Northants BF - That Was A Mad Weekend

The sun shone, and the drink flowed. This year's Northamptonshire Beer Festival had more beer than ever and far more cider than ever. It also had our best weather ever, with temperatures in the mid twenties.

The beer list numbered 238 although there were a few barrels doubled up making around 250 casks in total. We didn't sell out of beer, although we were quite close, but therein lies the good planning in the beer ordering because there is no point having gallons and gallons of beer left at last orders on the last day. We did run out of cider at around 8;30 though. There was a bit of beer left for the staff to have a quick drink and a sing song after closing which was very pleasant.

I didn't catch any of the entertainment, which included an allegedly successful attempt at a World record motorcycle jump; the sealed knot and plenty of bamds, but I'm sure they were a success.

My efforts were restricted to selling beer and helping back of house, and I hope visitors thought we ran a good show. We didn't have sufficient glasses on Saturday night, but it was busier than expected. Nobody went home thirsty though.

I did manage to sample around 40 different beers over the three days and have to say that they were in great condition. It's long been an assertion of mine that outdoor festivals work better than indoor as far as beer quality is concerned. We had to soak the barrels with cold water to keep them at optimum temperature; something which is easier to do when the water can flow into the ground rather than a linoed floor.

Favourite beers I tried included Boggart Rum Porter, Green Mill Big Chief and Chocolate Mild, Beowulf Wuffa and the festival special Great Oakley Abbey Stout. Honourable mention also to Nobbys Chilli Summer; proof again that chilis is a great additive to beer.

So, it was really hard work and my aging knees felt the pressure, but it was great fun, and we'll be doing it again. Same time same place next year. Roll up, roll up.

Last Minute Changes

Everything is up on the stillages for this week's festival and there are surprisingly few alterations to
the list I posted at the weekend.

Boggart Dark Mild replaced by Trad Mild.
Boggart Dark Rum Porter is actually Rum Porter.
Elland Anniversary Ale is 7th Anniversary Ale.
Bridestones TJ5 is actually TJ's.
Rockingham Black Forest replaced by Dark Forest.
Brampton Best replaced by Golden Bud.

The following are no shows:

Red Squirrel Colorado American IPA
Sawbridgeworth Malt Shovel Porter
Sawbridgeworth Chocolate Orange Stout

Northamptonshire Beer Festival 2009- The Beer List

The Northamptonshire Beer Festival starts this Thursday at Delapre Abbey in Northampton at 5pm. It is then open all day from noon. The beer list which should be final is listed below. I will update with any changes as and when they occur.

Abbeydale Brimstone
Abbeydale Belfry
B&T Gold Leaf
B&T R101
B&T Black Dragon Mild
B&T Edwin Taylors Extra Stout
Bank Top Flat Cap
Bank Top Volunteer
Bank Top Pavilion
Bank Top Port o' Call
Beowulf Wuffa
Beowulf Goldwork
Beowulf Chasewater
Beowulf Swordsman
Blue Cow Best Bitter
Blue Monkey Original
Blue Monkey Evolution
Blythe Blythe Bitter
Blythe Staffie
Blythe Ridware Pale
Blythe Tetty's Tipple
Boggart Hole Clough Dark Mild
Boggart Hole Clough Standard Pioneer
Boggart Hole Clough Sun Dial
Boggart Hole Clough Ray of Sunshine
Boggart Hole Clough Dark Rum Porter
Brampton Best
Brampton 1302
Brass Monkey Best Bitter
Brass Monkey Mandrill
Brass Monkey Monkey Pooh
Brass Monkey Silverback
Brewdog Zeitgeist
Brewdog Punk
Brewdog 77Lager
Brewdog Dogma
Brewdog Trashy Blonde
Brewdog Paradox Smokehead
Brewsters Hophead
Brewsters Marquis
Brewsters Cheval Mort
Brewsters Kiyo
Bridestones Pennine Dark Mild
Bridestones Brown Ale
Bridestones TJ5
Bridestones Sandman
Brunswick White Feather
Brunswick Pilsener
Cathedral Magna Carta
Cathedral St Hugh's
Cathedral Black Imp
Cherwell Valley Larkrise
Cherwell Valley Cropredy Bridge
Cherwell Valley Kineton Fight
Cherwell Valley Duke of Cumberlands Head
Concrete Cow Ironbridge Brew
Concrete Cow Cowzat'
Dark Star Hophead
Dark Star Espresso
Dark Star Festival
Dark Star Original
Dent Dent Bitter
Dent Aviator Ale
Dent T'owd Tup
Digfield Fools Nook
Digfield Barnwell Bitter
Digfield March Hare
Digfield Shacklebush
Digfield IPA
Digfield Mad Monk
Dowbridge Centurion
Dowbridge Fosse
Dowbridge Legion
Dowbridge DB Dark
Dowbridge Morgans Beez Neez
Elland Mambo
Elland Beyond the Pale
Elland Anniversary Ale
Elland Space
Empire Golden Warrior
Empire Pilgrim
Empire Valour
Empire Longbow
Frog Island Fuggled Frog
Frog Island Best Bitter
Frog Island Shoemaker
Frog Island Natterjack
Frog Island Fire Bellied Toad
Frog Island Croak & Stagger
Full Mash Brass Monkey
Full Mash Stapleford Stout
Grainstore Cooking
Grainstore 1050
Grainstore Silly Billy
Grainstore NIP
Great Oakley Welland Valley Mild
Great Oakley Wot's Occurring
Great Oakley Wagtail
Great Oakley Harpers
Great Oakley Gobble
Great Oakley Delapre Dark
Great Oakley Tailshaker
Great Oakley Abbey Stout
Green Mill Chocolate Mild
Green Mill A Bitter T'ale
Green Mill Chief
Green Mill Big Chief
Hart Nemesis
Hart Dishy Debbie
Hawkshead Bitter
Hawkshead Lakeland Gold
Hawkshead Brodies Prime
Hoggleys Northamptonshire Bitter
Hoggleys Kislingbury Bitter
Hoggleys Mill Lane Mild
Hoggleys Reservoir Hogs
Hoggleys Pump Fiction
Hoggleys Solstice Stout
Hoggleys Slum Hog
Hopshackle Historic Porter
Hopshackle Double Momentum
Iceni Celtic Queen
Iceni Fine Soft Day
Iceni Cranberry Wheat
Julian Church Parson's Nose
Julian Church Wonky Spire
Julian Church Martyr
Leatherbritches Copper Classic
Magpie Fledgling
Magpie Dark Secret
Magpie Best Bitter
Magpie Monty's FIrkin
Mallinsons Amarillo
Mallinsons Statue of Zeus
Mallinsons TR7
Mallinsons Jubilee Tower
Maypole Little Weed
Maypole Major Oak
Milestone Raspberry Wheat
Milestone Loxley
Milestone Rich Ruby
Milton Icarus
Milton Nero
Naylors Pinnacle Bitter
Naylors Pinnacle Blonde
Nethergate Old Growler
Nethergate Essex Beast
Nethergate Umbel Magna
Nethergate Lounge Lizard
Nethergate Essex Border
Nobbys Best Bitter
Nobbys Guilsborough Gold
Nobbys Claridges Crystal
Nobbys Monster Mash
Nobbys Chilli Summer
Nobbys T'owd Navigation
Oakham Endless Summer
Oakham Attila
Oakham JHB
Oakham Inferno
Oakham White Dwarf
Oakham Bishops Farewell
Oldershaw Grantham Dark
Oldershaw Regal Blonde
Oldershaw High Dyke
Oldershaw Harrowby Pale
Oldershaw Grantham Stout
Oldershaw Ahtanum Gold
Grainstore Phipps IPA
Grainstore Phipps Red Star
Potbelly Welland Truly
Potbelly Black Sun
Potbelly Potbelly Best
Potbelly Aisling
Potbelly Ambrosia
Potbelly Beijing Black
Potbelly Inner Daze
Potbelly Crazy Daze
Purple Moose Black Hand Porter
Purple Moose Madogs
Purple Moose Snowdonia
Purple Moose Glaslyn Ale
Purple Moose Darkside of the Moose
RCH Old Slug Porter
RCH East Street Cream
RCH Double Header
RCH Steampole
RCH PG Steam
Red Squirrel BSPA
Red Squirrel London Porter
Red Squirrel English IPA
Red Squirrel Colorado American IPA
Red Squirrel Blonde
Rockingham A1 Amber Ale
Rockingham Black Forest
Sawbridgeworth Malt Shovel Porter
Sawbridgeworth Chocolate Orange Stout
Shardlow Kiln House
Shardlow Whistle Stop
Shardlow Golden Hop
Silverstone Pitstop
Silverstone Chequered Flag
Southport Golden Sands
Southport Carousel
Spinning Dog Herefordshire Owd Bull
Spinning Dog Mutleys Dark
Spinning Dog Celtic Gold
Spinning Dog Mutts Nutts
Spire Ruby Tuesday
Spire Land Of Hop And Glory
St.Georges St George is mild
St.Georges Order of the Garter
St.Georges Dragons Blood
Tower Steamin Billy Last Bark
Tower Steamin Billy Skydiver
Tower steamin Billy Fox's Revenge
Titanic Golden Age
Ufford White Hart
Ufford Golden Drop
Vale Vale Best Bitter
Vale Edgar's Golden Ale
Vale Hadda's Spring Gold
Vale VPA
Vale Castle Bitter
Weatheroak Light Oak
Weatheroak Victoria Works
White Horse Village Idiot
White Horse Wayland Smithy
White Horse Black Beauty
White Park White Gold
White Park Kellihopter
White Park Cranfield Bitter
Whitehaven Ennerdale Breeze
Whitehaven Ennerdale Bitter
Whitehaven Ennerdale Blonde
Whitehaven Ennerdale Copper
Wild Walker Old Big Ead
Wild Walker Last Orders
Wolf Golden Jackal
Wolf Lavender Honey
Wolf Woild Moild

Hello Again

Yes, it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that. I've been a bit busy with one thing and another, but to hell with excuses.

So, what have I been up to since we last met? I went to the beer festival at The Merchants Inn in Rugby, where all beers had an animal in the name and we were encouraged to order merely by animal name rather then the whole beer (Bugger that). I went to the first festival at The Victoria in Northampton, which needed to have more beers on at a time. I spent a week in the Peak District and only went to four (yes four) pubs the whole week. I had no internet access and precious little mobile phone reception, but that's not always a bad thing. And finally, and more pressingly, I've been puttiing together the tasting notes for this year's Northamptonshire Beer Festival which runs from May 28-30 at Delapre Abbey. This blog will be the first place the beer list will be published and there are some good beers to behold.

I'll try to get the blog back on a regular roll now that things are quietening down. I'm off on my annual pilgrimage to Brighton on Sunday though. That will be fun.

Leicester Beer Festival 2009

Leicester Beer Festival this year was as good as ever. I managed one four hour session drinking with Simon and his friends, whilst the ale-affinity guys were also in the room. I'm late doing a write up but those lazy bloggers take the biscuit.

As usual there was a vast selection of beers to be sampled and a vast selection of tickers to spot. It's not really my thing but the sixteen festival specials certainly are attractive to the uber-beerspotter. Beer quality was excellent; I've got a thing about indoor festivals with insufficient cooling opportunities equalling substandard beers by day three or four of the fest, but as I went on day two this really wasn't an issue.

I've already written about the outstanding beer of the day, but other top beers were had in the form of:

Bollington Oat Mill Stout
Old Spot Spot O Bother
Bragdy'r Nant Monkey Nells
and BrewDog Divine Rebel and V2009

Opa Hey's Engels Best Bitter was poor whilst Potbelly Captain Pigwash was disappointing. Hopefully I'll get to retry that one though.

I'll be back again next year. My birthday week wouldn't be the same without a trip to Leicester.

Not A Real Ale Festival

I got quite excited when I read that a pub chain I'd not previously heard of was holding a six-week long beer festival in its 98 pubs.

The festival was brought to my attention by this article about a pub not a million miles from me. There's even the offer of free beer and a trip to The Czech Republic for a decent beer reviewer, if only I knew one.

Further research however reveals that the Vintage Inns showcase will see, according to this piece from their website just seven real ales (sic). One of which is the Czech pilsnerBudweiser Budvar. The mind boggles.

Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to drink decent lagers at festivals and often do, but at least recognise the fact that they are not real ales. People shouldn't spread so much ignorance. Just call it a beer festival; there's nowt wrong with that.

Wicksteed Park Beer Festival

Wicksteed Park is Northamptonshire's premier amusement park. You could say it's our county's answer to Alton Towers, but that would be lying.

Unlike Alton Towers though Wickies as us locals know it hosted a beer festival last weekend. This was the second such event and follows a successful fest in the Summer. I went on the Friday night together with a group of others from the local CAMRA branch, and had a great time.

The beer list which numbered 35 was well chosen with a reasonable selection of local beers and some from further afield. The beer ordering was done in part by Nip from Kettering's premier free house The Alexandra Arms. Beers I had were from the following breweries; Thornbridge, Silverstone, Atomic, Abbeydale, Downton, Twickenham, Julian Church, Elland and Blue Bear. All were in good condition but particular good ones were Thornbridge Ashford and Abbeydale Vespers.

The next festival is planned for 30 July to 2 August, and I did hear discussions that there may be 52 beers for that one. I'm looking forward to it.

An Epic Beer At Wetherspoons

This year's first Wetherspoon International Beer Festival runs from April 15 to May 4 and is planned to be the biggest and best yet.

There will be six 'foreign' beers available (i.e. foreign recipes brewed at British breweries by their original brewer). The first of these that has been announced is Pale Ale from New Zealand brewer Epic.

What is interesting is that this beer which is said to have fifteen different hops (Thanks to Mr Reluctant for spotting my mistake here [see comments] although it seems it's a common misconception) is to be brewed at Everards in Leicester, rather than one of the Marstons stables of breweries. Clearly more breweries are becoming interested in aiding the brewing of interesting and tasty beers

It is the first time this beer has been served from the cask. It should make for good drinking as, hopefully, will all the other festival exclusives.

Why Is There A Champion Winter Beer?

Oakham Atilla has been crowned Champion Winter Beer Of Britain at The National Winter Ales Festival.

Well done Oakham say I, although I'm calling for this competition to be scrapped and the Champion Beer Of Britain judging in August to include all styles of beer. The only time I've had the beer was in October 2004 at The Bedford Beer Festival which it could be argued is the Winter although I'm not convinced. Looking at the other ratings on RateBeer most people on there drank it in the Autumn or even the Summer, so although it the type of beer that just doesn't see the light of day at GBBF, it's probably inaccurate to call it a "winter beer", so even the name of the competition is folly.

The categories which are judged at NWAF are old ales and strong milds; porters; stouts and barley wines. Any beers fulfilling these categories struggle to gain floor space at Earls Court, instead being showcased in Manchester. I really cannot agree with these beers being described and judged as Winter beers. I'd like to see them available all year round, but CAMRA calling them and judging them as such is not helpful to the necessary promotion of these styles.

So CAMRA, by all means have a huge beer festival in the North at this time of year, but let both festivals have the best of all British beers and just have the one big best beer of Britain competition.

Milton Keynes Beer Festival

"Come To Milton Keynes", sang The Style Council back in 1985. There aren't many reasons why you would. It's hardly worth a trek for anyone. It's a decent enough place to shop, but it's not really worthy of a visit for the beer lover.

I ventured there on Saturday though as the Milton Keynes Beer Festival was on its third day.

I was driven there by my wife, and we did a bit of shopping in the morning. It's a good job we were in the car with decent directions, as the venue seemed to be pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and hideously undersigned as far as directions are concerned. I'd read earlier in the week how tricky it was to find, and that is correct.

I met fellow RateBeerian Hughie there. He works in Milton Keynes luckily, so knows his way around. Otherwise I'm not sure I would have found my way back to the bus station to get home.

The festival featured 57 beers, four ciders and one perry. This is a low number for a festival but was probably just about right given the hard to find location. The number of punters when I was there was much lower than you would expect for a Saturday lunchtime, making a seat easy to find, and being served was a fast process..

The beers were predominantly local with fourteen brewers covered by the locale rules. All the Northamptonshire breweries were there including the brand new Silverstone Brewery. As predicted though their beer had ran out by the time I got there.

I was disappointed with the beer quality; I often am at indoor festivals except where extra effort has been made with the cooling. Sadly there appeared to be no cooling at all here, so the beer was a little on the warm side also.

The best beer I tried on the day was Golcar Dark Mild. I was shocked to realise I've never had a Golcar beer before and this was a decent lightly roasty dark mild to acquaint myself with the brewery. The Dark Star Porter was close behind.

We left the festival after a few hours to take in the delights of MK's Wetherspoons during their festival. More on that next time.

Wetherspoons Fest - Day One

Today is the first day of the latest Wetherspoons International Real Ale festival, and as is typical Northampton's Spoons has started with a whimper rather than a bang. Just the three festival beers amongst the usual bog standard regular beers were to be found here..Old Baily, Jolly Ploughman and Yona Yona were present.

Thankfully the Lloyds No 1 fared better as all four pumps had festival beers: Firestone Walker California Pale Ale; Thwaites Nutty Black; Brains Top Notch and Shepherd Neame Fuggles. It's a shame that whereas friends of mine have been drinking the festival beers elsewhere in the country since the weekend and their bars are stocked full of the stuff today that Northampton has made such a slow start. Still, it hopefully means there are lots of goodies to come.

For the record I was completely underwhelmed by the Firestone Walker. Not a sign of the chinnok, centennial or cascade in my glass; just the merest hint of lemon. Maybe I'll try it again.

Too Much Beer Or Not Enough?

The life of a beer festival organiser cannot be a happy one at times. Sure it's very rewarding seeing the crowds of drinkers having a great time sampling all those wonderful beers, but something that would haunt me for weeks beforehand is getting the beer order right.

Which is worse? Running out of beer a few hours before closing time, or throwing away gallons at the end of the night? Is it possible to get it spot on so that there's just enough left for the staff to have a quick knees up after the doors close?

It's very rare that I visit a festival on the last day, but I hear reports from a fair few and I know that there are festivals who find themselves at both ends of the spectrum, and may swing from one to the other from one year to the next. At Oxford on Saturday the beer was running out fast and apparently did end a few hours before closing. At Northampton this year we had quite a lot left, whereas the year before it did run out.

I think given the choice I would throw I away. It's certainly not ideal, and wastage of any type doesn't sit well with me, but as long as a profit is made, then I think it can be justified rather than be in a situation where a large number of punters are cheesed off with the beer running out.

It's a tricky decision but someone's got to make it. Nobody ever said being in charge is a bed of roses.

Marking Up The Third Pint Price

I'm all for offering third pints measures at pubs and beer festivals as I've mentioned on more than one occasion. I don't always choose to drink nips, but it's nice to have the option.

What I do expect though, is that the price of a third is roughly 33.3% of that of a pint. I accept rounding, so a pint at £2.60 translates to a third at 90 pence.

I was at the Oxford Beer Festival on Saturday, and was struck by the mark up in prices of thirds. A £2.60 pint was being sold not at 90p but £1. That's 40 pence more for three thirds than for a pint. A half pint was the expected £1.30, so why the discrepancy?

There's surely no additional overheads in pouring three thirds that warrants this extra charge. A publican may argue with me that's there's three times the washing up, but that's not the case at a festival.

I'm not sure if festivals are autonomous of CAMRA, but I can't imagine this is national policy. And if it is I'd really like to know how it is justified.

Nottingham Beer Festival - It's A Big 'Un

In terms of the number of real ales available, Nottingham comes second only to GBBF. In terms of beer rarity and new brewery availability, most would say it's the best in the UK. It certainly is the number one festival to play scoop the scooper.

I only managed a short session there this year on the opening afternoon; and with a near two hour bus journey required to get me home, my drinking capabilities were reduced on account of bladder control.

The festival moved location this year, taking place in the grounds of the castle moving from its previous leisure centre home, complete with perilous covered swimming pool. As with all venue changes it came with teething problems. My two friends and I walked unchallenged through the castle walls where apparently we should have paid an entrance fee, and been presented with a blue wristband. We realised something was amiss when glasses and beer tokens were refused on account of being wristband-less. Fortunately common sense prevailed and we were allowed to pay at the membership counter, thus taking away any requirement to walk back down and then up again the small hill. The canvass seemed to be sweating also, as frequent drips of something undesirable fell with regularity on our personages.

That's it for complaints though. The beer selection was excellent and the quality was more than acceptable. I only had nine halves, but of these I have to mention Bollington White Nancy, a really nice hoppy golden beer from this new Cheshire micro, named after that odd looking thing on the right.

Sometimes a festival is too big for its own good. Some might say this about Nottingham as its vast range of beers is more than enough for anyone and you feel unbelievably spoilt for choice, but if you take it at face value and just drink what you can manage and what you fancy then there's no excuse for going home unhappy.

I got home happy, bladder intact (just). Next year all being well I'll have a longer stint there. Maybe I'll sit outside and take in the views with the wind blowing in my hair - hey Simon ;-)

Another Friday - Another Northants Beer Festival

The George at Tiffield was the scene of the second succesive Northamptonshire Beers Festival weekend following three pubs event.

I went on the Friday night, meeting up there with a crowd from Northants CAMRA. There were fourteen beers from Frog Island, Great Oakley, Hoggleys, Nobbys, and Potbelly. I didn't try them all, not suprisingly, but do have to report that Potbelly Beijing Black again took pride of place, although Great Oakley Gobble wasn't far behind.

It's great that local pubs can put in festivals of this nature in their pursuit of LocAle status. It's not many years ago that there weren't enough breweries in the county to do this. I'm pretty sure all our breweries are doing well, and long may it continue.

A Triangular/Circular Beer Festival

Take three pubs in three relatively close together villages; put on six extra casks of Northamptonshire beers and you've got yourself a beer festival. One which we christened "The Triangle Beer Festival", although on arrival at the first pub we ascertained that the logo for the fest had the pubs' three names around a circle - so an immediate fail on the shape of events.

The festival was monumental in that it became the event which heralded my first CAMRA branch trip. Oh yes, I have overcome the shyness that some would say doesn't really exist, and gone on a minibus pub crawl with people who were mostly strangers at the start of the evening, and thoroughly enjoyed myself, and will hopefully lead me to participating in many more crawls. After all being driven to beer festivals is pretty heavenly.

The three pubs involved, in the order we visited them, were The Griffin's Head, in Mears Ashby; The Royal Oak, in Walgrave; and The White Swan in Holcot. All of these village locals were busy - probably busier than usual - and much ale was being consumed. The breweries represented were Digfield, Great Oakley, Hoggleys, Nobbys and Potbelly. Frog Island beers would have been there too, but a temporary period of hospitalisation of the brewer put a scupper on that.

Having sampled all the beers on offer before I was able to try some old favourites rather than just having new beers for the sake of it. The two beers which stood out for me, as expected were Beijing Black from Potbelly, and Great Oakley's Welland Valley Mild. These two excellent beers are testament to how good milds can be, and proof that some great beer is brewed in this county.

On the non-beer front, the landlord of The Griffin's Head presented us with a free huge bowl of steamingly hot chips to show his appreciation of our visit. This was a nice touch which sadly wasn't replicated at the other two pubs but beggars can't be choosers. The festival, which hasn't happened before appeared to be a great success and should certainly be repeated in the future. Such shared festivals are getting more common around these parts and in times of pub closures are perhaps a good way of getting more custom at what might otherwise be quiet times.

Going Foreign In St Albans

This year was the fourth time I've been to St Albans Beer Festival. In terms of beer selection it's pretty good with a nice balance of common stuff, rarer stuff from new breweries and lots of local beers. Being in CAMRA's hometown there's a bit of beer journo spotting to be done earlier in the week too.

One thing I've been disappointed with over the years though has been the beer quality. I could conjecture as to the cause of the beer not tasting as fresh as it could be, but I'm sure my opinions would have their critics. I do think though that indoor festivals during the warmer months do have their difficulties.

But UK beer festivals are often much more than cask beer these days, and St Albans has a great foreign selection. This year was no exception so I took my Belgian beer glass along and worked my way through a number of new (to me) foreign beers. It's a more expensive way of enjoying a beer festival but at least condition isn't an issue. It's something I could find myself doing more and more.

For the record I drank:

Mikkeller It's Alight!
Het Levenswater Dikke Deur Blont
Riedenburger Michaeli Dunkel Hefeweissbier
Agullons Pura Pale Extra Bitter
Alvinne Lex'ke
Klein Duimpje Juniper Ale
Flying Dog Road Dog Scottish Porter
Scheldebrouwerij 't Schoenlappertje

The last beer and the Juniper ale were the worst of the bunch, whilst the clear winner was the hoppy and bretty Mikkeller; another triumph for his superb Danish brewery.

I can get cask ales any day I want in my good local freehouses, but these unusual foreign beers are much more uncommon, and a treat to behold.

Marstons - Supporting Innovative Beer

I can't imagine Marstons PLC aren't getting something big out of the Wetherspoons Beer Festival, but I am mightily impressed with the commitment they are putting into the furtherence of good beer by allowing their premises to be used yet again this Autumn.

I advised previously that Yo-Ho, Firestone Walker and Mikkeller are coming over here to brew for the next festival. I have now found out that Yo-Ho are to brew at Banks's, Firestone Walker at Marstons, to make use of another union system, and Mikkeller is brewing at Jennings.

We all saw what foreign brewers are capable of on English plants when Stone came to Shepherd Neame. Let's hope for more great stuff.

The Queen Adelaide Beer Festival

The Queen Adelaide is described as "Northampton's Best Kept Secret". Blogging about it here isn't going to change that, but perhaps a listing in the Good Beer Guide under Northampton rather than Kingsthorpe, the village totally within the town border where it is located would help.

Kingsthorpe is at the other side of town from me. It's for that reason that I don't get there very often, but that's my loss. Paul Barton, the landlord, worked tirelessly in the build up to this year's Northamptonshire Beer Festival, and he deserves the custom of all local CAMRA members.

This weekend Paul put on a Beer Festival, loosely based on the location of each of the twelve Rugby Premiership clubs. There was a bit of creating accounting with Newcastle replaced by beers close to Nottingham, but otherwise the geography wasn't too far out.

I was there with the family so could only spend an all too short period of time there, but I still enjoyed a small selection of beers, all in good condition. I was excited on arrival to discover a new beer from Great Oakley. Marching In is brewed with New Zealand hops and English Whitbread Goldings hops. The NZ hops which are used to such good effect in Wagtail are here too, but the earthiness of the English hops make this a less citric punch of a beer. It's still good but more mainstream in its hoppiness than most GO beers. Phil the brewer arrived just as I was leaving, and I did compliment him on this new addition.

Other beers I had were from Potbelly, Blue Bear, Twickenham, and, one of my favourite brewers, Alehouse. With the exception of Potbelly, these are breweries I rarely see in county pubs, so thanks are due forbringing these rareish ales to our door. A selection of ciders were avaialble also from one of my favourite producers: Gwynt y Ddraig.

So a good festival at a lovely village pub ran by a real ale championing landlord. I mustn't leave it too long before I return.

The Next Wetherspoons Festival

Those of you who have received September's issue of What's Brewing, may have been drawn to the advert on page four for the next Wetherspoons International Real Ale Festival. The festival is set to run from October 30th to November 16th and will feature up to 50 ales.

The last festival was a great success and saw punters trek to Spoons pubs in their droves to sample, amongst others, beers brewed on these shores by the brewers from Stone of California, and Yo-Ho of Nagano.

This festival promises beers brewed by guest brewers from Japan, America, Australia and Denmark. I have it on good authority that the Japanese brewer is again Toshi from Yo-Ho, who, I am sure will do us proud again. However in a change of tack the American brewer is said to be Matt from Firestone Walker, and the Danish brewer is Mikkel from Mikkeller. These are two great brewers with very exciting products, which I hope they can replicate in a similar vein to the Stone California Double IPA brewed at Shepherd Neame.

I've yet to ascertain which brewer is coming from Australia, but as soon as I find out, I will of course share it. No doubt all true beer lovers in the land will want to join me in praising Wetherspoons for this continued support for excellent World brewers, whilst at the same time, bringing us a good range of home brewed stuff.