Congratulations to The Tower!

Alexandra Park

One of the advantages of walking up to The Tower from the centre of Hastings, or from the seafront, in addition to the reward of great ales on arriving of course, is the journey through one of 2 wonderful green spaces. Walking up from the seafront at St Leonards and you can ignore the roads, mostly, and come up through St Leonards Gardens (blog). So I don't really need an excuse to visit The Tower, but yesterday, following the pub's CAMRA award presentation earlier in the week, I took advantage of walking up via the alternative route, through the gorgeous Alexandra Park (older blog) from near the town centre.

So, not far from the park, across Bohemia Road, and down Tower Road to The Tower, on the corner with London Road, indeed, at 251 London Road, Bohemia, St Leonards, Hastings, East Sussex TN37 6NB, where I received a warm welcome from the landlady, Louisa...

As I suggested, earlier in the week Louisa and her colleagues had received the award from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) South East Sussex Branch Pub of the Year 2019. So, congratulations to Louisa and her colleagues, and many thanks to Louisa for allowing me to use the photograph above (I had been unable to attend on Tuesday evening), cheers m'dear!

So, 6 local (ish) ales, although Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) is not now brewed in Sussex, but up in Chiswick, presumably for more volume since Fullers took over Dark Star, and subsequently their brewing interest was taken over by Asahi (see earlier blog). Of the 4 above, I had a pint of Weltons (website) Horsham Pale (3.7%), a pale golden bitter, aroma and hint of citrus from using hops from the USA, for its strength quite a big flavour and certainly a very bitter finish.

Then I got onto the other 2 ales, apologies for the intrusion of the sun on my photograph above, but next I had a pint of the Gun Brewery (website) Zamzama IPA (6.5%), so going up significantly in strength, and CAMRA South East Sussex Branch Beer of the Year for 2 years running. More hops used from the USA, many more indeed! With tropical and citrus fruit in the aroma and taste, much more body, as you would expect, a slightly sour, dry and bitter finish, 'twas very nice! In addition, this is a 'vegan' ale, and consequently unfined; the brewery states "naturally hazy" but yesterday this was well conditioned and really quite clear, so vegan friendly doesn't necessarily mean cloudy... 

I then ventured on to a pint of the Gravesend based Iron Pier (website) 7.3% Speyside Whisky Barrel Aged Porter, possibly the longest name for an ale that I've ever drunk. What can I say, incredibly dark, a 'near-stout' (OK, I have written about this before, eg blog), opaque, with a light brown head, body +++, hint of whisky (Speysides are my favourite Scottish whiskies), roasted barley, I wrote "bl**dy gorgeous!" So there you go, I must have loved it, but I had to drink another half before I wandered home, just to make sure though. 😉

Again, congratulations to Lou and The Tower, cheers m'dears!!

Old Favourites at The Tower

I've visited The Tower, 251 London Road, Bohemia, Hastings TN37 6NB (tel: 01424 721773) on a few occasions recently, last time a couple of days ago, when I enjoyed drinking a couple of old favourites!  In addition, I enjoyed chatting with the lovely landlady, Louisa, and with a friend, Darren, who's birthday it is today, so Happy Birthday Darren, have an excellent day!

There was a mild and a stout available too, but I'm going to be writing about darker ales very soon, so not in this instance, but, all the way from the beautiful west of Scotland, from Fyne Ales (website), was their refreshing 3.8% session ale Jarl. I've written about this before, and what can I say, it's a dry, pale golden hoppy ale, with citrus flavours, a slightly nutty flavour too, and a fruity aroma. Good old Citra hops are used in the brewing of this ale, and it finishes with a slightly sour bitterness, and at just £3.20 a pint, nice one!

And the ever excellent 5.7%, more than a session ale, indeed a 'revelation', Dark Star (website) Revelation! This is packed with hops, Warrior, Columbus, Crystal, Chinook and Cascade, and dry-hopped too, I seem to remember, so in your face hops! The Revelation is a deep coloured golden ale bursting with flavours with a fruity aroma, tasting of mango, peach and plenty of citrus too, plenty of body with a dry finish, and just £3.50 a pint... Yes, I do love this!

Of course, there are 6 ales in all, plus 5 or 6 real ciders and perry, and the two regular ales are also from the Dark Star Brewing Co. Their 3.8% Hophead, is the regular session ale, brewed with Cascade hops, with more flavours than you would expect for a session ale, indeed, one of my nicknames is 'Hophead Steve' and not just because I'm a 'hophead', but because I regularly drink this pale golden bitter, it is excellent, and costs just £2.90 a pint at The Tower. The other Dark Star ale regularly sold here, at only £3 a pint, excellent value, is their 4.7% American Pale Ale (APA), brewed with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops, obviously with more body than the Hophead, and with a greater variety of citrus and tropical flavours too, and a yeast strain from the USA is also used to create this APA style ale, again, an excellent beer!

Many thanks again to Louisa for keeping and serving up excellent ales, and a Happy Birthday again to Darren, cheers! 😎