Fest of fun: Leicester 2009

Old friends, new breweries, cool beers, hot curries... is Leicester Beer Festival a marriage made in heaven?

Let's make it clear from the off; I lurrrve the Leicester festival. Great array of beers in good condition. One large room for the stillage and vertical drinkers, one large room for the tables. Stacks of good food. Great atmosphere. It's one of the very few fests that I'm willing to give up a day's annual leave to attend.

The day was set up in Derby with an excellent freshly-cooked breakfast at On A Roll and my usual large, strong cappuchino at Caruso's. Into Leicester, one sharp haircut obtained and I was ready for a day of lush imbibition.

There's really only one sensible way to start a fest like this - order a pint of Thornbridge Jaipur and go for a wander all along the stillage to see what's on. Mental notes made of replacements and substitutions, greetings swapped with familiar faces, all in the company of an IPA as good today as it's always been. Catchy line, that.... somebody ought to use it in an advert.

Comrade Brian and Cycling John had already secured a table and were doing unspeakable things to a Blue Monkey. More about that later. I was ready to take a few snaps, having charged the camera battery the night before. Perplexed therefore that the camera wouldn't turn on. Embarrassed to find that the battery wasn't actually in the camera. Relieved that I'd decided to lump the larger camera along as well. Still, not as bad as Brian and the time he took thirty-eight snaps of a stripper. On a camera that should only have taken thirty-six pictures. If it had actually had a film in it....

And then, from deepest darkest Northamptonshire, Mark arrived. Blogger, Ratebeerian and looking a bit like Brian O'Driscoll's long-lost cousin, we suffer each other's company a few times each year. And rather than talking about page views, bounce rates and all other such blogging guff (as tends to happen in our scene that celebrates itself a little too much), we do the decent thing and double up.

Now then, matron. I know what you're thinking. We're not like *that*. OK, I caught him ogling my moobs once, but they do get pert when clad in Lycra. Doubling up simply means sharing beers - two halves bought, drink half of one then swap over with your oppo. Result: you get to drink quarter pints (just enough to get a fair impression of the beer) and so a wider number/range of beers can be sampled in one day.


We're keen to experiment (stop that sniggering! I won't tell you again!), so we tend to buy some old favourites alongside output from new brewers.

So, those beers in no more than six words each were...

Opa Hey 'Best' Bitter. - smelled of melted Twix, tasted better

Great Newsome Holderness Dark - murky with some freshly squeezed glue.

Barrowden Black Five - bits of licorice, solid chewy body.

Bottle Brook Red Chinook - some smart hops but rather flattened

Art Brew ibeer - bludgeoning vanilla and some hop itch

Bollington Oat Tom - fat oat notes sumped in berries

Blue Monkey Evolution - deep gold with light lush edges


Five Towns Niamh's Nemesis - light looking, heavy punching hoppy IPA

Old Spot Spot O' Bother - festival-winning chocolate and cocoa joy

Atomic Firebox - Chili? Pineapple in warming chutney lumps.

Potbelly Captain Pigwash - washy indeed, thin compared to Beijing

Dowbridge Bomum Mild - inoffensive, unobtrusive. So, a good mild.

Bragdy'r Nant Monkey Nells - Some easy-going chocolate. Not bad.

Monty's Sunshine - eh? Less-than-sorbet flavours here.

Malt B Smarties' Night Porter - Washy coffee; where's the richness gone?

Brewdog Devine Rebel - Too much, too young. Needs ageing.

And, as for the pint of Brewdog V2009... Sticky and harsh. Three months more?

All this beer drinking detracted rather from my socialising. So, apologies to Andy Sales for never getting round to catching up with him for a chat and a photo as promised. Apologies too to the Young CAMRA Collective, having promised Brad I'd be over to say hello I never quite made it to the other side of the hall. Except for a curry (hint; vegetable curry at the fest is better value than meat. Still good and spicy and you get plenty of it).

Of course, I still found time for a pork pie; well, two actually, as the first one was cut into quarters and disappeared between the gannets round the table. Cheers, guys! I then ended up buying a third alongside a delectable Stilton cob for the short journey home

Beer of the day? Five Towns Niamh's Nemesis. An assured, refreshing IPA whose light body belied the Cascades of flavour within. Admirable mentions to Old Spot Spot O' Bother and Bollington Oat Tom too.


So, is Leiester beer festival a marriage made in heaven? Well, it offered something old (Jaipur), something new (Five Towns), something borrowed (Bonum being Latin) and something Blue Monkey. I'd say that was close enough. Though with all that beer and lashings of curry at the top table, I'd have to take pity on the poor bride....