Our theme was a Celebration of the Chilterns and, in
addition to four of our own beers, we offered ales from eight other local
breweries. Beer selection for beer festivals seems to be one of the dark arts.
Should they be unusual and niche or known favourites? We enlisted Dave Culliton
from Aston Clinton Beer Festival to offer advice, select the ales and, with his
able team, manage the bar.
The final beer offering was:
And so to my next worry – we’ve built it but will they come? At 12.05 there was a shared worried look amongst the team as we stood alone in an empty brewery with 12 freshly tapped casks. But at 12.10 our first customers appeared – a handful of faithful CAMRA members arrived to ensure they got to taste all the beers. They took the beer list, sipped ale and started scoring. These enlightened few were soon joned by some of our regulars and lots of new faces. So, we had ourselves a beer festival, supplemented by a hog-roast, courtesy of The Oak, and music from three bands: BURP, Tony Goff and the Situators.
Like the early CAMRA members, I sampled each beer (halves of
course) throughout the day. So which were my favourites? Ignoring our own beers
for now, I would opt for the Vale Gravitas – a fragrant hoppy nose but not over
the top (not an APA) nicely balanced with malt and subtle bitterness. I was also
thoroughly impressed with the Black Buzzard. I’m not a massive fan of porters
but I found this flavoursome beer kept drawing me back. We aim to produce our
own porter this year and I think John at LBB has set the bar with this one. My
third choice would be Beechwood Bitter, a long-standing favourite of mine – a traditional
malty ale with the perfect balance of sweet-bitterness.
- ABC – Jester
- Chiltern – Beechwood
- ELB – Foundation Bitter*
- Haresfoot – ALL-ROUNDER
- Haresfoot – Sundial
- Haresfoot – Lock Keeper’s
- Haresfoot – Totem
- Leighton Buzzard Brew Co – Black Buzzard
- Red Squirrel – Hopfest
- Tring – Side Pocket for a Toad
- Vale – Gravitas
- XT – 13
(* last minute substitute)
The beers were laid up on Wednesday evening, vented on
Friday morning and tapped Friday evening. Some were on the lively side and as I
vented I was rewarded with a few beer showers. I had minor concerns, had the beer
heated up, had it spoiled, would it drop? But come Saturday and having the privilege
of tasting all the beers at 9:00, my concerns soon dissolved into a distant
memory.
And so to my next worry – we’ve built it but will they come? At 12.05 there was a shared worried look amongst the team as we stood alone in an empty brewery with 12 freshly tapped casks. But at 12.10 our first customers appeared – a handful of faithful CAMRA members arrived to ensure they got to taste all the beers. They took the beer list, sipped ale and started scoring. These enlightened few were soon joned by some of our regulars and lots of new faces. So, we had ourselves a beer festival, supplemented by a hog-roast, courtesy of The Oak, and music from three bands: BURP, Tony Goff and the Situators.
Like the early CAMRA members, I sampled each beer (halves of
course) throughout the day. So which were my favourites? Ignoring our own beers
for now, I would opt for the Vale Gravitas – a fragrant hoppy nose but not over
the top (not an APA) nicely balanced with malt and subtle bitterness. I was also
thoroughly impressed with the Black Buzzard. I’m not a massive fan of porters
but I found this flavoursome beer kept drawing me back. We aim to produce our
own porter this year and I think John at LBB has set the bar with this one. My
third choice would be Beechwood Bitter, a long-standing favourite of mine – a traditional
malty ale with the perfect balance of sweet-bitterness.
So the final big question, would we do it again? Well its
hard work, I have learned there is a lot of preparation and it’s both physically
and mentally tiring. But I’m up for it if you are, and all come along again.
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