Tower Beer Festival This Weekend!

The Tower, up on the corner of London Road and Tower Road, Bohemia TN37 6NB, is holding its annual real ale festival this weekend (facebook), from Friday the 21st to Sunday the 23rd of February 2025; 11am to 11pm Friday and Saturday, 11am to 10pm Sunday... oh yes, and real ciders will be available too! Some of what will be available below:

Hastings Tap Takeover at 15 Venues!

Hastings Tap Takeover 2024 I can herald for this weekend, 4th to the 6th of October 2024 (website), in 15 venues right across Hastings & St Leonards, with ales and crafty keg beers, from 15 different breweries from across the country! 🍺 In Hastings Old Town: The Crown, 64-66 All Saints Street TN34 3BN (website) has beers from Fauna Brewing; The Jenny Lind, 69 High Street TN34 3EW (website) has beers from Loud Shirt Brewing; The Jolly Fisherman, 3 East Beach Street TN34 3AR (above image - website) has beers from Left Handed Giant; and The Albion, 33 George Street TN34 3EA (website) has beers from Three Acre Brewery.

In Hastings Town Centre: The Imperial, 119 Queens Road TN34 1RL (website) has beers from Rivington Brewing; 1200 Postcards, 80 Queens Road TN34 1RL (facebook) has beers from Dark Revolution; The Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street, Hastings TN34 1SS (above image - website) has beers from Cloudwater Brew Co; Eel & Bear, 28 Waldegrave Street TN34 1SJ (website) has beers from Pomona Island Brew Co; The Courtyard, White Rock TN34 1JA (facebook) has beers from Chain House Brewing; and The Seadog, 32 Station Road TN34 1NJ (website) has beers from State of Kind Brew Co.

In St Leonards: Collected Fictions, Unit 1, 6-8 London Road TN37 6AE (instagram), and no, I don't use instagram either 😣 with beers from Baron Brewing Co; Heist Market, 22-26 Norman Road TN37 6NH (website) with beers from Three Blind Mice; The Piper, 1 Norman Road TN37 6NH (website) with beers from The Kernel Brewery; Goat Ledge, Lower Promenade, Warrior Square TN37 6FA (website) with beers from Earth Ale; and at The Tower, 251 London Road TN37 6NB (above image - facebook) with beers from the excellent Bristol Beer Factory.

More details of breweries etc at Steve the Beermeister. Enjoy your weekend folks! 🍻

7th Tower Beer Festival 23-25 February 2024

By Steve the Beermeister: 

Indeed, commencing 11.00 this lunchtime and running until 23.00 on Sunday 25th February, is the 7th Tower Beer Festival, which will be held, strangely enough, at The Tower, 251 London Road, St Leonards TN37 6NB (facebook). There will be over 20 cask ales (see pump clips in the image above for a hint of what ales will be available) and 7 real ciders for your enjoyment.

Enjoy folks, and cheers to Louisa! 🍻

Paddy's Night in Hastings

A few pubs will be celebrating Paddy's Night around Hastings this Friday 17th March. 

From 8.30-11.00pm, Garry Blakeley and Bear Lucas will be fiddle-dee-deeing at the Stag, 14 All Saints Street TN34 3BJ (Blakeley website).

From 9.00pm, The Twitten Revellers will be playing an acoustic set at the Crown, 66 All Saints Street TN34 3BN (website).

From 8.30-10.30pm, there will be more fiddlin' and jigging as Sistie Moose play at the Jenny Lind, 69 High Street TN34 3EW (website).

In the town centre, near the station, the 17th and 18th promises a Paddy's Day (or 2) Party at the Seadog, 32 Station Road TN34 1NJ (facebook), with music, rugby and "having the craic" - well the landlord is an Irishman, so to be expected, sláinte!

Up on the West Hill, at the Plough, 46 Priory Road TN34 3JJ (facebook), Fire in the Meadow will also be playing fiddle-dee-dee music from 8.30pm, many thanks Rebecca. 

And at the Tower, 251 London Road TN37 6NB (facebook), there will be music, but apparently not Irish music. However, all weekend they're selling pints of Guinness at £2.99 a pint, can't be bad.

Anyway, enjoy as you wish, sláinte!

My Second Hastings Pub Post-Lockdown...

By Steve the Beermeister: 

A confident message from the publican, Louisa, and amusing too, the story is based on the events of Sunday the 23rd of May 1943, when a bombing and 'strafing' raid was made on Hastings during World War II, with one pub, the Swan Inn in the High Street in the Old Town, receiving a direct hit. The Swan Inn has a long history, indeed the Duke of Wellington was honoured with a dinner and dance there soon after he returned home from Ireland with his new wife, Kitty Packenham, in 1806 (blog). A memorial garden is now on the site, opposite St Clements Church. You'll have guessed by now that wasn't the pub I was in for a few pints...

No, I was at The Tower, 251 London Road, on the corner with Tower Road, in Bohemia, Hastings & St Leonards TN34 6NB, I've been there twice, actually, since my last blog. So, during that air raid back in 1943 an interesting wee story evolved when a 1,000 lbs bomb hit the road outside The Tower, which had its cellar doors open for a delivery, and it bounced along and dropped into the cellar of the pub, I kid you not, and it did not explode! I am certainly grateful for that, because The Tower is one of my favourite local watering holes, thankfully the building is still standing.

The Tower

The sapper who diffused the bomb that day rendering it harmless, and who returned the next day to remove it, was a gentleman from Coventry called Patrick Kavanagh. A photographer from the Hastings Observer recorded the removal of the bomb from the cellar, but the image was never published in the newspaper because of wartime restrictions. Coincidentally, Patrick's daughter moved to Hastings, just round the corner from The Tower in Springfield Road, and when visiting her in 1990 he strolled to the local pub for a drink. Not realizing he was in the same pub he was reminiscing with locals about his wartime experience and was told to have a look at a photograph on the wall, which was the photograph taken 47 years earlier, and the photograph is still on the wall now! I have found an interesting account written by his son 9 years ago (website).

So, drinks at The Tower, excellently served by Lou, and the pub that couldn't be closed by the Luftwaffe, even after they bombed the building, has been reopened with suitable restrictions taking into account Government Covid-19 Guidelines, following Johnson closing the pub!

The photograph immediately above is from my second visit, an interesting variety of styles, but the first ale I shall describe was the very good 'best bitter' I drank on my previous visit, from the Sussex brewer, Gun Brewery (website), their 4.4% Chummy Bluster, brewed with 7 malts and 3 different English hops. It is described as 'Vegan Friendly' being unfined, and gluten free, so drinkable for all! And it did what it said on the label, my notes say: "traditional coloured, plenty of body and flavour, like a good Best Bitter" which says it all!

I started with a guest session bitter for my second visit, from the Kent brewer, Northdown Brewery (website) Pale Ale Mary (4.0%), brewed with Northdown, Brewers Gold and Bobek hops, pale, but not as fruity and flowery as many contemporary pale ales. Indeed, quite subtle flavours with a nice dry bitter finish, a very decent session bitter. I've drunk and written about the 'classic' Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) many times, and I didn't drink it on this visit, as 'researching' and someone has to do the job! But I did try the very different beer from Cumbrian brewer Fell Brewery (website), their Cask O'Joe, a 4.6% 'Coffee Milk Stout.' Very smooth, rich and creamy, not too much coffee in the taste and with a hint of chocolate, a bit too sweet for me really, although it did have a slightly dry bitter finish, but I did drink a pint with no bother!

My last pint was another from Gun Brewery, a 6.5% Vegan IPA with a big citrus and tropical fruit aroma and taste, presumably hops from the USA used, as this is an APA style. It's advertised as being 'hazy' because 'Vegan' but hardly hazy at all, with proteins in the brew obviously dropping naturally. My favourite ale of the lot, hic... cheers to Lou, and to you the reader!

Government Covid-19 Guidance, July 4th Weekend and Pubs etc

It seems like we get daily new 'guidance' (law, basically!) regarding Covid-19 and the Coronavirus Crisis from Her Majesty's Government, well, I'm sure you must be aware that newer guidance will be in force from the 4th of July, but hardly 'independence day' (website). So what major changes will there be from tomorrow? 

Your household will now be able to meet up with one other household, indoors or outdoors, however, you need to continue with social distancing from people not in your household or bubble (a group larger than 30 can be broken up by the Police!), and it continues that you may meet up outdoors as long as you maintain social distancing in a group of 6 maximum, from up to 6 different households.

Social Distancing will remain at TWO METRES or ONE METRE PLUS (website), that is "plus mitigations" which will depend on the setting. "For example, on public transport, people must wear a face covering... In other spaces mitigations could include installing screens, making sure people face away from each other, putting up handwashing facilities, minimising the amount of time you spend with people outside your household or bubble, and being outdoors."

All this is pretty much passing responsibility on to others, quite frankly, because, as we all know, the economic cost of the Coronavirus Crisis has been quite high to the Government, and they appear to want to get out of paying to support businesses, particularly in the Hospitality Sector, as early as possible, but not necessarily at the most sensible speed health-wise. So, guidance has been written up for Restaurants, pubs, bars and takeaway services (website) to 'support' pubs, restaurants and bars to reopen, and visiting such places ain't gonna be what we're used to!

I am not going to say 'yay' or 'nay' to whether people should visit pubs, bars and restaurants, that is our personal choice, bearing in mind the restrictions within the guidance offered by Government, how this is interpreted by local authorities and the Police and Courts, and not to forget, how the publicans, restaurateurs and managers interpret and implement guidance. It's a pig's ear frankly!

I have been asking around, and it looks like less than 50% of establishments in Hastings & St Leonards will reopen on the 4th, with many planning to open on Monday the 6th, quite a few later bearing in mind work being carried out in the meantime, some much later. I have added a photograph (above) of The Tower pub in London Road, which will be reopening tomorrow morning (it has been making off-sales during lockdown - blog) with details of changes to how it will appear, should you visit the pub.

The landlady has advised me that they are continuing today with the off-sales, as per my earlier blog, and will be open at their usual hours from the 4th of July, 11.00 am to 11.00 pm I believe. There will be table service only, no standing at the bar, so all customers will be seated, and no reservations in advance. I think this is pretty much the way it will be everywhere, except those with outside gardens/patios may have a few differences. Hygiene will be maximized and hand washing facilities and the use of sanitizing gel will no doubt be increased everywhere. Best wishes to Louisa and others! 

I can't provide details of who is opening, or when, throughout Hastings, but feel free to add proper details in the comments section, cheers! Certainly in the 'old town' it appears that more pubs and bars will be closed than those open over this weekend. 

Enjoy your weekend, whatever you do, but do be careful folks!

Another Weekend...

Having just returned from the Tower pub with a few pints of ale, working out at just £2.20 a pint now (also see previous blog), so I thought I'd sit down with a pint and write this... Indeed, another weekend arrives, and it's been 12 weeks since pubs were closed from that Friday evening, and the full lockdown arrived on Monday 11 weeks and 4 days ago. Hastings has since been besieged by visitors at weekends, hopefully PLEASE not ruining our place as having the lowest Covid-19 infection rate in the country (blog).

Having tried all types of tactics to discourage visitors, and making note of the beaches being left with rubbish galore, and visitors urinating and defecating in public places because the toilets are closed, the top image appears the latest poster around, plus the 2 immediately above. I've seen all sorts of arguments for and against opening the public toilets and, on reading through numerous Government advice pages on the internet, I feel it's all pretty difficult to enable opening public loos (also see this interesting Guardian article). The Government advice is ambiguous of course, basically, please don't travel anywhere that is too far to without using the loo, but you can travel as far as you like within England, to Councils, do open public toilets, but you have to ensure 2 metre distancing and that the toilets are cleaned after every time it's used!

A knife in the back for councils, making them shoulder responsibility without giving any extra resources, meaning it's us good old Hastings Council Tax payers who have to foot the bill! Some councils around the country have opened some toilets, but not all, or for limited periods, others remain closed, as in Hastings. The organisation of this would be very difficult, and we've already seen, and have known for a long time, that left to their own devices, some of the public are, frankly, dirty buggers! So, attendants would have to make sure people going into toilets didn't go in when a maximum number were already in, imagine the comments they would receive from people crossing their legs because they're keen to empty their bowels and/or bladders! Then the attendant would have to keep going in to ensure cleanliness, not nice to imagine, nor easy...

And I love this idea for seating in Priory Meadow (above), I bet that works! 😉

Anyway, have a good weekend, and be careful. I shall be battening down the hatches after my early morning walk, with a few pints and DVDs, enjoy!

I have since added another blog that clarifies (I hope) where I was coming from concerning the closure of public toilets etc...

Beer Sales at the Tower

By Steve the Beermeister

I had to try to be the first customer up in Bohemia yesterday afternoon, following my blog the other day about the Tower being the latest real ale provider to return to business in Hastings with off sales, but I was second, oh well... But I did get to buy a couple of pints of the very interesting sounding Franklins (website) Sriracha Ace (5.0%) which, as I said, is brewed with Sorachi Ace hops to add a citrus note to dark chocolate and coffee flavours, apparently subtly spiced with Guajillo Peppers...

Well, it pretty much does what it says on the tin/what the brewery says, my notes give it a coffee in the aroma with a hint of chilli, flavour-wise, there is coffee and chocolate, though I didn't really get the citrus, but then, there are other very dominant flavours, and I caught the chilli, just, yes it is very subtle, in the aftertaste, just at the back of the throat. I'm not going to go on again about the difference between stouts and porters, you can read my thoughts here if you haven't already done so, but I thought it was more of a stout than a porter, there you go! But very nice, I'd drink it again, cheers! 😀

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.

Tower Beer & Cider Festival Report @ Beermeister Blog

The 2020 Beer Fest at The Tower has been reported on at great length on the Steve the Beermeister blog, who, unsurprisingly, came to the conclusion that the Iron Pier Speyside Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, at a whopping 9.0%, was his favourite ale of the festival! Plenty more to read at his blog, cheers Steve!

1st Day of the Tower Beer & Cider Festival...

Steve the Beermeister:

I was at the Tower, 251 London Road TN37 6NB, for the first day of their weekend beer and cider festival, and have tweaked my previous blog, eg they are selling very tasty vegetarian options, well, today was very tasty indeed!

And I have written a short blog today, which includes a review of this gorgeous velvety stout (above), which I savoured a glass of before I left. More to come folks, cheers!

Beer & Cider Festival at the Tower this weekend.

By Steve the Beermeister:

This weekend, Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd February 2020, sees the third Tower Beer & Cider Festival, at the reigning 2019 South East Sussex CAMRA Pub of the Year (see blog from last year): The Tower, on the corner of London Road/Tower Road, Bohemia, Hastings & St Leonards, East Sussex TN37 6NB. Opening times are 11 am to 11 pm every day.

Above are the tasting notes for the ales being sold over the weekend, and there will likely be a few more on offer, and there has always been a rather tasty stew available so you don't go hungry (there is a vegetarian option too, today {21st} I enjoyed eating a very tasty, not too spicy, bean and vegetable stew). The previous 2 years have provided a lovely range of ales, also they will be selling 9 real ciders this weekend, and you may just see me serving a few ales up too, as I shall be there every day, cheers!

Hastings Tap Takeover 11-13 October 2019

By Steve the Beermeister:

This weekend, to help kick off Hastings Week (website) with a bang, twelve venues in Hastings, from The Dolphin Inn in the east to The Tower in the west, will be holding 'tap takeovers' by twelve different breweries (Hastings Tap Takeover facebook page). Each venue will be helping to celebrate 'exceptional independent breweries'  from near and far, with great real ales, and crafty keg beers too!

For full details of the venues and breweries involved, either go to the Steve the Beermeister blogspot, or to the Hastings Taptakeover facebook page. 

Congratulations to The Tower!

By Steve the Beermeister:

Congratulations again to Louisa and everyone at The Tower, 251 London Road, Bohemia, for receiving the award this week for CAMRA South East Sussex 2019 Pub of the Year! If you would like to read a more in-depth report about my visit there yesterday, please go to the Steve the Beermeister blog, cheers!

Congratulations to the Tower!

By Steve the Beermeister:

Congratulations again to The Tower for being chosen as CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) South East Sussex Pub of the Year 2019! The Tower is situated on the corner of London Road and Tower Road, Bohemia, Hastings & St Leonards TN37 6NB, and I revisited on Tuesday, during which visit I congratulated Louisa the landlady, and had a few pints, of course! 

6 ales, including 2 regulars (Dark Star 4.7% APA and 3.8% Hophead), and a similar number of real ciders, and usually a perry too, are available. I concentrated on the 2 guest ales in the photograph above, Manchester-based Bootleg (website) Cheeky Monkey (4.2%), and I could only ask for it using my standard 'Northern' accent, sadly not appropriate here as it is basically South Yorkshire, sorry peeps in other parts of the North! I've seen Cheeky Monkey described as a dark ale, but to me it appeared more like an old-fashioned best bitter with a nice deep colour, and quite a good bitter too. But I mostly drank yet another an old favourite, Oakham Citra (4.2% - website), regular readers will realise I love the Citra hop, and Peterborough-based Oakham Ales is an excellent brewer too, pale, grapefruit, dry and bitter, quality as ever!

The other 2 guest ales were both darker beers, the Staffordshire-based Titanic (website) Plum Porter (4.9%) is excellent, and North Yorkshire-based Great Heck (website) Voodoo Mild (4.3%) is pretty good too, though I didn't drink either on the day, but have tried them both before!

Full Pints!

The two regular ales are from local brewer Dark Star (website), though now owned by Fuller's of West London, whose brewing business is to be taken over by Japanese group Asahi (blog), so who knows what is going to happen to the Dark Star ales! At the moment, their Hophead (3.8%) is being brewed in London and all other Dark Star beers, including their American Pale Ale (APA - 4.7%) are still being brewed in Sussex; these cost a good value £3.10 and £3.20 a pint at the Tower; the other ales cost £3.20 a pint (Cheeky Monkey and Citra), £3.30 a pint for Voodoo Mild, and £3.50 a pint for the Plum Porter. Also, a you can see in the photograph immediately above, lined oversize glasses are used, so you always get at least a full pint, great value!

Once again, congratulations to Lou and The Tower, and cheers m'dear! 

At the Tower Beer Fest 2019

By Steve the Beermeister:

I recently wrote a blog about the ale and cider festival being held this weekend at The Tower in London Road TN37 6NB, and yesterday I put in a couple of hours at the festival bar following a rather pleasant walk up through Alexandra Park (blog), looking back down to where I had been walking in the photograph above, oh, and I shall be posting a few more images soon of the Park...

Sorry about the quality of these last 2 indoors photographs, but above is the pub's bar which had 6 of the stronger ales available, out of 18 being served at any one time, plus 7 real ciders and a perry. I only drank 1 of these yesterday, though have enjoyed before the excellent pale dry hoppy bitterness of Burning Sky Brewery Aurora (5.6%) and the wonderfully full rich dark Gun Brewery Whisky Imperial Stout (7.4%). Yesterday I tried the Cwrw Ial The Apache Line, a 5% pale bitter, with a huge fruity aroma, mango and citrus in the flavour too, not so bitter and dry, but very easy to drink!

And from the bar which I worked as a volunteer on for a couple of hours, the less strong ales were served, plus the excellent stew, which I enjoyed too. I'll start with the weakest of those I tasted, the 3.9% Salopian Push, and I have to admit I was disappointed, as I'm usually impressed by Salopian's ales, though for many others it appeared their favourite, which is why drinking ales is so much fun, nearly an infinite number of possible recipes and nearly something for everyone! Push was/is a quite dry bitter ale with hints of fruit and sweet to taste at first, though not quite enough for me, though regular readers will appreciate that I am, and have been called, a "hop monster" in the past, so not enough hops for me, certainly not as many as I had expected...

I think I may have had the pleasure before, but I then tucked into Great Heck Proverbs (4.5%), with 2 excellent hops, Citra and Mosaic, used in the brew, which provided a lovely fruity and citrus aroma and taste, and lovely dry bitter finish.  Sticking with the Mosaic hop I enjoyed drinking the single hopped Downlands Mosaic (4.8% and does what it says on the label). This is a vegan friendly beer, which usually means a wee bit hazy, as no finings used, and produces a very BIG aroma, fruitiness bursting up into the nostrils! At first taste I caught a slight sourness to it, but this disappeared as I drank more of this pale golden ale with a lovely dry bitter finish.

The final 2 ales I tried were Redcastle Tower IPA (4.8%), a new (Scottish) brewery for me, and apparently using a mix of hops from Britain and the USA; this had a slightly fruity and caramel aroma, with malted biscuit in the taste and a nice dry bitter finish, enjoyable. The other was Long Man Special Tower APA Brew (4.8%), which I'm guessing was a dry hopped cask of their usual APA, with Willamette and Cascade hops, hint of citrus fruitiness, and very dry bitter finish.

My favourite of the day? Close, but the Downlands Mosaic, cheers!

The Tower Real Ale & Cider Festival this weekend.

By Steve the Beermeister...

Just a reminder that The Tower pub's second annual Real Ale & Cider Festival is being held this weekend, starting at 11.00 this morning (Friday 22nd)! If you hadn't already read last week about it, feel free to refer to my blog, which lists ales that will be available over the next 3 days, although not quite all on at once, but pretty much 20 ales on at a time, so enjoy yourselves, and cheers! 

The Tower's Second Real Ale Festival Next Weekend.

By Steve the Beermeister.

The Tower, up on the corner of London Road and Tower Road, Bohemia TN37 6NB, and following its successful first Real Ale & Cider Festival last year (blog), is next week holding its second real ale festival from Friday the 22nd to Sunday the 24th of February 2019, 11am to 11pm Friday and Saturday, 11am to 10pm Sunday; oh yes, and real ciders too! There will also be good value, and great tasting, food served on Friday and Saturday, from Cafe 67 of Bohemia Road (facebook), including at least one meal containing an ale from the festival, and one containing a cider. Plus a raffle on Saturday and a Meat Raffle (vegetarians please look away) on Sunday...

Excellent ales on when I recently visited!

Ales for the Festival (with tastings notes), and may be a few extras:

Gun Brewery Whisky Imperial Stout 7.4% Dark English pale and roasted malts give a rich, full body to this strong ale;

3 Legs Brewery Oatmeal Stout "7ish%" Dark Special brew;

Cromarty Ghost Town 5.8% Dark Classic dark roasted malty porter with blackcurrant & liquorice;

Burning Sky Aurora 5.6% Pale Premium strength pale ale with juicy malt backbone and big citrus and tropical hop flavours;

Goose Eye Pommies Revenge 5.2% Gold Extra strong single malt bitter;

Cwrw Lal Apache 5% Light Big mango fruit aromas with a smooth bitterness. Hoppy awesomeness;

Downlands Mosaic 4.8% Light Single hopped APA. Festival of tropical and citrussy notes;

Redcastle Tower I.P.A. 4.8% Amber Combination of British and American hops. Fruity aroma with a hint of toffee on the palate;

Long Man Special Tower APA Brew 4.8% Light DDD dry hopped;

Iron Pier Cast Iron Stout 4.7% Dark Dark chocolate and coffee notes with a smooth bitter finish;

Wild Beer Co Millionaire 4.7% Dark Salted caramel stout;

Purple Moose Dark Side Of The Moose 4.6% Porter Bramley crossed hops making a delicious dark ale with a dry biscuit flavour;

Long Man Old Reserve Special Tower Brew 4.5% Dark A twist on Old Man with cherry and blackcurrant;

Old Dairy No Bull 4.5% Dark Milk Stout with chocolate and coffee;

Great Heck Proverbs 4.5% Golden Citra and mosaic hopped golden ale;

Thornbridge Rocky Road 4.5% Porter Ice cream porter;

Great Heck Swanky 4% Light;

Holler Boys Honest Burger 4% Pale Limited edition oaty hoppy pale;

Salopian Push 3.9% Golden Pineapple aromas and tropical fruit cascade over floral and grassy hops;

Dancing Duck Ayup 3.9% Pale Session pale ale, subtle malt and floral notes, dry finish;

Ilkley Joshua Jane 3.7% Brown Rich nut brown Yorkshire ale;

Dark Star Pekko 3.8% Light Tropical fruit with herbal notes;

Franklins Cigar Sour 3% Amber sour beer brewed with a smoked malts, based on a German Licteheiner.

As you can see, many local ales included, plus a vast range of styles, enjoy!

St Patrick's Day

In the Albatross Club (RAFA) in Bexhill, the St Patrick's Day decorations are already up (see above), as they are in many other places too, for example in the Tower, London Road, which is selling Guinness at £2.69 a pint from today until Sunday! But, what other St Patrick's Day specific events are being held on Saturday 17th March, well, not forgetting that many pubs and clubs will be showing the England versus Ireland 6-Nations Rugby Union match during the afternoon...

From 3pm to 5pm, the well know local Gary Blakeley Band will be playing a St Patrick's Day Afternoon Session at The Palace, Palace Court (see website), and from 6pm to 8.30pm there will be 'shenanigans' with the Wessex Pistols at the Jenny Lind in the High Street, Hastings Old Town (see website); the music is advertised as being hillbilly style Irish punk, so a wee bit more than a traditional ceilidh!

Then, from 8.30pm to 11pm, the Stag Inn, All Saints Street (see 1066 Country website), is holding a St Patrick's Day Special with Shamrockanore! Now, I've never heard of Shamrockanore, though it sounds very Irish and Hastings at the same time... Oh yes, and if you still have energy to keep on partying, The Brass Monkey, Havelock Road (website) is holding The Big St Patrick's Day Party from 10pm!

Whatever you do, enjoy the craic... and maybe snow!

Beer Festival Final Day...

By Steve the Beermester:

OK, it's the final day of the first ale and cider festival at the Tower (also see previous blog) in Bohemia, St Leonards, and I'm hoping they have many more festivals, a great show Louisa! I worked as a volunteer there again, but had just 3 different ales this time and, sadly, the excellent Downlands Mosaic had already sold out. However, the Salopian Matrix (4.2%) was very good too, a pale golden ale with a fruity aroma, citrus taste, grapefruit and something more exotic, with a dry bitter finish, and...

Well, the Kent brewer Old Dairy provided another excellent ale to enjoy, that is, their session 3.8% What the Heck! Described as an 'orange pale ale' and it did what it said on the label, an enormous orange aroma, and taste too. This was beautiful, pale, dry and bitter, just what I love... oh yes! If you want to sample the ales, it'd be best to get there today, as they're fast running out, but, if you cannot make it, you never know what good value prices you may get tomorrow, if you're lucky enough that some of these ales are left, if not, still great ales every day anyway, starting at just £3 a pint, cheers!