la même chose!

Oh yes, and this is the toilet flush now in the gents, amuses me, me being a pale dry hoppy ale drinker, not to forget that David (the landlord) is made up with now being included on the Free Town Map of Rye... Anyway, cheers for a very pleasant visit and company, and the excellent ale of course, cheers!

Another Beer Fest, this one in Battle...

By Steve the Beermeister (again!).

There appears to be much mentioning of beer festivals on this blog lately, but then, don't they come along in couples, if not bunches... Anyway, this weekend, Friday 1st to Saturday 2nd March (it really is March already), 11am to 7pm both days, look to a short trip to Battle Brewery (website) for the latest 'mini' Beer Fest or "Birthday Bash" at The Calf House, Beech Farm, North Trade Road, Battle TN33 0HN. Obviously, you will be able to try their own beers, but beers from other Sussex brewers too, including The Three Legs Brewing Company it appears, and ciders as well. Not to mention, food, live music, pub games and a quiz night on Friday. 

Enjoy yourselves there, cheers!