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.

The Black Horse, Amberley 29th May 2011

Another lovely pub in Amberley, this was huge and had an enclosed beer garden which was very pleasant on a summer's day.

Harvey’s Sussex Best Bitter (4.0%): A decent brew, hard to beat.

Hop Back Summer Lightning (5.0%): Pleasant strong beer.

While a sandwich here sets you back almost £6, when it appears it's a large plate of food. The chips were the best I've ever tasted.

The Swan, Worthing 21st March 2009

As it was a sunny day and we had use of a car, we drove down to Worthing to see the sea and try some beer at a couple of pubs.

Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter (4.0%): Perfectly kept Harvey's, lovely.
Hop Back Summer Lightning (5.0%): Light, hoppy and strong. A bit sweeter than I remember, but great on a sunny afternoon.

A dark, cavernous interior well decorated with horse-brasses and swan ornaments, although the music was a bit loud.

Horsham Beer Festival 29th - 30th September 2007 (copy entry)

All the below test has been copied from the previous entry. In order to fully link each brewer with a searchable 'label' I have had to create another blog entry, as there is a 200 character limit in the labels field. So for the full version, please go to the previous entry. If this means nothing to you, don't worry, just ignore this entry and read the one below as it contains the same information.

Goddard's Ducks Folly (5.0%): Caramelly strong bitter.
Green Jack Ripper (8.5%): Excellent sweet strong beer with enough flavour to carry the alcohol.
Hadrian and Borders Gladiator (3.8%): Very malty red bitter with a crisp hoppy finish.
Hampshire Pink Elephant (5.4%): Unusual beer with a hint of the taste of red wine but no pink colour. Somehow this was voted “Beer of the festival” by drinkers over the weekend.
Hart Ice Maiden (4.0%): Pleasant bitter but with no distinguishing features.
Harviestoun Ptarmigan (4.5%): Very pleasant beer with a light spicy and zesty flavour.
Hepworth's Harvest Ale (4.5%): An excellent beer with a sharp hop taste. Almost tastes like an IPA.
Hogs Back HBB (3.7%): Mellow citrusy tones to this pleasant bitter.
Hop Back Entire Stout (4.5%): A very palatable and easy drinking stout.
Leyden Black Pudding (3.9%): Lovely creamy well balanced mild.
Moorhouse's Black Cat Mild (3.4%): Tasty mild with a mellow roasted malt flavour.
Oakham JHB (3.8%): Very fresh and citrusy beer with bitter undertones.
Oakleaf Green Gold (4.3%): Pleasant ‘chewy’ hoppy golden coloured bitter.
Old Bear Hibernator (5.0%): Seriously smoky dark beer.
Orkney Dark Island (4.6%): Dark Scottish beer with a chocolatey burnt malt taste.
Palmers Copper Ale (3.7%): Pleasant and hoppy beer.
Ringwood Fortyniner (4.9%): Tasty strong bitter.
St Austell Proper Job (4.5%): Very sweet bitter.

The Stanley Arms, Portslade 15th September 2007

We turned up to find a beer festival in full swing. What a delight! There was also a barbeque in the back garden so we stocked up on sausages, burgers and salad which went down well with the beer.

Kemptown Kemp Town (4.0%): Just had to have a taste of this to make sure Wednesday was not a one-off (see The Hand In Hand, Brighton 12th September 2007) and again, it tasted bad. Not like off beer this time, but distinctly of fag ash. Maybe there’s a new secret ingredient.
Goddard's Ale of Wight (3.7%): A mellow yet hoppy pale golden ale.
Langham Hip Hop (4.0%): A very drinkable light golden beer but with far less hoppiness than the name suggests.
Langham Halfway to Heaven (3.5%): Pleasant bitter but slightly lacking in the flavour department.
Hop Back Hopfest (4.6%): The hoppiest beer I’ve ever tasted from the UK although not quite at the level of some of the new IPAs from America. Tasty and bitter but I’m not sure I could manage a whole pint.

This really is my kind of pub. The staff and management were friendly, the beer was good, the food we had was good and the standard menu also looked appetising. Of course a beer festival on the day of our visit may have enhanced my impression.