Wetherspoon's Real Ale Festival 24th October to 11th November 2012

[Andy Ven]

Here is the beer list:

http://www.jdwrealale.co.uk/static/pdfs/Tasting-Notes-October-2012.pdf

Happy tasting

[aleandhearty]

Already drawn up my provisional hit list:

1. Avery - 3 Point 5.
6. Harviestoun - Wild Hop Gold.
12. Caledonian - Devil's Advocate.
17. Roosters - Franklin.
29. Moorhouses - Ruby Witch.
34. Titanic - Golden Porter.
36. Brewsrers - Andromeda.
44. Feral - Austalian IPA.

Looks like Cascade is the hop of the festival.

A couple of things you can always rely on with 'spoons festivals: You'll have at least one beer in front of you where you have to double check the programme notes because it tastes nothing like the write up. Also, a beer you try, just to get the tick, when there are several 'available soon' clips, will give you a really pleasant surprise. Bring it on.

[trainman]

Golden Porter! Fascinating.
I think I can safely use a&h's shortlist as my starting point... :)

[Alesonly]

A couple of things you can always rely on with 'spoons festivals: You'll have at least one beer in front of you where you have to double check the programme notes because it tastes nothing like the write up. Also, a beer you try, just to get the tick, when there are several 'available soon' clips, will give you a really pleasant surprise. Bring it on.
And You missed this one ? Your guaranteed too find one awful Pint unexpectedly.

[Andy Ven]

Golden Porter! Fascinating.

That one jumped out at me as well. Unusual!

[Millay]

And one more thing guaranteed, you'll always have one beer where you have to check the program notes, and find that it's not there, despite being advertised as a festival ale on the pump clip.

[aleandhearty]

And You missed this one ? Your guaranteed too find one awful Pint unexpectedly.

Yes! Very true.


And one more thing guaranteed, you'll always have one beer where you have to check the program notes, and find that it's not there, despite being advertised as a festival ale on the pump clip.

That one really gets on my tits. Plus, the variation where you haven't got a programme to hand and you check with a member of bar staff, who swears blind it's in the fifty. Later on of course, you find out it isn't.

[rpadam]

The Beehive (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/24475/) has made an early start, with half of their handpumps offering festival beers last night...

[Aqualung]

What currently annoys me most about Spoons is the fact that they have taken to stocking non-guest ales from the larger regional brewers, notably Fullers, Adnams and Nethergate. The Fullers London Pride and ESB where I have spotted tham have been a lot more expensive than the other stuff. I've got used to Abbot and Ruddles as permanent fixtures, so why have these other intruders? I don't mind seeing them if they are on the official guest or festival list and I don't dislike the wares of these brewers, but to me the only welcome intruders are small local (or relatively local) micros.

I'm off to three of the better local Spoons en route to the William tomorrow so I'll see what's what!

[london calling]

What currently annoys me most about Spoons is the fact that they have taken to stocking non-guest ales from the larger regional brewers, notably Fullers, Adnams and Nethergate. The Fullers London Pride and ESB where I have spotted tham have been a lot more expensive than the other stuff. I've got used to Abbot and Ruddles as permanent fixtures, so why have these other intruders? I don't mind seeing them if they are on the official guest or festival list and I don't dislike the wares of these brewers, but to me the only welcome intruders are small local (or relatively local) micros.

I'm off to three of the better local Spoons en route to the William tomorrow so I'll see what's what!

i have noticed in Cenral London as well that the big regionals are now selling there beer to Wetherspoon.Fullers refused to sell to them due to the low prices paid but now the central spoon,s pubs are charging nearly £3.00 a pint they can afford to pay Fullers prices.

[london calling]

i notice at the new fest that i have drank at least 15- 20 of the beers previously.Seems like the brewers are not making as much of an effort this year to brew new beers.Might be a good idea as i have noticed in the past that a lot of the beers seemed to be brewed to fit Wetherspoon prices rather than to showcase what the brewer can do.

[Aqualung]

i notice at the new fest that i have drank at least 15- 20 of the beers previously.Seems like the brewers are not making as much of an effort this year to brew new beers.Might be a good idea as i have noticed in the past that a lot of the beers seemed to be brewed to fit Wetherspoon prices rather than to showcase what the brewer can do.

The Spoons festival is not really a festival at all. It's just an alternative Guest Ale list for two or three weeks. The main difference is the "foreign" beers many of which are brewed allegedly by the original brewer in a UK brewery.

I've still got my extra beer tokens from the hole in the wall ready for it!

[RogerB]

I kicked things off a day early - one of local 'Spoons had 5 available last night so I took full advantgae. some good stuff as well. Really enjoyed the Steenbrugge Blond - an easy drinkable 6%'er. Dave - Are we getting our Personal Progress Tracking chart this time? I don't think we had it last time. This was the last one... http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/core/jdbeerfest.php

[Aqualung]

I had the Steenbrugge Blond today and also thought it was excellent, I was not so impressed with the Bruin as it tasted thin to me.

[Millay]

Ticked off three plus a cider yesterday including the Lithuanian one. I remarked to my mate that it had that Shepherd Neame twang even before i read the notes and found that was where it was brewed. How can that be, aren't they supposed to be recreating their own beers over here. I can't believe it tastes like that in Lithuania. It didn't spoil it too much though, i thought it was an OK beer.

The Double Maxim was good and the Westons Twist interesting.

[Crossste]

Called in JDW in Stone yesterday which managed 3 phantom festival ales not on the online list, although the programme which got left behind could differ. What made it disappointing was that all 3 were from Beartown which rather cut down on brewery choice.

The Minagof pale ale was very nice as was the Steenbrugge Blond the other non Beartown one being Sheps Red Sails which i didn,t try. Bit better planning needed from the cellarman IMO.

[aleandhearty]

Unexpectedly had a few free hours in Leeds yesterday afternoon, so went to THREE 'spoons (count 'em :eek:) in one session to see what was on offer. Ticked the following:

Thwaites - Crafty Devil.
Moorhouses - Ruby Witch.
Tree Brewery - Thirsty Beaver.
Brouwerij t ij - Ijbok.
Svyturys - Baltios.
Avery - Three Point Five.
Birra Del Borgo - Totto Fa Brodo.
Roosters - Franklin.

Overall, very disappointing. Far too many insipid malty brews for my taste - of which the Ijbok was the best. Easily in the lead so far is the Avery, fantastic hop flavour for its strength, but bordering on the astringent. Not one for Gill, or Will! :D The Franklin was also decent but suffered by being drunk after the Avery. The Fa Brodo for all its exotic ingredients tasted not far off Peroni.

[Millay]

Having drawn a blank for new beers in the frankly disappointing Crosse Keys i am now in the Knights Templar and found the big hitter, the JWLees Moonraker. Quite sweet but very drinkable and I suspect a top 5 beer in what has been an unremarkable festival so far. 31 down 19 to go.

[Millay]

Here's something weird I've just spotted. Beer no. 48, the Steenbrugge Bruin , is shown in the tasting notes as being from the Palm brewery the same as 47 the Blond. However some of the festival T shirts call it Tongerlo Bruin from the Haacht brewery. Has anyone else noticed this and does anyone know why.

Disclaimer - please don't stare too hard at the T shirts if they are being worn by female members of staff !!

[Pubsignman]

Here's something weird I've just spotted. Beer no. 48, the Steenbrugge Bruin , is shown in the tasting notes as being from the Palm brewery the same as 47 the Blond. However some of the festival T shirts call it Tongerlo Bruin from the Haacht brewery. Has anyone else noticed this and does anyone know why.


I think the Tongerlo Bruin was supposed to be part of the festival, but for some reason it never materialised so Palm ended up brewing a second beer.

[Millay]

After only finding a couple of new ones so far this week i am now faced with 5 of them in one pub. A bit ambitious for lunchtime maybe but hope they are all still on tonight. The Wild Hop Gold is pretty good.

[london calling]

i have tried 7 of the foreign( brewed here) beers and none have impressed me.have heard the Avery beer is getting good reviews so i will have to try it again.

[Aqualung]

i have tried 7 of the foreign( brewed here) beers and none have impressed me.have heard the Avery beer is getting good reviews so i will have to try it again.

I've now tried 6 of them and the two that impressed me were the Steenbrugge Blonde and the Feral Australian IPA.

[Bucking Fastard]

Rather shamefaced:o to admit that I have only had one festival ale so far but very fine it was.Harviestoun Wild Hop Gold in The George ,Croydon was certainly very bitter but just on the side of quaffable .I had to drive later so couldn't investigate whether this would survive Thuck Phat's Three Pint Test but wouldn't mind trying if I encounter this brew again in the festival.

It wont make BOTW having happened across Blue Monkey Ape Ale earlier in the week,that passed the Three Pint Test with ease.:drinkup::drinkup::drinkup:

[Millay]

Just ticked off the Freeminer Deep Shaft, which probably wasn't the best choice as first beer of the day. Also found the Exmoor Fox which i think takes me to the mid 30's. Right now i have a half of the Wild Hop , I've had it before and agree with BF that it's one of the better beers. Depending on the weather, which is pretty awful right now, i may take a bus to Stanmore where there's a pretty good Spoons and see what they have.

[Millay]

Beginning to believe the conspiracy theorists that some beers are held back. There were four new ones in my local which i managed halves of lunchtime. Now in a different pub there are two more, the War Horse which is quite nice and the Brewsters Andromeda which is a good foil to the former. don't know exact count now but must be around 40 !!

[Millay]

Had a few lunchtime and been on the piss since 5:30 but like a true professional i fought my way to the bar in the JDW and have ticked off the Ghost Train and the Full Cry neither of which are great. Think that's 48 with just the Silver Mist and Hopocalypse thing left.

[Bucking Fastard]

I had the Vale Hopocalypse in The George,Croydon on Tuesday per match.I was expecting a hop bomb given the name,but it was a modest golden coloured best bitter with not much citrus hit.Didn't have a second and went straight on the Dark Star brews after that.Managed to shift the last of my 4th Quarter vouchers however.

[Millay]

My last new beer of the festival was the Silver Mist that I found in my local Spoons on Saturday, despite them saying they had no festivals ales and having already put their prices back up. It was quite a disappointing beer as the lat one to be honest, and will probably be in my bottom 5.

So once again I finished on 49, and in similar circumstances. The last time I spotted the 50th but it has just gone. This time I spotted the errant beer, The Hopocalypse Vale, on my travels but it had the ‘available soon’ tag. I’m not too bothered as 50 would have been perfection and would leave me nothing to aim for next time, apart maybe trying to go for 50 plus all the ciders (think I ticked off three of those this time).

But today I find myself in somewhat of a quandary, arranging to meet someone in the Hamilton Hall Liverpool St Station * at lunchtime I entered to find the Hopocalypse Vale !! I had to have one of course, I actually had a couple as this could well sneak into my top 5. However by my own self-imposed rules, as Roger will confirm, I’ve always said that beers drunk after the festival has ended don’t count.

So I have rather been hoist by my own petard and find myself stuck on 49 again.

When I get time I’ll work out my top and bottom 5 and post them.

* For those interested, this pub was closed for a few days last week due to technical problems which probably means they have a few festival ales left. As well as the Hopocalypse Vale, I spotted the American heather ale thing, the Mordue Lubelski, GK IPA Reserve, the Double Maxim and the big-hitting Moonraker, which I may go back for a pint of later.

[trainman]

Another valiant festival effort Millay, including the magic-spoons-about with London Midland.
I've hardly ticked any festival ales this time - tbh I've not seen many encouraging descriptions, in these pages, of those on offer and presumed it's not been one of their best selections by some distance...