As last time we went with my sister and brother in law, and it was an enormous amount of fun - much laughter and singing (to the bands) ensued and many good ales drunk.. 🍻🍻
So it was that on Saturday lunchtime the current Mrs Steve-the-Wargamer, his sister and brother in law found themselves (again) in line waiting to enter the Guildhall in Portsmouth... by serendipitous means, this time I had bought the tickets, and my sis was buying the beer tokens.. perfect!
So this is not an official CAMRA [clicky] festival but despite that I thought that this time round their beer choice was significantly better than last time.. though we were paying slightly over the odds per beer, and there was a ten quid entry...
| Brewery (clickable) | Beer (click for more info) | ABV | Notes (from brewery website) | What I can remember... |
| Oakham | Citra | 4.2% | "An American Pale Ale (APA) style beer" | Those of you who read these ramblings will know I am a fan of the Citra hopped beers as I particularly like the grapefruit dry hop'iness they give the beer - this particular one I've tried many times in bottle but the opportunity to try it in cask was too good to miss.. a belter... and the current Mrs Steve the Wargamer liked it so much she went back three times.. |
| Dark Star | Hophead | 3.8% | "An extremely clean-drinking pale golden ale with a strong floral aroma and elderflower notes from the Cascade hops. This beer is full-bodied and full-flavoured yet gentle enough to make it a favourite session beer." | A particular favourite of mine and seeing as the first half had disappeared in about 10 minutes I'd decided to slow down so this session beer was a no brainer.. lovely.. |
| XT Brewing | 3 (IPA) | 4.2% | "An American style IPA – packed with Chinook, Columbus and Cascade hops from the American North West – crisp, clean and refreshing with a lasting hoppy bite. HOPS= Chinook, Cascade, Columbus MALTS= Pale, Vienna, CaraMalt, Munich" | Time to go "off piste" and be a little adventurous.. how do you find the new beers/brewers if you don't? So XT are a fairly unknown to me - I'm convinced I may have had a pint in the past but have checked the beer database and not seen anything so I may be mistaken - either way - a pleasant enough beer that lived up to its description while not being outstanding |
| Dark Star | Winter Solstice | 4.2% | "Brewed with Pale, Munich and Brown malts to produce a deep gold colour this beer is brewed with Simcoe and Chinook hops and seasoned with Sichuan pepper and Orange and Lemon zest." | A particularly favourite brewery but an unknown beer - time to try! A dark, winter brew, with a hint of additional fruit and spice.. similar to the Hophead "Winter Lightning" - so we had to do a taste comparison... |
| Hopback | Winter Lightning | 5% | "Brewed with Fuggles and East Kent Golding hops, very lightly-spiced, this chestnut ale is deceptively drinkable!" | Hopback are another of my top 5 brewers, and this is the winter version of their awesome "Summer Lightning".. much darker, maltier, and a subtle hint of cinnamon.. you couldn't drink pints of it, but it is exceptional and I thought this years version was particularly good... |
| Red Cat Brewing | Scratch | 4% | "Scratch is golden in colour with a delicate fruity aroma and hints of ripe apricots. It’s very clean, refreshingly bitter and easy drinking, but with more body than is usually expected from a 4.0% beer." | Swiftly becoming one of those breweries to look for - I tried this on our work Christmas do but as is the nature of those events I felt the need to remind myself if it was a good as I remembered... fresh clean hoppy bitterness.. another golden ale... |
| Fallen Acorn Brewing | Hole Hearted | 4.7% | "Floral. fruity. delicately bitter. Cascade hops give this golden ale powerful floral and tropical fruit flavours, with a delicate bitterness. Hole Hearted will surprise with every mouthful". | The Oakleaf Brewery who used to brew this went into receivership this year, and from the ashes rose Fallen Acorn (which is owned financed by a fan of the Oakleaf beers) who have started brewing a number of their old beers... now Hole Hearted was one of my top 10 beers so I was very excited about trying the newly brewed version - but was very disappointed with it - none of the hoppy tang with the old brew... sweet and insipid.. quelle domage.. my only disappointment of the afternoon... for the sake of the beer I shall give it another go when I next see it on offer - it may have been a duff batch or barrel.. |
| Thornbridge | Jaipur | 5.9% | "A citrus dominated India Pale Ale, its immediate impression is soft and smooth yet builds to a crescendo of massive hoppiness accentuated by honey. An enduring, bitter finish." | Last one - and the one I'd been working up to all afternoon - no way I was going to miss out on a pint of one of my favourite bottled APA's... superb pint, and a much needed restorative following the Hole Hearted.. Steve the Wargamer says "if you see Thornbridge on the pump clip buy yourself a pint" |
An excellent venue, and a brilliant lunchtime session - four bands - one of which was a God-awful ukulele band, two of which were good, but one of which were superb (The Fliks- a 60's girl band copy), and a delightful selection of ales... roll on next year!
I always enjoy reading your tasting notes Steve, sounds like a good afternoon :) I really must try and get myself along to a couple of such festivals in 2017.
ReplyDeleteLee - the banter is almost as important as the beer... :o) Our next one is in a few weeks - we're making our annual pilgrimage to the Hop Back pub in Salisbury (home of the Summer Lightning and where it was first brewed)
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