Colchester Winter Ale Festival

Dry January is finished so I thought I would have a day out at the Colchester Winter Beer Festival.

I was going to go on Friday, but when I went to book my train tickets, I discovered there were no trains as a train strike was on. So I went yesterday instead. Here are a few photos...

I arrived at Colchester station about 11am and had about a mile's walk to the venue - Colchester Arts Centre. Here I'm Crossing the River Colne.

I passed the end of the High Street. Now I was in familiar territory from my only previous visit to the town when I walked the city walls and gates - see here. 

I recognised Church St too,,

...and the Mercury Theatre...

...and the 'Jumbo' water tower, the largest remaining Victorian water tower in England....

There was a market on...

...but where was this Arts Centre? Aha here it is, disguised as a church... well if I'd paid attention to the description of the place I would have remembered it was in a deconsecrated church.

Here is what their website says about the church's history...

"On Church Street, to the east of Balkerne Hill lies the former church St Mary at the Walls (now Colchester Arts Centre), built against the Roman Walls and overlooking the south western corner of the old walled town of Colchester. The first recorded church was mentioned in 1206, with the first named rector, Thomas Aignell, recorded in 1286, the last Ralph Stevens who came to the church in 1965, remaining until the church closed for worship on 26th February 1978. Since 1286, the church has had 49 rectors and three different buildings have stood on this location, with the Nave and Chancel of the current building dating from 1872. The lower part of the tower is the oldest, dating from around 1270, with the ramparts at the top dating from the rebuild of 1911 as the top came loose during the earthquake of 1884."

I had to walk all the way round the church to find the way in.

It is not huge but a great space for a beer festival.

The beers were (mainly) divide between two stands - one on the Stage (known as The Stage)....

and the other against the south wall - The Graveside... see the gravestones on the wall behind.

There was also a cider and Belgian beer bar opposite.

I found myself a seat at a table.

Even though it was the last day and some of the beers had gone there was still a great selection.

Behind me was the stall of the The Cheese and Pie Man, who I'd seen regularly at Bury St. Edmunds Market.

I had one of their sausage rolls later. Very tasty. Nearly as good as one of mine.

By 3:30 I had had enough and my beer cards had run out so I left to get the trains home. As you can see it had got a bit busier by then!

My thanks to local boy Tony for the company and interesting conversation, and also his son Adam when he joined us later, and Neil who took up the remaining seat at the table to join us. The time just flew by.

The beers were pretty good  - all bar two, the Pot Belly Black Sun, which tasted a little sour and the Rascality Brewing Hair Of The Frog which was just a little odd. I had to try that one though because of the pretentious (or maybe tongue-in-cheek?) description in the Beer List of "A post-modern bitter with heaps of crystal meths supplying a rich toffee and treacle backbone.". Having drink 1/2 pint of it I have still no idea what that means. Other beers of note that I tasted included:

• Colchester Brewery No 1. 4.1% My first of the day, of course. "Lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start." You must recognise that first line of a song, surely? If not... Doh! A great beer to start with.
• Caveman Brewery's Paleolithic.3.8%  From Swanscombe in Kent. "A light session beer with a high dose of aromatic hops". Pale and very refreshing.
• Billericay Zeppelin. 3.8% "An easy drinking session ale with slight smoky notes".  Exactly as it said in the programme.
• Elephant School Bumbleduck. 4.8%. From Brentwood. A Honey porter. There were plenty of ports on the list so I had to have one of them and chose this one. Very tasty. Not on their website.
• Docks Low Tide. 3,4%. From Grimsby. My last one, having just 1/3 pint to finish my beer card. "An easy drinking session pale ale". A great one to finish with too.

A lovely venue and some great beers. I think I may be back for their summer festival.

Oh. In case you are wondering the logo on the beer list (at the top of this post) is not "Ladies of the night" as I jokingly told Dawn and William today. As the website explains.. "This year our logo honours Jane and Ann Taylor, writers of the lyrics to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star while living in Colchester’s Dutch Quarter – just off the high street, a few hundred yards from the festival."