Sunday 29 June 2008

CAMRA Beer Tent at Crawley Folk Festival 29th and 30th June 2008

As usual I was at this festival mainly for the music, but that didn't mean I wasn't interested in the beer. This year I managed to taste every single brew on offer (except the ciders and perries...).

My beer of the weekend was the West Berkshire Maggs Magnificent Mild. Definitely magnificent!

Bowman Eldorado (3.7%): Delicate and fruity with a distintive elderflower taste. Lovely. 4
Castle Rock Harvest Pale (3.8%): Beautifully balanced pale yellow bitter. 4
Church End Grapefruit (5.0%): Disappointing. I couldn't detect any grapefruit in this strong beer. 3
Copper Dragon Black Gold (3.7%): Very fine dark fruity mild. 3
Dark Star Festival (5.0%): One of my all-time favourites, strong and perfectly formed, possibly not at it's best today. 3
Dark Star Summer Meltdown (4.8%): A very strong ginger taste to this popular beer. 3
Dark Star Summer Solstice (4.2%): Zesty and hoppy, perfect for a sunny afternoon. No wonder it ran out in record time. 4
Hammerpot White Wing (4.0%): Excellent fruity bitter. 4
Hanby Cherry Bomb (6.0%): Apart from the colour there's no clue this is actually beer. Very pleasant tasting cherry flavour drink. 3
Hepworth Iron Horse (4.8%): Another old favourite not quite at its best, a bit tangy. 3
Hepworth Summer Ale (3.4%): Zesty fruity golden beer. Lovely. 4
Hornbeam Black Coral Stout (4.5%): Dark, gritty and warming. 3
Humpty Dumpty Porter (5.4%): Decent strong porter. 3
Leeds Midnight Bell (4.8%): Rich and complex unusual mild. 3
Leeds Yorker (4.0%): A massive hop taste to this light-coloured beer. Very similar to Dark Star Hophead, but the Yorker is made with Slovenian hops. 3
Mighty Oak Simply The Best (4.4%): Fresh with quite a bitter taste. 3
Oakleaf Nuptu'ale (4.2%): Golden, sharp and hoppy. 3
Ossett Wot No England (4.3%): Pleasant drinkable bitter. 3
Pictish Alchemist (4.3%): Very sweet hoppy beer. 4
Purple Moose Madog's Ale (3.7%): A little sharp but with a lovely smooth malt taste. 3
Spectrum Light Fantastic (3.7%): Gentle bitter. A little earthy. 3
Spectrum Old Stoatwobbler (6.0%): Strong, dark, sweet and malty. 3
Thornbridge Brother Rabbit (3.7%): Good bitter, similar in flavour to a golden ale. 3
Vale Best Bitter (3.7%): Well balanced bitter; very light in colour. 3
West Berkshire Maggs Magnificent Mild (3.8%): Mellow and dark, exactly as its name suggests. 4
White White Gold (4.9%): Almost tasteless pale beer, although with a pleasant aftertaste. 2
Whitstable Wheat Beer (5.2%): Lemon and grapefruit hoppiness to this delicious wheat beer. 3

Some fine beers available over the weekend. This year the beer tent opened on the Friday evening of the festival, which meant there was not a great selection left on the Sunday afternoon. Good for keeping wastage down but not so good for thirsty morris men!

CAMRA Beer Tent at Crawley Folk Festival 29th and 30th June 2008 (copy entry)

In order to index the breweries using the label field, I've needed to create a copy entry as I drank so much beer here they don't all fit in one entry. So all the text below is a direct copy of the following entry.

As usual I was at this festival mainly for the music, but that didn't mean I wasn't interested in the beer. This year I managed to taste every single brew on offer (except the ciders and perries...).

My beer of the weekend was the West Berkshire Maggs Magnificent Mild. Definitely magnificent!

Bowman Eldorado (3.7%): Delicate and fruity with a distintive elderflower taste. Lovely. 4
Castle Rock Harvest Pale (3.8%): Beautifully balanced pale yellow bitter. 4
Church End Grapefruit (5.0%): Disappointing. I couldn't detect any grapefruit in this strong beer. 3
Copper Dragon Black Gold (3.7%): Very fine dark fruity mild. 3
Dark Star Festival (5.0%): One of my all-time favourites, strong and perfectly formed, possibly not at it's best today. 3
Dark Star Summer Meltdown (4.8%): A very strong ginger taste to this popular beer. 3
Dark Star Summer Solstice (4.2%): Zesty and hoppy, perfect for a sunny afternoon. No wonder it ran out in record time. 4
Hammerpot White Wing (4.0%): Excellent fruity bitter. 4
Hanby Cherry Bomb (6.0%): Apart from the colour there's no clue this is actually beer. Very pleasant tasting cherry flavour drink. 3
Hepworth Iron Horse (4.8%): Another old favourite not quite at its best, a bit tangy. 3
Hepworth Summer Ale (3.4%): Zesty fruity golden beer. Lovely. 4
Hornbeam Black Coral Stout (4.5%): Dark, gritty and warming. 3
Humpty Dumpty Porter (5.4%): Decent strong porter. 3
Leeds Midnight Bell (4.8%): Rich and complex unusual mild. 3
Leeds Yorker (4.0%): A massive hop taste to this light-coloured beer. Very similar to Dark Star Hophead, but the Yorker is made with Slovenian hops. 3
Mighty Oak Simply The Best (4.4%): Fresh with quite a bitter taste. 3
Oakleaf Nuptu'ale (4.2%): Golden, sharp and hoppy. 3
Ossett Wot No England (4.3%): Pleasant drinkable bitter. 3
Pictish Alchemist (4.3%): Very sweet hoppy beer. 4
Purple Moose Madog's Ale (3.7%): A little sharp but with a lovely smooth malt taste. 3
Spectrum Light Fantastic (3.7%): Gentle bitter. A little earthy. 3
Spectrum Old Stoatwobbler (6.0%): Strong, dark, sweet and malty. 3
Thornbridge Brother Rabbit (3.7%): Good bitter, similar in flavour to a golden ale. 3
Vale Best Bitter (3.7%): Well balanced bitter; very light in colour. 3
West Berkshire Maggs Magnificent Mild (3.8%): Mellow and dark, exactly as its name suggests. 4
White White Gold (4.9%): Almost tasteless pale beer, although with a pleasant aftertaste. 2
Whitstable Wheat Beer (5.2%): Lemon and grapefruit hoppiness to this delicious wheat beer. 3

Some fine beers available over the weekend. This year the beer tent opened on the Friday evening of the festival, which meant there was not a great selection left on the Sunday afternoon. Good for keeping wastage down but not so good for thirsty morris men!

Thursday 5 June 2008

The Windmill, Littleworth, Horsham 5th June 2008


Went out to see some dancing at this pub which once was my local.

Badger Tanglefoot (4.9%): Lovely well balanced strong bitter.
Badger King and Barnes Sussex Bitter (3.5%): Better than I remember, although tastes a bit weak after the Tanglefoot.

Very impressed with the Hall and Woodhouse "Badger" beers which usually I don't rate. Must be well kept at this lovely pub.