East Anglian Beer Festival 2019

This is an annual treat. A major Beer Festival on my doorstep - in easy walking distance. I've been going to the East Anglian Beer Festival every year since, I think, 2001, although maybe I just didn't keep a glass as a souvenir before then, and had previous visits recorded in my old blog back to 2006. This year it was bigger than ever.

..said the website.

I worked from home on the Wednesday morning and took a half-day's holiday to go to the first afternoon. Then on Friday I went again after returning from the morning's walk to Lavenham. And finally, today, it was my annual meet up with Tim and others for the Saturday afternoon session.

One of the innovations I enjoyed, although the take-up must have been a bit disappointing for the presenters, was the "Meet the Brewer" talks. I attended 2 - on Wednesday with Alan Thomson of Old Chimney brewery, and on Friday with Ross O'Hara, Greene King's new head brewer. At the latter we had our glasses kept topped up with  Abbot Reserve. I found them most informative and the small audiences meant we had more of a conversation than a lecture. I particularly enjoyed Alan's career story and his reminders of our common North-Eastern background, and the insights Ross gave into the world of a global beer business.

Here are a few photos from the event.

The new marquee hosted Humpty-Dumpty and Greene King Beers... and even a Pimms and Prosecco bar, with some food stalls outside the tent.

There were plenty of signs...

The main bar was well-stocked. It was not too busy on Wednesday afternoon.

One wall had the strong beers and ciders. It was a bit early for the former and the cider drinkers hadn't arrived for the latter.

It was still only 1:30pm and my second card was just getting started.

I had a seat at a table upstairs which gave me a view of the marquee, stage and food stalls.

There were also some beers upstairs.

 That was nicer than sitting in the gloom of the auditorium!

The Friday and Saturday were busier.

On the latter day the frequent showers left an accumulation of hail for a while!

Then after the Saturday afternoon session it was a curry at Orissa. Yum.

But what about the beers? I tried most on Wednesday and there was a still a good selection on Friday afternoon, but by late Saturday afternoon a number of them were no longer available.

Here are a few I liked...
Beartown Ginger Beer 4.0% Specialty - "The flavours from the malt and hops blend with the added bite from the root ginger to produce a superbly quenching finish." I agreed.
Blueshack Pale 3.8% Bitter - "Hoppy and zesty." This was my first one and became a benchmark that was bettered only by my winner (see below).
Bull of the Woods Twisted Wheel 4.5% Bitter - "A session IPA with sweet orange marmalade hoppiness and a quick flash of pink grapefruit heralds an easy dry bitter finish." Very tasty.
Cameron's Strongarm 4.0% Bitter "A well rounded ruby red all with a distinctive, tight creamy head. Sweet and bitter." A reminder of my North-Eastern roots.
Humpty Dumpty Little Sharpie 3.8% Bitter - "A delicate hop aroma leads to a light clean tasting finish". Another light and hoppy bitter.
Panther Ginger Panther 3.7% Specialty - "Brewed with loads of fresh ginger, lemongrass and some chilli". Very refreshing.
Purity Bunny Hop 3.5% Bitter. "An extra hopped pale ale" Wow! Hop, hop, hop.


On Saturday our group had a vote on the best w had tried. The winner was...

Green Jack LGM1 - "LGM1 - Little Green Men one - The first signal received on earth from a pulsar was named little green men one and is the inspiration for our new 2019 brew. A single hopped golden pale ale with plenty of malt to balance the grapefruit and bold citrus flavours from American grown Comet hops." Exceedingly flavoursome and refreshing.

So that's it for this year... But the Cambridge Beer Festival is coming soon - the next outing for my CAMRA membership card!