5th annual Newbury Racecourse Beer Festival

 The 5th annual Newbury Racecourse Beer Festival was held on 17/18 April, 2015 at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire, UK.

Newbury Racecourse advertise the beer festival in local Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) magazines including Ullage, the West Berkshire CAMRA magazine. CAMRA members qualify for half price entry to the Grandstand section of the racecourse by booking tickets in advance.

The Beer Festival area has an area near the Grandstand entrance to the racecourse which includes picnic tables and an open ended marquee. A smaller tent with a stage provided shelter for musical performances.

Bar staff poured beer from casks or cider from boxes into branded plastic glasses.
Queues at the bar would build up after the end of a race but by the time another race was about to start there would be only a few people at the bar.
As I was there for the beer rather than the racing it was sensible to wait until a race was about to start before heading to the bar to order another beer!

There were printed programmes, in dispensers at the bar, with tasting notes and details of all the beers available at the festival.
West Berkshire Brewery sourced beers for the festival and their flagship beer 'Good Old Boy' was advertised above the stillage for the beer casks.
Another local brewery, Two Cocks Brewery, based at Enborne supplied four beers including Frank-Ale which is supplied exclusively to the racecourse and is named after the horse Frankel, a popular winner at Newbury.

The tasting notes in the beer festival programme covered the 44 beers that were available including beers from Fuller's, Springhead Brewery (Southwell), Binghams Brewery (Ruscombe), White Horse Brewery (Faringdon), Arbor Ale (Bristol) and Windsor & Eton Brewery.

On Saturday 18 April, my friend Pat (2nd from right in photo above) was beginning his stag event at the beer festival and so good company was available as well as good beer and plenty of sunshine!

As well as supplying some beers for the beer festival including Oliver's Island, Fuller's also brought their dray to the racecourse pulled by the drayhorses Griffin and Pride.

The Crafty Filly is the pub at the racecourse located in the Premier Enclosure. Two Cocks Frank-ale is served throughout the season at this pub near the Premier entrance to the racecourse.

Also in the Premier Enclosure was a Barrel Bar. I spoke to the guys inside who told me the bar was originally made in Austria and is now usually based at Goodwood in Sussex.

Inside the bar were cask ales from Hepworth & Co Brewers Ltd (Horsham) and ciders from Wobblegate (West Sussex).

 Cheers!

Craft Beer Rising 2014 - Part 2

The second Craft Beer Rising festival was also held inside the Old Truman Brewery building, Brick Lane, London.

TRUM letters visible on the original Truman brewery chimney

Franciscan Well

The original Truman brewery chimney could be seen through the window behind the Franciscan Well Brewery stand which was where Steve Kelly and I continued our tour on Saturday 22 February, 2014.

Franciscan Well Brewery - Friar Weisse

Wheat beers are a favourite of mine so it was nice to be offered a taste of Friar Weisse (4.7%) 'a German style unfiltered wheat beer with citrus notes on the palate and powerful aroma of clove and banana imparted by a unique yeast strain'. Steve rated the Shandon Stout highly on Untappd and found it 'smooth'.

Paudie Scully (brewer) - Franciscan Well Brewery

Paudie Scully, the brewer was on hand to give us information about Franciscan Well Brewery. The brewery was founded in 1998 on the site of a 13th century Franciscan monastery on the North Mall in Cork City, Ireland. There is a brew pub with a beer garden next door. The brewery has recently been purchased by Molson Coors and a bigger brewery will be built in Cork's docklands. Friar Weisse and Rebel Red are available in 330ml bottles from the larger Tesco Extra stores.

Celt Experience / Tap East

The Celt Experience / Tap East stall included pipework and a barrel behind the bar.

Celt Experience / Tap East stall

The Celt Experience beers use hops from the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. The brewery is based in Caerphilly. Their website mentions that the 'brewery is held on the earth by its desire to reflect Beer and Art as one, reflecting on urban culture and paranormal spirit ...'. Steve liked the Brigid Fire (6.3% ABV) smoked rye IPA, a new core beer launched in 2014 to replace Bronze Age. There were also beers from Tap East, the specialist beer bar and microbrewery at the Westfield Stratford City Mall in East London. Sour Saxon, a 4.3% ABV sour Berliner Weiss collaborative beer brewed by Tom Newman (Celt Experience) and Jim Wilson (Tap East) was also available.

Ilkley Brewery

The Ilkley brewery stand was one that I could not pass without trying a beer from as I like the brewery's hoppy style found in beers like Mary Jane. Sensibly, I chose Dinner Ale with a low ABV (3.3%). This Victorian Pale Ale was brewed with a recipe from 1884 found in the archives of the original brewery in Ilkley. Stella (Australian) and Calypso (American) hops give the pale ale a modern slant. Steve rated his glass of The Chief, a 7% ABV American Double IPA, highly and described it as 'HOPPY'!

Christa Sandquist, brewer, Ilkley Brewery with 'Ullage' magazine

After talking to Christa Sandquist, it soon became obvious from her accent that she was not originally from Yorkshire. She explained that she was from Washington State, USA, and had been brewing at Harviestoun brewery for two years before moving to Ilkley Brewery in 2013. Christa accepted a copy of 'Ullage', the West Berkshire CAMRA magazine, as seen on the counter in the photo above.

Nene Valley Brewery

The Big Bang Theory beer at the Nene Valley Brewery stand caught astrophysicist Steve's eye!

Paul Woodcock - Nene Valley Brewery

Nene Valley Brewery is based at Oundle Wharf, by the North Bridge into Oundle, Northamptonshire and reintroduced brewing to the town in September 2012 after an absence of exactly fifty years.
Steve had to have a Big Bang Theory (5.3% ABV) which he rated highly and described as 'Lovely, hoppy not bitter'.My choice was Australian Pale (OZP in the brewery's three letter code system - 4.4% ABV) a golden ale with citrus and tropical fruit flavours. Paul, a Nene Valley brewer with a Master's degree in Brewing and Distilling from Heriot-Watt university, advised that the hops used include Mosaic in Big Bang Theory and Galaxy in Australian Pale. Steve noticed the black Big Bang Theory t-shirt that Paul was wearing and treated himself to one from the stock for sale.

WEST Brewery

Rachel greeted us at the West Brewery stand and explained that the Glasgow Green based brewery and beer hall was started in 2006 by Petra Wetzel from Bavaria.

Rachel MacKay (Sales) & Petra M. Wetzel (Founder) - WEST Brewery

At WEST Brewery, wheat beers and lagers are brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law dating back to 1516. We appreciated samples of Hefeweizen (5.2% ABV) a classic Bavarian style wheat beer and G.P.A. (5.2% ABV) made with both malted barley and wheat, strongly hopped with American Chinook and Hallertau Mittelfrueh hops. A tall fridge held 33cl bottles of St Mungo, WEST's flagship lager named after Glasgow's patron saint. St Mungo (4.9% ABV) 'pure heavenly' lager is available from Waitrose stores and we were each able to take a bottle away from the stand to enjoy later.


Part 3 - to follow ..............

Craft Beer Rising 2014 - Part 1

Steve Kelly and I enjoyed spending an afternoon at the first Craft Beer Rising event at The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London in 2013.
In 2014, I was really pleased when Steve gave me a ticket to the second event at my n0th birthday in February. A few days later, on Saturday 22 February, we caught a train from Newbury changing at Paddington for the tube to Liverpool Street. On the way to the Old Truman Brewery, I stopped to get a coffee and we arrived soon after the 11am opening time. After exchanging tickets for a tasting glass and beer tokens we headed for one of the closest stalls which was Arbor / Wiper and True.

Wiper and True

William (Wiper and True)

While I sipped my coffee, Steve ordered a Fire Plough (5.5% ABV). This smoked porter was a collaboration between Arbor Ales and Wiper and True which Steve (a Bristolian) rated highly.
We questioned William about the distinctive black and white symbols that were visible at the stall and made into badges. He revealed that each symbol is associated with a particular style of beer:

Elephant - IPA

Balloon - Amber ale

Diver's Helmet - Porter

Space Shuttle - Stout

On the Wiper and True website Michael Wiper and William Hartley describe themselves as 'experimenters and inventors - exploring new and delicious beers that we can't wait to share'.
William told us that they started off using other brewers' plant including Cotswold Brewing and Cheddar Ales but that they now have their own 5 barrel kit based at an industrial unit in St Werburghs, between the M32 and Ashley Down in Bristol, north-east of the city centre. They are planning for up to 20 barrels in the future.
The leaflets produced for each of their beers include comprehensive notes about the ingredients used. The leaflets also mention that their bottled beers are bottle conditioned with some yeast left in to allow secondary fermentation. The result of this technique is 'a light fizz that we think provides a more refined texture and mouthfeel'. Most breweries use finings to make their beer clear. This may result in their beer being a bit cloudy but 'we feel that this is a small sacrifice to pay to keep it pure and vegan friendly'.

Truman's

The neon sign at the Truman's stall which was also decorated with feathers and a traditional Truman's pub mirror featuring the black eagle caught my eye.

Truman's Blindside, Attaboy, Runner & Emperor on draught

As well as draught beers from the 'new' Truman's brewery 'established 1666, re-established 2010' now based at The Eyrie, Hackney Wick, there were bottles of London Keeper with individual labels.

Truman's London Keeper - 1880 Double Export Stout, 8% ABV

London Keeper was the first beer to be brewed at The Eyrie in August 2013. Only 2000 75cl bottles were produced.
Steve tried a glass of draught Blindside (4.4% ABV), a golden ale produced in January 2014 for availability during the Six Nations Rugby Union Championship competition. English hops (First Gold, Sovereign and Pilgrim) were used but Steve did not find the taste as hoppy as expected.

Adnams

Just across from Truman's was the Adnams stall and it was time for my first beer, Adnams (Jack Brand) Mosaic pale ale (4.1% ABV), a single hop beer brewed with a relatively new variety of American hops.

Ruth at the Adnam's stall

The heritage of Mosaic hops involves Simcoe and Nugget, giving a flavour similar to Citra. This was an ideal beer to start the day with and Ruth was able to give us a lot of information about the beers available at the stall that included Jack Brand Rye IPA (5% ABV), Jack Brand Dry Hopped Lager (4.2% ABV) which is dry hopped with Galaxy hops from Australia and Adnams Ghost Ship (4.5% ABV), already one of my favourite beers.

Lagunitas

Steve and I were both keen to try the only beer left at the adjacent Lagunitas stall - Lagunitas IPA. Little Sumpin', a seasonal beer, had already sold out.

Ben, Fraser and Steve

Fraser Murray poured our beers and gave us some background gained from his six years experience with the company in Northern California. Lagunitas IPA (6.2% ABV) was the first seasonal beer to be brewed at Petaluma, about 30 miles north of San Francisco, back in 1995.
It was interesting to discover that a 40 foot container load of Lagunitas beer (mainly kegs) arrives in the UK every four weeks after a sea journey involving two oceans via the Panama Canal and lasting 33 days. Lagunitas beer is also shipped to Sweden. The journey time is set to be reduced to 9 days when a second brewery opens in Chicago, enabling a container load to be transported by rail to New Jersey for transhipment to the UK.
The Chicago brewery will also reduce the amount of money spent on diesel fuel for truckloads of beer from California to 40 states in the USA because many journeys will be shorter from Chicago.

Lagunitas bottle top - fridge magnet

Fraser was asked about the relevance of the dog in Lagunitas branding and it turns out that not only is founder, Tony Magee, a dog owner but the brewery is also 'dog friendly'.
I was grateful to Fraser for explaining how to pronounce Lagunitas correctly, La- gun- eee- tas, with emphasis on the third syllable.
Congratulations to Steve on logging Lagunitas IPA as his 1000th unique beer on Untappd. We both liked the hoppy nature of Lagunitas IPA but also found it a bit fizzy on this occasion. This must be a common reaction from real ale drinkers!

To Be Continued in Part 2 ...

Great British Beer Festival - London Olympia 2012

A ticket to the Trade Session at the Great British Beer Festival gives the holder admittance to the festival for up to five hours before it opens to the public at 5pm on the opening Tuesday - 7 August 2012.
Twitter came to my rescue in the shape of Rob Derbyshire (@BGRTRob) who kindly posted a spare ticket to me so that I could attend.
I travelled from Newbury to Olympia via Paddington with Rick Wyatt, cider maker, and Roy Bailey, writer and former cider / perry maker. Rick was carrying two bottles of cider with him (Berkshire Gold - 500ml and Abbey Gold - 750ml) to give to Paul Scrivens, chairman and cider contact of the Reading CAMRA branch.

Rick Wyatt, Paul Scrivens & Roy Bailey

Adrian Bean, chairman of West Berkshire CAMRA branch was working at the Hutton Bar and suggested a visit to the upper floor of Olympia from the staircase nearby. From the upper floor you get a good view of the ground floor including a huge poster encouraging people to sign the e-petition protesting at the beer duty escalator.

At the Dunlop bar, where I had just ordered a Mallinson's Citra, I met Dickie Bird, the Elland Brewery company secretary. Beyond the Pale was the beer from Elland brewery at this bar. I pointed out Arkell's Wiltshire Gold to him and mentioned that it was brewed in a tower brewery. Dickie explained that Elland Brewery is all on one level and relies on pumps for transfer. He also pointed out that Empire Brewery, next on the alphabetical brewery list on this bar was also situated near to Elland Brewery and that West Yorkshire has more breweries than any other county. 

Pete Brown, the author of several books about beer, was placing flyers for his new book 'Shakespeare's Local' on tables. This will cover five centuries of history seen through one extraordinary pub. I interrupted him to take a photo with the current issue of 'Ullage' (West Berkshire CAMRA newsletter).

Now it was time to find Andy Parker, another Twitter contact (@tabamatu) who had texted me his whereabouts from a table near the bar with American cask and bottled beers. Arriving early at the festival is always a good idea as you can find a seat at a table and have a base to leave any books, bottles etc.. This was also an opportunity to meet Jane (@i96jms) who kindly took some of the photos in this post.

We ordered Dark Drake a stout from Dancing Duck brewery at the Davis bar and Andy introduced me to Mike from Buxton brewery. Mike and Andy discussed the merits of Axe Edge, the brewery's double IPA hopped with Amarillo, Citra and Nelson Sauvin. Matt from Hawkshead brewery joined us and the group expanded further with Zak Avery the beer writer and specialist beer retailer and Yan from Pivovar the beer bar company. This mix shows how useful it can be to be able to visit the trade session and meet people from the brewing and blogging spheres. However, you need good hearing to keep up with the conversation especially when the Skinners Brewery drummers march past at regular intervals, led by Betty Stoggs!

When our beers had gone we headed for the Brains brewery bar which included two beers from the new craft brewery which can handle smaller quantities. Weiss Weiss Baby is their first weissbeer, exclusively launched at the festival. Barry Island IPA was created by Simon Martin (@RealAleToday) the real ale and craft beer reviewer on YouTube. 

We ordered Barry Island IPA and when I got my camera out to take a photo of the pump clips, Jane organised a photo of us at the bar.

Tim Thomas & Andy Parker (drinking Brains Barry Island IPA)

Andy spotted Marverine Cole (@BeerBeauty) nearby and I was honoured by a lovely greeting from her when she recognised me as someone who had contacted her about meeting up at the festival. Jane kindly took a photo of us and I was able to give Marverine a copy of 'Ullage' newsletter.

It had been a good choice to order Barry Island IPA earlier as Simon Martin was near us and Simon told us how he had spent a day at the Cardiff brewery when the beer was brewed according to his specification. Rob Derbyshire, who had supplied my trade session ticket, was keen to do a joint beer review with Simon so I was enlisted as the camera operator and we set off for the Ruth bar to get another beer. We chose American cask beers with Geary's Pale Ale for me, Lagunitas Undercover Shutdown Ale for Andy and Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous for Rob and Simon to do their joint review. Rob and Simon gave an entertaining review and awarded top marks to the beer while I tried to keep the camera steady. Afterwards I took my own photo of them.

Rob Derbyshire & Simon Martin (after reviewing Stone - Sublimely  Self-Righteous)

I spent the rest of the day with CAMRA friends including beer writer Jeff Evans (@insidebeer), Oxford Drinker editor (Steven Green) and Delia Allott from Binghams Brewery. I had two good beers from the Champion  Beer of Britain bar - Little Valley Hebden's Wheat (Silver in Speciality Beer category) and Dark Star American Pale Ale (Gold in Golden Ales category and Bronze overall). 

Skinner's Cornish Knocker Ale, Dark Star American Pale Ale & Dunham Massey Chocolate Cherry Mild at CBOB bar

I was also given a taste of the Champion Beer of Britain 2012 - Coniston brewery's No. 9 Barley Wine. The final beer was one of my favourites of the day - Infinity by Blue Monkey from Richards bar.

Tim Thomas visited the Great British Beer Festival 2012 organised by the Campaign for Real Ale on Tuesday 7 August as a guest of Rob Derbyshire. Thanks also to Andy Parker for a bottle to take home (Kopikat - Imperial Vanilla Coffee Stout from Summer Wine Brewery) and for introductions and to Jane for photos.