Camra

[prinnysquad]

Day 1 report!

Banks and Taylor - Edwyn Taylor’s Extra Stout
Bitter beer with a strong roast malt flavour. Champion Beer of East Anglia 2001.
This is one of my all time favourite beers. 10/10.

Elland - Bargee
Amber, creamy session bitter with a fruity hoppy taste and a bitter finish.
Tasted like old socks to begin with (I got hungry last night so have a point of reference) but was quite a grower. 6/10.

Everards - Pitch Black
Dark stout heavy in roast malt with a predominantly bitter flavour. Brewed to celebrate the Rugby World Cup.
Very nice, I suspect its just a rebranded version of an existing Everards stout however - though thats not to detract from its flavour. 9/10.

Oakham - Bishops Farewell
Intensely hoppy, full bodied golden best bitter with tropical fruit flavours and a developing and abiding dryness.
Lovely, lovely, lovely Very very hoppy and dry however so could put people who don’t like strong hoppy beer off. I do! 9/10.

Potton - Shambles Bitter
Pale, hoppy beer with a robust bitterness balanced by subtle sweetness.
Great session beer, not too strong, but a little bland as a result. 7/10.

Timothy Taylor - Landlord
Full flavoured, amber best bitter with a spicy citrus character and a dry hoppy finish.
An old classic and a favourite of mine. 8/10.

Thwaites - Dark Mild
Traditional mild with a malty flavour, caramel and slightly bitter finish.
I’d never had this before but it was beautiful. Really creamy rich flavours. 10/10.

Woodfordes - Wherry Best Bitter
Amber session bitter with a hoppy nose and bitter sweet fruity character continuing to the finish.
My all time favourite session beer. 10/10.


Heading off now for day 2. I will be sampling everything I have been advised to!

That's a fine report Marine. 3 maximums, 2 9ers and a handful of solids. Good stats. Nice detail too. Sounds like a mega successful session!

[Ish]

nother successful day of beer swilling. Tried lots of new ales today and most were very good. Also had a couple of my favourites from yesterday but below are just the new beers.

Banks and Taylor - Five Hops
Autumn seasonal brewed with fresh green hops
Quite quaffable and a reasonable session beer. 7/10

Bank Top - Flat Cap
Amber ale with modest fruit aroma and citrus fruit, malt and hop flavours.
This is another “old sock” ale and like most “old sock” ales gets better the more you drink. 6/10

Coach House - Innkeepers Special Reserve
Ruby premium bitter with a malty palate, crisp hop flavour and lingering aftertaste.
Good caramel and toffee flavours in this. Makes for a great bridging beer between bitter and stout. 7/10

Fullers - ESB
Rich full bodied golden brown strong bitter with malt, hops, and a dry bitter aftertaste.
What can you say. A classic. 8/10.

Moorhouse - Pride of Pendle
Amber best bitter with a fresh hoppiness and mellow, malty body.
My last beer of the evening. Delicious. Mellow really does describe it. Very nice. 8/10.

Potton - The Village Bike
Amber, heavily late hopped premium bitter. Champion Beer of Bedfordshire 2003.
I first had this when it won the beer award and it was delicious and have had it regularly at festivals since. Maybe this was a bad barrel but this was a poor pint this year. 5/10.

Salamander - Mudpuppy
Copper best bitter with a fruity hoppy nose and bitter finish.
This was beautiful, very dry and hoppy. A lovely traditional bitter. 8/10.

Timothy Taylor - Dark Mild
Malt and caramel dominate with hops and barley leading to a bitter finish.
Only 3.5% but absolutely full of flavour. Not quite as good as yesterdays Thwaites but still a cracking ale.

Weetwood - Cheshire Cat
Pale dry bitter with a spritzy citrus hop aroma, smooth, creamy texture and short dry finish.
A solid session ale. Does what it says on the tin. 7/10.

[djjimbob]

Get in:

http://www.yorkcamra.free-online.co.uk/beer_festival.html

I will be attending all 3 days if this little beauty.

[prinnysquad]

No Wychwood? As a punishment, you shall be forced to drink 15 straight pints of John Smiths from a tap. Any more misdemeanours and it's a lager-only diet for you

djjimbob - a detailed report is required.

[Ish]

Sorry man no Wychwood - all they had was Hobgoblin.

Day 3 report to follow tomorrow. Very drunk

[Ish]

Belated report from day 3 due to the obvious fallout from three days of festivaling. Slightly shorter day than the others - the Bedford Blues were playing and I never like to miss a home game. Even for a beer festival.

Elgood’s - Golden Newt
Golden ale with floral citrus aroma, hoppy palate and bitter finish
Very refreshing beer. 8/10.

Hart - Dishy Debbie
Amber bitter with balanced malt and hops, a slightly wheaty flavour and a dry bitter finish.
Decent classic bitter and a good session ale. 7/10.

Mauldons - Midsummer Gold
Light, crisp, sparkling summer ale with a refreshing finish.
Very very tasty and as the description says refreshing. Discovered a new favourite here I think! 9/10.

Robinsons - Double Hop
Pale brown ale with a hoppy, fruity, malty taste and a hoppy finish.
Quite malty. Nice but I had it too early in the day. 7/10.

Thwaites - Flying Shuttle
Dark beer with a lightly hopped, fruity taste and developing bitterness.
Beautiful beer. More of the Thwaites I tried were fantastic. Easy 9/10.

Titanic - Iceberg
Golden ale with a hoppy fruity aroma and rich, nutty flavour.
Very tasty and really crisp. Gorgeous aftertaste. 9/10.

[djjimbob]

Some tasty brews I had over the weekend.

Young's - Waggledance - 5%: Sweet and Malty, not necessarily coming from the honey. Deep and bitter at length. Quite fizzy almost lager like. Lovely honey colour smack between lager and bitter. Heavy but excellent session beer. 9/10

Wonkey donkey - 4.3%: Fruity, light and hoppy. Good pale ale, very easy to drink. Small length but appreciable hoppiness to it. Gentle nose. 9/10

Daleside - Ripon Jewel - 5.8%: Nice burnt butter nose. Can taste the high alcohol but not overpowering. Excellent caramel / tofee taste, very dark sweetness in a medium coloured ale. 8/10

Cropton - King Bill Bitter - 3.6% BC: Light colour. Lost 100ml after yeast sank straight into glass! Flowery, hoppy nose. Grassy, sharp lemony taste but light. Good cooking apple bite to finish. 8/10

Greene King - Strong Suffolk Vintage Ale - 6%: Ruby colour, nicely sweet with a burnt toffee taste. Chocolate aroma with gorgeous bitterness at the end. 8.5/10

Springhead Brewery - Roaring Meg - 5.5%: Extremely honey nose, very refreshing and light tasting bitter despite it's strength. Has a long and tasty finish. 8.5/10

York Brewery - Stonewall - 3.7%: Beautiful coffee aroma which follows well into taste. Balanced with bitterness and malt flavour. Wonderfull mocha taste to finish. 9.5/10

[prinnysquad]

Aces reviews boys. Wonkey Donkey is a bit of a fave, I only had it the once but the taste equalled the legendary picture on the bottle.


I notice your input on the 3rd day was considerably lower than the previous day, Ish. Wonder why

Djjimbob - I've had most of those boys, but only in bottles. I've yet to come across a beer that tastes better from the bottle than it does from the cask, so you've probably enjoyed them in their purest form.

[NW2013]

Top, top thread gentlemen. I used to drink lots of real ale but haven't for a while. You've inspired me though and I've got a few in to sample.

Tonight I've had some Adnams Broadside. Bizarrely, I've had this before on draught in Guernsey of all places. Very nice aroma, quite fruity and dark in appearance. It has quite a thick, caramel flavour with a hint of almond. Fairly heavy and definitely strong. Its a solid 8.5. Probably one to sample, having more than one could be dangerous!

Coming later this week: Badger's Fursty Ferret, Wychwood's Hobgoblin and Marston's Firestoker.

What do you guys think of refrigerating your brews, yes or no?

If any of you Durham lads are over in Newcastle give me a shout, there are a number of pubs serving good beers so we could have a good session.

[prinnysquad]

'S funny you should say that - Plough Boy told me the other day that tales of his expolits have inspired an old real ale drinker to pick up the gauntlet again. There's quite a bit of cuss attached to the phrase for some reason. Viz has the 'Real Ale Twats',(and Paulos G would no doubt say that that's a fitting description) but wine drinkers/spitters are called 'connoisseurs.' Bizarre. I just enjoy trying different flavoured beers, that's all. Yeah, you come across the odd dog, but that's part of the fun.

Where does thee find the blessed nectar known as 'Firestoker'? Tis a rare commodity indeed.

I think the refridgeration issue can be a rocky road. It depends on the brew. A Newcy brown seems to live in the fridge in Mag pubs, but a real ale is supposed to be served at room temperature, I think. For the sediment boys, room temp is a must.

We regularly go to Newcastle to watch the hockey! The Crown P seems to have a good selection, and PB keeps going on about the bodega. Most matchdays we have a couple of Geordie Pride in the Quayside Lloyds bar. Still waiting for Radgie Gadgee to come on though

[Paulos G]

and Paulos G would no doubt say that that's a fitting description

Funnily enough, that comment has just brought a story to mind. Earlier this year Mrs G and I went to Tideswell in Derbyshire. We stayed in a Real Ale pub. While there I got my mobile out and used the notepad function to take down details of the beers I was trying (a la Plough Boy). One of the locals said to me "you won't get a signal inside mate." I replied that I was taking down details of the beers I was drinking to which the barman replied "He's a beer-spotter."

I felt so ashamed.

[NW2013]

I got the Firestoker from Thresher and I think it might be available in Sainsburys too.

I know the Crown and Quayside bar well. Bodega is indeed good as are Tilleys and Head of Steam. I hear the Newcastle Arms is good too.

[prinnysquad]

Funnily enough, that comment has just brought a story to mind. Earlier this year Mrs G and I went to Tideswell in Derbyshire. We stayed in a Real Ale pub. While there I got my mobile out and used the notepad function to take down details of the beers I was trying (a la Plough Boy). One of the locals said to me "you won't get a signal inside mate." I replied that I was taking down details of the beers I was drinking to which the barman replied "He's a beer-spotter."

I felt so ashamed.

You should have headbutted him. That'd be the last time he cussed one of the boys.

[Kieran76]

Got a bottle of Old Bob from Ridleys tonight. Not tried it before, not really keen though. Not bad taste but a weak texture. I like my ale to have a thick richness to it.

[NW2013]

Sampled the hobgoblin last night. Another dark ale with a pleasant aroma. Quite thick but nowhere near as heavy as the broadside. I could enjoy a few of these. 9/10.

I've just had the firestoker. Oh. My. God. Quite a pale colour with a fruity smell. Absolutely sublime vanilla aftertaste. Can you marry ale? 10/10.