Great British Beer Fesitval - Guest Blog

It’s the morning after the night before. I wake with a sorry taste in my mouth and a thirst that would struggle to be quenched by drinking the contents of a reservoir. The discomfort is all worth it though, for the previous afternoon we (i.e. James and I) had been unleashed at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF). More than 700 real ales, ciders and beers all under one roof - I can’t think of many better ways to spend a Friday afternoon.

We met at 13:30 at Bodeans (an American restaurant) in Tower Hill - to line the stomach and have a cheeky beer to get the ball rolling. Bodeans is a great place to eat and drink – the beer menu is generous and the food is fantastic. We both went for IPAs – James opted for the Goose Island and I went for the Moosehead. Both were served with frosted glasses to keep them cold, something neither of us had experienced in the UK and we were very grateful for them too. The beers were fantastic, as was the food.

We arrived at the beer festival at 15:00 and were met by the usual CAMRA stewards on the doors. Apparently CAMRA are keen to attract more young people but they need to shake-off the stereotypical ale drinker image (especially on the front door). After passing through the gate we headed for the first bar – both of us went for Yorkshire ales. I went for the Wold Gold from the Wold Top brewery and James went for the Rudgate Jorvik Blonde. We both tested our taste buds to see if we could pick out any of the flavours marked in the book. Needless to say we failed miserably. Both beers were very pleasant though I must say.

I can honestly say that every beer we had we would have again. The only one I struggled with was the Fuller’s Vintage ale 2008. The 8.5% ABV was a bit too strong after drinking mainly 3.5%-5% beers throughout the day. I would imagine it would be a very nice beer to accompany a nice, rich meal though – all the same, not really one for the casual half-pint.

The main reason we were there was to attend the ‘Master Brewers Tasting’ after James had received two tickets from Henrietta as a gift. It is here where I offer my warmest thanks to James for offering to take me and also to Henri for buying the tickets in the first place. The tasting basically consisted of 100 real ale fans sitting in a room tasting 6 beers from 3 breweries (2 from each) whilst the master brewers from each one spoke about the beers and their breweries. They also took questions. The breweries being represented were Youngs and Wells, St. Austell, and Amber Ales. While it was good to hear from master brewers at the two larger breweries I, personally, found it more enjoyable listening to Pete from Amber Ales as he was sat in the room as a listener 5 years prior, and had been inspired to start his own brewery. 

Beer of the day came from the Thornbridge Brewery – the Jaipur IPA. With its citrus-honey flavours, it’s very pleasing on the palate, and at 5.9%ABV it’s not to be taken lightly. Its quaffable nature mixed with the strength means it has all the ingredients to fuel a monster hangover, although it is a hangover I wouldn’t mind sampling (I’d very much like to spend a Saturday afternoon in a pub which serves this beer – cue James to arrange a visit to Cask Pub and Kitchen, Pimlico).

Bar of the day was the ‘Young and Upcoming Breweries’ bar, which was sponsored by J.D. Wetherspoon. For all the bad words people have to say about Wetherspoon pubs (and rightly so in some cases) you can’t fault them for their promotion of real ales. Walk into any ‘Spoons pub and I guarantee they’ll have at least 3 random ales on tap. Whether they’ll be well-kept or not is a different matter but at least they’re trying. James and I both had a couple of beers from this bar, my favourite being the Flack’s Double Drop, from the Flack Manor brewery in Hampshire. James went out of his way to break my rule that we should only have one stout each (rule put in place as we’ve had our fingers burnt by awful stouts on numerous occasions at previous festivals). I’m glad he did break the rule though because the Dark Peat Stout from the Raw brewery in Derbyshire was a tasty drop.

All-in-all, the day was fantastic – certainly one of the best beer festivals I’ve been to. It certainly put my faith back into the GBBF as well, as in previous years I’ve thought it to be a bit too commercial. This year there was less presence from some of the bigger breweries and more beers from smaller breweries. As mentioned briefly earlier, CAMRA have got some work to do if they want to attract younger members but it certainly seems they’re doing something right. I’d also like to thank Pipers Crisps for having constantly topped-up bowls of complimentary crisps – they went down a treat in between beers. A perfect day all-round and we weren’t even too drunk to make it home before midnight.

 WOODY