stronk
10-15-2005, 06:36 AM
I went to this last night. Last year, I turned up on the last day and there were only two casks with anything left in them (out of about 150 originally). As I predicted: this year, by the end of last night, there was hardly any beer left again. Basically, if you ever want to go to this, turn up on the first day.
The beer was, as always, fantastic. I had a bit of a mild session at first and moved on to the 5%-plus beers after a few. The most interesting one there was something by Tower brewery called October Brew. It seemed to be an English take on an Oktoberfest, but served from cask! IMO, delicious. They had used some really aromatic hops to balance the syrupy biscuit and crystal malts flavour more than I'd expect in an Oktoberfest.
My favourite beer there (although I didn't get to have any, as it was all out when I got there) was Sarah Hughes' Dark Ruby Mild, which, at 6%, is one of the more outrageous stretchings of the 'mild' definition that I've seen.
The beer was, as always, fantastic. I had a bit of a mild session at first and moved on to the 5%-plus beers after a few. The most interesting one there was something by Tower brewery called October Brew. It seemed to be an English take on an Oktoberfest, but served from cask! IMO, delicious. They had used some really aromatic hops to balance the syrupy biscuit and crystal malts flavour more than I'd expect in an Oktoberfest.
My favourite beer there (although I didn't get to have any, as it was all out when I got there) was Sarah Hughes' Dark Ruby Mild, which, at 6%, is one of the more outrageous stretchings of the 'mild' definition that I've seen.