Well that's it for another year. You look forward to something for twelve months, and its over just like that. I find that occasions like these are more about the people you meet up with than the beer you try. There were nine of us this year from various parts of the UK and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
My day to Olympia in London started with a cancelled train at Durham, and ended with a delayed journey going home the same day. I will spare you the details, perhaps relive those experiences in a train blog later ( oh no!)
It was raining in London and I managed to get to the venue just before opening time to join the ticket holders queue. It snaked round the building and onward towards Heathrow, so I had long enough to think " hang on, I travel the furthest of our group, but still manage to get here first !"
In a previous blog, I referred to the great unwashed queue - those without tickets. Well with the rain tipping it down it was a case of the great washed queue this time.
Once in, you are immediately relieved of your ticket, £1 for the festival guide, and £3 for a souvenir glass (refundable). You are then confronted by the vast hall that is Olympia and the 21 bars, 900 real ales, ciders and perries, numerous food stalls and CAMRA stands. So how do you choose which beers to sample?
Well CAMRA always publicise on their website the beers that will be available, so I had a fair idea of what I would be drinking. I usually refer to the books 300 Beers To Try Before You Die, and its sequel, 300 More for suggestions to try.
I decided to fly the flag for a local brewery by starting with Maxim Lambtons (see photo left) then moving on to Potbelly Venom, with the claim the beer was green. Well there's green and there's green. See photo on right to form your own opinion. There was nothing in the program notes about the flavour, just the colour. I was not impressed.
I'm not going to bore you with the full list but I did enjoy Sulwath Black Galloway Porter and Thurston's Milk Stout.
Musical Interlude
For each of the days of the festival, Tuesday through to Saturday, musical entertainment is provided. We were near the stage. We were also not far from, and new this year, a
Portacabin gents toilet. You took your life in your hands being too close to the bowl when you flushed, as this intense sucking noise
occurred, nearly removing all the oxygen from the near vicinity.
Anyhow,
this toilet edifice was directly behind the tables and seating facing the
stage. So we were treated to a reggae band called Talisman (no me neither). Their view from the stage would have been a lot of disinterested drinkers and the gents behind them. I should have asked if they did requests, and would have suggested "Louie Louie" if they did. (sorry!)
Feeding time
There were several food stalls dotted around, selling sandwiches, pasties and pies amongst other delights. While the others stuffed their faces with pasties, hot dogs and sarnies, I brought my own Chiabatti bread chicken paste sandwiches and a fantastic pork pie - well it meant more money for beer, didn't it?. This pie kept me going till breakfast the next day. In fact, the beer kept me going the next day as well but perhaps that's too much detail.
Best quote of the day
One of the bars was a Shepherd Neame brewery bar. Britain's oldest brewer had six beers on offer including Spitfire, Red Sails Cheery Porter and Bishops Finger. I picked up a sheet of tasting notes and passed it round our group. One of them read down and declared " Ive had a Bishops Finger "
So that's it for another year. 364 days and counting
See previous blogs for other posts on the festival
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