Crawley Folk and Beer Festival, 28th - 30th June 2013

Advertised as over 50 beers, ciders and perries, I was hoping to be able to try a lot of these over the weekend. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there on the Saturday but I made up for this on the Friday and Sunday.

Arundel Stronghold (4.7%): An amazing best bitter. Malty, fruity and in your face. 5
Arundel Sussex Gold (4.2%): A big citrus hop hit but mellow and refreshing. 4
Dark Star American Pale Ale (4.7%): Storming bitter sweet pale ale. 4
Downton Chimera IPA (6.8%): Pale, tangy, morish and bitingly bitter - all in a good way. 3
Exmoor Exmoor Ale (3.8%): Decent session bitter. 3
Goacher's Fine Light (3.7%): Honey tones but a little insipid. 2
Green Jack Trawlerboys Best Bitter (4.6%): Not quite ready but those flavours are in there ready to burst. 3

The band stage at the festival

Hop Back GFB (3.8%): Classy golden ale which could even be a standard bitter with a pleasant malty finish. 3
Hopdaemon Golden Braid (3.7%): Very thin and odd to start but warms in the mouth into a characterful, mellow aftertaste. A beer of two halves. 3
King Sussex Downs Ale (5.1%): Sweet and citrussy with a slightly spicy finish. 3
Kissingate Black Cherry Mild (4.2%): A massive cherry hit without being unpleasantly sweet. 3
Kissingate Mary's Ruby Mild (6.5%): My Friday notes say "A plethora of malt flavours fighting for precedence. A delight." My Sunday notes say "Tastes somewhat odd today, a disappointment." What started as a 4 dropped to a 2 so I'll give it 3
Longman Golden Tipple (5.0%): Refreshing and zesty. A lovely pint. 3
Milton Pegasus (4.1%): Very drinkable well-balanced best bitter. 3
Orkney Orkney IPA (4.8%): A strong hop character to this IPA, with enough strength to really hit that IPA definition but not so much you can't get stuck in. As it should be. 4
Skinners Betty Stoggs (4.0%): One of the very best bitters, in my opinion. 4
Surrey Hills Greensand IPA (4.6%): Sweet and pleasant. 3
Whitstable East India Pale Ale (4.1%): Delicate IPA fruitiness and a light, hoppy aftertaste. 3
Windsor and Eton Conqueror Black IPA (5.0%): Initially very like a traditional light coloured IPA but with a full-bodied maltiness. An eye-opener. 4
Windsor and Eton Windsor Knot (4.0%): The wedding was a while back and the baby's due soon, but the beer is still with us which is unfortunate as it tastes of petrol. 2

The bar was run by a private company and operated on a token system where all beers and ciders were the same price. Although some of the staff seemed inexperienced, they were all very friendly. There was a competition where you marked beers out of ten and handed in your scores, and I was furious because this was drawn before the end, without warning, so I hadn't handed mine in. Not a way to run a competition!

There were 40 real ales on offer and I was pleased to be able to try half of them. I wasn't intending to go for stronger beers but only three of the 20 were under 4% and there were no low gravity ones available at all, yet a lot of IPAs. An unusual but not unpleasant selection. It's rare to find a beer festival with seemingly no CAMRA influence these days. I liked the cask end cards as they had a large graphic of the pump clip then stated the colour of the beer in one word, "golden" or "black", although I was a bit confused by "amber", "bronze" and "copper". Not entirely sure of the difference there!

My beer of the festival was without a doubt the Arundel Stronghold. It's a regular, all year round ale from this local brewer and embarrassingly I've not tried it before. However I will now search it out.

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!

CAMRA Beer Tent at Crawley Folk Festival 30th June and 1st July 2007

Now officially well again, I was determined to enjoy the CAMRA beer tent at this festival as fully as possible. Which meant tasting as many of the beers on offer as possible, over the two days.

1648 Ginger Nol (4.7%): Not great on first tasting but with a pleasant, subtle aftertaste. 3
Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (4.0%): Tasty, hoppy light beer. Good. 3
Dark Star Original (5.0%): Gorgeous, malty warming dark beer. 4
Dark Star Hophead (3.8%): Very sweet light beer with strong hints of grapefruit. 4
Dark Star Sunburst (4.8%): Interesting and zesty; very light in colour and strong. 4
Hopdaemon Incubus (4.0%): Excellent well balanced bitter with a rounded finish. 4
Mighty Oak Burntwood Bitter (4.0%): Very smoky, bitter, and as the name suggests, burnt-tasting. 2
Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde (3.7%): Sweet yet bitter dry mild. 3
Oakham J.H.B. (3.8%): Very light coloured, slightly hoppy, fruity and not too strong. 3
Oakham White Dwarf (4.3%): Very light hoppy beer with a zesty, fruity flavour. 3
Oakleaf I Can't Believe It's Not Bitter (4.9%): Hmm, I can actually. Ordinary lager. 3
Ramsgate Dogbolter (5.6%): Malty porter with caramel tones. 3
Ramsgate Gadd's No. 3 (5.0%): Interesting hoppy and bitter pale ale. 4
Rebellion Mutiny (4.5%): Excellent bitter with a hint of fruit and hops. 5
Ringwood Boondoggle (4.0%): Good ordinary bitter without being excessively hoppy or bitter. 3
Triple FFF Stairway (4.6%): Not quite ready for drinking this was very bitter and otherwise bland. 3
Vale Black Beauty Porter (4.3%): Well rounded and mellow creamy porter. 4
White Fagged Off (3.8%): Really interesting - hint of ashtray yet not unpleasant! 3
Whitstable Oyster Stout (4.5%): Heavenly, smooth, dry warming stout. 5
Wolf Wolf In Sheep's Clothing (3.7%): Fruity well balanced mild. 3

I was very pleased to see that the selection included two milds, two porters, a stout and a couple of speciality beers. The only downfall seemed to be that while there were about five golden beers, there were only three standard bitters, one of which wasn’t great. Overall a good selection, and certainly one which ensured bitter drinkers tried other beer styles.

My beer of the festival was Rebellion Mutiny. Mmm.

I also managed to see some of the performances and although it rained for what seemed like the whole weekend, I had a great time. The highlight was The Copper Family on the Sunday evening.

NB All breweries and beer names taken directly from the beer list supplied by beer tent staff. Marks out of 5 as per CAMRA marking system.

Lewes Beer Festival 23rd June 2007

As I’m now on the mend from my head injury and allowed to drink again, I was able to use my ticket to the CAMRA beer festival in Lewes.

Arriving on the Saturday after a sell-out Friday there were only 35 beers left, which I didn’t think was very well organised. Some ran out before I got to them but I managed to try all the others, 30 in total.

1648 Original (3.9%): Tasty standard bitter. 3
1648 Signature (4.4%): Very dry and a little on the insipid side. 3
Arundel ASB (4.5%): Very malty rounded tasting bitter. 3
Arundel Sussex Gold (4.2%): Interesting light fruity beer. 3
Arundel Sussex Mild (3.7%): Warm, creamy tasting mild. Lovely. 4
B&T Black Dragon Mild (4.3%): Gorgeous smooth rich mild. 4
Bushy Castletown Bitter (3.5%): Tasty, citrusy bitter with a light colour. 3
Bushy Manx Export Bitter (3.8%): Rather unexciting bitter but with a hint of hoppiness. 3
Caledonian XPA (4.3%): Not terribly pleasant bitter pale beer. 3
Custom Beers Chinook (4.2%): Sweet, fruity bitter with a tangy flavour. 3
Custom Beers Quality of Life (4.5%): Hoppy, smooth and tastes pretty strong. 3
Dark Star Mild for May (3.6%): Spicy, tasty mind, a decent drink. Why is it only available in May? 3
Dark Star Summer Meltdown (4.8%): Gingery, fruity light hoppy beer with strong grapefruit tones. 3
Elgood's Cambridge Bitter (3.8%): Excellent dry tasting crisp bitter. 4
Hampshire Wild Thing (4.2%): Incredibly dry, sharp beer. 3
Harvey's Armada Ale (4.5%): Fruity and hoppy in equal measure, unmistakably Harvey's. 4
Harvey's Olympia Golden Ale (4.3%): Just got some before it ran out! Stunningly hoppy. 5
Harvey's Tom Paine (5.5%): Not much of a flavour apart from some caramel, but very strong! 3
Hepworth's Prospect (4.5%): Crisp and hoppy. Nice. 4
King Ace of Ales (4.3%): Interesting tasty hoppy bitter. 3
Ramsgate Gadds No 5 (Best Bitter) (4.4%): Very tasty hoppy bitter. I could drink lots of this. 4
Rectory Dark Knight (4.7%): Pleasant dark bitter with a very strong grapefruit flavour. 3
Rectory Pale Knight (4.7%): Nice light bitter tasting of Goldings hops. 3
Rother Valley Hoppers Ale (4.4%): Not as hoppy as I expected but nevertheless a tasty bitter. 3
Surrey Hills Gilt Complex (4.6%): Delicious, warm and well balanced, with hop flavour. 4
Surrey Hills Shere Drop (4.2%): Not as good as I remember, but a pleasant light-ish beer. 3
Timothy Taylor Ram Tam (4.3%): Unremarkable until the aftertaste which is hoppy and tasty. 3
Welton's Mild and Bitter (3.5%): Revolting, sour off beer. Yuck. 1
White Fagged Off (3.8%): Not pleasant with a taste reminiscent of wood shavings. I think it's supposed to taste of fag ash. 2
Whitstable East India Pale Ale (4.1%): At last, an IPA which is really hoppy and strong! 4

















My beer of the festival was the local Harvey's Olympia. Fantastic.

I asked to take a picture from the gallery of the hall and was shown up by staff. As I was taking pictures I was yelled at by security and removed from the balcony. I really hope you like the pic as I thought it was going to get me arrested!