It's Festival Time Again!!

May will soon be upon us and with it will come a glut of the greatest invention known to man – the beer festival. Both May Bank Holidays will see many local real ale pubs laying on festivities and I’ll certainly be getting round a few of those.

In the meantime J D Wetherspoon has got in early with what they claim to be The World’s Biggest Real Ale festival. Running from the 15th April to the 4th of May, 50 ales from around the world are promised over that period.

On Monday the 20th April I happened to call in to two Wetherspoons outlets, in Hertford and Camden. It’s not something I make a habit of (honestly) and not something I’d necessarily recommend but I happened to be passing them on my travels, it was a gorgeous spring day and..., well, you know how these things happen.

Although there are 50 ales promised, don’t expect to see all 50 available at any one time. In the first pub, the Six Templars in Hertford, there were nine ales available, but four of those were Wetherspoon regulars – Ruddles, Marstons Pedigree etc. To add to any confusion, the beer I chose, Golden Seahawk from Somerset’s wonderful Cotleigh brewery, wasn’t even on the festival list.

Nevertheless, it was an excellent beer, golden in colour with hints of honey and citrus fruits. At 4.2% abv it’s not too heavy for lunchtime either.

In the evening, I called into The Ice Wharf at Camden Lock. A lovely setting and an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Here there were nine ales on, with five Wetherspoon regulars and the welcome sight of the festival cider, Marcle Hill from Westons. I chose a Nethergate Umbel Magna which I have had before but it is a favourite. An unusual beer which uses coriander – sounds odd but it works!

It’s easy to knock Wetherspoons but in recent times they have been embraced by both CAMRA and Cask Marque. I find their ales fine, and at a festival price of £1.89 who’s complaining? Sometimes I just find their beers a little too cold and sometimes their sessions aren’t worked out terribly well and you just have a choice of really strong ales, all above 5%. But that’s just me!
The festival programme promises some really interesting ales and I shall be tracking them down and bringing you regular updates. Keep reading!

Morrissey Fox

My ale blog triumphantly returns with what may seem a fairly predictable taste test – Morrissey Fox blonde beer. My decision to review this prompts an obvious question – Is this all about hype or does this beer have real substance and appeal?

Recently on television James May and Oz Clarke conducted a brewing contest between themselves and Gordon Ramsay even brewed his own. Has the cult of celebrity now infiltrated the world of beer production? Will we be switching on our televisions on Saturday evening to witness Strictly Come Brewing on Ice? Which washed up celeb will be itching to sparge their wort? Will Abi Titmuss be up to her knees in a mash tun wearing nothing but a pair of fishing waders......? Where was I? Oh yes, Morrissey Fox.

The recent television series that saw our two protagonists, Neil Morrissey and Richard Fox secure their own gastropub was compulsive viewing. But is the beer any good?
Label notes from the brewers call this a ‘hybrid’ – somewhere between a lager and an ale. It’s 4.2% and an easy drinker so a nice session beer if you want to cross that line and have a session on your own!

The brewery also claims that it has an amazing nose – personally I couldn’t agree on this one: I couldn’t really smell much at all without putting my whole face in the glass and taking huge sniffs. It’s a pleasant smell yes – subtle fruit hints maybe but difficult to detect anything specific.
First taste is good – nice mouthful of fruit giving way to a refreshing yet slightly bitter aftertaste. I don’t know what else to say about it really – it’s a nice beer. I’ve heard it goes really well with fish but didn’t have any around except a can of tuna that the cat was guarding with malevolence in her eye.

I really wanted to like it, particularly after seeing Neil Morrissey’s vitriolic reaction to the rather uncomplimentary Focus Group that evaluated the beer on the TV programme. I just don’t want him to come looking for me. In fact I do like it, I just feel that at its usual price of £1.90, I would need something more remarkable to drag me away from my usual supermarket favourites. That, as with all my comments, is just my personal opinion.

What I would say is, if you can find it, try this on draught. I find all beers better on draught but this was a completely different animal. Hugely fruity and very easy to drink, the only problem is that I find it difficult to trace down here in Hertfordshire. Hopefully I can track it down at one of the May beer festivals coming up. I shall let you know...