I completely forgot
about the up and coming beer festival even though there had been a
poster up in my pub for well over two months. I suppose I'd gotten so
used to it that I no longer saw it for what it was, it simply became
some words on a piece of paper blue tacked to the wall. It wasn't
until an older gentleman walked into the pub whilst I was on a day
shift and mentioned that the annual Kingston Beer & Cider
festival was to begin on the Thursday that week. It was a Thursday
now and was the first day of the festival, it was due to start at 5pm
that evening. I was working in the evening so wouldn't have been able
to make it, if I did I'd have to drink as many beers as I could in
under an hour give or take the time it took to walk there and back.
The idea was pointless to me, plus it had a cover charge for that
evening and the first day of small beer festivals never seems to be
that great. From my experience at least. There was a lunch session on
the Friday, it was free to get in and I wasn't starting work until
the evening so had time to drink and hopefully sober up in time for
my shift. I was talking to one of the day time regulars about the
festival, we both said we'd check out the Friday lunch session and
possibly see each other there. It was decided, I would go on Friday.
It started at 11am so I thought I'd get there for about 12.30/1pm.
On Friday I woke up
early, had some tea and breakfast and did some odd bits around the
flat. I wasn't feeling up to the beer festival, some unknown force
was putting me off it. I went into the pub and saw the guy on the day
shift, I sat a spoke to him for a bit over a glass of water. I had to
pop out for something that I can't remember and think I actually
forgot as I returned empty handed after my visit to the town. I
walked around for a about half an hour and got bored. I had a look at
the venue of the festival, there was no queue and barely any sign
that anything was on apart from a laminated white sheet of a4 paper
with the writing beer festival and an arrow pointing towards the
door. The venue was the Working Man's Club behind the Princess Alice
Hospice on Old London Road in Kingston Upon Thames. I walked through
the main gate and still nothing to advertise a beer festival apart
from the regular real ale fanatics scoffing down overpriced hot dogs
from an outdoor grill. Presumably they had already been in, drunk too
much beer to handle and desperately needed some substantial-ish food
to help soak up some of the excess alcohol before they fell into an
ale induced sleep. I hadn't even made it through the doors when I
realised an error in the name of the place, if it was a working man's
club, why then were none of these men working. Had they worked? were
they going to work? Retired? I asked myself a number of unimportant
questions, none of which had anything to do with beer of the beer
festival.
I'd like to say that
before I got the festival programme and my special festival glass I
was already doubting whether or not there would be any decent beers
(my preferences are porters and stouts and the full strength full
flavoured special bitters). The last few small festivals I went to
mainly seemed to have milds and weaker bitters with maybe more than a
couple of porters and stouts if I could have been so lucky. I paid
the £3 deposit for my glass, it works on a deposit system so if you
don't want to keep it you can hand it in at the end and you'll
receive your £3 back. It wasn't much for a pint glass and the logo
is pretty cool, three fish on a Sopwith by-plane to celebrate some
anniversary of it. I walked through carpeted rooms and corridors,
past grumpy old bastards drinking pints of John Smith and Carlin
through more rooms and into a small hall sized room with a big
scaffolding structure in the middle. The structure was surrounded by
a near 360°
wraparound bar. On the structure itself were nearly one hundred
barrels containing various real ales ranging from watery weak bitters
to ridiculously strong ales that would knock you for six if you
weren't careful.
Before
I even had a look at the programme and list of beers I found the
emptiest spot at the bar, leaned on it and ordered a half of whatever
took my fancy at that very spot. It was a beer called Toffee Cog from
the Kissingate Brewery in West Sussex. It was an amber ale of 5%abv.
The description sounded quite tasty so I thought I picked well
without even thinking about all the options that were there. I had a
sip, it wasn't at all what I was expecting. It was verging on bland
with just the slightest hint of toffee sweetness, nothing like a
toffee apple as the description read. Not that I would want a beer as
sickly sweet as one of those, it would have been better if it had a
slightly more intense flavour of what I was supposed to taste like.
It was a lot more bitter than I expected too, not unpleasant but a
lot more than I would have wanted or thought necessary for a beer of
its type. I took my time to examine the selection and systematically
work out beers I was going to try in order of flavour profile and
alcoholic volume. Before I knew what any were actually like of
course.
The
next beer on my list was a 4.4% bitter, it wasn't a porter or a stout
but the description read well and it sounded very much like a porter
but without the meatiness and body. The beer was Dragon's Breath from
the Dartmoor Brewery in Devon. It is a best bitter flavoured with
black treacle so in a glass looks very much like a stout. It smelt
delicious, almost like a treacle tart in a glass. The first sip was a
very long one that turned out to be more of a gulp as I finished half
of my 1/3 of a pint leaving me longing for more. It was very rich,
deep and full of flavour and body. The length and depth of its
flavour went on and on, never wavering. After I emptied the glass I
had delayed a moment to make the most of the Dragon's Breath before
moving on to my next beer. My reason for moving onto thirds was so
that I could try as many as possible and not get too drunk, also a
little loophole that I noticed was that some of the beers were
actually cheaper to by three thirds that a half or whole, some were
over 20p cheaper by the third.
With
the taste still in my mouth I ordered my next, Streetlight Porter
from the Canterbury Brewers in Kent. It was a full strength porter at
5.8%, none of that weak watered down stuff you get at your local
supermarket. It was very dark, it really looked as any decent porter
should, dark and clear and translucent enough to let the patchy
sunlight shine through the glass turning it a deep tawny. It didn't
struggle in the slightest to overthrow the lingering taste of
Dragon's Breath I still had in my mouth, I would say it was a dragon
slayer but that sounds stupid! It was rich, sweet, almost impossibly
flavourful. It was a true delight to drink, so much so that I had
another cheeky third before moving on to my next beer. I marked it
down as a mental note to drink and drink again if I ever saw it in
the shops or in a pub or beer festival in the near future.
When
I did go for another beer, I could still taste it through the first
few mouthfuls. It was a good beer but just didn't have the intensity
or complexity to stand up to the might of the Streetlight Porter.
Quadrant Oatmeal Stout in itself is a fantastic beer, full of flavour
a remarkably complex but unfortunately not enough to compete. It was
5.8% too and I'm being far to critical and wrong in comparing it to
other beers but if you had tried the Streetlight Porter and liked it
as much as me I'm sure you'd compare them too. They are different
beers, and both excellent representations of their style. As a stout
it is incredible with bags of flavour, the punch from the alcohol and
mouthpleasingly full bodied and velvety. It's a local(ish) beer too
coming from the East London Brewery in Leyton, London.
I
began talking to the guy next to me, he too prefers porters and
stouts so we instantly had something to talk about. I'd seen him
order this beer that was directly in front of where we were standing.
I had had my eye on it for a while now, it sounded great and being
6.5% would quite easily wash away the Streetlight porter that was
still lurking somewhere in the depths of my palate. He really didn't
like it, I was surprised at how much he was disliking the beer. Not
to the extent that some do and ask for it to be poured away and the
glass to be rinsed out. He finished his and went on my recommendation
to try the Streetlight Porter. I opted for a third of the strong one.
It's the 1872 Porter by Elland out of West Yorkshire. It looked like
it should, had a more pungent aroma than the others and the first
taste was almost of pure alcohol. It was not at all a balanced beer
with a long and increasingly vegetal after taste more reminiscent of
rotten fruit than beer. It was one that had to be finished off as
quickly as possible to move on to something a little more tasty.
Hopefully, well it can't really get any worse. It wasn't horrible I
gave it a two star out of five rating in some very crude rating
system I sometimes have when drinking beer. Even though I am
criticising it a lot, it wasn't as bad as I'm probably making it out
to be.
We
were discussing what beers we've tried and recommending ones to each
other, he was enjoying the Streetlight Porter and another one I told
him about, the Dragon's Breath. I was yet to try the one he was
raving about, it was a mild flavoured with licorice and blackcurrant.
An odd combination for a beer I thought, sounds more a home being a
flavour of a tea or sweet or even some kind of children's cough
medicine. I said I would definitely try it before I went, at least I
would have a third of it just to see what all the fuss was about. I
noticed on the list a beer called Bottle Wreck Reserve Porter by
Hammerpot, another brewery out of West Sussex. He'd tried it before
in the bottle and said that it was a well rounded porter and though
he'd never tried it on draught before thought it would be just as
good if not with slightly more character.
So
still with an alcoholic rotten vegetable taste in my mouth I quickly
ordered a third of the Bottle Wreck Reserve Porter. At 6.0% it is a
full strength proper porter. It was smooth and rich like on the
description, it too was complex. Once again though, in comparison to
the Streetlight Porter is was lacking somewhat, the overall roundness
and character of it forced me to give it three stars. My rating
system is totally based on my opinion of the beers and can be swayed
by mood and all sorts so shouldn't be seen as a guide or a way to
judge beers. I gave the Streetlight Porter and the Dragon's Breath
between four and four and a half stars. Although I wrote down five,
the a very few beers I have tried that I have awarded the top five
stars to.
The
Blackcurrant and Liquorice Mild was beckoning my drinking buddy, I'd
managed to persuade him to try a couple of thirds that weren't on his
list so he was over his imaginary limit. He was going to finish on a
pint of the Blackcurrant Liquorice Mild but due to drinking more than
he allowed himself he had to settle for a half and a hot dog from the
food stand out the front. I opted for a Portobello Market Porter from
Hammersmith, London. I must have missed it on my list as it is low in
alcohol at only 4.6%. It was as I had expected, a well rounded soft,
velvety porter with great depth of flavour and body but lacking in
the intensity department. I gave it three stars and if I saw it in a
pub would happily settle on it for the nights choice of booze, given
no better alternatives that is. The festival was starting to get
busier now, It was probably about 2.30pm or so, I think I'd been in
there for about forty minutes give or take. In the short time I'd
managed to drink approximately three pints and a third or just over
two and two thirds because of a half making the mathematics of
tracking my alcohol consumption rather difficult. I was quite drunk
and the idea of another beer wasn't that attractive.
With
his half pint in hand my buddy left the main hall and headed to fill
his belly with something other than black gold. I said I would try
the fruity beer so I ordered myself a third. Blackcurrant Liquorice
Mild was as you would expect from a mild very low in alcohol. 3.8%.
Which isn't that low on its own but when compared to the 5.8/6/6.5%'s
that I'd been drinking it was. It was dark, much like a porter but
with a brighter ruby tone. It was a mild but with bags of flavour,
the blackcurrant there right at the beginning, a slight bittery
sweetness coming through and then finishing with the sweet aniseedy
flavour of liquorice. A third was enough for me, it had a bit too
much flavour for what I was after. Anything more than a pint of one
of those and I might end up spending more time in the loo than the
bar. It left my glass smelling almost like a stout and black, a pint
of stout with a dash of blackcurrant cordial. I did the only thing I
knew to do and ordered half a pint of Streetlight Porter, that was
sure to wash away any of the nastiness left behind by the sweet
fruity blackcurrant mild. It was another one of those beers from West
Yorkshire, not that it's anything to gauge it on but they must like a
dark beer or two up there.
I
left as the last minute free entrance cheapskates were piling in
through the door. I got there early and due to restrictions with my
having to work that very evening I thought that was excuse enough to
get there for the lunchtime freebie. On my way out I saw my buddy on
a small bench positioned underneath a fire escape staircase, the kind
of place a contortionist would have have found it difficult to get in
and out of. He had a couple more mouthfuls of what he called a 'not
very good' hot dog and a few large gulps of his beer left. I too had
a few large gulps of my beer left, and it did finish after a few
large gulps. I was full, I'd had fun, good beer and good company, I
was all festival'd out. The doorman stopped my as I was about to walk
out the main gate, he directed me to the counter by the main entrance
to get a plastic bag to put my now empty pint glass in. I did so.
It
was a strange coincidence but the guy I'd spent the afternoon
drinking with was the father of a barmaid that my friend frequents as
his local and I have met a few times. He also has never stepped foot
in my pub even though he lives in Teddington which is only a couple
of small towns over the river.
My
highlight had to be the Streetlight Porter closely followed by
Dragon's Breath. If anyone didn't notice, I'm recommending those if
they're seen anywhere.
