Oktoberfest in Hastings!

Oktoberfest at The Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street, Hastings TN34 1SS (website), comes early each year at this genuine free house, which I believe has a relationship with the London brewery Anspach & Hobday (website). I'd been meaning to check up on when its Oktoberfest was being held, as I remembered from last year I just got in at the end (last day), which I did again this year! But they do have quite a busy period coming up... 🍺🎉🍻

I started off with the cask ale, brewed by Anspach & Hobday (website), their 4.3% session IPA Wunderbar, brewed in collaboration with German Kraft Brewery (website). German hops are used in abundance, Callista (BarthHaas), Hersbrucker (hopslist), and Huell Melon (hopslist), producing a cornucopia of fruit taste and aroma, notably, melon, dark berries, forest and citrus fruits. The beer was slightly cloudy and, yes, packed full of fruity flavours indeed, with a dry bitter finish, and I thought a wee bit different, and not bad at all! 🍺

I then started on the lagers, first from Edinburgh brewery Newbarns (website), who the pub featured during Hastings Tap Takeover last year (blog). I drank their 5.6% Festival Bier (5.7% last year) brewed using a blend of 10 different malted barleys, producing a German style golden lager. It was slightly bitter, with plenty of flavour, and very easy to drink for its strength! 😁

I then moved on to the real thing 😉 from Bavarian brewery Hacker-Pschorr (website), their special seasonal 6.0% Oktoberfest Bier, brewed with Alpine Spring Water and 'noble' Hallertau hops (hopslist), and brewed in March specifically to mature for Oktoberfest. This was a slightly darker amber colour, a subtle maltiness with a clean finish; my notes say 'folks will realise I'm not a lager drinker, but this is pretty damn good!" Which says it all really, nice one. 👍

Then, from another Bavarian brewery Hofbrau Munchen (website) and their 6.3% Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier, another festival 'special' beer brewed with Herkules (hopslist), Perle (hopslist), and Spalter Select (Hop Alliance) hops. This is a pale golden colour with a subtle sweetness and hints of grapefruit and dried fruits to the taste, very refreshing, and 6.3% (!) so dangerous to drink. My notes say "so much better than the commercial lagers brewed over here." So obviously true, no comparison, I could (shouldn't) drink this all day, cheers. 🍻

I finished off with another Bavarian brew from Flotzinger Brau (website) and their 5.8% Wies'n-Marzen, brewed specifically for the Rosenheim Autumn Festival, not Munchen Oktoberfest like the previous 2 😉 but available all year round. Brewed with Hallertau (hopslist) and Tettnanger (hopslist) hops, and I'll just repeat my notes: "I could get addicted to proper European beers brewed in their own country, pale, drinkable, in fact tasty! Nice one 👍"

Oktoberfest done for another year, cheers folks! 😁

Welcome to Hastings!

Here are 3 pubs/bars that are either new, or have newish licensees, and are all close to where I live, in the centre of Hastings. Now, if you visit Hastings by train, as you walk towards the town centre, the first pub you'll see is opposite you, that is, The Seadog, 32 Station Road TN34 1NJ (website), giving you a big WELCOME TO HASTINGS! Under its original name, the Royal George, this first opened as a beer house in 1851, it became Grace's Wine Bar in the 1980s, The Priory in 1990, closed for 4 years then reopened as Frank's Front Room for a couple of years, then closed again, reopening back to its original name as the Royal George in 2017, then closed again, but reopened last year as The Seadog; for an excellent history read at Hastings Pub History, to whom many thanks for information, cheers!

The building looks well refreshed from the outside, and the inside is bright and clean too, the pub has 2 rooms, though easy to traverse between. There is a small bar in the middle, with 2 handpumps, I was told usually 1 cider and 1 ale. The day I visited I was told they had trouble with the cooling system in the cellar, so no cider, just the one ale, which on the day (regularly changes) was from Manchester brewery, Marble Beers (website), a brewery that used to be inside the Marble Arch Inn round the corner from where it now is, and which I have written about before, eg blog. Anyway, the Marble Mild (4.1%) does what it says on the label really, it's a very decent not too dark mild, which could have been cooler (2nd pint was better), but not unexpected with their cellar temperature problem. It just means that I'll have to visit again soon. 😉

4 or 5 minutes walk away is The Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street TN34 1SS (website), which used to be a Shepherd Neame pub for years, but has recently been sold by them, and now is a genuine free house. The first time it was a licensed premises was in 1867 (David Russell, Register of Licensees for Hastings & St Leonards), I haven't found out which brewery was first involved with them, but it's been run by a couple of new licensees recently, after being closed for a couple of years. The current licensees reopened again earlier this year.

They do change their ales regularly, and I had heard they had one of my favourite ales on Friday (Kent Prohibition), but for my visit yesterday, they had a 'tap takeover' by Anspach & Hobday of London SE1 (website). Many keg beers were theirs too, but I went for the 3 cask ales (above), starting off with The Ordinary Bitter (3.7%), weaker than a 'best bitter' but, again, it does what it says on the label really. Brewed with East Kent Goldings and Chinook hops, it's malty and bitter, and a very quaffable 'ordinary' ale, which is not denigrating it, but obviously brewed with traditional tastes in mind, similar to Young's Ordinary, but a bit maltier.

Then I moved onto the paler ales, my second pint being Bermondsey Pale (4.0%), unsurprisingly, a paler ale, the label says English hops, but I can't find which, although I'm guessing including East Kent Goldings. A wee bit fruity, but essentially a very decent pale dry bitter. Then I went for the big one, The IPA (6.0%), essentially billed as a West Coast of the USA style APA, brewed with Summit and Ekuanot hops from the USA, and Australian Enigma hops. A big fruity aroma and taste, with an enigmatic taste too that I couldn't work out, 😉 but a full-bodied golden bitter, with a nice dry finish, nice one! 👍

Finally, a new bar, very recently opened, and a minute or so walk away from The Prince Albert, that is the Smoke Shack Bar & Grill, St Andrews Market TN34 1SJ (facebook). No cask conditioned ales here, but I had to put in a visit, and they do sell 2 crafty keg beers. I had a pint from Cornish brewer Verdant (website), their 4.5% Light Bulb, an extra pale bitter brewed with Magnum, Simcoe and Centennial hops, producing a fruity beer, as you'd expect from these hops, very refreshing, just a wee bit too cloudy for my personal taste though.

Their second beer was from a much more local brewery, Lakedown (website) and their 5.3% NEIPA, brewed with Citra, Mosaic and Centennial hops. Unfortunately I did not try this beer, so can offer no opinion this time, maybe that's for another visit, cheers folks!