The 16th Elysian Winter Beer Festival

It was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing as I decided to go only last night, but today I had a trip to Ely for my second (and last) Winter Beer Festival of this winter.

It is the 16th Elysian Winter Beer Festival and is being held in The Maltings. It is just 1/2 hour by train each way from Bury St. Edmunds and a 10 minute walk from the station, so is easy to get to, although the trains are only once every two hours. Here are a few photos.

It was a pleasant walk from the station down to the river Great Ouse and along it.

10 past 11 (when it opened) and there was quite a big queue to get in.

I was lucky to find a seat by the window in the Kempen room upstairs with a view of the river (and rain) outside.

As with Colchester last week, all the seats were taken soon after the festival opened.

This is the lobby where you come in.

The bars were along the edges of the Elysian Hall. There was a great selection of beers (and ciders) on and I was able to find everything I looked for from the programme.

It was still quite early at this stage - by 1pm the hall was absolutely heaving - far more people than were at the Colchester beer festival.

The food bar did a good selection of hot and cold food. I got a scotch egg.

I stayed until 3:30pm and had a leisurely walk back to the station for my 4:30pm train.

As before, I stuck to the dark beers suitable for the winter weather. Here's what I had, 1/3 pint at a time.

• Grasshopper Devil's Horse Stout (4.3%)
• Leighton Buzzard Black Buzzard Porter (5.8%)
• Lord Conrad's Zulu Dawn Mild (3.4%) The lowest strength of the beers I had and my favourite.
• Moonshine Cellarman's Stout (6.0%). My second last one. Rich and juicy indeed.
• Nethergate Old Growler Porter (5.0%). An old favourite and my first one to set a baseline for the rest.
• New River Blind Poet Porter (4.5%). I liked this one.
• Papworth Almonry Garden Old Ale (4.5%). As the barman said, there is lots going on in this beer. I liked this one too.
• Three Acre Skylark Stout (4.6%).
• Towcester Mill Black Fire Stout (5.2%).
• Vocation Naughty and Nice Stout (5.9%). My last one.

A good day out and it was nice to be indoors out of the rain. Furthermore, the beers were all excellent. I think I'd come again, although I would rather it was less busy.