London British Beer Festival 2011
Last year was a good first visit to the beer festival. The only minor drawback was that some of the most talked about beers were already gone by the second full day. This year I went along with two of my edinburgh veterans on the first full day. This meant there had only been 4 hours of officially opening from day 1. So I went along with misunderstrucks "guide to US ales", having conferred with my friends what we were going to try. My sights were set on a smuttynose big A IPA only for me to be told it sold out on the first night. I then asked for a lagunitas censored ale - gone. I mentioned a couple of others - all gone. Then I handed him the list and said "any of these". I managed to get a sierra Nevada Porter which was quite good. Nice and dark and plenty of flavour. A friend got the tricerhops which was one of the best names at the festival although it was pretty strong stuff - not something you'd get away with drinking fast. In contrast my friend got a deschutes miller pond ale which was very drinkable.
My favourite beer was the clipper plank 1. It was easily the most distinct flavour of the beers i tried and while not something I could drink all night was definitely worth a pint. It probably helped that I had a sore throat as it made me savour the cherry/cough medicine-like kick in the beer. In fact I swear this beer cured my 2.5 week long sore throat. It even got me wondering whether I could start up an alternative therapy where I could "prescribe" specific beers to cure "alements". I figure if people buy into homeopathy then there should be a market for alchopathy. I know plenty of people who'd be willing to give it a try.
As the world beers had been decimated we decided to take advantage of the 500+ british ales kicking around. One of my favourites was the Rudgate Ruby Mild from North yorkshire, a mild ale that was deceptively dark and had the magic ability of being totally refreshing. Then again this was the hottest day of the year and the indoor festival was very muggy.
I also tried a de ranke Dutch beer that was fairly good too and we went off piste and tried some ciders, one of which smelled of stables and horse crap (yet tasted good).
All in all a good day with some good beers and idle chat with friends. Next year I think we'll definitely invest in bringing some fold-out camping chairs though. As for US ales, it's clear they now have a lot of respect in the UK as shown by how quickly they sell out. I think I'm better off just having a booze cruise the next time I visit the USA.
Now I need to get to work on the alchopathy.
My favourite beer was the clipper plank 1. It was easily the most distinct flavour of the beers i tried and while not something I could drink all night was definitely worth a pint. It probably helped that I had a sore throat as it made me savour the cherry/cough medicine-like kick in the beer. In fact I swear this beer cured my 2.5 week long sore throat. It even got me wondering whether I could start up an alternative therapy where I could "prescribe" specific beers to cure "alements". I figure if people buy into homeopathy then there should be a market for alchopathy. I know plenty of people who'd be willing to give it a try.
As the world beers had been decimated we decided to take advantage of the 500+ british ales kicking around. One of my favourites was the Rudgate Ruby Mild from North yorkshire, a mild ale that was deceptively dark and had the magic ability of being totally refreshing. Then again this was the hottest day of the year and the indoor festival was very muggy.
I also tried a de ranke Dutch beer that was fairly good too and we went off piste and tried some ciders, one of which smelled of stables and horse crap (yet tasted good).
All in all a good day with some good beers and idle chat with friends. Next year I think we'll definitely invest in bringing some fold-out camping chairs though. As for US ales, it's clear they now have a lot of respect in the UK as shown by how quickly they sell out. I think I'm better off just having a booze cruise the next time I visit the USA.
Now I need to get to work on the alchopathy.