CAMRA Pub of the Year 2017

By Steve the Beermeister:

Congratulations must go to Louisa and her colleagues up at The Tower, 251 London Road, for, yet again, winning the local Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) South East Sussex Pub of the Year, and who was presented with her award yesterday evening. In Hastings we are blessed with a great number of public houses and bars that sell good quality real ales, yet Lou's pub has managed to stand out with CAMRA assessors for three years in a row, and her great range of well-conditioned, good value, 6 real ales (most usually from local brewers) and a similar number of ciders and perry support this award. 

I drank at the Tower very recently and the price of ales started at £2.90 for their regular session ale, East Sussex brewer Dark Star's Hophead (3.8%) at £2.90 a pint, to £3.20 a pint for the strongest that day. Also from Dark Star is the other excellent regular ale American Pale Ale (APA 4.7%) at £3.00 a pint. Other ales came from the up and coming local brewers from Brede, the single-hopped Three Legs Columbus Pale Ale (4.9% and thus the strongest at £3.20), Yorkshire brewer Vocation Bread & Butter (3.9%), Welsh brewer VOG Dark Matters (4.4%), and the excellent Peterborough brewer Oakham, whose 4.2% Citra, another single hopped ale, I couldn't resist drinking!

Nice one Lou, cheers, again!

Revisiting the Tower...

By Steve the Beermeister: 

I recently walked up to the current South East Sussex CAMRA 'Pub of the Year', the Tower on the corner of London and Tower Roads in Bohemia, and, as ever, a pleasure to see Louisa the landlady, meet up with a few friends, and drink some excellent ales at good value prices! Well, I hadn't been up there for a while...  

6 real ales (and 4 ciders), mostly local to Sussex/Kent too, including 2 excellent regulars from Dark Star, ie Hophead and American Pale Ale, both of which I've talked about at length many times before, and a refreshing pale offering from 1648, the 3.7% Hop Pocket. Also, 2 dark ales, Titanic Plum Porter (4.5%) and Arundel Smokehouse Porter (6%), and an inbetweeny, Isfield Ethelred (4.4%), which was ready!

I'll have to return very soon, cheers! 

Congratulations to the Tower...

Again, congratulations are in order to Louisa and her colleagues up at the Tower in London Road, for winning the local CAMRA Pub of the Year 2015, among other awards, which she was presented with last night! 

Sadly, I couldn't make it to the presentation ceremony last night, but have 'borrowed' this photograph from Jonathan Linsley, cheers Jonathan... and well done, again, to Lou! 

Congratulations to Louisa up at the Tower!

Congratulations to Louisa and her colleagues up at the Tower in Bohemia, on the corner of London Road and Tower Road, for winning the local Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) South East Sussex 2015 Pub of the Year! 6 Real ales, always in great form, and good value prices, Louisa has turned this pub into a real ale oasis, nice one!  

A Bohemian Rhapsody

By Steve the Beermeister 

On the corner of London Road and Tower Road is one of 3 good pubs in Bohemia, though this one is the 'bees knees', a CAMRA Good Beer Guide entry for a few years now, ie the excellent and very friendly Tower; so named as this was the last pub before the former toll gate and tower on London Road. 

The Tower Hotel first opened in 1866 with 12 rooms, 2 parlours and a bar. In 1943 the Tower was hit by an unexploded thousand pound bomb, that landed in the cellar, miraculously causing little damage. It was defused and lifted out through the cellar doors, a photograph of which event can be seen opposite the bar, to the right, as you enter. 

Now, the only danger is being a wee bit too 'merry' here, as the Tower is the best value real ale house in the Hastings area, with prices of their very well looked after cask conditioned ales starting at just £2.60 a pint, and rarely more than £3 a pint! 

The family-owned Tower was purchased in the 1990s, with Louisa the manager for 5 years now, and has been converted into just the one large room, with a lovely warm real fire in the winter. Over recent years, the different ales on offer have grown from 4 to 6 (4 usually regularly changing), with the addition of a sixth handpump just before Christmas. 

Being free of any tie to brewery or pubco makes this an ale lover's paradise, with at least 3 Sussex ales, sometimes all 6! Regular ales are from East Sussex Dark Star Brewing (website), and today they have 3 Dark Star ales: the virtually ever-present Hophead (3.8%) and American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%), and a 'special' Hophead Vic Secret (3.8%), brewed with an Australian hop, 'Vic Secret', giving a hint of backcurrent aroma, but less fruit in the taste, pale and bitter. Both 'Hopheads' are just £2.60 a pint, nice one. 

There are also another 2 Sussex-brewed ales, the 1648 Hop Pocket (3.7%), a light pale bitter with a citrus hoppy aftertaste (website), and the most expensive pint today from Baseline Brewing (website), the strong 5.5% Dark Matter at £3 a pint, a darker full-bodied ale, with a fruity dry finish. 

The 6th ale came up all the way from one of my old abodes, Cornwall, St Austell (website) Proper Job (4.5%) at £2.80 a pint, a pale bitter brewed with malted Cornish-grown Maris Otter Pale barley and Cornish spring water. 

A great selection of ales there, and Louisa always a pleasure to meet, cheers!