Witches Up in Arms it Must be Halloween

This article in Indyposted tells us of how American Microbrewers 'The Lost Abbey' have enraged Wiccan groups with labels for their 'Witches Wit' beer. The label depicts a witch being burnt at the stake during the Salem witch trials of the 17th century. The label has caused a stir as there are many practising witches who take offense at what they believe is offensive to their faith. Are they being over sensitive as most of us see witches as something from fairytales and not a serious subject to be concerned with. Or do they have the right to be offended as they feel they have the same standing as main stream religions and should receive the same respect they command. Personally I think they have their broom sticks stuck up their arses. I don't think the Lost Abbey are too upset by the storm they have caused as this just gives them publicity and it has never hurt Brewdog to be controverisal. Check out Lost Abbey's site: http://www.lostabbey.com/

Wetherspoons Ale & Cider Festival

The much maligned 'spoons starts one of their beer festivals on Wednesday 27th October running till Sun 14th November. 'Spoons pubs aren't everyones cup of tea but I have always been a fan personally. In town centres where you can struggle to find outlets selling Real Ale a 'Spoons always comes up trumps with a good selection of Cask Ales all at a great price.
This festival will feature 50 different beers from as far afield as the USA and Sri Lanka. There is a real range of styles including bavarian lagers, wheat beers, a double espresso scottish stout and a chocolate ale. Top brewers such as Thornbridge, Samuel Adams, Titanic and Brewdog are featured.
Many of the beers are brewed especially for the festival and many others aren't likely to appear at your average boozer. The festival is celebrating it's 20th anniversary and I feel it's a great advert for quality ale that will hopefully carry on for another 20 years. For more info click on this link : http://www.jdwrealale.co.uk/

Free Beer!

I have finally arrived as a blogger it is all worthwhile now I have received a free bottle of beer! Ok it would be sad if that was all I did it for but it is certainly a nice perk. It is certainly a bonus if you thoroughly enjoy the beer aswell.

Cumbrian Legendary Ales

The beer was sent to me by the wonderful people at the Old Hall Brewery where Cumbrian Legendary Ales are brewed.
Cumbrian Legendary Ales was launched in June 2006 by David and Liz Newham with their partners David and Gill Frost. In March 2009 Roger and Helen Humphreys, owners of the Loweswater Brewery acquired the business. Production continues at the Old hall Brewery under the supervision of experienced head brewer Hayley Barton. The brewery is in an idyllic setting in renovated barns at Esthwaite Old Hall on the Graythwaite Estate near Hawkshead in the Cumbrian Lake District.

Croglin Vampire

Sightings of this Dopplebock are as rare as sightings of the Croglin Vampire itself. Taking it's name from the legend of a vampire from 17th century Cumbria, this dark Munich lager is an unusual and pleasantly surprising offering from the north west brewers. At a hefty 8% this is not a beer to be necked (get it vampire - neck! ah forget it) but savoured like a fine wine or brandy. This ruby red beer is all about it's layers of malt. There is caramel on the nose with an element of blackcurrant or berries. The palate is met with toffee and treacle and light spiciness. There is also nuttiness evident and the overall feel is more of a sherry than a beer. The finish has a touch of apple and is slightly sharp. The mouthfeel is thick and creamy but not cloying. This is a warming beer and would be great on a dark cold evening. Great effort that I hope I come across again, I score 4 out 5.

Back The Pub

The Government are currently reviewing taxation on alcohol and the outcome of this review will no doubt have a great impact on beer drinkers and the future of pubs in the UK.
With an average of 30 pubs closing in the country every week it is critical the government get it right. We all must use our voices to tell the powers that be that we are sick of the constant tax increases on beer and that they must protect the British institute that is the pub. You can do your bit by contacting your local MP via this link : Back the Pub

Gone for a Burton Part 2

After leaving Marstons my next destination was the Burton Bridge Inn for some lunch and a pint. I had made enquiries about a tour of the Burton Bridge brewery but was told that they only made group bookings, I suppose I wasn't going to get the personal treatment twice in one day! My cheese sandwich took a suprisingly long time to arrive but as the barman was keeping himself fit by running aup and down the stairs to collect the food orders I doubt the kitchen was staffed by more than one chef. The sandwich was washed down by a pint of Burton Bridges Sovereign Gold. A straw coloured ale with citruis and caramel on the nose. Very fruity on the palate with more than moderate bitterness. Light in body with a dry refreshing finish. This ale slid down nicely and gave a good impression of Burton Bridge as a brewer of quality ales.

My next destination was the National Brewery Centre, a ten minute walk up Horninglow street. The site which was originally the Bass Museum re-opened on the first of May in a joint venture between Planning Solutions and Molson Coors. The centres closure in 2008 prompted action from the local CAMRA group along with local councillors to get the centre re-opened. It was worth while as this is a gem of an attraction. Staff are all decked out in Victorian dress to add the nostlgia experience. As you enter the museum you are taken through the brewing process with short films, exhibits and artefacts demonstrating the process of making beer that is still in essence the process used today. As you follow the signs you are taken through suprisingly many different rooms and buildings with hundreds of different displays. These include a massive scale model of Burton from 1921 when the town was still the brewing capital. There is a shed with working steam engines and array of vintage vehicles used by the brewing industry. There are a couple of resident Shire horses but they are rather lively to say the least so I wouldn't recommend trying to pet them. The tour ends in the mock Edwardian pub where you can use your tokens to sample the beers on offer. You could waste these small tasters on some of the Coors lager offerings but you would be a fool. On offer was the smooth and delicious Worthington White Shield and the golden hoppy Worthington E. These beers have been revived by the much respected Steve Wellington who brews them at the museum microbrewery. I went on to the Brewery Tap restaurant/bar after and had a pint of Red Shield a lighter more sessionable version of the White Shield. My last two tokens were used on the much vaunted Imperial P2 stout. This complex 8% offering delivers quite a kick and would be a challenge to consume more than a half. This multi-layered stout is a master of the style but it's a style that is a bit too far for me as the alcohol level is too evident in the taste for me.

After leaving the centre and stepping into the fresh air I felt the P2 stout (and all the other beers) going to my head a little and I needed to clear it before returning to the train station and attempting to get on the correct train home. I took a walk back down Horninglow street to check out some more of Burton's historic brewing related buildings.

Gone For a Burton Part 1

I arrived in Burton upon Trent after my first train trip in many years (my chauffeur wasn't available due to work commitments, I prefer the luxury beer angel usually affords me but needs is must!) Stepping out of the train station there is a sense of history in the air straight away with buildings on the horizons that would have found their birth in Burton's golden era. 
Although Burton has been hit as hard as anywhere in the country for pub closures you still don't have to walk more than 100 yards to find a boozer in the centre of town. Beer is in the soul of this town.
A 15 minute walk took me to the Martson's Albion brewery on Shobnall rd. This Victorian brick building built originally by Mann Crossman and Paulin dominates the skyline and gives you a vision of days gone by. After exiting Shobnall rd on to the site I was welcomed by a friendly if somewhat rough round the edges security guard. Till this point I was unsure if I had come to the correct point as signage was limited. Directed to the visitors entrance I was greeted by the lovely Lesley Sweeney. A Burtonian herself Lesley is fiercely proud of the towns brewing history and the Albion brewery's place in that history. I was expecting a guided tour with a group of six others. I was informed that they had cancelled at the last minute. I felt slightly uncomfortable but very privileged that the tour would continue for me solely. I was given a more in-depth tour than Lesley usually has time to give and benefited greatly from the personal treatment. 
The name of Marstons is rooted deeply in the history of the brewery if not in the current ownership. John Marston started brewing in 1834 but Marston's (& Thompson) acquired  the Albion brewery in 1890 fromMann Crossman and Paulin. Marston's are not the most popular brewing company amongst beer aficionado's largely due to their takeovers of Wychwood and Ringwood. The company is what was once Wolverhampton and Dudley breweries but the Albion brewery is very Marston's, a brewery steeped in history. A brewery that was thankfully kept alive after the take over by W&D. The irony is the buyout was prompted by moves by Marston's to buy out W&D!
Wolverhampton & Dudley had the good sense to to change their trading name to Marston's and use the provenance that the Burton link brought. The site in Burton is piece of living history has fortunately been kept alive. This is no sterile 21st entity. The equipment being used comes from a natural progression through better brewing processes and advancements that meets the demand. Oak edged mash tuns and decades old coppers have been replaced with stainless steel but these date back to the 1960's from another acquisition. The truth is the Marston's brewery wouldn't survive if it didn't improve and advance and these stainless steel monsters are a beautiful creation of our time. My only criticism is the Mash tuns and coppers that are no longer being used have been neglected when they should be pampered and polished as a proud reminder of their part in the history of Marston's.

I was very fortunate to have my visit on a Wednesday as I got to see the Burton union in it's full bubbling frothy glory. This system of fermentation was widely used in Burton and was a major advancement  in brewing at it's birth in 1830. Pedigree is the only ale left to be fermented in this manner and it is important factor in creating the character of the beer. The rows of vats with the frothy barm were a compelling sight with a strong temptation to go for a dip, that would be my kind of foam party!
The tour concluded at the bottling line. This segment of the tour didn't create the magic that the other processes created but it was still a sight to be marvelled. Long lengths of track carried thousands of bottles as they were filled, capped, sterilised, labelled and boxed. Millions of bottles run along these tracks every week and there was surprisingly few staff needed to run it. This sort of efficient production would have blown the minds of John Marston and his colleagues. Bottles not making the weight were discarded in to containers. It was heart breaking to see such waste but the percentage of loss was a small fraction of the volume that flowed out successfully. 
Once the tour had come to an end I was taken to the mock bar which is decked out in Marston's breweriana. I was given the obligatory sampling of Marston beers that all good tours should end with. On the menu was obviously Pedigree along with Oyster stout and their guest ale for the month Royal Ryder. Oyster stout is a very smooth easy drinking stout with a good balance of sweetness against the bitterness of the roasted malts. Royal Ryder is a pale session ale with creamy texture and a light hoppiness which suited the lovely summery day we was having.
Lots of bodies started milling around as a conference was being held in the function room. Lesley was successfully balancing being the hostess to the exec's looking for a bit of lubrication and talking to me by including me in conversations. She was having a conversation with a gentleman about oak aged beers and I piped in with how I had a new love for such beers, what a great innovation they were and how I liked the beers from Innis & Gunn. Lesley then informed me that the gentleman was actually Crawford Sinclair DIrector of sales at Innis & Gunn. You can imagine I was glad that I had been praising his beers and not the opposite!
All in all I had a great time and left with a positive image of Marston's in Burton which was in small measure down to Lesley and I am sure I will return agin one day in the future to see how the Albion brewery changes if at all.

Downtown Chimera IPA

Downtown brewery is a micro based unsuprisingly in Downtown, a large ancient village just outside of Salisbury in Wiltshire. Founded by and ran soley by Martin Strawbridge  who learnt the trade in a six month stint at the Hop Back brewery. Martin kept close ties with Hop Back leasing equipment from them in Downtowns early days and initially selling his beers exclusively through them. The brewery has grown to a 60 barrel a week output and half of there sales are now off their own backs.

CHIMERA IPA

This light refreshing ale has the right to call itself an IPA as it is true to the traditional style and as they say in their own words 'Chimera would certainly win in a fight against Greene King IPA & Deuchars IPA's softer, less traditional alternatives.' At 7% abv it's not an Ale to take lightly but the generous balance of hops give the beer a light refreshing drinkability that can be quite deceptive.

There are notes of orange and grapefruit on the nose and a sherberty sweetness. The palate picks up the grapefruit and orange but not in an over-powering way and there is a good bitter-sweet balance. The finish is dry with a satisfying tang and the more-ish-ness of this beer is quite dangerous given it's strength. A very impressive ale that I score at 4.5 out of 5.

A Royal Opening

The National Brewery Centre in Burton on Trent is to get a 'right royal opening' with Princess Anne to perform the official opening in late September. I am in no way a royalist but it is quite fitting that the princess royal will be performing the opening as she opened the centre in it's previous incarnation, the Bass museum in 1978. The centre actually re-opened it's doors back in May of this year after being closed for 2 years. The centre that incorporates the Coors visitor centre as well as the Bass Museum was re-opened after campaigning by local MP's and the local branch of CAMRA. The centre is a celebration of Burtons proud brewing history, at it's height Burton was the nations brewing capital and one of the most important brewing towns in the world.

Beer Goggles

Scientists claim to have discovered what causes alcohol to make us find people more attractive than when not under it's influence. We have all experienced this phenomenom at some time while out on the lash and have blamed beer goggles for our 'lack of judgement.' Studies conducted at Roehampton University in London discovered that alcohol caused subjects to lack the ability to determine whether the picture of a face was symmetrical or asymmetrical. Symmetry has been attributed as the important element in what is widely accepted as an attractive face. Sober students made clear preferences for symmetrical faces but intoxicated students didn't. Women had the most difficulty which could be good news for ugly men! The reason given for women being more affected was that men are more visually oriented, in other words they letch more!
There may be some truth in this study but I would take it with a pinch of salt personally. The study was obviously set up to look at this factor specifically and therefore is not really objective. There may be other contributing factors that this study does not take into account because they haven't been brought in to play. The truth is excessive consumption of alcohol contributes to us making a whole host of bad choices and our choice of who we hook up with is just another regret after a night on the lash.

Pietra Biera Corsa

Pietra is a microbewery on the island of Corsica. In an area dominated by wine production it's quite suprising but pleasing to see this brewery prosper. Established 1996 by Dominique Sialelli and his wife Armelle the couple were driven by a passion to create a beer with the flavour of Corsica. This has been achieved by using Chestnut flour in the mash. Chestnut trees are revered in Corsica and known as 'bread trees' which would make it an obvious choice to create something with the soul of the island.

Pietra is a 'dark lager' but you wouldn't know it as it has the flavour profile of a malty ale.It has an abv of 6%. It pours amber in colour with an off-white foamy head that quickly recedes. The aroma is quite nutty and also very earthy with a light sweetness. The eathiness carries through to the palate strongly with some toffee and elements of wholemeal bread. You are left with a dry mouthfeel with light carbonation.
Pietra isn't an unpleasant beer but it is a strange drinking experience. The earthiness is too dominant with little hop character but it is a beer that is easy to finish. I was hoping to like it more but I would have to score it at 2.5 out of 5.

USA Craft Brewing

Many people I talk to about beer have no idea of the craft beer movement in the states. Most people associate America with mass produced light pilsener style lagers and rightfully so as they take up a 95% share of the market over there. However the situation in the UK is very simillar but the rise of the microbrewery here is well known to many and not just real ale lovers.
 The craft brewing movement has developed in the US over pretty much the same period of time that the CAMRA led real ale movement has in the UK. In some ways the movement in the US is more exciting as there is a real desire for experimentation with different styles being revived and new ones being created where as the UK can be very conservative and far too traditional in it's creations.
America had a rich and diverse brewing tradition that was wiped out by prohbition in 1920. When prohibiton was repealed in 1933 home wine making was legalised but a clerical error failed to add the words 'and/or beer.' Perversley this was not rectified till 1978 when a bill was passed that repealed restrictions on brewing in small quantities. A homebrewing community was born and these brewers re-created styles that they hadn't been able to buy for so long.
Craft brewing has been credited with having been started a while before this time when in 1965 Fritz Maytag bought San Francisco's Anchor brewery. It took Fritz 10 years to establish his brewery as a producer of fine crafted beers and in 1975 Anchor started bottling their flagship Steam beer.
The first actual microbrewery to open in the states in 1976 was the short lived New Albion brewery in California but by this point the homebrew revolution was dawning. Initially a trickle of microbrewers grew in to a flood and by the 1990's there were hundreds breweries and brewpubs in America. By the end of the decade many of the new brewers had gone out of business or changed hands but a solid market base for quality crafted beers had been established.
This period saw the arrival of much respected and very succesful craft brewers such as The Boston Beer Company, Sierra Nevada, Stone brewing and Magic Hat. The craft brewing movement is still growing in the states as more and more Americans look for something more satisfying and exports from these brewers are growing at pace.
Anyone looking to sample quality and diverse beers could do a lot worse than to look across the Atlantic to our brothers in the new world and their fine offerings.

Review of Man Walks in to a Pub by Pete Brown

I read the first edition of Pete's book a couple of years ago when I had a real thirst for information on the history of beer in this country. This book certainly quenched it with a wealth of facts tracing the origins of beer in Egyptian times through to present time (as of 2002 for the first edition.)
 It covers the development of brewing from being a home based activity performed by ale wives to a multi billion pound industry of brewing giants. He looks at the effects of the 2 world wars on the industry and drinking habits of the nation and how the temperance movement fitted in to the picture.
There are many interesting and amusing facts thrown into the mix and his footnotes often give you a good chuckle.
I felt the end of the first edition left me a bit dissapointed as we discovered that Pete was a lager drinker who had an obvious bias towards Stella Artois as he worked in the marketing of the beer. He was also heavy handed on his criticism of CAMRA  who although have obviously been flawed over the years he seemed to under-estimate the power this organisation still had. The second edition of the book for me makes amends for this. He has re-wrote his section on CAMRA with a more balanced and less collective criticism of the organisation and more specific comments. He has also balanced out the critique with praise for their achievements and also reports on how the organisation has developed over the 8 years since the first edition. Gone also are the pages of praise for Stella replaced with a chronicle of this beers rise to glory and subsequent fall from grace.
There are additional chapters on events in the last decade including the rise of Microbreweries, the changes in licensing laws and neo-prohibitionists. The first edition was a great read and spurred me on to read his other great but quite different books related to beer. Pete is now seen as an authority on beer and the industry with his publications in newspapers and his No.1 ranked blog. If you are interested in getting to know more about beer and it's origins this is the book for you, if you read the first edition it's certainly worthwhile reaturning to the second edition with all the changes and additions.

Tollemache Arms Beer Festival

Forget your Great British Beer Festival (that's for wealthy people and Londoners) today (Monday 2nd August) sees the start of the Tollemache Arms Beer Festival. This event is held at the 16th century Inn found in Harrington in Northamptonshire. 30 real ales are on offer and entertainment is provided every day with live music over the weekend. There are bouncy castles and garden games to keep the kids out of your hair so you can concentrate on the important concern of sampling the different beers.
I attended this event last year and it was the best one I have been to at a pub. I will be attending at the weekend with the family in celebration of my upcoming birthday, I have to thank the good lady wife who will be driving us over and sticking to the soft drinks. For more info check out this link: Tollemache arms beer festival

Hop Daemon

Brewing in Newnam near Faversham Kent Hop Daemon are based in the heart of Hop country. Started by Tonie Prins, a Kiwi, in 2000 they are quite literally brewing in the shadow of Shepherd Neame Britains oldest brewery. Supplying 70 outlets in Kent the brewery has grown rapidly in it's 10 years existence. All ingredients are produced locally but it would be sacrilegious to use hops not produced in the counties hop gardens.

Skrimshander IPA

A copper coloured  ale with lots of peppery hops on the nose balanced by a sweet breadiness. Fruity and sweet on the pallate with a light body. The finish is a sharp citruis fruit bitterness leaving you with a dry mouth feel. A real thirst quencher and very more-ish. This is a very satisfying IPA but lower in alcohol at 4.5% abv than more traditional versions.
A great find that deserves to have a much farther reaching outlet than it currently has. I score 4 out of 5.

More Attention Seeking From Brewdog

This article on the BBC news site reports on BrewDogs latest publicity stunt. They have surpassed themselves with their principle of 'there's no such thing as bad publicity.' Packaging their new world record beating 55% beer in stuffed animals was always going to ruffle many feathers but it gives them the attention they seek. At £500 a bottle this is a brew that would never pass my lips but a 55%  beer is not likely to either. I can't imagine what a beer at this strength would taste like but I don't think it could resemble anything else that calls itself beer. All 12 bottles available were sold within 4 hours ang good luck to those who have that kind of money to waste on a marketing gimmick.

Pubs on the Net

When I plan to go and stay somewhere in England I like to know before hand what the pubs are like in the vicinity. I look for pubs that are family friendly because we have the kids with us and pubs are where we tend to eat our evening meals so I like to have an idea about what menus are on offer. Of course I also want to know what pubs are likely to offer a quality selection of Ales.
The cask Marque website is very usefull as you can determine what pubs have been accredited and this should be a guarantee of quality. Their website really could do with updating but it is a good starting point.
There are plenty of pub review sites on the net to search through. Many of these are very limited on the amount of info they offer and have far few reviews available. The site that seems to be most comprehensive is Beer in the Evening which I find gives me a far better success rate than any of it's competitors. It is a user friendly site but ultimately you are at the mercy of the users who have made the reviews.
Out of the thousands of people who step foot through the doors of these pubs you may get reviews from about 6 or 7 people which is really just a drop in the ocean. As people tend to be more vocal in their disaproval of things than they do in their appraisal it is likely that many of the reviews are going to be critical. The pub experience is a very personal experience and what is an issue for one might not be for another. There is also the suspicion that when a glowing review is left that is has been made by a propietor or member of staff. Ratings aren't helpful too because they don't show what exactly points are being given too or what is being scored down for.
More and more pubs have there own websites now. For me these are the best way to find out about a pub even if they don't offer a critical view of the establishment. A good site will have plenty of pictures from inside and outside of the pub. For pubs that serve food at least a sample menu should be a given. Upcoming events or a news page is a usefull addition and is good way of gauging the kind of atmosphere you can expect. What is sadly lacking on a lot of sites is information about the beers they serve. This may indicate that the pubs doesn't offer anything to crow about but often it is just a sad oversite.
Not enough pubs have their own websites yet but this does seem to be something that is changing quite fast and hopefully the quality of the sites will improve as well. I also hope that pub review sites can increase their quality dramatically because for me they have a long way to go yet.

St Austells Join British Lager Producing Ranks

After brewing ales for 159 years ST Austells in Cornwall are moving into the lager making market. They are launching there first premium quality lager. The Lager is called Korev which is the traditional Cornish name for beer. The lager will only be available at the current time in pubs in the Cornwall, Devon and Sommerset area.
St Austells are joing the ranks of the The Cotswold Brewing Co, Freedom, Harviestoun, Mitchell Krause and West Brewery in producing crafted lagers. Although I am aware there are many quality Pilseners available they are not something that really appeals to me, I would just rather drink a blonde ale than a lager. I do however think it's a good thing that there is more and more qaulity lager being produced in Britain so we don't just have to turn to the Europeans for quality alternatives to the mass produced piddle on the supermarket shelves.
LOBI are a group that are trying to promote quality lagers in Britain by independent breweries. One can hope that this is a movement that can snowball like CAMRA and have the same impact that they had on ale in this country. The main problem I believe they face is the fact that ale had a long established history in this country before the brewing giants  monoplised the industry. Lager does not have this background and craft lagers are a new movement but one that hopefully has a bright future.
I am ashamed to admit that Beer Angel has been consuming rather a lot of Budweiser of late. I do not despair though because I have hope that I can entice her in to trying some craft lagers as part of my plan to move her on to drinking pale ales (just don't let her know!)

The Piper Beer Festival

Another beer festival within walking distance of my house, 5 minutes across the rugby field. I am sure the Beer Angel will be giving me permission to make an appearance over there so if you enjoy quality beer come and join me.

Beer Demon Pale Ale

This is the first review of one of my own creations, I won't score it because I am hardly impartial but I will try to be honest in my assessment. This rich golden ale was brewed with pale malt, a little honey malt and some torrefied wheat for body. Hopped with Amarillo and Willamette I also added honey blossom to the boil.
It pours with a good fizz but the head is very short lived which is disapointing as I hoped the torrified wheat would help head retention. The nose is dominated by orange from the blossom and there is a lovely honey sweetness coming through. I was hoping for a good kick from the hops but they are more subtle. They still provide a pleasant spicy citruis flavour and a satisfying moderate bitterness. The mouthfeel is quite dry  and allows for speedy supping. This is definitely one for a hot summers day and very sessionable at an abv of about 4%.

Wicksteed Beer Festival review

I ventured over Saturday evening with Dave1985 and was met by Maff and over friends during the course of the evening. It was a beautiful summers evening and was pleasantly suprised to find the event was being held in a marquee rather than the usual venue of the pavillion. We took some chairs from inside the marquee and sat in the sun where the majority of the other festival goers had placed themselves.
At previous stagings of this event an admission fee has been payable and a programme with a list of beers received. I was pleased to discover due to the layout an admission fee was not required this time but I had to scrat around for a discarded programme as none were forthcoming.
I opted for a half pint glass at the 'bar' as I always like to sample as big a variety as possible. This was to be swapped for a pint glass in due course as after our first sampling the queue grew extensively and stayed that way. This was my first issue of the event. The queue was caused by the fact they had a very small bar area in front of a seperate tent for the casks. This could only house a few people serving drinks at one time rather than  many usually in employ at the pavillion.
This set up was also the cause of my second issue. By the Saturday evening many of the casks had been finished but you only discovered which ones after you had ordered and the bartender returned without a beer. In other festivals I have attended the casks have been on display in the main marquee behind a long serving area and you could see which beers were off.
My next gripe and the most important one was the condition of the beers. Now I know the logistics of setting up this kind of event must be very difficult. Event organisers don't have the luxury of storing the casks in cool cellars for days before the event and only serving when they are at peak condition. Considering this though it doesn't excuse how badly they failed on this occasion. The beer was all served far too warm to be considered refreshing and the flavours also suffer. The majority of beers were flat, I don't expect champagne bubbles and ice-cream like heads but I do expect a bit of life. I couldn't judge any of the beers really as they were not served in a way that did them any justice.
The evenings entertainment was provided by some old couple singing to a backing track. The stage was right at the back of the marquee, the marquee that was uninhabited as everyone was seated outside. It must have been soul destroying for the act to sing to any empty tent. I don't know why the organisers didn't just hire a DJ and put some decent speakers outside.
Moaning over. Despite all my issues with the event I still had an entertaining evening, this was largely due to the company I shared. We all drank enough to end the evening rather merry. DaveBa took 2 attempts before he realised that he couldn't actually jump into a densely foliaged bush and was just left with red prickle marks up his arm. Fatty Matty discovered that if he threw a traffic cone at my head I would sit on his kneck and give him a pummeling (all in good spirit though.)