The Beers
We won’t finalise our beer list for the next festival until June 2009. Check back here then for an up to date list. To give you some idea of the types of ales we offer then the 2008 beer selection is provided below.
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Adnams & Co plc
Adnams beers have been famous since 1872, when George and Ernest Adnams bought the brewery. They remain proudly independent but, also, Adnams is available not only in our 83 pubs across East Anglia and in London, but also in over 5,000 pubs nationwide. They are coming towards the end of a six-year programme of refurbishment in Southwold. By 2007, they expect to be the most energy efficient brewer in the country.
Explorer (ABV 4.3%) It’s not often that a Managing Director tells his Head Brewer to go off and discover, but that’s exactly what happened with this beer: Adnams Explorer, the result of “brewer’s playtime” as the head brewer affectionately calls it. With hops sourced from across the Atlantic for a new fruity, citrussy flavour, Adnams Explorer blends together Chinook and Columbus hops to create a beer that is light and refreshing. Hops are used both in the copper and in the cask to create a mix of the traditional brewing quality, and the contemporary flavours of the New World.
Regatta (ABV 4.3%) This is a refreshing summer beer. Light, bright and crisp in flavour with a delightful sunshine colour, it’s wonderfully thirst-quenching with a refreshing touch of bitterness.
BATEMAN’S BREWERY LTD
George Bateman joined his father at the brewery in 1950 as Executive Director in charge of the commercial side of the brewery. He had trained as a brewer at Green’s Brewery in Luton and Kelsey’s of Tunbridge Wells, unfortunately neither brewery are around today. After training he was offered a job as Managing Director of a new brewery which was being built near Grantham, Lincolnshire. However, his roots were strongly embedded in Batemans Brewery and he also did not want to enter any arrangement, which did not include his brother. Until 1953, fermentation had taken place in the same cask in which it went out into the trade. The casks were stacked on pine troughs in such a way that the fermenting beer would flow out of the bunghole and down the belly of the cask. It was then topped up by a can from the trough at the peak of fermentation every two hours, day and night. The horror of this became apparent in the summer as this took place in ground floor room where the heat of the atmosphere and fermentation would take the temperature up to 25C. To try and keep the rooms as cool as possible, every Spring he would spend a day white washing the slates. This effort was pretty fruitless and the answer years later lay in the purchase of a stainless steel fermenting vessel.
Dark Mild (ABV 3.0%) a creamy mild with a fruity palate, some roast character and a hoppy finish. Dark Mild has been voted Mild of the Year by CAMRA three times
CHARLES WELLS
Formed by Charles Wells in 1876 and originally located in Horne Lane, Bedford, the company moved to its current location at the Eagle Brewery a century later. Having seen five generations pass, three Wells family members remain actively involved in shaping the company’s future.
Following a joint venture with the brewing division of Young’s plc in October 2006, a new company was formed - Wells & Young’s Brewing Company Ltd - with the overall portfolio now incorporating the Young’s brands, including Young’s Special, Young’s Bitter, Waggledance and Ram Rod.
Charles Wells established an award winning portfolio of brands, including; Wells Bombardier English Premium Bitter, Wells Eagle IPA, Red Stripe Jamaica Lager Beer, and Kirin Ichiban, the renowned Japanese lager.
Burning Gold (ABV 4.1%) A precious blend of the finest malts, hops and natural mineral water produces an instantly refreshing beer. Zesty aromas waken the senses, leading to a dry, crisp flavour with more than a hint of citrus on the palate and a smooth lasting finish
ELGOOD’S
Elgood’s brewery lies in the heart of the East Anglian Fens on the bank of the river Nene in Wisbech. It was one of the first classic Georgian breweries to be built outside London and beer has been brewed here since 1795. It was bought by the Elgood family in October 1878, and today is one of the few remaining independent family breweries, with the fifth generation of the Elgood family now coming through to run it
Golden Newt (ABV 4.1%) The name is taken from the colony of Great Crested Newts that live in the pond at the end of the brewery garden. A prominent hop character, a blend of Fuggles, Goldings and Cascade (gives a citrus aroma).
Fuller Smith & Turner plc
Brewing has been undertaken on the site of Fuller’s Brewery in Chiswick for 350 years. Fuller’s beers have a unique record. Since CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) first held their Champion Beer of Britain competition, Fuller’s have won the Beer of the Year award five times. Their beers have been best in class no less than nine times and ESB has been voted Best Strong Ale an unprecedented seven times making it something of a legend.
ESB (ABV 5.5%) Brewed from Pale Ale and Crystal malts, with Target, Challenger, Northdown and Goldings hops ESB is an ample, grainy-nutty aroma and a broad, authoritative flavour, with lashings of dry marmalade-like bitters and that Goldings peppery note in the long finish Also regarded as having hints of orange, lemon and gooseberry fruit
HARVIESTOUN BREWERY
www.scottishbrewing.com/
Building wooden design prototypes for new cars is not the usual apprenticeship for making beer, but every experience contributes something. Perhaps that is why former Ford worker Ken Brooker is now an award-winning professional brewer.
Bitter & Twisted (ABV 3.8%) It has a golden colour, on the pale side for a bitter; a substantial proportion of wheat (for crispness and a good head) in addition to the usual barley malt; and “masses of hops”
HOP BACK BREWERY
Hop Back is derived from the name of the vessel in which the hop cones are strained from the finished beer.
Crop Circle (ABV 4.2%) This amber brew has an English hop, Pioneer and a spicy (cinnamon?), floral, American variety the Willamette. Starting with malty dryness, quickly developing a sweetness, then a leafy bitterness, and finishing with a faintly cocoa-ish bitterness.
Summer Lightning (ABV 5.0%) the face of Dionysus/Bacchus (he blessed beer as well as wine) features in the labelling of Summer Lightning, a straw coloured, with a hoppy aroma and flavour from a single hop (East Kent Goldings), quenching but dry. Best strong bitter at the 2001 Great British Beer Festival.
LODDON BREWERY
Established by Chris and Vanessa Hearn in a two hundred year old brick and flint barn in the village of Dunsden, between Reading and Henley-on-Thames. Started brewing in July 2003.
Flight of Fancy (ABV 4.2%) Beer made up of 40% wheat malt and pale malt also using first gold hops, refreshing beer with classic wheat beer flavours.
Whirlwind (ABV 4.4%) This is brewed exclusively with American Cascade and Willamette hops. The flavour is unmistakable. Pronounced grapefruit, red berries and pepper combine with a delicate malt finish.
JENNINGS
www.jenningsbrewery.co.uk/
The Company was originally established as a true family concern, way back in 1828, when John Jennings Snr, a local farmer whose father William Jennings was a malster by trade, started brewing in the pretty Lake District village of Lorton, between Keswick and Cockermouth.
Today, pure Lakeland water is still used for brewing, drawn from the brewery’s own well, and only the finest ingredients are added, including malt made from Maris Otter barley grown in Norfolk, Golding hops from Kent and Fuggles hops from Herefordshire.As the only long standing independent brewer in Cumbria, June 2005 saw the acquisition of Jennings Brewery by Marston’s PLC
Sneck Lifter (ABV 5.1%) An award winning beer, receiving a Bronze at the 2005 Brewing Industry International Awards held in Munich. A dark beer with a reddish tinge, derived from the use of coloured malts, perfectly balanced with specially formulated brewing sugars and English aromatic hops. A strong, satisfying ale, wonderfully warming and full of complex flavours, which create an intriguing beer of great character. First introduced in 1990 as a winter warmer, Jennings Sneck Lifter has become a firm favourite in the portfolio. In northern dialect sneck means door latch and a sneck lifter was a man’s last sixpence which enabled him to lift the latch of a pub door and buy himself a pint, hoping to meet friends there who might treat him to one or two more.
OAKHAM
Oakham Ales was founded in October 1993 by John Wood, who had been made redundant from Pearl Insurance. A purpose-built 10 barrel plant was commissioned from Brewcare and installed in two units on a small industrial estate in Oakham, Rutland. In 2004 the partners invested in a new site in Woodston in Peterborough and set about building a new 75 barrel brewery. Oakham Ales continues to go from strength to strength, to add to its portfolio of beers and continues to win awards.
Bishop’s Farewell (ABV 4.6%) A strong premium beer of structured quality dominated by elaborate fruity hop notes, with a grainy background and dry finish
White Dwarf (ABV 4.3%) Piercing bitterness in this “bright” English style wheat beer, mellows to reveal fruit overtones amidst a dry as bone finish. A real thirst quencher.
OXFORDSHIRE BREWERY
www.oxfordshireales.co.uk/
The Oxfordshire Ales brewery can be found on the outskirts of the village of Marsh Gibbon on the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire borders. The village has long been associated with beer making and brewing with records tracing back as far as 1850. This brewery legacy provides a perfect backdrop for the Oxfordshire Ales range. Ancient ale recipes were researched which were incorporated using traditional brewing methods. Warminster Floor Malt, from Warminster Maltings, Britain’s oldest working floor maltings is used. Warminster use British barley grown on the Hampshire chalk lands specifically for their use.
Pride of Oxford (ABV 4.2%) A traditional English Ale, brewed for a contemporary real ale experience. Easy drinking, fruity and vibrant Pride of Oxford is refreshing and thirst quenching.
Triple B (ABV 4.5%) A session bitter well hopped, with Styrian and English Golding Hops.
RAMSBURY
The Ramsbury Estate, a 7,500-acre farm whose land stretches across the Wiltshire border into Berkshire has set up its own brewery. It is able to boast uniquely in the south of England that the beer is produced from barley grown on its own land. The barley is also malted in the county, too, at the Warminster Maltings. Within weeks of opening, two of its brews won first prizes at the CAMRA Real Ale Festival in Reading. At the moment the new microbrewery at Stock Close Farm, between Axford and Aldbourne, is producing about 4,200 pints, a week. Ramsbury Bitter and Ramsbury Gold won awards at the Reading Beer Festival this year.
Gold (ABV 4.5%) Rich, golden coloured beer produced by blending Optic malt, Crystal malt and a small amount of torrified wheat. Added to this are Golding and Styrian hops which give the beer a distinctively light, hoppy aroma and taste
REBELLION BEER CO
http://www.rebellionbeer.co.
The launch of the Rebellion Beer Company in 1993 marked the revival of Marlow’s illustrious brewing tradition dating back over 240 years. The town’s position in the chalky Chiltern Hills means that the local water, used for brewing, is high in the minerals & salts essential for producing distinctive, high quality traditional ales
Blonde (ABV 4.3%) a light coloured, thirst quenching premium ale that utilises equal proportions of lager and bitter malts in its production process to give a distinctive, flavoursome brew.
Overthrow (ABV 4.4%) Amber & Citrus. From the 2008 Spy Range
RINGWOOD
Four breweries and their maltings were recorded in the early 1800’s and one of these was owned by Stephen Tunks, a local banker whose brewery stood on the site of the present day Ringwood Brewery. The only brewery to survive into this century was Carters of West Street which was closed in 1923 - its famous 5000 gallon vat, inside which occasional parties had been held, was dismantled and there was a lapse of fifty five years before the tradition of brewing was resumed in 1978 with the establishment of Ringwood Brewery.
Old Thumper (ABV 5.6%) Peppery, spicy aroma with hint of apples. Luscious balance of grain and hop in the mouth, bitter sweet finish with delicate fruit notes. A warm, rounded yet surprisingly delicate pale strong beer.
ROBINSONS
The brewery takes its name from the Unicorn Inn which was bought by William Robinson in 1838. He was joined in 1865 by his younger son Frederic who started to brew beer and his first customer was Mrs Lamb (Bridge Inn, Chestergate).
By the early 1950’s the next generation of Robinsons began to turn to keg beer and bottling, and by 1973 their land at Bredbury became the main processing and distribution hub.
During the 1990’s the sixth generation of the family began to join the business and so development of the estate together with production and sales for the future will remain in Robinson family hands.
Olympic Gold (ABV 4.0%) This smooth, full-bodied bitter beer has a clean, soft and refreshing palate, perfectly balanced by both spicy and citrus fruit notes, in both flavour and aroma.
ST AUSTELL
Brewing capacity at the St Austell site is being increased by a third with the creation of a completely remodelled fermenting room and the installation of an additional two new fermentation vessels, forming the first stage of a £600,000 investment programme over the coming year. The growth in demand for St Austell ales is being driven by its flagship Tribute Ale. The beer has helped the Brewery to buck the national trend by doubling its beer production in the last five years. Last year the family-owned firm revealed it was operating at record levels, brewing more beer than at any time since 1914, full capacity is more than a quarter of a million pints every week.
Tribute (ABV 4.2%) A bronze coloured bitter, with a rich aroma of biscuity malt and tart citrus fruit from the Willemette hops. Juicy malt, hop resins and tangy fruit coat the tongue, while the finish is long and lingering, with a fine balance between malt, hops and fruit, finally becoming dry and bitter.
HSD (ABV 5.0%) HSD is a full-bodied strong Cornish ale. Brewed with malt and English Fuggles and Golding hops.
SURREY HILLS
The Surrey Hills Brewery is located in the heart of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in a former milking parlour at Old Scotland Farm, Shere. The Farm is on top of the North Downs chalk escarpment between the villages of Shere and East Clandon. The rustic exterior of the brewery building contrasts with the interior which has been converted into a brewing environment in 2005.
Shere Drop (ABV 4.3%) Pale in colour with a subtle hint of grapefruit and lemon in the aroma the hop bitterness is complemented by a balanced malt flavour. The beer has a long finish, which is moderately dry. Shere Drop won the “Beer of the Festival” at both Alton Beer Festival 2005 and Kingston Beer Festival 2005.
Gilt Complex (ABV 4.6%) A huge hop aroma introduces this beer, with a hint of spice in the fruity flavour and a long finish.
TIMOTHY TAYLOR & CO LTD
http://www.timothy-taylor.co.
In 1858 Timothy Taylor began brewing beer in the West Riding town of Keighley. The spring water that wells up from deep under the Pennines is still used today to produce the traditional cask ales. The brewery remains in the Taylor family and is now the last independent brewery of its type left in West Yorkshire.
Landlord (ABV 4.3%) A Classic Strong Pale Ale, Landlord has won more awards nationally than any other beer: This includes four times as Champion at the Brewers’ International Exhibition and four times as CAMRA’s beer of the year. Refreshing, has a complex and hoppy aroma
Golden Best (ABV 3.5%) The last of the true Pennine light milds, this amber coloured beer makes a refreshing session ale with a smooth and creamy flavour
TRING
http://www.tringbrewery.co.uk/
After a gap of over 60 years, brewing was rekindled in Tring when the Tring Brewery Company was founded in 1992. All of the ales are named after Hertfordshire ghosts, myths, legends and even old sayings. The brewery brews according to traditional methods using home-grown ingredients, with hops from Kent and Worcester and malted barley from Suffolk. This, combined with Tring’s ideal hard water, provides the perfect formula for classic ales.
Dr Goldfinger (ABV 4.2%) Pure gold, this ale is golden in colour and hopped with both Syrian Golding and East Kent Golding hops. The result is a crisp, extremely easy drinking best bitter with a flowery, hoppy nose.
Aldbury Alchemist (ABV 4.2%) Pure gold, this ale is golden in colour and hopped with both Syrian Golding and East Kent Golding hops. The result is a crisp, extremely easy drinking best bitter with a flowery, hoppy nose.
Vale
Vale have been brewing based in Haddenham, 5 miles west of Aylesbury since January 1995 with a 10 barrel brewplant, using malted barley and whole cone hops
Black Swan Mild (ABV 3.3%) This dark and smooth mild has an impressive full roast flavour that belies its strength.
WADWORTH
In the market town of Devizes the tower brewery was set up in 1885 by Henry Wadworth. A “tower” brewery was due to the lack of power in the vicinity so, using what power there was, they raised all the ingredients up into the tower and let gravity do the rest throughout the process! The sight of the Wadworth Shires plodding their leisurely way through the ancient town evokes memories of what used to be. They still deliver to Wadworth houses situated within two miles of the Brewery, and are a familiar and much loved part of the local scene. They work as two pair drays, each dray carrying a load of approximately three tons, and deliver every weekday morning in the town - weather permitting.Harness and drays are made to specification, including three drays which are used solely for shows. Each horse weighs about 18 cwts. Their daily feeds consists of best hay, bran, molasses, brewer’s grains and the occasional pint!
Horizon Summersault (ABV 4.0%) Formerly known as Summersault Horizon is a light easy drinking beer brewed with 100% pale ale malt, and a blend of Fuggles, Styrian Goldings and Cascade hops. These are added at both the start of the copper boil and as ‘hop tea’, a hot water infusion, as the copper casts. This achieves a highly fragrant brew similar to a lager. A golden ale.
West Berks Brewery Company
In 1995, after a 20 year career in the building trade latterly working on restorations for the National Trust and English Heritage, Helen and Dave Maggs tired of spending time up ladders, wet and cold. An interest in home brewing that took over the kitchen led to the decision to make brewing an occupation.
Good Old Boy (ABV 4.0%) A “Good Ordinary Bitter” which a gold medal at the 2002 SIBA South East Regional Competition. Strongly hopped and full flavoured.
Magg’s Magnificent Mild (ABV 3.8%) A gold medal winner at the 2003 SIBA National Beer Competition. A traditional dark mild introduced in Autumn 1998, not too sweet, and very popular.
Mr Chubb’s Lunchtime Bitter (ABV 3.7%) A silver medal winner at the 2002 SIBA South East Regional Competition. A traditional style beer with all English hops and a good bitterness balanced by Maris Otter malts from Wiltshire and Suffolk. This beer is named in memory of the brewer’s father, who was the lock-keeper at Whitchurch-on-Thames, and sometimes nick-named Mr Chubb.
Woodforde’s
In 1981 the brewery was named after Parson Woodforde, a noted eighteenth century Norfolk clergyman whose diaries reveal his passion for good food and good ale - which he often brewed himself. After a short while, it became obvious that the company’s industrial unit in Drayton was not particularly well suited to the brewing of traditional ale, with considerable temperature fluctuations, and a mains water supply of varying quality. Therefore, in 1983 a move to The Spread Eagle at Erpingham, near Aylsham, gave Woodforde’s a far more suitable home for the brewery, in a converted stable block behind the traditional country pub. Unfortunately, the new brewery had barely been open a month before disaster struck and fire gutted the premises. The brewery continued to supply its customers with the help of of Peter Mauldon, another independent brewer who took over temporary production in Sudbury in neighbouring Suffolk. Three months later when the brewery had been rebuilt, Woodforde’s celebrated the return to full production with the appropriately named Phoenix XXX, a 4.7% beer.
Nelson’s Revenge (ABV 4.5%) The rich and floral aromas initially excite the tastebuds. There is then a burst of combined flavours from the citrus hops and the blend of Norfolk malt. The flavour then develops from the biscuity malt sweetness to a long hop-induced finish.
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Doors Open: 7pm
Music Starts: 7.30pm
Festival Closes: 11pm
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