I’ve
just got back from the Czech Republic. It was a tour around a few breweries
which ended at Slunce ve Skle craft beer festival. Mark Tranter from Dark Star
was also on the trip and was talking about the beer list for the upcoming festival
which he’s organising at The Snowdrop in Lewes, taking place on 7-9th
October. The list is based on the beers which have inspired him and continue to
inspire him; a dream, Desert Island choice of cask, keg and bottle. The beer list is here. I think it’s just about a perfect beer list for a pub beer
festival because I want to drink everything there. The festival will also have
a scotch egg cook-off, beer and book matching with Pete Brown and beer and food
matching with Melissa Cole.
Spending
a few too many hours on a minibus over the weekend left me thinking about my
own dream pub beer festival and the beers I’d want there; beers which have
inspired or changed my way of thinking and drinking. Limiting myself to five
from each of cask, keg and bottle (The Snowdrop will have about double that), and
also thinking about the ability to actually get them, I’d have the following,
with each having special significance:
Cask
Fyne
Jarl
Marble
Pint
Dark
Star Saison
Dark
Star Six Hop
Gadds
Dogbolter
Keg
Pilsner
Urquell
Camden
Town Wheat
BrewDog
Punk IPA
Jandrain-Jandrenouille
Saison IV
Odell
IPA or Bear Republic Racer 5
Bottle
Thornbridge
Bracia
Mariage
Parfait
Birrificio
Italiano Tipopils (even better on keg – it’d replace PU)
Anchor
Old Foghorn
Fuller’s
Vintage (about 5 years old)
Mark’s
list for The Snowdrop is brilliant and is reality opposed to my fantasy list. I’ll
be there if I can persuade Lauren to drive me...
What's your perfect pub festival beer list?
No hyperlink to Mark's list!!
ReplyDeleteThat's the second time I've seen a pub selling unfiltered Camden Helles rececently. Will this become a more common thing (crosses fingers) ...
ReplyDeleteThe Southampton had the unfiltered Camden on at the end of last week. But they only had 1 keg, which possibly suggests that it won't be particularly common. At least not at the moment. Very nice though.
ReplyDeleteI'll bite, starting on Cask
ReplyDeleteHop Back Entire Stout
Fat Cat Honey Ale
Saltaire Hazlenut Coffee Porter
Thornbridge Kipling
Steel City Shadowplay
Acorn Barnsley Bitter
Green Jack Norfolk Black
Crouch Vale Brewer's Gold
Darkstar Green Hopped IPA
Tryst Blathan
Marble Chocolate Stout
Keg:
Magic Rock Human Cannonball
Saphir Weisse
Thornbridge Versa
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Budvar Dark
Bottle:
Dogfishhead 90 Minute IPA
Orval
Odell Cutthroat Porter
Westmalle Dubbel
Mongozo Coconut
De Molen Hemel & Aarde
Marble Ginger
Dogfishhead / Birra Del Borgo My Antonia
Dubbel - Sorted it! It was there, just in the wrong place.
ReplyDeleteMark - Nope, just the very occasional special. It was at the Southampton Arms as a gift for getting CAMRA's Greater London pub of the year and the one for the Snowdrop will be another special. Once we have a bar at the brewery we'll be able to sell it more often...
T_i_B - Nice choices and some interesting ones too! It makes me thirsty looking at it...
'Jandrain-Jandrenouille Saison IV'
ReplyDeleteI'm off to Brussels in a few weeks. That will no doubt be my first beer in Moeder Lambic Fontainas.
Mark, our beer tastes are worringly similar. I really can't think of many substitutions i'd make. My only worry is that if I turned up at an event with all of those on, there is no way i'd be able to drink all of them.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to choose one from each category mind you....