The Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court 7th August 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.

Nethergate IPA (3.5%): Stunning hop flavour and it tastes stronger than it is. 4
Nethergate Suffolk County Best Bitter (4.0%): Good rounded tasty bitter. 4
Nethergate Umbel Magna (5.0%): Made with coriander, it smells of herbs and tastes of light, delicate porter, an achievement in such a strong beer. 4
Oakleaf Hole Hearted (4.7%): Zesty, hoppy and spicy. 3
Olde Swan Original (3.5%): Smooth and fruity light coloured beer. 3
Potton Village Bike (4.3%): Decent bitter (shame about the silly name) but with a particular hop flavour that’s not my thing. 3
Rebellion Shaken Not Stirred (4.2%): From one of my favourite brewers, but first taste of this is ordinary. However it mellows into a lovely rounded aftertaste. Wonderful. 4
Rebellion Blonde (4.3%): Nasty insipid lagery tasting pale coloured beer. Not my thing. 2
Robinson’s Oldham Bitter (3.8%): Tangy, sharp and fruity. 3
Sharp’s Doom Bar Bitter (4.0%): Ordinary bitter. Usually one of my favourites but served too cold. 3
Sharp’s Eden Ale (4.3%): Dry, bitter and hoppy. Again served too cold. 3
Teme Valley This (3.7%): Straw hoppy taste to this golden ale. 3
Triple fff Summer Is Icumen (6.0%): Light and strong but not backed by hop or malt flavour. 3
Vale VPA (4.2%): A dark golden ale with zesty hop character. 3
Winter’s Golden (4.1%): Mild in flavour with a sharp finish. 3
Wolf Golden Jackal (3.7%): Tasting more like a darker beer this has an excellent balanced hop taste. 4

USA and Rest of the World
Cambridge Brewing Co Bitchin’ Bitter (4.2%): Slightly woolly tasting malty bitter. 3
Cambridge Brewing Co Tall Tale Pale Ale (5.8%): Smooth honey hop flavour but a little too strong to support the taste. 3
Dogfish Head 60 Miniute IPA (6.0%): Citrus yet mellow IPA. Doesn’t taste this strong. 3
Gardner Ale House Facelift IPA (6.3%): Very bitter to start with and served grim and cloudy. Although too strong for me, mellows into a tasty refreshing drink. 4
Sierra Nevada Wheat Beer (4.4%): Very pale coloured wheaty beer served chilled and tasting more like lager. 3
YoHo Brewing Co Yona Yona Ale (5.5%): Tasty malty beer similar to a best bitter. Very pleasant and I don’t think you’d guess it was all the way from Japan.

All the above were draft, and, with the exception of the YoHo beer, from the USA.

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.