GBBF Great British Beer....& Cider

August 28, 2012

800 real ales, ciders, perries & foreign beer all in one big room called Olympia, what a treat. It was Friday 10th August & it was my second trip to London in less than 2 weeks, this time for Camra's Great British Beer Festival 2012. For a city I'm always moaning about, I was beginning to eat my own words.

GBBF had added a new feature to their website this year, offering members the ability to log in & view the beer/ciders on offer & create their own personal requests lists:

https://gbbf.org.uk/beers/create-beer-list

After previous visits to big beer festivals such as GBBF & the Winter Ales I've learned having at least a bit of an action plan helps, otherwise you can somehow fall into the 'safe' mode & end up drinking the same beer you drink down your local. Which is good beer, but after spending a train fair down to London or Manchester you want to leave with the sense of achievement; which in my case is a beer I've not had before! Maybe it's got something to do with that there Roger Protz & a great book he wrote entitled '300 Beers to Try Before You Die!', as I've somehow developed an inherent sense of urgency on the matter.

Even though I'm anticipating another good 50 years of living yet (I hope this article doesn't jinx me!) which could mean at 4 beers/ciders sampled a week I'd end up with the grand total of 10,400! I think Roger may have underestimated this title.

Champion Beer of Britain Coniston's 'No 9 Barley Wine' was worth the wait (yep I was one of those people in the queue). I have to say I quite like the fact a barley wine has been voted in. It's a refreshing change for the appreciation of this style after all the comotion around the lower end of the ABV market (2.8 per cent & below).
Next on the list was Saltaire's 'Elderflower Blonde' at 4 per cent which I found a wonderful contrast to the power of the barley wine. Really refreshing delicately infused blonde ale, it's even inspired me to try brewing it at home, but I'll have to wait for elderflower season next May!

W2 Bar - tried RCH's 'East Street Cream' 5 per cent nice strong Somerset bitter; Pilgrim's 'Weald Ale' 3.6 per cent a delicate easy drinking ale & Beowulf's 'Beorma' 3.9 per cent which was another nice session ale.

Big thanks to the helpful man on the Foreign Beer Bar who suggested I try this after I described what I like (it's hard after a few beers!). It's a collaboration with Italian brewery Amarcord & Brooklyn's Garrett Oliver. After drinking this I am now on a mission to hunt down & stash my cellar up with as many bottles I can get my hands on. I tip my cap to Mr Oliver every time, he seems to have this magic wand that makes every beer he touches brilliant. After reading their blog post on this I decided to leave the description down to Brooklyn Brewery's own words: 'AMA Bionda is a golden beer with a soft but complex floral and fruity character, born of aromatic malts, three types of hops, Italian Orange Blossom honey from Sicily, and water from springs that date to Roman times'.

On the way home at St Pancras train station I picked up a treat for home indulgence from Sourced Market & agreed with their sentiment. There's been a vibrant growth in London micro brewing of recent & some stand out contributions from London Fields, Kernel & Camden Town Breweries.