Yapton Beer Festival 2019..

Yapton has been and gone again... and another year has passed!

The sun shone despite the prognosis by the weather gonks, the beer flowed again, and Yapton worked it's usual magic and we got mildly sun burnt and enjoyed some decent (but not outstanding) ales... it doesn't get any better despite the slightly smaller turnout from the jolly boys (the bunch I go drinking with) this year, due to holidays and other commitments...

Beers were still cheap, but more than last year - I think we were paying £1.70/ £1.90 a half (compared with 30p less last year), but still excellent value and I thought the choice of beer was up this year so that may be the (acceptable) price for that improved quality.  

Long may this little festival continue!

Picture courtesy http://devoursussex.co.uk

So without further ado here's the ales.....  I have to say, much like last year I didn't have a poor beer, the choice was largely from lesser known breweries (as is the norm at the beer festivals as they are looking to keep prices in check), on the other hand perhaps one of my two favourite beers of the day was from a brewery I wouldn't normally rate..  so horses for courses, and you pays your money and... that's why we go to beer festivals, to try the stuff we wouldn't normally drink.. 

By the way - there's a PDF of the programme if you're interested here [clicky]

Brewery	Beer (click for more info)	ABV	Notes (from brewery website)	What I can remember...
Blue Monkey	"Infinity IPA"	4.6%	An infinitely satisfying golden ale brewed with ‘Citra’ hops from the USA.	This was a replacement for another beer that hadn't turned up. I have an affinity for the brewery as I have relatives that live close by and they usually get me a selection of their bottles for Christmas - not disappointed, this was a good start - refreshing golden and light..
Bad Seed	"Waymarker"	4.6%	American Pale Ale with big citrus aromas and flavours of grapefruit and pine. This beer is packed full of Simcoe, Azacca, Columbus and Cascade hops.	Very dry and hoppy, a step up from the first one and I was beginning to think I was on a roll..
Almasty	"DDH Amarillo Waimea"	4%	Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale: Grapefruit on the nose and citrus orangey tones on the palate, with subtle piney tones.	Time to clam it down a bit on the strength...  not listed on the brewery website so possibly a one off, or very new? Unfined (hazy) beer which I have to say I dislike on principle - it adds nothing to the taste of the beer and detracts from the look of it - but a nice tasty beer for all that though..
Vibrant Forest	"Malus"	4.5%	Unfined APA. The Malus hops give refreshing fruity flavours but low on bitterness.	Another hazy beer..  mate of mine says it is lazy brewing, I agree..   Lovey tasting beer, but how does the look of this beer improve your enjoyment of it??
Goldmark	"WahWah IPA"	5%	A golden india pale ale made using insane amounts of columbus, chinook and citra hops, giving a rich, sharp, smooth finish	Oh my - first of the two best beers of the day - very good - so dry you could feel your teeth shrinking in your head.. another hazy beer but I'll forgive them that for the fantastic hoppy bitter, grapefruit'y tastiness of it...  I came back and had another half of this at the end of the session..
Kelham Island	"Steel Rider"	5.4%	A full flavoured IPA Dry hopped for a thunderous aroma hammered home with a massive juicy pallet, all the way from Valhalla	Not an understatement to say that there wasn't a single one of the jolly boys who weren't keen on trying this one as we're all fans of the breweries "Pale Rider" (top 6 beer in my opinion) so we were keen to see what this one was like, which is their May 2019 "special"..  suffice to say that this was the second of my two favourite beers of the day..  light amber in colour, clear as a bell (tick) and packed full of flavour - for this festival that was it for me as I had two or three halves of this and before I knew it the festival was over!

...and that was it - wended my way home for a snooze on the sofa and the end of the FA Cup ...