Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Events Calendar - This Week's Updates 27/02/12

A bit late, as I've just got back from a few days in York (of which more later) but here are details of this week's beer happenings in my London Events Calendar

DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE WELSH BEER FESTIVAL
320 Goldhawk Road, Stamford Brook, London W6 0XF
Saturday 25 February to Friday 9 March
The latest in a series of "country" themed festivals covering the whole period of the Rugby Six Nations Championship. Beer list is as follows:

Brecon Pale Beacons 3.9%
Purple Moose Calon Lan 4.3%
Purple Moose Dark Side of the Moose 4.6%
Purple Moose Glaslyn Ale 4.2%
Purple Moose Snowdonia Ale 3.6%
The Kite Brewery 4.0% (sorry, don't have the name for this one yet - probably Gorslas)
Thursday 1 & Friday 2 March. Open 17:00-23:00 each days.
Due to have 30 beers, plus ciders. The beer list is rather incomplete at the moment - keep an eye on the Supporters Club website for updates. This is all they have listed at the moment:

Arkwright's Inspired  4.1%
Black Iris Bitter 4.3%
Botanist Humulus Lupulus 3.8%
By The Horns Bobby On The Wheat 4.7%
Dunham Massey Chocolate Cherry Mild 3.8%
Fyne Ales Hurricane Jack 4.4%
Kelham Island Bete Noire 5.5%
Slaters Top Totty 4.0% (groan!)
Liverpool Craft Icon 3.8%
Marble Ginger 4.5%
[Update: See Comment below for full list]

MARCH MADNESS BEER FESTIVAL
Thursday 1 March - Saturday 3 March
Beer list - small but high on quality:

Dark Star Black Coffee Pilsner 4.8% (NEW)

Thursday 1 March - Saturday 3 March
Hardly "London area" but the only CAMRA festival within easy-ish striking distance this week so I've included it. About 70 beers plus a dozen or so ciders. The full beer list is available on Loughborough CAMRA website.

THE RAKE WELSH BEER FESTIVAL
The Rake, 14 Winchester Walk, London, SE1 9AG
Thursday 1 March to Sunday 4 March
26 beers from 14 breweries. First sighting of beers from the Tiny Rebel brewery, about which I know precious little except that it is very new and based in Newport. The full beer list has been posted on the Rake's blog site.

QUEEN'S HEAD BEER FESTIVAL
The Queen's Head, 66 Acton Street, London WC1X 9NB
Thursday 1 March to Saturday 3 March.
Don't know too much about this one -  beer list is "coming soon" according to the Queen's Head Facebook page.

SPOTTED DOG WELSH BEER FESTIVAL
The Spotted Dog, 13 Middle Street, Brighton BN1 1AL
Thursday 1 March to Tuesday 6 March
Beer list:

Brecon Pale Beacons 4.5% (I think this is actually 3.9%)
Brecon Genesis (1:ii) 5.6% (NEW)
Celt Experience Celt Golden 4.2%
Celt Experience Dr. Price’s Super Hop 4.5%
Monty's Mischief 5.0%
Monty's Sunshine 4.2%
Neath Deliverance 4.5% (NEW)
Neath Six Hop Nations 6% (NEW)
Newman’s Castle Cream 4.7%
Otley Croes-O 4.2%
Otley Motley Brew 7.5%
Otley OxyMoron 5.5%
Otley 03 Boss 4.4%
Otley 04 Columbo 4.0%
Waen Blackberry Stout 3.8%
Waen Scrum And Get It 4.1% (NEW)

GRAPE & GRAIN BEER FESTIVAL
Grape & Grain, 2 Anerley Hill, London, SE19 2AA
Friday 2 March to Monday 5 March
60 plus beers and ciders. There's a full list on the Grape & Grain website. Of particular interest, to me at least, are Ascot Anastasia's Triple Vanilla Imperial Russian Stout, Elland Scarlettes Fury, Kent Enigma and Kissingate Smelters Stout - all new beers (as far as I know) from brewers I hold in high regard.

CAMDEN TOWN US HELLS LAUNCH
55-59 Wilkin Street Mews, London NW5 3NN (sorry, can't get a Google maps link for that address to work)
Saturday 3 March. 12:00-17:00
First appearance for Camden Town's US Hells lager at their new bar. Apparently a revised version of their existing Camden Hells Lager, replacing the German hops with US varieties. Brewery tours were available but I understand are now fully booked. You do not, however, need an invite to attend the launch and try the beer. Apologies if my earlier blog post gave that impression.

FUTURE EVENTS

A few more events for later in March have been added to the calendar. I'll provide fuller details nearer the time.

10 - 11 March: Sebright Arms Beer Festival
22 - 25 March: Priory Arms Beer Festival
29 - 31 March: Hope, Carshalton - London Beer Festival
Posted by chriso at 13:11 6 comments

Tuesday, 21 February 2012

London Events Calendar - Latest Updates

This week's beery happenings in my London Events Calendar:

BALD FACED STAG BEER FESTIVAL
Bald Faced Stag 69 High Road, East Finchley, London N2 8AB
Tuesday 21 February to Sunday 26 February
Can't tell you much about this one, which I picked up from the CAMRA North London newsletter, so you can blame them if this is a bum steer. The pub is Good Beer Guide listed but I haven't personally set foot in the place for many a long year. Their website is not exactly illuminating about the festival. In fact it isn't mentioned there at all.

BRICKLAYERS ARMS YORKSHIRE BEER FESTIVAL
Bricklayers Arms, 32 Watermans Lane, Putney, London SW15 1DD
Wednesday 22 February to Sunday 26 February
120+ beers from Yorkshire, many exceedingly rare and tough to find, even on their home turf. I will only be able to attend on Wednesday because I am actually heading for "God's own county" (not necessarily my own definition) and, more specifically, York (one of the greatest cities in the UK to visit - definitely by my own definition) for a long weekend on Thursday. York pub guide to follow in due course.

QUALITY SE1 PUB CRAWL
Wednesday 22 February, starts at 6:00pm at the Bridge House, Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2UP.
Then proceeds to the Draft House, The Dean Swift, Simon The Tanner and Platform (route map here). Yet again, I won't be able to make this, as I will be at the Bricklayers Arms Yorkshire Beer Festival (see above). One day ...

Wednesday 22 February to Sunday 26 February
Around 45 different beers available over five days, with 25 on sale at any time. Tends to feature several beers from each brewery, concentrating on a few breweries per festival, rather than ordering a single beer from many breweries. See the "currently in the cellar or on sale" listing on the pub website for an idea of what will be available.

Friday 24 & Saturday 25 February.
60 or so beers. Admission by pre-purchased ticket only and all tickets sold out for this year. So, if you want to go next year, remember - book early. 

Friday 24 to Sunday 26 February.
About 35 beers, all from the Greater London area. No further details available. Note to organiser: providing a list of the beers that will be available is a jolly good way of encouraging people to attend.

Part of a series of country themed festivals covering the entire period of the Six Nations Rugby Championship. 11 to 24 February features Italian beers. 25 February to 9 March is Welsh beers. 10 to 16 March showcases French beers. 17 to 24 March is Irish beers. Exactly what beers might available and when is not at all clear since the website provides no information in that respect. Given the duration of the event, it is probably a fair bet that the odd beer from the featured nation will make an appearance alongside the (excellent and varying) other offerings, but greater clarity would have been welcome. 

FUTURE EVENTS

I've also added a whole load of new events for March to May to the events calendar. Well, it really covers much of the South East and a fair few other events within day trip reach that I'm thinking of attending. In order to assist advance planning and for those of you who can't be bothered to click through to the calendar itself, brief details of the new additions (NB: this is not the full list of events in the period - some were listed already) follow. I'll provide fuller details nearer the time.

March
1 - 2 March:    Leyton Orient Supporters Club - March Ale Festival
1 - 4 March:    The Rake - Welsh Beer Festival
1 - 5 March:    Spotted Dog, Brighton - Welsh Beer Festival
2 - 5 March:    Grape & Grain, Crystal Palace - Beer Festival
3 March:         Camden Town Brewery - US Hells launch & brewery tours. email mark@camdentownbrewery.com for an invite.
3 March:         By The Horns Brewery - Open day (to be confirmed)
6 March:         Tap East - Launch of Chocolate Cyn
15 - 17 March: Bristol Beer Festival (CAMRA)
15 - 17 March: St Neots Beer Festival (CAMRA)
16 - 17 March: Winchester Beer Festival (CAMRA)
16 - 18 March: Rifleman, Twickenham - Beer Festival
27 March:        Wetherspoons, 02 Centre, Finchley Road - Adnams tasting evening
28 - 31 March: Wandsworth Common Beer Festival

April 
6 - 7 April:        Planet Thanet Beer Festival (CAMRA)
6 - 7 April:        Fox, Hanwell - Beer Festival
12 - 14 April:    Bexley Beer Festival (CAMRA)
20 - 21 April:    Hook Beer Festival
25 - 28 April     East Anglia Beer Festival at Bury St Edmunds (CAMRA)
27 - 28 April:    Chippenham Beer Fetsival (CAMRA)

May
4 - 7 May:         Duke of Hamilton, Hampstead - Cotwsold Beer Festival
10 - 12 May:     Banbury Beer Festival (CAMRA)
11 - 12 May:     Kingston Beer Festival (CAMRA)
18 - 20 May:     Yapton Beerex (CAMRA)
21 - 26 May:     Cambridge Beer festival (CAMRA)
24 - 26 May:     Northamptonshire Beer festival (CAMRA)
Posted by chriso at 14:03 0 comments
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