With the weather warming up, beer
festival season was getting in full swing as we travelled down to the depths of Bexley
on the southeastern fringes of London. After two tumultuous hours on public
transport, we reached our destination, the Dartfordian’s Sports Club where the
Bexley Beer Festival has been held since 2013. Now in its 18th iteration
since the Bexley CAMRA branch launched their first festival in Sidcup back in
2005, the theme for this year’s showing was ‘Wish You Were Here’, a sly reference to the jet-setting travel show presented by Judith Chalmers. Far from
expecting a slew of international beers on display, instead there were array of
exotically flavoured home-grown beers from the mystifying Turkish Delight Milk Stout
(5.6%) brimming with Eastern promise, to the likes of Zinzibier (4.1%),
a golden ale featuring a blend of American hops and ginger, or the wryly named Tinker,
Tailor, Sal Dare, Rye (3.7%), a dark mild flavoured with rye malt and dried
cranberries. There was a fascinating array of beers available including Scottish
Red Ales, Barley Wines, Brown Ales, Saison, Wheat Beers and a heap load of
pales and IPA’s flavoured with NZ and US hops, which have become increasingly
prolific among our nation’s brewers over the past decade. Despite it being a small-scale
beer festival, there was plenty to choose from at the festival, with examples from
all over the country from the local Bexley Brewery to brewers based as far away
as the highlands of Scotland.
As we attended on the last day of
the festival, some of the more unusual beers were unavailable, but at the time
we arrived, there were still plenty of beers left. The festival is commonly
held in tent next to the clubhouse, the area was large enough to house over 100 beers and around 23 ciders/ perries. As it was clement weather, the outdoor patio
was available to punters, and by luck there was a cricket match taking place in
the adjacent field, that kept the spectators engrossed throughout the
afternoon. My first drink of the innings was Trombo (5%) a Double Hopped
IPA by Gun Brewery, released last Summer it proved to be a surprise hit and has since
been reissued thanks to popular demand. Flavoured with Simcoe and Amarillo hops,
they play a large role in forming the distinctive fruit salad of flavours and
aromas, that include the likes of Tangerine, Peach and Grapefruit. These were
grounded by a piney background of hoppy bitterness, aided by a slight kick of
roasted malt. An orangey golden colour, the mouthfeel was syrupy yet refreshing.
Moving on, I sought to sample some offerings from the local Bexley Brewery, and
eventually chose Black Prince (4.6%), a classic porter with a distinct roasted
malted aroma, followed by a rush of coffee and dark chocolate that dominates
the proceedings. Dark brown in colour with a tan coloured head, the promising
array of aromas led to a quaffable and rich malt grain bill, with hints of
coffee, charcoal and berry fruits. The mouthfeel was medium bodied and chewy, though
the aftertaste was on the dry side which is common with this style of beer. For
my next beer I pushed the boat out and in the spirit of the occasion, I headed
north and tried some Toon Broon (4.6%) a traditional brown ale by Geordie
brewers Firebrick. Classically reddish brown in colour, the malty overtones were
immediately present as I supped the brew, followed by a background of caramel
and roasted malts that gave it a toasty bitterness. There were hints of fruits detectable
on the back-end, while the promised sweetness seemed rather muted in comparison
to the other flavours which tended to dominate, perhaps the brewers were overcompensating
for its relatively low ABV.
By this time my tastebuds were on
overload, and I need to give them a respite, so I glided into the cider/ perry
bar for a fruitier offering. Despite the wide selection available, I wasn’t in
the mood for scrumpy or dry concoctions, in the end I settled for the relatively sessionable
Apple Pie Cider (4%) by Turner’s of Tonbridge, living up to its name, it
was refreshingly pleasant with a profound array of spices including cinnamon,
nutmeg, clove and mace, enveloped with a dense fruity apple quilt of juicy syrupy
sweetness with a slight hint of tartness in the background. It was distinctly moreish,
flavoursome and sessionable, as Keith Floyd would have probably said, its like
apple pie in a glass. It was easily the best thing I’d sampled all day, and I
would have tried more if it didn’t have sample various beers. As I supped the last
morsels of cider from my glass, the barrels were emptying in the main bar and
the choice of beers were gradually depleting by the minute, so I had to be quick off the
mark. Ultimately, I went for a third of Twelfth Night (7.4%) by Kent
Brewery, fortunately this proved to be last drop of the barrel, so I clearly
got this one in the nick of time. A Barley Wine by nature, it had a symphony of
aromas including damsons, figs, treacle, coffee and chocolate. This was
reflected in its distinctive flavour profile, which featured a foreground of caramel, toffee,
mulled fruits were accompanied by background of grassy notes from the hops
and bitterness, I could also detect hints of lemongrass and peppercorns on the
back end, while its high strength gave it some satisfying warm. It was more of a Belgian
style Dubbel in character than a Barley Wine, but this was a sterling effort
from the brewers. The same couldn’t be said for Golden Bitter (4%) by
Marsden based brewers Riverhead, a traditional Golden Ale using only British hops,
it was refreshing enough and thoroughly golden in appearance. Yet it was disappointingly
mild and lacking in flavour, as if the brewers didn’t make much of an effort
with this one. Perhaps it’s my personal preference or down to the way it was
served through lack of sparkler, but with the flood of beers using US and NZ
hops on the market nowadays this is not a good show for beers produced in traditional British
styles. At this point in the day, I was growing weary from having drunk a
variety of beers over the course of the afternoon, and my mind was increasingly
in a muddle in terms of what to go for, I decided to head back to dark ale
territory for my final drink and headed north of the border for some Spey
Stout (5.6%) from Spey Valley. Dark as midnight, it had a dense full-bodied
mouthfeel with a pronounced roasted malt aroma that dominated the senses, which
was also detectable in its flavour profile. This was accompanied by notes of
blackcurrant and coffee, along with a notable smoky bitterness giving it added
strength. Despite its high ABV it had a remarkabley smooth mouthfeel, though the
relative lack of sweetness made it hard to drink. Overall, this was a brash attempt to
emulate the dry Irish stouts, which is a substyle of stout that I’m not too fond
of. I may have overstepped my mark with my choice, but it was by no means
lacking in quality.
In all, we had an enjoyable and pleasant day out, the organisers managed the festival well and kept the stocks relatively fluid until late into Saturday afternoon. The array of drinks on offer were outstanding, particularly for a small regional setup, and these could easily put any large-scale high-profile festivals to the shade. The brilliance is down to the hard-working efforts of Bexley CAMRA, whom put out all the stops to make sure there are interesting variety of beers, ciders and perries on the bill. As a North Londoner, local beer festivals are somewhat a rarity in my neck of the woods, so the local branches should probably take note and follow Bexley’s lead and organise their own beer festivals, alas time will tell, it always does.
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