St Leonards With New Pub For Me - Hastings

I didn't actually walk these pubs in this order, but this is more of an order to walk, I'll explain as I go on. 😉 My mate Paul and I decided to have a short pub crawl around St Leonards as his wife was away for the day visiting her daughter and grandchildren, we visited 3 of these pubs, one twice, as one was closed that day. So, here I am starting off with the Grade II Listed, very nearly 200 years old, Horse & Groom, 4 Mercatoria TN38 0EB (facebook), with 4 handpumps, the one regular ale being the virtually ubiquitous Harvey's Sussex Best (website).

I drank 2 ales from the reasonably local (East Sussex), and certainly improving, Lakedown Brewing Co (website). First, their 4.5% English IPA Eddy, a light amber colour, brewed with English hops, although not divulged which hops are used. Not quite as dark or as bitter as a traditional IPA, but easy to drink, and I had a tasty cheese and red onion bap/sandwich too.

Then I went for a more interesting 4.8% American Stout Marquee, apparently brewed with Centennial (hopslist) and Golding (hopslist) hops. I'll write what I noted at the time first, "Pretty damn good, a wee bit fruity, hint of coffee in the taste with a dry finish" and less chocolate than I expected. The citrus fruitiness coming, presumably, from the Centennial hops, and the darker fruit flavours from the malt and Goldings. A 'light' stout and I liked it! 😁

Come out of the pub, walk down Norman Road a short distance and turn left and the next port of call is slightly newer (1830s) The Nags Head, 8-9 Gensing Road TN38 0ER (facebook) with 3-5 ales available, again including Harvey's Sussex Best as a regular I believe, where we drank the ale in the photograph below! Oh yes, and apparently Robert Croker, aka Robert Noonan, aka Robert Tressell who wrote The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Guardian), used to drink here when he lived nearby in London Road in the early 20th century. ✊

So we went for this ale from the East Anglian brewery Adnams (website), their Citrus Pale Ale Ghost Ship (4.5%). This is a pale sharp refreshing ale, brewed with Citra hops (hopslist), consequently, as you would expect, it has a subtle citrus flavour and a nice refreshing dry bitter finish, and, as I've said before, in my opinion Adnams best ale. 👍

Come out and return to Norman Road and turn left, carry on down and cross London Road, then turn left up Western Road just before you reach Warrior Square Gardens. Up on the left is the pub we missed out on (just me visiting a few days ago this time), because it isn't open on Mondays and Tuesdays, when it can be booked by local charities and community groups. The Prince of Wales, 15 Western Road TN37 6DG (website) is a similar age building to the others, but was a bakers before becoming a beer shop called the Coachmaker's Arms in the early 1850s (bsls) then being licensed as The Prince of Wales from 1855. 

If you've used my link to the pub's website page you'll realise that it was re-opened earlier this year, after being closed for 2 years, by the Hastings Project (website), a "community interest company which brews beer to raise money for local charitable and community projects." Hastings Project was set up by Ed (who I met and had an interesting chat with) and Robbie, who have been brewing as a 'cuckoo brewery' here and there. Tending the bar was a welcoming young woman called Adrien who patiently answered my numerous questions, and who has experience working with the public, but has only worked in licensed premises the last few months, cheers!

Here, I drank a couple of pints of Scottish brewery Fyne Ales (website) Jarl (3.8%), indeed Fyne Ales are one of the breweries whose ales I am never disappointed with, and on my older blog 12 years ago, I placed Jarl as my 'champion' session  bitter (blog). If you don't want to look back at it, here is how I describe it: "a crackin' dry, pale golden and hoppy ale, with plenty of citrus flavours, nice and bitter, and very refreshing" and brewed with Citra hops, nowt's changed!

The pub also has a good selection of bottled beers, including Belgian beers, and a number of crafty keg brews of their own, well worth the visit. 👍

The first and last place we visited was The Royal, 1 St John's Road TN37 6HP (website), which can be reached by coming out of the Prince of Wales and turning left to head up Western Road, and it's on the left on the corner at the top, opposite St Leonards Warrior Square railway station, so if you come by train, you can start here! 😉 When first built and licensed in 1876 this was called the Railway Hotel, then Campbell's Hotel (the name of the licensee), changing its name to the Royal Hotel after it was taken over by George Veness in 1884, closing briefly in 2019 it reopened later that year as The Royal.

They had 2 cask ales, Courage Directors Directors Bitter (4.8%), which I believe is brewed at the Eagle Brewery in Bedford, but not so sure since Marston's was taken over/merged (CAMRA), and yes, the ubiquitous, at least hereabouts, Sussex brewery Harvey's (website) 4.0% Sussex Best Bitter! Harvey's do not divulge which hops are used, but they claim it is a "blend of four local hops" 😒 and I always say, they could do better by using more hops! Very easy to drink when you want a refreshing pint after a long walk, slightly malty, hardly bitter, needs more hops, cheers!

 

Lakedown Brewing Co

The first of these 4 beers was imbibed at the Jenny Lind, 69 High Street, Hastings TN34 3EW (see blog which includes more information about the Jenny Lind etc). That is, from Lakedown Brewing Co (website), their 4.2% Wits' End, which, as I can find nothing about it anywhere, I am guessing was their Kicking Donkey rebadged for the Hastings Comedy Festival earlier this year. Whatever, Wits' End, which I'm not quite at yet, 😉 is a Best Bitter, and my notes suggest it does what it says on the label, it is a traditional, slightly malty, best bitter. If it is Kicking Donkey, the hops used were Pioneer, Cascade and Jester and all grown in England, Kent presumably, but it wasn't particularly hoppy, but then, reviews for Kicking Donkey suggest similar too, and I wouldn't bet against it being any different. Probably! 😏

The first of the 3 cans from Lakedown was their 5.7% Harmonium India Pale Ale, brewed with Cascade (hopslist), Centennial (hopslist), Chinook (hopslist) and Citra hops (hopslist), and finished off with Amarillo hops added at the end of the brew (hopslist). These hops make it an APA style essentially, but it's a bit darker than a typical APA, indeed, a deep copper colour, much more like a traditional IPA! Sorry, I'm trying not to get confused, despite the styles being confused, like 'fusion' brewing! Hints of tropical and citrus fruits, quite light and easy to drink, with a slightly dry bitter finish, with those hops and strength you'd expect a bit more to it, but deceptively easy to knock back, not bad at all, I'd love to try a cask version. 👌

Next I go to something much darker, their 4.8% Marquee, an American Stout From their subtitle I'll take an informed guess that hops from the USA were used when brewing this ale, but Lakedown appear to be shy about sharing the hops used! 😕 Whatever, because it is dark, as you can see in the image above, and rich and smooth, you catch the flavours from the malts used rather than from hops unsurprisingly. It has a quite subtle dark chocolate and coffee aroma, with roasted malt and dark chocolate more prominent in the taste, not bad...

Finally their 0.5% 'Alcohol Free' Sound AF, described as 'American' and a 'Juicy Pale' so presumably hops from the USA are used, but again, they're shy of sharing which hops! It pours a bit cloudy, but does have a big fruity aroma, and a subtle fruity taste, but it thins out as the glass goes down, with a dry finish. However, not bad though, for an AF beer. 😏

My guess is that the hops used aren't shared for the AF and the American Stout because they change a bit, just a thought, anyway, have fun folks, cheers! 😁