Another 'Crisis' Real Ale and Cider Provider in Hastings

By Steve the Beermeister:

The Tower

Further to recent blogs that I hope you found useful, particularly if you drink real ales and ciders, eg the April blog that gave a fair amount of details about drinks being brought to your door, and the blog from a week ago that added the opening times for collecting ale from The Jolly Fisherman, now we have another source to share... 

The Tower (see, for example, an older blog), up on the corner of London Road and Tower Road in Bohemia TN37 6NB, is holding a launch opening tomorrow (Monday 1st June 2020) and will then be opening 3 evenings a week from Wednesday 3rd June to provide off sales, with 'social distancing' facilitated, and hand sanitizer provided too:

Monday 1st June 2020 4-8pm; THEN

Wednesdays 4-8pm

Fridays 4-8pm

Saturdays 4-8pm

There will be 2 cask-conditioned ales on sale at £3.99 for 2 pints, changing as each cask runs out, kicking off with 2 Sussex ales this Monday, from Dark Star Brewing Co (website), their superb 3.8% pale refreshing session ale Hophead, brewed with Cascade hops providing plenty of citrus flavour and bitterness for you to relish. 

The second is a darker ale from Franklins Brewing Co (website), and a very interesting Porter style too, their 5.0% Sriracha Ace, brewed with Sorachi Ace hops to add a citrus note to dark chocolate and coffee flavours, apparently subtly spiced with Guajillo Peppers... I so need to try this one!

They are also selling 6 different real ciders (2 pints for £3.99); keg beers, beginning with Guinness, Fosters Lager and Stella Artois; cans, including ale and lager (2 cans for £3.80 or 4 for £7.49), from another local brewer, Gun Brewery (website); bigger cans (!) as in Mini Kegs from Gun Brewery too; and 3 bottles of wine for £20. 

2 pint reusable plastic bottles available, but please bring your own bags.

Great to see another local business helping us through the Coronavirus Crisis, and good luck to Louisa and her colleagues, who I may just see very shortly, cheers! 😉

Look after yourselves folk, be careful out there.

Cider with Rosie

By Steve the Beermeister...

I hadn't drunk this for nearly a year, indeed, hadn't had any cider at all in that time, but had to visit the Dolphin Inn, Rock-a-Nore Road, when I found out the 6% Bushels was back again (even the Beermeister has to have a change once in a while!), and a crackin' drink it is too, should be on for the rest of the week, so I'll be back again very soon...

And Rosie? She's the lovely pub dog!

Celebrating Jack in Hastings, and more...

You can't do any better than celebrate Jack in the Green by meeting up with one of the 4 Beer Fairies, here in the Dolphin Inn at about 09.30! I'm sure she must have a celtic name, whatever, she put me right about the role of a Beer Fairy, mostly, who's job is to keep the Bogies hydrated with ale from their rather enormous horns, nice one and cheers! She certainly made me smile, and we met up a couple of more times during the day, such is life in the party town of Hastings, keeps us older lads happy anyway...

As I had other duties up on West Hill this year, I didn't get a chance to photograph the many motorbikes that arrived, but, on my way along the seafront, I snapped early arrivals...

Waiting for the Jack to emerge from the Fishermen's Museum, only, due to other reasons, I couldn't hang around for long enough! 

Opposite the Dolphin, the Giants wait for the Jack to emerge too! 

 Jack!

Looking up High Street towards the procession coming down High Street! 

Up West Hill I then rushed, up the steepest way it seemed! Once at the top, you can see the trouble up there yesterday, 'twas a bit like being in a cloud! Sad for the day, and was quieter up here than usual, but still, it became much busier when the Jack and entourage arrived, but I was helping out in the...  

The Bar 

Anyway, as I said, I couldn't take so many photographs this year as I was otherwise engaged, the weather wasn't so great, but a fun time was had by many!

This morning, and this was taken before 07.00, and the job of cleaning up the 'Old Town' was already nearly completed, but you can see a few of those who carried out that job in this photograph, well done Hastings, and well done you cleaning peeps too, no wonder our council tax is not so cheap! 

My shadow is down there, bottom left, looking forward to the next party, cheers!

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! 

10 Years at the Dolphin Inn!

Congratulations are again passed on to the Dolphin and the Little Family, notably Mark and Maureen (licence holders), and their offspring, and their colleagues now, and over the last 10 years... This Friday marks 10 years since Mark first opened the pub doors under their family aegis, on 10th July 2005!  

So, if you're close by Rock-a-Nore this Friday evening, they're celebrating, with music provided by the 'Popular Beat Combo', fronted by Roger Carey... 

Enjoy the evening, and congratulations on a great 10 years, and there have been some great changes over those years, not least from Mark serving up just the one real ale when he took over (Directors), but now having 6 handpumps, and serving either 6 real ales, or 5 ales and a real cider, cheers!