Boot Beer Festival June 2007

No, not the Boot in Lapworth but the village in Eskdale, Cumbria. Every year it hosts a beer festival with three pubs participating - The Boot, Brook House Inn and the Woolpack.

We travelled up on Thursday stopping off for lunch in the Good Beer guide listed Euxton Mills in Euxton, near Chorley, and enjoyed a brief lunch with the Jennings range to choose from.

The evening took us to the Brook House Inn which is just on the edge of the village, on the main road (in fact only a narrow lane) between Ravenglass and Coniston. An impressive pub for such a sparsely populated area, with a bar even more so with 8 hand pumps. The beers were clearly chosen with "food miles" in mind and included Bank Top Samuel Cromptons Ale, Boggart Hole, Yates, Taylor's Ram Tam, Abbeydale Black Mass (6.6% - not tried), Copper Dragon, Durham White Gem, Hawkshead Bitter and Leadmill Old Oak Bitter. The beers were changing even while we were there and it was hard going to keep up. I voted the Sam Cromton favourite.

The next day we visited Ravenglass, travelling in style on the narrow gauge railway conveniently running between Boot and Ravenglass. It was originally a Roman port but now is only a railway junction but a very charming village for all that.

The Holly House, a small unspoiled pub, provided lunch and was mainly memorable for the incredibly large amount of cheese in my Roquefort Baguette that cost only about £3. The Jennings range of beers was available. The other pub there was the Ratty Arms, a severe looking building right on the station, and with a name like that was unmissable. A Jennings beer and Theakstons Bitter were on. The pub apparently gets its name from the narrow gauge railway which is called the Trod Rat. Don't ask.

We booked a table at the Boot Inn for our evening meal in anticipation of the Saturday night being busy and sure enough it was with plenty drinkers and eaters outside as well enjoying the warm weather. Complimenting the excellent food were the beers from further afield than the night before. These were Schiehallion, Black Sheep, Shugborough (see Titanic in the GBG), Coachman's Tipple, Wards Best Bitter, Inveralmond Independence, Robinson's Hatters Mild, Osset Silver King and Hartley Cumbria Way.

Off to the Woolpack next which turned out to be a good mile and a half up the road and deeper into serious sheep country. The sign above the entry door says all - "BAA". This is the home of the Hardknott Brewery and a very much a macho drinkers pub - all bare boards and hard seats - and staff to match. Their own beers were Hardknott Cascade, Colonial Breakfast and Woolly Fusion, all of very distinctive character and not mainstream styles. The others were Yates IPA and Geltsdale Tarnmonath plus Vic Holders perry. It was hard to know how they manage to sell beer at any time, especially during the winter, with not a house for miles, but there were plenty drinkers on the night.

The brewery gets its name from the Hardknott Pass, which goes all the way from Boot, past the Brook House Inn and the Woolpack eventually to Coniston. It claims to have the second steepest gradient in England - 30% - and this is the way we went on the Saturday morning with serious risk to paintwork and rubbing wing mirrors with complete strangers. The Black Bull Inn, in Coniston is the Home of the Coniston Brewery and surely nowhere better to try the Bluebird.

A barbeque was enjoyed later in the day with carry-out Bluebird from the excellent King George 1V nearby and rounded off by a log fire well into the night.

Bob Jackson

When Is a Beer Festival Like a Bus? November 2007

A rare opportunity presented itself recently. Wetherspoon's Real Ale festival had been running at The White Swan in the town centre since the start of November. The Ember Inns 6-week-long Cask Fresh Ale festival was continuing at The Fieldhouse in Monkspath. Just down the road, The Oak has restated it's commitment to real ale by organising a weekend-long real ale festival. The opportunity to indulge in 3 real ale festivals inside 24 hours could not be resisted.

A late evening visit to The White Swan allowed us to sample Cain's Creamy Stout, Oakham's Jeffrey Hudson Bitter and Robinson's Old Tom. Cain's is a Liverpool-based brewery housed in an ornate Victorian red-brick building. The Creamy Stout is one of their seasonal beers and is exactly as you would expect - a classic dark and malty beer with bitter-chocolate taste and yet pleasantly soft and creamy. Oakham Ales, originally based in Rutland but now in Peterborough, brew around 15 ales of which the award-winning JHB is one of their permanent features. It is a pale beer with far more flavour than its 3.8% would suggest, and a distinct grassy aroma. Robinson's Old Tom, a deceptively strong ale at 8.5%, is a huge mouthful of flavour with a smell strangely reminiscent of toffee apples.

Not far out of the town centre, The Fieldhouse has earned a reputation for serving good ales, and the festival specials of Enville Ale and Burton Bridge's Bridge Bitter did not disappoint. Enville Ale, originally produced in 1992 as a by-product of the local honey production but to a 150-year-old recipe, has the typical flavour of a honey beer - the sweetness you would assume to be present has been fermented out to leave a pleasing sharp flavour. Bridge Bitter, Burton Bridge's flagship ale, is one of over 20 ales produced by the brewery and was a welcome, traditional ale.

The following night, an earlier start took us to a large tent pitched in the car park at the side of The Oak where we enjoyed our third and final festival. Edward Allingham from the Leatherbritches Brewery brought along a number of ales for the festival, including his own Spiced Berry Mild, I'm not normally a great fan of mild, preferring something with a little more flavour. This, however, had plenty of depth and flavour and made a great start to the night. Many spiced ales are overpowered by the flavours - this one was well balanced.Working our way from top left to bottom right, we sampled a number of good, if unremarkable ales until the middle of the top row produced a delightful drop of Oakham's Gravity. This is one of their seasonal ales and bears some resemblance to the JHB we sampled the previous night, but without quite such a distinct aroma. A methodical sampling of all the other beers available that night showed that this was our star of the show. Credit for the most unusual taste of the night almost went to a bright green cider tasting more like pear drops than apples, but in the end it must go to Thornbridge's Hark! My first encounter with the brewery was at the Solihull Beer Festival earlier this year where they supplied the excellent Jaipur IPA - one of the few IPAs available that is brewed the traditional way - high in alcohol and very hoppy. Expanding this Indian theme, they have created an ale flavoured with coriander. The result? An almost savoury ale a bit like a beer and curry in the same mouthful! The combination is so unexpected that it takes a little time to get used to it, but it is one that I look forward to finding again.

The evening would not have been complete without a visit inside the pub to sample the regular Purity ales on draught. Time only permitted us a taste of the Pure UBU, one of my personal favourite beers, although we did manage to squeeze in a quick bottle of Dunkerton's Black Fox cider. Our discussion of the tastes and smells of the beers we had sampled prompted the barman to recommend that we tried this one as it has a most surprising smell. This is not apparent until the cider is rapidly swirled in the glass and the more complex aromas are released. At this point the inevitable apples give way to the smell of fresh Stilton cheese.

Never before have I had the opportunity to liken beer festivals to buses - suddenly three of them arrive at the same time!

Gordon Clarke

Forest Hotel, Dorridge October 2007

Over the weekend of the 26^th-28^th October the Forest Hotel ran a small beer festival. A party of Solihull CAMRA descended on the pub on the Friday evening to sample the beers on offer.

The beer was housed in a marquee, in which were a few seats with patio heaters to keep the drinkers warm. We were lucky enough to get a seat inside as we arrived quite early. Even at 6pm when they opened there was a brisk trade.

Ten beers were available all from well-known breweries. Timothy Taylor Ram Tam made a pleasant change from the usual Landlord as did Wadworth JCB in places of 6X. The other brews were more predictable however being Hook Norton Old Hooky; Fullers Chiswick Bitter; Black Sheep Bitter; Jennings Cumberland; Wychwood Hobgoblin; Brains Reverend James; Ruddles County and Wyre Piddle's Piddle in the Hole, the only beer from a micro brewery. All the beers were served direct from the cask and were all in good condition. Prices too were reasonable for the area, varying from £2.50 to £2.75 per pint

Cider drinkers were well served with Thatcher's Cheddar Valley and Heritage and bottled Dunkerton's Black Fox at 7%.

If you preferred country wines then Apricot, Damson and Sloe were available.

The Forest is to be congratulated on the festival, however, it would have been good to see a few more micro breweries represented.

Steve Dyson

Severn Valley Railway Beer Festival September 2007

The need to pick up the branch's 2008 GBG order was the perfect excuse for a visit to the 13^th Severn Valley Railway festival run by Bridgnorth CAMRA over the 3 days of 13^th to 15^th September. Located in marquees at Severn Valley Railway's Bridgnorth station there were up to 50 real ales plus cider on perry listed. Sitting outside late Thursday afternoon with a half of GBBF champion beer Hobson's mild was very relaxing. It was just unfortunate that no trains were running to Bridgnorth due to the flood damage to the track.

Malcolm Harry

Birmingham Beer Festival September 2007

Over the same dates as Bridgnorth, and also with Hobson's mild available, Birmingham CAMRA held their annual beer festival at Aston University's Students Guild. 90 plus real ales were on offer along with a good selection of cider and perry and an imported beer stall. My personal favourite of those tried was Revival by Moor of Somerset.

Malcolm Harry

Rowington Club Beer Festival August 2007

Is it that time of year already? The Rowington Club has kept its promise to run an annual event. Live music, a pig-roast and plenty of beers to choose from. The club is easy to find although it is nearer to Rowington Green and the nearest station is Lapworth (1 mile). It was a beautiful day and many of us arrived by bicycle. The beers were mainly in the 4-5% range. I'd have liked a lighter pint after the ride, but the first pint of Stonehenge Pigswill was superb (I don't know if it is the thirst, but cycling to a pub always seem to result in a good first beer). Fortunately the second was good too - Highgate Pheasant Plucker (not to be confused with Church End's beer of the same name). Theakston have launched a new regular since returning to family ownership - Grouse Beater, very fruity and I really liked that too. The list went on... culminating in a Robinson's 8.5% Old Tom (I've had this in bottled form before, but not draught). Not really suited to summer cycling, but very good nonetheless. Too many to mention, but all in good form.

It is worth mentioning that the club normally serves a choice of four real ales, including two guests, of which RCH Pitchfork was on tap during the festival - truly hoppy and highly recommended, so we all followed our chairman's example on that one.

As if all this wasn't enough, the cricket club next door was hosting a match so there was entertainment laid on too. A perfect English afternoon. I look forward to 2008.

Robert Cawte

White Swan, Solihull April 2007

It is a little remiss of us to be so slow to write up the White Swan (Wetherspoon Solihull) Spring 2007 Beer Festival. The landlord invited us to suggest the beers we would like from the list he could order from, so we called in the week before for a pint and duly made our suggestions. Steve and Bob claimed the free T-shirts and really should be writing this up! At the beer festival they also laid on a few sarnies, samosas and pork pie at around 6pm for the 15-20 of us from Solihull CAMRA - which was kind.

Turning to the beer, the choice is a rolling 5 pumps, so you never know what is coming next. My notes read: Elgood's Black Dog - a classic dark mild, many of us were not fans of mild in general, but all agreed it was a very pleasant pint; Everards Sly Fox - ginger biscuits; Caledonian - Top Banana , yep, like banana sweets; Jennings Snecklifter - a classic and good too; Ringwood Old Thumper - ah yes, the Ringwood... that was a nice pint.

Beers were available in ¹/₃ pint glasses, and 3 for the price of a very reasonable pint. There were trays available (practical) and printed tray mats to fit, each with 3 spaces marked out so that the staff could label the 3 beers you just had selected. The numbers matched those on the beer menus on all the tables. Not difficult, but a thoughtful touch, obviously creating more work for the bar staff, but they seemed genuinely pleased to make sure we got the most from our visit. Service with a smile.

The aforementioned beer menu also included a "join CAMRA" form (not just a web address) and if you joined, you got your money back in tokens to use at Wetherspoons. I am told that caused a significant surge in new members, so I hope we can welcome them to our own beer festival in a few months.

Finally, we did meet the landlord - who commented he kept running out of real ale - which we were delighted to hear and suggested he order some more. I could have stayed for another one or two, but it was getting very noisy and heaving with regulars - that is a good sign and returns the effort Wetherspoon puts into it - so we left them to it.

Robert Cawte

Moseley Beer Festival at the Epic November - December 2006

There was a very generous 50 real ales to be sampled at the Epic this weekend when Moseley hosted its first beer festival. There were beers from better known breweries such as Hook Norton and Timothy Taylor and plenty from (to me at least) unheard of ones such as 3 Castles (Vale Ale 4.3%), College Green (Molly’s Chocolate Stout 4.3%), St George’s (Yankee 4.6%), Hilden (Halt 6.1%) and Amber Valley (Original Dark Stout 4.0%).

Birmingham CAMRA’s Tom Whitton had volunteered to set up and look after the beers and had clearly done a good job because they were in excellent condition and at the right temperature – the atmosphere there being better suited to beer than customers!

The brains behind this venture was Keith Marsden, who explained to our little group from Solihull CAMRA over a beer or two, that he wanted to expand the range of activities at the Epic and a beer festival seemed to fit the bill. He said that although he was not a big beer drinker when he did drink it he preferred something of quality and couldn’t be bothered with keg beers or lagers. His predilection for quality extended to other foods such as bread and cheeses.

The Epic is housed in Moseley’s old tram shed which is Grade 2 listed - a fine building viewed from the outside - but I expect a trifle too industrial looking inside for some. Half of the building was partitioned off for the skate park and was in session while we were there. Occasionally heads and bits of bikes popped up over the boards. At other times there were heavy crunching noises accompanied by gasps of anguish from onlookers. Thank goodness the climbing centre was in the building next door.

Art, photography and music are all part of the Epic scene and while we were there, there were performances of poetry from Matt Lloyd and blues, jazz etc from singer/songwriter Giovana Olbera all ameliorated by a charmingly decorated and "clubby" room inside the building.

Well done Keith, how about another one when the weather warms up.

Bob Jackson

8^th Solihull Beer Festival September 2006

	Visitors were welcomed by our highly trained and motivated reception team, resplendent in their "beerheads" uniform.
	One of this year's innovations was the Hop Table, giving drinkers a chance to feel and smell the ingredient that gives beer its bitterness and aroma. Many thanks to Tunnel and Weatheroak breweries for providing samples.
	Friday night was the busier of the two. Fortunately there were 30 beers on tap, with a few in reserve in case of emergencies (thanks to Bernie's off licence).
	Once again this year we used tokens for payment, which made serving at the bar much quicker... essential when it gets busy.
	Visitors evidently enjoyed themselves. (These folk were paying us a welcome visit from Coventry branch). The I K Brunel-themed festival glasses proved very popular, selling out completely.
	It's good to see Real Ale is becoming increasingly popular with the new generation of drinkers.
	With good numbers of visitors, there was a really lively atmosphere...
	... it was still possible to find space for a quiet pint and a leisurely read of BEER.

Kevin Clarke   Photos: Gordon Clarke

Older reports can be found in the Festival Reports Archive.