Hastings Tap Takeover 2024
Several weeks ago, I caught a whiff of a tap takeover happening in Hastings on socials and realised we had a free weekend. Hastings is only about an hour away by train. I think you can see where this is headed.
The first weekend in October saw Hastings welcome 15 breweries to the south coast, each taking over the taps in a different venue.
Image taken from Hastings Tap Takeover website
Image taken from Hastings Tap Takeover website
As we were only visiting for the day, trying to get to all 15 venues felt a bit ambitious to accomplish. Coupled with the idea that we’d be rushing between venues rather than taking a moment to appreciate our surroundings, I decided to aim for a much more reasonable 7. I’ve visited Hastings a couple of times before and really enjoyed both visits so I was quite excited to return. To narrow down the list from 15 to 7, I tried to aim for either:
A brewery I haven’t tried before or rarely get to try on tap.
A venue I haven’t visited before or one I have that’s worth a revisit.
(Which, on reflection, looks like a caveat so I can justify visiting basically any venue.)
Using the handy map provided, I devised a rough route taking the above stipulations into account and formulated a plan.
Image taken from Hastings Tap Takeover website
We decided to start in St Leonards and work our way over to Hastings as that seemed like a logical route. Our lucky seven were (brackets denote the number on the map):
Collected Fictions // Baron Brewing (2)
Goat Ledge // Earth Ale Brewing (5)
The Courtyard // Chain House Brewing Co. (6)
The Jolly Fisherman // Left Handed Giant Brewing Co. (13)
The Imperial // Rivington Brewing Co. (11)
Eel & Bear // Pomona Island Brew Co. (8)
The Seadog // Pipeline Brewing Co. (7)
I had been to Heist, The Piper, The Albion and The Crown before and whilst I was gutted to miss The Kernel at The Piper, it didn’t quite fit in with our plans.
The Tower and The Jenny Lind were both a bit out of the way (and I’ve drank plenty Bristol Beer Factory and Loud Shirt beers) so these were also ruled out.
The only two I hadn’t been to were The Prince Albert and Twelve Hundred Postcards but we had to lose two more so unfortunately these fell by the wayside. Annoyingly, they both looked excellent when we walked past them and I feel stupid for missing Cloudwater on tap this far south!
Read on for a brief review of each venue visited and each beer imbibed.
Stop #1 - Collected Fictions // Baron Brewing
A fantastic bottle shop I visited four years ago. It had just opened and was in the middle of being fitted out so didn’t have a drink-in licence. Instead, we bought some cans and sat on the beach.
I returned earlier this summer and the chap behind the bar was delighted we had returned to see it in all its glory so this was always going to be the first stop. I also rarely see Baron on draft in Brighton and love what I’ve had from them in cans so that cemented our decision.
Collected Fictions is a short stroll from the train station so we were there in record time. Weirdly, as we entered, a man in a Foghorn t-shirt was leaving. The Foghorn is my local! Small world. Anyway, Collected Fictions is divided into two parts - the bar and carefully curated beer fridges are in one half and the seating area is in the other half, through a doorway and up a few steps. We managed to nab some seats in the window to people-watch. The bottleshop was doing a good trade so early in the day with many likely stopping off here early in their journey like us.
I opted for a sensible 3.4% pale ale in Baron’s Walk in the Park here - a lovely start to proceedings that was much needed after an ambling train journey along the South East coast. Citra and Enigma hops combine for a beer that punches well above its weight. We sank these in double quick time and seeing a large group enter the bar area, decided it was time to hotfoot it to our second stop.
Stop #2 - Goat Ledge // Earth Ale Brewing
A short stroll to the seafront and along the lower promenade brought us to our second location of the day in Goat Ledge. More of a cafe than a bar or pub, this colourful beachfront space was absolutely buzzing when we arrived.
The sun was shining which seemed to have put everyone in good spirits. There were groups of people having brunch or coffees as well as other tap takeover enthusiasts dotted around the space so the atmosphere was quite jovial. The cafe and indoor seating is located on one side of the promenade with most of the outdoor seating located on the beach itself on the other side. Also, it’s pretty hard to miss - check out the goat in the video to the right!
We shared some fries with our beers and managed to squeeze onto a bench to soak up the sun and consume our wares.
Earth Ale is a brewery I hadn’t had the chance to try before so I was grateful they were paired with a venue I hadn’t been to earning a double tick. Hailing from Oxfordshire and founded by a chef, they focus on foraging wild ingredients and using them to create seasonal beers.
We tried the Strawberries on Sea gose (a gose made with strawberries lacto-fermented with Blackthorn sea salt) and their American Amber. The gose was the standout, especially in the sunshine. It tasted like strawberry sherbet with a pleasant salinity on the finish. In comparison, the American Amber smelt like caramel and orange and had a very slight smokiness to it which was lovely. The queue at the bar had grown significantly since we arrived so we did the noble thing and gave up our seats as we headed off to the next stop. Conveniently a beautiful stroll along the seafront.
Stop #3 - The Courtyard // Chain House Brew Co.
It felt like the middle of the summer walking along the seafront to our third watering hole. The sun was shining and everyone seemed in good spirits because of this.
It wasn’t long until we arrived at The Brewing Brothers at the Courtyard - a bar found in a sunken courtyard situated under the promenade. There are a few other bars and restaurants here, plus an underground skatepark at the rear but we were only interested in one thing: beers from Chain House.
Chain House Brew Co. hail from Preston so it’s rare to ever see their beer on tap anywhere local. I was keen to try them as I’d read about them a while back on Katie Mather’s Substack and had never heard of them until then.
Violas and Lupitas is a DDH Pale brewed with Citra, Motueka and Riwaka hops. Everyone loves Citra but I’m a sucker for New Zealand hops and Moteuka and Riwaka are up there as my favourites from the Southern Hemisphere - they bring great limey and herby depth to a beer and this one was no different. Chain House are definitely a brewery I’ll be ordering on sight should their beers make it down here again. It was almost too perfect for the weather and I contemplated getting another, but we weren’t even halfway yet so had to make tracks.
We stopped off at one of the arcades and before the 4th locale as my wife has a 2p machine addiction and it needed sating. We somehow ended up winning about 8 plastic fruit characters so were on something of a hot streak. The excitement of the arcade had made me thirsty so we made a beeline for the final stop along the seafront in The Jolly Fisherman.
Stop #4 - The Jolly Fisherman // Left Handed Giant Brewing Co.
This was probably my favourite pub of the trip. I’m gutted I hadn’t been before as it’s exactly the type of pub I love. Lots of dark wood pannelling, low ceilings, excellent range of cask and keg to choose from, that indescribable feeling you get from walking into a pub that immediately makes you feel welcome. Unparalleled.
The pub itself is pretty tiny so seating was scarce. After getting our beers (and accidentally walking in on a father taking his daughter to the toilet - lock the door man!) we made our way outside to the pavement to sip in the sunshine again. We spied a wooden bench manned by a solo drinker so asked if we could take a pew, which he welcomed. We got chatting and traded tales of our takeover experience thus far - annoyingly he told us The Tower was probably his favourite so far. Gah! Next time. He was visiting for the weekend so was on day 2 but hadn’t been to all the spots yet. He bid us farewell as he headed back to his hotel to rouse his partner from an afternoon nap.
Left Handed Giant had control of the taps here and they need no introduction. I opted for their collab with Lost Cause Brewing, a 6.8% West Coast IPA called Beyond This Place that was absolutely singing. Fantastically bright and crisp with the piney, resinousy finish you’d expect from a WCIPA. Textbook.
Our next stop took us up and over West Hill - a large green on top of a hill. I completely forgot how steep this place was as I’d last done it several hours into a pub crawl. Oops.
Stop #5 - The Imperial // Rivington Brewing Co.
After our arduous ascent and delightful descent up and over West Hill, we found ourselves at The Imperial - the second Brewing Brothers venue of the day. The last time I came here was at the end of an all-day pub crawl so details are hazy. Being older and (slightly) wiser, we came here and decided to have food (as well as beer, obviously). Handily, there’s a massive brick pizza oven in the corner of The Imperial doing a steady trade as we enter.
It was pretty busy here with large groups of friends, family and a mixture of the two all hanging out and having a lovely time. The sun was starting to set now but the good vibes were not dulled. I picked this pub because I wanted to drink Rivington on draft as I rarely get the chance to. I ended up ordering two beers here because I could not decide. Woe is me. We snagged a table, ordered some pizzas and tucked into our well-earned provisions with gusto.
The first beer was Rivington’s collaboration with New York’s Finback Brewery called Never Sleep - a DDH IPA packed with a whole host of hops (Strata, Riwaka, Citra, Citra Cryo, Strata CGX & Riwaka Hop Kief). It was delicious and wonderfully quenched my thirst after our clamber from the previous pub.
The other beer I had was undoubtedly the beer of the day - a collaboration between Rivington, Beak and Track called Pyramid Scheme. A DIPA with several hops I’d never heard of (Eggers Special, HBC 1019, Galaxy Spectrum & Riwaka Hop Kief) that was spectacular. I’ve had Riwaka in several beers now and have enjoyed all of them so it’s definitely a hop I’m a big fan of. This beer was incredibly moreish and I couldn’t help but see it away in double quick time. Paired with my wood-fired pizza, I was having A Lovely Time. Despite this, I knew we had places to be so snapped out of my happy haze and set off for the next stop.
Stop #6 - Eel & Bear // Pomona Island Brew Co.
The penultimate stop of the day saw us visit Eel & Bear, a small but perfectly formed bottleshop. The people behind Eel & Bear are also the co-founders and organisers of Hastings Tap Takeover so it felt it only right to visit them.
It was probably the time of day we got here but it was absolutely rammed and we nearly swerved entering because of this. I was determined to have some Pomona Island on tap though, so convinced my long-suffering wife it was a sensible idea to hover awkwardly near some shelves of beer whilst I drank a DIPA.
The DIPA in question was Stumble Into The Kitchen, a beer full of all of the cryo hops you can think of. I enjoyed it but drank it very quickly as it was a tad too busy to savour and the patrons here looked like they were settling in for a while. More people came in after us and so before we knocked an entire shelf of beer over, decided to move on to our final stop of the day.
This sounds like I’m being negative here but I’m not - I’d love to come back on a regular day and have a leisurely beer or two as it felt like a great place and had a really good atmosphere. I’m glad it was busy as it means Eel & Bear is clearly a popular spot with the locals and one to check out properly when we return.
Stop #7 - The Seadog // Pipeline Brewing Co.
Our final venue of the day was The Seadog. One I’d picked simply because it was close to the train station and I had not visited it before. It was around 6-7pm now and starting to feel quite busy in all the bars and restaurants we wandered past. It was no different here, although we managed to nab a table and some beers before a large group entered.
A photographer at the bar was taking snaps when I was ordering, presumably to document the Tap Takeover event, so I enthusiastically held my beer to my lips and posed so they could capture me in pure ecstasy.
This was another double-tick stop as I’d never had any Pipeline beers before. Forgotten Dreams was a pretty decent DDH IPA with the classic Citra and Mosaic hop pairing. Lots of tables were ordering food from the Asian-inspired menu and it all looked very appealing after seven pints.
It was at this point we realised we could get a train in about ten minutes so sank our beers and headed home.
Summary
Hastings Tap Takeover was a really fun day out amplified by the amazing late summer/early autumn sunshine. Hastings is surprisingly good for beer as the seventeen venues for this event proves. We will definitely be keeping our eyes peeled for an announcement for the 2025 edition.
