The 31st Newcastle Beer Festival (2007)
Yesterday evening a couple of my colleagues and I went to the Newcastle Beer festival. Despite my love of a traditional bitter this was the first beer festival I have attended. We had to queue for about 20 minutes to get in, but everyone was in good spirits and I have to say it was politest queue I have ever been in. I have to say that there was not the normal rowdyness that most alcohol events seem to create. One in we purchased our glasses and programme (or should that be menu) for £3 and 6 drinks tokens for a £1 each. Most beer was just one token per half pint.
The event was well managed with minimal queueing to but the beer tickets and at the bar. I was slightly disappointed that some (but not all) of the university security staff as closing time approached as they could not understand that politely asking people to drink up will clear the room while shouting and closing the toilets inside the venue is just going to annoy and make me drink slower. It is because of this and the need for more space that I do recommend moving the event to another venue next time.
When it came to choosing my tipple I started off by picking one that had a nice name, then reverted to looking at programme, and finally picking them at random. Below is the list of brinks I sampled...
Tawny Bitter 3.8%Hesket Newmarket (Hesket Newmarket, Cubmria)
Helvellyn Gold 4.0%Wild Hop (Hartlepool)
HipHop 4.6%Titanic (Burslem on Trent, Staffs)
White Start 4.8%High House Farm (Matfen, Northumberland)
Cyril The Magnificent 4.2% (but 5.5% written on the pump)Williams Brothers (Alloa, Clackmannanshire)
Red 4.5%