Portsea Island Beer Festival - 2014

Hard to believe that this is the fourth one, but it remains a firm favourite of mine, mainly I have to say because of the venue [clicky] which is chock-full of atmosphere.. 

Much reduced turnout for "rent a crowd" (my beer tasting companions) this time - which was a shame - we seemed to hit a holiday period this time round, and one of our members was at the Tower of London planting poppies as part of the remembrance installation...  power to his elbow... on the plus side however, just for once my brother in law in law (we're married to sisters 😏) could make it.

Those of us who did go however had a cracking time, and brother in law in law and I also had a damn fine full English [clicky] in the Ship Anson [clicky] before the ale drinking commenced..

Brewery (clickable)	Beer (click for more info)	ABV	Notes (from brewery website)	What I can remember...
RCH	Pitchfork	4.3%	"The name comes from the Pitchfork rebellion of 1685 the last battle to be fought on English soil of the Civil War. A golden bitter with floral citric hop aroma. It has a hoppy predominate taste which is slightly sweet and fruity and leaves you wanting more."	My number 1 favourite beer of all time - usually quaffed in great quantities on my annual festive trip to Bath - so when I saw it was on, I made an immediate bee-line. Lovely!
Cerrdin	APA	4.3%	"A Welsh American Pale Ale, with pronounced hop character and a lasting bitterness."	Sour - hideous - yuckkk..  had to dispatch this one to the great bucket in the sky...
Derventio	Hoplite	4.2%	"A pale refreshing beer with heavy citrus notes and long hoppy finish"	Overtones of lime - a significant improvement on the previous beer..!
Great Oakley	Gobble	4.5%	"a straw-coloured beer with a large smack of hops at the end giving a fantastic mouth feel".	Very nice...
Black Country	BFG	4.2%	"A straw coloured quaffing beer, with an impressive bold citrus hop aroma, fruity balanced sweetness and a lingering refreshing after-taste."	Fairly average session beer - not outstanding...
Kennet and Avon	Pillbox	4%	"A light refreshing ale with a hoppy bite that punches above its weight. Lager coloured, and popular with the ladies".	Only comment I have is "grows on you"... it's also worth noting I have two beers marked as "5th" so the event was clearly successful...
RCH	Double Header	5.3%	"A golden brew made only with pale ale malt and goldings hops giving it a well balanced hoppy flavour. Very drinkable - beware!"	Getting towards the end of the session so a step up in strength and given how much I like Pitchfork I thought I'd try their other offering...  bit too sweet for me, I marked it as cloying...
XT	XT4	3.8%	"An amber beer with a special Belgian malt and a fruity mix of American and European hops. Very addictive, and our flagship beer."	Bit of a discovery this brewery - this offering had a distinct hit of coffee in the mouth - very nice... they also had another beer on called XPA that I had tried a few tastes of, but which had run out by the time I got to it, that was definitely my beer of the festival ( XT - XPA 5.9% American IPA - "An IPA brewed with crisp, clean extra pale malts and more hop additions than any of our other beers. Plus a cooler, slower fermentation for a really special hop forward flavour".)
Waen	Landmark	5.5%	"Award winning IPA with full hop bitterness and citrus flavours"	Last beer of the session and I'd really wanted an XPA - average brew....