Post by J Esaj PRA on Mar 10, 2006 15:09:30 GMT
medibot said:
Any tips for what to look out for when i actuallt make the Sussex festival tonight Jase?Your first stop should be the Sussex Beer Festival website. There are provisional beer lists and tasting notes which should give you a head start.
I'd be tempted to look for the Sussex micros and any festival specials, as they are the ones that are likely to be 'hard to find' outside of a festival. Even the bigger Sussex breweries (like Harvey's) are likely to have their more obscure beers available. Beyond that I just go for the more obscure micros from around the country, picking up unusual styles, such as fruit beer, smoked beer, milds, porters and stouts. (I tend to leave the golden ales and the hop-heavy stuff for the summer and autumn months.) My only other advice would be to start with the low ABVs and work up, otherwise you'll have trouble tasting the weaker beers.
A few that caught my eye for various reasons...
Abbeydale Absolution 5.3%.
Arundel - good local-ish brewery.
Batemans Dark Mild 3.0% - good choice to start with.
Bridge of Allan Glencoe Stout 4.5% - good Scottish effort.
Bushys Export bitter 3.8% - IoM rarity.
Cairngorm Black Gold 4.4% - excellent beer.
Crouch Vale Brewers Gold 4.0% - current Champion Beer of Britain, solid if unspectacular.
Custom Beers - never heard of the brewery... the Honey Porter 5.5% sounds inviting!
Dark Star Oatmeal Stout 4.5% - would prefer the Espresso Stout, but...
Dublin to Liverpool - never heard of 'em.
Fuzzy Duck Stout 4.0% - another new brewery to me, good for Aylesbury fans!
Harveys Hadlow 3.5%, Kiss 4.8% and Porter 4.8% - all new to me.
Isle of Mull McCaigs 4.2% - rare.
Malvern Hills Black Pear 4.4% - recent award winner from a good brewery.
Okells Mac Lir 4.4% - fairly rare IoM beer.
Phoenix Arizona 4.1% - perhaps the driest beer on the planet. A classic.
Ramsgate Gadds No7 3.8% - not their best, but pretty damn good.
Spinning Dog Hereford Organic 3.7% - excellent drinking beer, too easy to drink.
There are a lot of breweries and beers I'm never seen before, including a fair few from Wales and Scotland. There are only a handful on the list that I'd avoid, the rest are fair game.
Ballards Poms Delight 9.6% - top hitter by some way! I find the brewery a bit hit and miss, but one to consider before chucking out time, just for 'medicinal' reasons!
I'm personally not a fan of Triple fff beers. Even at the tap in Alton they were dodgy. However, I've never had Moondance 4.2%, which is on offer at the fest and is one of ISIHAC's recommendations.
It looks like a very good festival.
The bad news is that Friday night has sold out.
Medibot = -->
(Unless you've got tickets?)
