Beer Viking » beer festival http://www.beerviking.com Hunting for the Best Beer in the Universe Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 Salopian Brewery Darwins Origin (4.3%) – a great bottled beer http://www.beerviking.com/2010/09/salopian-brewery-darwins-origin-4-3-a-great-bottled-beer/ http://www.beerviking.com/2010/09/salopian-brewery-darwins-origin-4-3-a-great-bottled-beer/#comments Sat, 18 Sep 2010 15:37:09 +0000 Doc D http://www.beerviking.com/2010/09/salopian-brewery-darwins-origin-4-3-a-great-bottled-beer/

We recently had the pleasure of drinking the Salopian Brewery Darwins Origin (4.3%) on cask at a small August bank holiday beer festival in Kent. From cask it rated a respectable 15/20 on the @brewrank scale. Here's how the Salopian website describes the brew:

Style: Darwin’s Origin is an eclectic mix of hops from across the world but this blend produces a beer that offers something to everyone. Crisp, tart, fruity and refreshing but also with a juicy malt background.

 
History: 

The brainchild of Debbie here at the brewery, Darwin’s Origin is the most recent addition to the Salopian core range in both cask and bottle. It was brewed to celebrate Shrewsbury’s most famous son Charles Darwin. Like most additions to the permanent range of beers, Darwin’s started off as a monthly special and the reaction of our customers and staff saw it replacing Abbey Gates.

Then we were at Ales By Mail for a spot of manual labour and managed to grab a few spare bottles. Well… As bottle beer it's even a little bit better! A solid 16 out of 20. The appearance is a light copper colour. Aroma is sweet like flowers with a hint of vanilla. Taste is zesty and just enough hop to make you want more. We would call this a golden ale plus – by plus we mean it has pale ale and bitter tones. Finish is smooth. A solid session beer. We will continue to drink it.

To order yours check out the Ales By Mail Shropshire 6 Bottle Taster Case  - a bargain and delivered right to your door. 

]]> http://www.beerviking.com/2010/09/salopian-brewery-darwins-origin-4-3-a-great-bottled-beer/feed/ 1 American Beer Festival 2010 at the White Horse, SW6 in West London http://www.beerviking.com/2010/06/american-beer-festival-2010-at-the-white-horse-sw6-in-west-london/ http://www.beerviking.com/2010/06/american-beer-festival-2010-at-the-white-horse-sw6-in-west-london/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:28:46 +0000 Doc D http://www.beerviking.com/2010/06/american-beer-festival-2010-at-the-white-horse-sw6-in-west-london/ We know it shouldn't be a surprise but awesome to hear that the White Horse in West London will be doing their excellent American Beer Festival over 2nd-4th July.  We'll be doing our usual and opening affairs on the Friday afternoon.

Based on our time there in 2008 and 2009, we can totally recommend this festival as a must-visit if you love American Beer and can get to London.  Scratch that, if you love Beer in general and can get to London.

Here's some pictures from the American Beer Festival in 2009.

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]]> http://www.beerviking.com/2010/06/american-beer-festival-2010-at-the-white-horse-sw6-in-west-london/feed/ 0 Beer Festival: 40 Ales from 40 Miles at the White Horse http://www.beerviking.com/2010/04/beer-festival-40-ales-from-40-miles-at-the-white-horse/ http://www.beerviking.com/2010/04/beer-festival-40-ales-from-40-miles-at-the-white-horse/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:05:58 +0000 Doc D http://www.beerviking.com/2010/04/beer-festival-40-ales-from-40-miles-at-the-white-horse/

Tomorrow lunchtime, BeerViking will be raiding the White Horse 40 Ales from 40 Miles Beer Festival.  It will be running all weekend but if you can make it down it would be great to meet you.

 

Previous years has seen this key London beer fan pub source it’s beers for this festival from a 25 mile radius but by going a little bit further they can now include Dark Star.  Some of the other breweries who will have beer there this weekend are:  Fuller’s, Meantime, Sambrook’s, Twickenham and Brodie’s to breweries further afield like Rebellion in Marlow Bottom, Ha’Penny Brewing in Ilford, Surrey Hills in Guildford or Buntingford in Royston.  Pencil & Spoon also tipped us that new nano-brewery Kernel will have some beers there.

Regardless if you come or not, stay tuned for field reports (apologies in advance if the Hunter decides to show up and jack the proceedings) and also make sure this May Bank Holiday weekend you drink good beer – taking a turn of phrase from our friend Steve Leighton – Life is too short for bad beer.

The White Horse (or Sloaney Poney giving it it’s proper name) is located on Parsons Green, SW6 in West London (it also used to be one of the BeerViking crew local’s for 10 years).  Here is a map to help you find it:


View Larger Map

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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]]> http://www.beerviking.com/2010/04/beer-festival-40-ales-from-40-miles-at-the-white-horse/feed/ 0 Additional Beers on at the Wandsworth Common Beer Festival this weekend March 27-28 http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/additional-beers-on-at-the-wandsworth-common-beer-festival-this-weekend-march-27-28/ http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/additional-beers-on-at-the-wandsworth-common-beer-festival-this-weekend-march-27-28/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:53:52 +0000 Doc D http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/additional-beers-on-at-the-wandsworth-common-beer-festival-this-weekend-march-27-28/

EXTRA BEERS NOT PRINTED IN THE PROGRAMME

(AVAILABLE the SATURDAY & SUNDAY March 27-28)

Art Brew, North Chideock Dorset (NEW BREWERY)

Be the very first in London to try these new beers from a new Brewery!

  • Art Nouveau 3.9% High in hop content but relatively low in alcohol
  • i-Beer 4.0% A golden vanilla flavoured beer. Yes, vanilla. i-Beer as in i-pod
  • Renaissance 4.5% Mid brown in colour. Caramel notes. East Kent Goldings hops.
  • Tempest Stout 4.6% Dark ale. Classic chocolate/coffee roasted barley flavour
  • Monkey IPA 6.4% Proper IPA. Stuffed with hops
  • Spanked Monkey 6.4%  Not for the faint hearted. Chilli flavoured IPA. I kid you not.

Ballards Nyewood Hampshire

  • Wassail 6% Strong full bodied sensational barley wine. Tawny red.

Downton Salisbury, Wiltshire

  • Chocolate Orange 5.8% What festival would be complete without this masterpiece from Martin at Downton.. Deservedly popular at every festival.
  • Mad Hare 4.4% Seasonal session bitter
  • Honey Porter 4.4%
  • New Forest 3.8% New well hopped session bitter. Recommended
  • Honey Blonde 4.3% Straw coloured honey beer

Sambrook’s Battersea, London

  • Wandle Ale 3.8% Amber coloured. Citrus hints and bitterness that lingers to the finish. Launched at this festival exactly a year ago this week

Shepherd Neame Faversham, Kent

  • Ghost 4.1%  Must try. Micro brew from Sheps this was last years festival favourite. A jet black double stout.
Deleted Beers Not Available

Hidden  Hidden Pleasure..Failed to deliver. Not answering phone may have ceased

Tring Legless Lal’s Winter Ale. Sold out before delivery date. Well, it is Spring after all.

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]]> http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/additional-beers-on-at-the-wandsworth-common-beer-festival-this-weekend-march-27-28/feed/ 0 Additional Beers on at the Wandsowrth Common Beer Festival this weekend March 27-28 http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/additional-beers-on-at-the-wandsowrth-common-beer-festival-this-weekend-march-27-28/ http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/additional-beers-on-at-the-wandsowrth-common-beer-festival-this-weekend-march-27-28/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:52:18 +0000 Doc D http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/additional-beers-on-at-the-wandsowrth-common-beer-festival-this-weekend-march-27-28/

Wandsowrth Common Beer Festival

EXTRA BEERS NOT PRINTED IN THE PROGRAMME

(AVAILABLE the SATURDAY & SUNDAY March 27-28)

Art Brew, North Chideock Dorset (NEW BREWERY)

Be the very first in London to try these new beers from a new Brewery!

  • Art Nouveau 3.9% High in hop content but relatively low in alcohol
  • i-Beer 4.0% A golden vanilla flavoured beer. Yes, vanilla. i-Beer as in i-pod
  • Renaissance 4.5% Mid brown in colour. Caramel notes. East Kent Goldings hops.
  • Tempest Stout 4.6% Dark ale. Classic chocolate/coffee roasted barley flavour
  • Monkey IPA 6.4% Proper IPA. Stuffed with hops
  • Spanked Monkey 6.4%  Not for the faint hearted. Chilli flavoured IPA. I kid you not.

Ballards Nyewood Hampshire

  • Wassail 6% Strong full bodied sensational barley wine. Tawny red.

Downton Salisbury, Wiltshire

  • Chocolate Orange 5.8% What festival would be complete without this masterpiece from Martin at Downton.. Deservedly popular at every festival.
  • Mad Hare 4.4% Seasonal session bitter
  • Honey Porter 4.4%
  • New Forest 3.8% New well hopped session bitter. Recommended
  • Honey Blonde 4.3% Straw coloured honey beer

Sambrook’s Battersea, London

  • Wandle Ale 3.8% Amber coloured. Citrus hints and bitterness that lingers to the finish. Launched at this festival exactly a year ago this week

Shepherd Neame Faversham, Kent

  • Ghost 4.1%  Must try. Micro brew from Sheps this was last years festival favourite. A jet black double stout.
Deleted Beers Not Available

Hidden  Hidden Pleasure..Failed to deliver. Not answering phone may have ceased

Tring Legless Lal’s Winter Ale. Sold out before delivery date. Well, it is Spring after all.

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]]> http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/additional-beers-on-at-the-wandsowrth-common-beer-festival-this-weekend-march-27-28/feed/ 0 More Official Beer Ladders – Wandsworth Common Beer Festival http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/more-official-beer-ladders-wandsworth-common-beer-festival/ http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/more-official-beer-ladders-wandsworth-common-beer-festival/#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:50:10 +0000 Doc D http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/more-official-beer-ladders-wandsworth-common-beer-festival/ Here are a bunch more of the 'official' beer ladders for the Wandsworth Common Beer Festival next week Mark 25-28th! Enjoy and please drink responsibly – we recommend half or third pints only.
  • The Dark Beer Ladder
  • The Golden
  • The Rugby
  • The Strong
  • And the Make your own
Please print these out if you fancy and also suggest your beer ladder to us we will happily publish it.

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]]> http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/more-official-beer-ladders-wandsworth-common-beer-festival/feed/ 1 Official Wandsworth Common Beer Festival Guide and Bottle Beer List http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/official-wandsworth-common-beer-festival-guide-and-bottle-beer-list/ http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/official-wandsworth-common-beer-festival-guide-and-bottle-beer-list/#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:16:54 +0000 Doc D http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/official-wandsworth-common-beer-festival-guide-and-bottle-beer-list/
You can view or download this year's Wandsworth Common Beer Festival (WCBF) Programme Guide below – this lists all the great beers and ciders we will have on cask (and tap) for you. This is in 2 parts as a pdf. Please note there will be some additional beers at the Festival not listed in the guide such as Wassail from Ballards and bottles (see below). We will post up a list of additional cask beers when we get time.
 
We will also have Ales By Mail providing a nice range of bottle beers at the WCBF this year. They will have the ales listed below plus ball thier Belgium beers from La Rulles which is exculsive to ABM. More details here: http://www.alesbymail.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=171
  1. Elmtree Brewery – Nightlight Mild & Burston's Cuckoo
  2. Itchin Valley – Fagins & Pure Gold
  3. Crouch Vale – Essex Boys bitter
  4. Bretwood Brewey – Hope & Glory
  5. Red Squirrel – IPA in the USA
  6. Hoggleys Solstice Stout & Resevoir Hogs
  7. Sambrooks Junction
  8. Meantime – London Stout
  9. Iceni Brewery – Boadicea
 
 

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]]> http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/official-wandsworth-common-beer-festival-guide-and-bottle-beer-list/feed/ 0 Wandsworth Common Beer Festival – The Landlords Beer Ladder http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/wandsworth-common-beer-festival-the-landlords-beer-ladder/ http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/wandsworth-common-beer-festival-the-landlords-beer-ladder/#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:58:51 +0000 Doc D http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/wandsworth-common-beer-festival-the-landlords-beer-ladder/
As we said last week at this year's Wandsworth Common Beer Festival we are promoting two innovations to the beer festival format. First we take the bold move of listing them all in order of strength. As opposed to alphabetically or by brewery. They range from 3% in 0.1% increments all the way up to 10%. Second we are promoting a series of BEER LADDERS that we will publish over the coming weeks (or suggest your own). These alternative lists (or Ladders) that will give you access to beers of similar strength, colour, style or a theme. Below is the first of the 'official' event Beer Ladders.

THE LANDLORDS LADDER
  1. 3.8% Sweeney – Bank Top
  2. 3.9% Black Country Bitter – Holdens
  3. 3.9% Pinnacle Bitter – Naylors
  4. 4.1% 1823 Bitter – Tirril
  5. 4.1% Remus – Wolf
  6. 4.3% Pitchfork- RCH
  7. 4.5% Junction – Sambrooks
  8. 5.2% Captain Smith – Titanic
  9. 6.0% Dark Ruby Mild – Sarah Hughes
  10. 6.0% Wassail -Ballards (not in programme but available at Festival)
 

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]]> http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/wandsworth-common-beer-festival-the-landlords-beer-ladder/feed/ 0 Wandsworth Common Beer Festival: The Myths & Legends Ladder http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/wandsworth-common-beer-festival-the-myths-legends-ladder/ http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/wandsworth-common-beer-festival-the-myths-legends-ladder/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:29:38 +0000 Doc D http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/wandsworth-common-beer-festival-the-myths-legends-ladder/
This year at the 2nd Annual Wandsworth Common Beer Festival we are promoting two innovations to the beer festival format. First we take the bold move of listing them all in order of strength. As opposed to alphabetically or by brewery. They range from 3% in 0.1% increments all the way up to 10%. Second we are promoting a series of BEER LADDERS that we will publish over the coming weeks (or suggest your own). These alternative lists (or Ladders) that will give you access to beers of similar strength, colour, style or a theme. A bunch of these ‘ladders’ will be official ones printed up and available at the festival. Others are being posted up and we encourage people to post other ladders, suggestions and commets.
The Myths & Legends Ladder (BeerViking unofficial Ladder No1 ):
  1. Minotaur Mild 3.3% – Milton Cambridge: Red/brown with defined roasted malt nose leading to sweet finish
  2. Napolean’s Retreat 3.9% – Allgates Wigan, Lancashire:  A deep golden copper colour. Worth trying
  3. Battleaxe 4.2% – Rudgate Brewery Tockwith, North Yorkshire: More complex than the gravity initially suggests. Gentle bitterness leads to a fruity finish.
  4. Naked Ladies 4.4% – Twichenham Fine Ales Twickenham, London (OFFICIAL GLASS SPONSOR): Hopped with both First Gold and Styrian
  5. Yankee Pale Ale 5.0% – Allgates Brewery of Wigan, Lancashire: American style pale ale with specially imported yeast from USA. Cascade, Chinook and Galena hops combine with the low colour extract of Mari otter malt to give a light colour. Crisp and dry another MUST TRY!
  6. Captain Smith 5.2%  - Titanic. Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire.  Red/brown colour. Full bodied. Good strong finish. A truly excellent beer celebrating the captain who famously went down with his ship.
  7. Lotus IPA 5.7% – Ilkley Ilkley, West Yorkshire. (NEW BREWERY): Only started in 2009. A golden coloured IPA with hoppy, lemon and citrus aromas.
  8. Skullsplitter 8.5% – Orkney. Quoyloo, Orkney Isles: Intense velvet nose with hints of apple, prune & plum. Hoppy but balanced with silky malt & fruity spices. Long dry finish.
  9. Thomas Sykes 10%!!!!- Burton Bridge. Burton on Trent…. The one to finish on. What is so surprising AND dangerous is that it drinks really well without being overly sweet or cloying. Careful…you may want another.
  10. Go home now Or maybe finish off with a Dark Ruby Mild (or insert this at No 8, moving Skull to 9 and Skyes to 10)… Sarah Hughes Sedgely, West Midlands 6.0% Dark Ruby Mild A festival favourite and rightly so. Now brewing at enlarged brewhouse to supply the free trade and festival demand. One of Britains best beers. Do not leave without trying. Dark and complex.
You can get Beer Festival tickets here (pre register for a chance to win free beer) and full Beer & Cider list is here.

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]]> http://www.beerviking.com/2010/03/wandsworth-common-beer-festival-the-myths-legends-ladder/feed/ 0 Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Fest – report of sorts http://www.beerviking.com/2009/11/wandsworth-common-halloween-beer-fest-report-of-sorts/ http://www.beerviking.com/2009/11/wandsworth-common-halloween-beer-fest-report-of-sorts/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:16:41 +0000 Doc D http://www.beerviking.com/?p=1779 wcbf_No2sm

Well its been almost 3 weeks since the BeerViking crew raided the La Gothique pub for the Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Festival. Better late than never – here’s our report…

Over 2000 people attended this excellent beer fest – which ran for 3 days. We ran into Steve from Beer Justice and some of the Shepherd Neame team as well… We guestimate that over 125 casks were consumed. The ratio of girls to guys was high with over 40% of the attendees being female. This is a sweet great result for the 2nd beer festival at this venue – a younger, hipper and more female crowd than your average beer fest. This may also have been the 1st festival to have Meantime London Pale Ale on Cask (at a beer festival that is, its on tap at many fine pub around London) – Meantime were one of the event sponsors, btw… Be sure to follow BeerViking on Twitter as there will be more beer and maybe even wine related events on Wandsworth Common coming up soon.

Here’s what we drank…

1. Shepherd Neame Faversham, Kent: Tipping the Admiral 4.0%, October
brew to celebrate Nelsons victory in 1805. Brewrank 10 – not so nice,
but drinkable.

2. Buffy’s Brewery of Tivetshall St.Mary’s, Norfolk: Norwich Terrier
3.6%, Amber coloured with grapefruit notes. Styrian, Mount Hood hops.
Brewrank 12 – reasonable brew.

3. Dark Star Haywards Heath, Sussex: Ocktoberfest 5.2%, Using German
malts and hopped three times. Brewrank 15 – NICE! Dark Star rock.

4. Downton Salisbury, Wiltshire: Pumpkin Ale 4.4%, Special dark version
of Downtons Halloween Brew for this festival. Brewrank 13 – nice
stew like taste of pumpkin.

5. Twickenham Fine Ales Twickenham, London: Strange Brew 4.1%, Dark
golden ale. Hint of spice. Five different hops. Brewrank 15 – golden
syrup with a hint of lime.

6. Wolf Attleborough, Norfolk: Werewolf 4.5%, Red-brown with
pronounced malty bouquet. Brewrank 6 – yuck!

Beers 7+ (maybe it was 12 in total?)… After this the rating notes seemed to have vanished. Well it was Halloween. But I know we drank some Downton Quadhop, Moorhouse Black Cat, More Dark Star Octoberfest (nice!), Japanese Asahi Ale (smooth) and Triple fff Stairway to Heaven (tasty).

Beyond this it did get a bit crazy and we mainly drank dark beers as I recall… Below is our random photostream of people enjoying the Halloween WCBF on Friday Oct 30th. Video of the winner of the Meantime case coming out next.

Halloween WCBF on Friday Oct 30th:

]]> http://www.beerviking.com/2009/11/wandsworth-common-halloween-beer-fest-report-of-sorts/feed/ 0