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Huddersfield Oktoberfest 2014 - Mild of the Festival

Now in it's fifth year since reopening, The Commercial at Slaithwaite has firmly established itself as the village's top attraction for ale lovers. In beer terms it's anything but commercial, with the emphasis very much on small brewery output, in particular the locally produced Empire range.



The very keenly priced Commerciale is always to be found here but it's the award-winning Moonraker Mild that has brought in the crowds this evening. The Huddersfield Oktoberfest best mild award has found it's way down the Colne Valley this year and into the deserving hands of Russ & Lorraine Beverley (pictured below with Bob Tomlinson).


Our first experience drinking Empire was one Sunday lunchtime a few years back in the Fieldhead at Quarmby where a certain Strikes Back was being served. And what an impression that made! If memory serves, a similar award was bestowed on the brewery that autumn - and very few could argue. The beer set a standard to be followed up by the likes of Mallinsons, Summer Wine and Magic Rock, breweries that have since put Huddersfield very firmly on the map - and the rest, as they say....




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