18th Annual , Denmead Community Centre, Sat 29th Oct 2016
As the only event of its type within staggering distance of my house, I’ve been going to the Denmead Beer Festival for years. It’s a fairly typical setup – a variety of beers, classic and new, local and distant, plus grub (hot dogs, burgers, roast pork) and a band (this year it was No More Excuses, playing rock and blues classics).
I can only review the beers I tried, but it did turn out to be quite a few …
- Theakston’s Black Bull (3.9%) – classic Yorkshire bitter.
- Orkney Brewery Red McGregor (4.0%) – easy-drinking ruby with plenty of bitterness.
- Hammerpot Brewery Red Hunter (4.3%) – a full-bodied ruby beer with a touch of caramel and spice.
- Langham’s Brewery Triple XXX (4.4%) – dark and chocolatey, but with a balancing tang of hops.
- St Austell Proper Job (4.5%) – classic IPA with a flavour hit of grapefruit and oranges.
- Bath Ales Barnsey (4.5%) – sweet, spicy dark ale with just enough crisp hops in the finish.
- Hammerpot Brewery Bottle Wreck Porter (4.7%) – a big, bold porter with coffee and chocolate in abundance.
- Langham’s Brewery Arapaho (4.9%) – a pale ale with a truckload of tropical fruit flavours: mango, kiwi and peach. My beer of the night!
- Irving Brewery Intrepid (4.9%)* – a full-bodied ale, brewed with rye and possessing an unexpected grapefruit twang.
- Wychwood Brewery Hobgoblin (5.2%) – strong, dark and full, with a burnt sugar sweetness.
- Irving Brewery Captain B (5.3%)* – a rich amber beer with some sweet caramel.
It’s always an enjoyable bash, cosy and good-natured and often slightly wibbly towards the end.
The event sells out most years, so if you plan on going, grab your tickets in September/October, when details go up on the Community Centre’s website: denmeadca.com.
* I suspect there was some kind of mix-up with the Irving beers – the descriptions didn’t seem to match the taste. Whatever they were, they tasted good!
