Mine's a Pint - Summer 2019

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Festival Roundup This is being written just a few days after the 25th Reading Beer Festival. If you came, thank you. If you volunteered to work, thank you even more! If you enjoyed it, let us know. If you didn’t enjoy it, let us know what we could do better. The festival is home of several awards, all judged on site in blind tastings. As well as Local Beer of the Festival awards we host the final round of the National Cider and Perry Championship. Read on to find out who won what! REAL ALE BEERS BELOW 4.2% ABV Winner – Elusive Happiness Dragon Runner up – Indigenous Silly Moo BEERS FROM 4.2% TO 4.9% ABV Winner – Loddon Ferryman’s Gold Runner up – Reunion Beard Tongue BEERS 5.0% ABV AND ABOVE Winner – Siren Craft Broken Dream Runner up – Elusive Morrisman Attendance over the four days, excluding children and trade session guests, was a little over 12,000. That’s a bit less than previous years although the site has a slightly smaller capacity now so that’s reflected in the planning. The highlight for many was that cask ale almost ran out on Saturday and, after an emergency restock overnight, almost ran out again on Sunday. The alternative is to pour away unused beer after the event, which not only means throwing away money but is also environmentally wasteful. So I think most people will accept that, in order to have a successful festival, you expect the beer range to decrease significantly as the festival approaches its close. Wine and foreign beer sold out on Sunday, there was a little cider and perry left at the end, and enough key keg to supply the staff party on Sunday night. OVERALL LOCAL BEERS OF THE FESTIVAL Gold – Indigenous Silly Moo Silver – Siren Craft Broken Dream Bronze – Elusive Morrisman LOCAL KEY KEG BEER OF THE FESTIVAL Winner – New Wharf DIPA CIDER AND PERRY Having one of the largest and most diverse cider and perry ranges of any festival, it’s natural that Reading is the home of the National Cider and Perry Championships. The competition followed more than a year of local tasting panels and regional heats, culminating in the national finals in Reading, and the results were ... CIDER Gold – Mayfayre’s Cider (Herefordshire) Silver – St Ives Forager (St Ives, Cornwall) Bronze – Ampleforth Abbey (North Yorkshire) This was the first year that card machines were used at all the bars. As a large-scale trial the machines seemed to work well and I’m sure we’ll be using them again in future. Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong> 22 PERRY Gold – Cleeve’s Orchard Perry (Ross-on-Wye) Silver – Ralph’s Medium Perry (Powys) Bronze – Out of the Orchard Perry (Newent)
Mayfayre’s Cider impressed judges for being well-balanced and more-ish, boasting distinct spicy and woody notes and a dry aftertaste. In contrast, Cleeve Orchard’s Perry won the title for its floral and full-bodied flavour, which had a hint of smoke in the aftertaste. Festival goers had the opportunity to sample the winning drinks. Andrea Briers, Chair of CAMRA’s National Cider and Perry Committee said: “Huge congratulations to both Cleeve Orchard and Mayfayre for their exemplary products. As we know, cider and perry flavours can vary significantly from year to year and harvest to harvest, so seeing such distinct quality is incredibly important.” “Mayfayre, which is based in Herefordshire, exemplifies the very essence of traditional cider right in the home of England’s cider country. Cleeve Orchard also impressed judges with its West Country Perry. Owner Lewis Scott has worked with CAMRA to campaign for greater support for small producers, and is a great example of how a local producer of the area can gain national recognition with a quality product.” And let’s end with a message from Dave Scott, our Festival Organiser: “I would once again like to thank the large numbers of entirely unpaid volunteers who made the event possible. All the volunteers (many of whom have literally spent many, many hundreds of hours over the last year working on this event), who are all by definition amateurs, can be very proud of the sheer professionalism they showed. We received a significant amount of praise on the high standards we achieved for the event as well as praise for the hard working, professional and enthusiastic volunteers who made it possible. I hope that you all enjoyed working at the event and had a good time – after all, if the volunteers don’t enjoy the event, our customers probably won’t either.” “In terms of campaign aims I think we can pride ourselves on another successful Beer Festival. We again gave over ten thousand people the chance to try a wide range of real ales, ciders and perries - and have a great time while doing so. Many of these people will not be regular real ale drinkers but will now view real ales, ciders and perries in a positive light associated with good memories. In fact we signed up 20 new CAMRA members. In addition, we garnered some good media attention including BBC Radio Berkshire and Thames Valley TV and were able to leverage this to discuss CAMRA, its aims and the current challenges facing pubs, in addition to talking about the Beer Festival.” Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong> 23
Page 1: THE MAGAZINE FOR READING AND MID BE
Page 4 and 5: great beers from oxfordshire since
Page 6 and 7: Pub News Burghfield Common The demo
Page 8 and 9: THE FOX & HOUNDS We are a tradition
Page 10 and 11: Rebellion May’s beer was Near Mis
Page 12 and 13: Small Beer A round up of news and i
Page 14 and 15: Magic Rock Brewery Sold Continuing
Page 16 and 17: MAIDENHEAD BEER AND CIDER FESTIVAL
Page 18 and 19: PUB QUALITY BEER ...AT HOME Drink R
Page 20 and 21: Four real ales from microbreweries
Page 24 and 25: Volunteering By the time you read t
Page 26 and 27: The Promotion of Lager in the UK PA
Page 28: London United vehicles had been ado
Page 31: REAL-ALE AND CIDER FESTIVAL 9 -20 O

Mine's a Pint - Summer 2019

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