Great British Beer Festival 2014, Kensington Olympia

We attended the Great British Beer Festival in Kensington Olympia on the Wednesday night. I think going earlier in the week has proved to be a win: although busy, it wasn't as crushingly overcrowded as Friday or Saturday, beers were still in plentiful supply (even many of the popular ones, although this year and last year's medallists ran out before I could get to them) and the atmosphere was generally relaxed, staff in a good mood, etc. There were fewer tables scatted around the whole venue than we've seen before, but a large seating area off in the side room catered for pretty much everybody who wanted to sit down for the evening—we only had to lurk for five minutes before spotting a half-table opening that we gradually colonized.

I didn't take full tasting notes of everything I drank this evening, but a few highlights are below:

GBBF 2013: tasting notes

We attended CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival in Kensington Olympia on the opening night, Tuesday August 13, which was also a friend’s birthday. It was a slightly odd feeling to be entering almost as soon as we were allowed to, but the drinking had already been going on for five hours because it had been the trade session all afternoon. I didn’t come to the GBBF last year, so this was my first experience of the Olympia venue, which compares favorably to the Earl’s Court where it was held for several years before. As usually, the event was well-organized, with lots of food and entertainment available; and as it was Tuesday night it wasn’t too crowded and there were enough seats for all of us.

I was hoping to start the night with a pint of Fyne’s Jarl, but it was just my bad luck that that beer won the bronze medal in the best ale awards, so it had all run out even though we arrived only half an hour after the doors opened to the public. Instead I settled for a glass of their Maverick, which was also very good: a lovely bright red-brown ale with impressively frothy head and a slightly acidic odor; a massive tart apple first taste; disconcertingly it was a bit sparkly further in the mouth, but had a good touch of caramel and satisfyingly bitter grapefruit pith in the swallow. I was happy.

GBBF 2011, Earl's Court

We attended the 2011 Great British Beer Festival, at Earl's Court, on Saturday, August 6th, arriving about 13:15. At that time, most bars still had some choice of beers (although even then many were down to half the advertized range and a couple were already closed). Over the course of the afternoon the situation steadily worsened, however, until by 17:00 (when the festival still had two hours to go), it took 20 minutes of wandering around the entire hall (and Earl's Court is not a pretty place) to find a single bar that was still open. The "World Beer" bars all ran out before I had a chance to see much of them, and "New Breweries" was already shut down the first time I saw it.

By the end of the afternoon this frankly unsatisfactory situation had led to frayed tempers and an unruly atmosphere. (At one point a drunken idiot was trying to perform circus tricks with a plastic chair, and when a steward politely told him to stop this dangerous behaviour he began shouting at the poor man who was only tryign to do his job. The steward had to call security, but ending up standing alone for several minutes facing a baying mob growing to dozens of louts. When the security guard did arrive, he utterly failed to back the steward up, instead laughing along with the idiot and walking off. It's a telling sign that this dangerous behaviour was treated a lot less seriously than when a couple of louts decided to strip naked and perform cartwheels, only to be very swiftly apprehended and escorted off the premises.)

It's to be expected that toward the end of the last day of the festival some brews will run out before the end of proceedings day, but this year was the worst I have seen at any festival, local or GBBF. For someone who brought a party of six to the festival and spent nearly £50 on tickets, this poor show was completely unacceptable. Frankly I would rather pay a 20% premium on all beers for them to overstock and guarantee there's still a good choice at the end fo the day. I'll be making this opinion known to CAMRA. It will take some convincing to persuade me to shell out and attend next year, to be honest.

In the meantime, however, I was able to sample a few beers in the early part of the afternoon when they were still available. My notes (posted at the time via Twitter) follow:

• Magpie's Midnight Porter: this was a very nice looking, completely opaque, very dark brown beer with rich and ripe, slightly musty aroma; it was dark and earthy on the first taste, quite smoky and smooth on the swallow. I was pretty happy with this start to the session.
• Herok & Howell's Tantallion Sunrise: a very clear pale ale with a green, almost lime-hinted fruity aroma. The first drop on the tip of my tongue filled my mouth with citric sweetness to an expected degree. When I took a bigger swig and swallowed, it proved tangy and coarse, full-bodied and satisfying. A very nice drop indeed. I know Belhaven, who own Herok & Howell, and like the Edinburgh beer style in general, but this beer was new to me. I'm happy to have found it.
• Cropton's Yorkshire Warrior was one of the few Yorkshire ales still available when we arrived, a dark beer with auburn highlights and an aroma of creamy coffee. It's coolly sour on the first taste, but has a heavy woody finish. I liked it, but probably wouldn't drink several pints in a sitting.
• Wold Top's Gold: a cloudy gold beer with a light smell of tropical fruit, not very strong, but enough to put me off: it might work on a summery day out by the river, but standing around in a crowded warehouse in Earl's Court I wanted something heavier. On the tongue it was sparkly like peach spritzer, but a coarse hoppiness follows very quickly, and this pint was very bitter on the swallow. A pretty good balance overall, once the initial shock was past.
• Quantock's Stout: a pitch black stout with a chocolatey aroma, but not at all sweet on the tongue; quite a rough smokey finish, in fact. A nice taste but not really a session ale (or at least not at this time of year).
• Isle of Purbeck's Best Bitter: a light bitter with a nice heathy aroma and subtle but not watery first taste; quite smoky and harsh on the finish, but in a good way, satisfying rather than tearing the throat. Although from my notes I seem to have liked this one, I have no recollection of it.
• Grainstore's Rutland Panther: a dark ale with orange highlights and a soft mulchy odour, like wood softening in the rain. A mild and slightly fruity sweetness on the tongue, which proves to be deceptive as this beer delivers a kick-in-the-throat smoky finish. Strong stuff. Worth a try, to be sure.
• O'Hanlon's Stormystay: a slightly cloudy light amber, sweet oak-charcoal malt aroma, as if there's some whiskey in there. There's a thick chewy sweetness when you first take it in your mouth, no bitterness in finish. Drinkable, but didn't tempt me back.

• Arundel's Black Stallion: an opaque rich brown old ale with the aroma of fruits of the forest, sweet and tangy. Strangely sweet on tongue with a very clear taste of cherry, very ripe on the swallow like a good old ale should be, but an almost bloody aftertaste. I'd like to try this again to be sure I hadn't just bitten my tongue when I drank this or something.
• Left Hand's 400 Pound Monkey: the one American microbrew I was able to get hold of this time. A bright, pale, very fruity IPA, with a hint of tangerine in the first taste. After that it was more hoppy, bitter and ferrous on the swallow. I may look this out next time I'm over the water.
• Hepworth's Conqueror: we finished the night with this memorable pint. Holding it up to the light was like looking into the eyes of sheer darkness; sniffing the glass gave a whiff of fire smoke. The first taste was of a steely barley mash with a hint of rust, and swallowing gave a mouthful of sticky sweetness. Very impressive, but again not something you'd drink all night.

Great British Beer Festival 2010, tasting notes via Twitter (2)

Earl's Court: Saturday daytime session

• Kelburn Misty Law: nice dusty aroma like good Scottish 80/- . Sweet, bitter and very quaffable; http://tweetphoto.com/37394506
• Kingstone 1503 Tudor Ale: very raisiny dark ale. Hint of home-roasted malt. Authentic mediaeval flavour http://tweetphoto.com/37395609
• Goff's Jouster: amber, almost odorless, malty and fruity, smoky in the finish. http://tweetphoto.com/37396943
• Stewart's Edinburgh No 3: dark premium ale, slight aroma of slurry, but very smooth and delicate flavour. Unusually woody.
• O'Hanlon's Port Stout: rich, very clean, less raisin than you might expect, can't taste the port. http://tweetphoto.com/37400763
• Caledonian Mexican Bandit: very hoppy and fruity head, orange or lime. Much less flavour on the sip or the swallow, though.
• Belhaven 70/-: clear coppery coloured, apricot/caramel scented, startlingly fruity flavour with a bitter, metallic chlorophyll finish
• Sulwath Solway Mist: slightly cloudy, very sharp, hoppy aroma, sweet, earthy, almost sickly flavour, woodsap finish.
• 2nd opinion on Solway Mist: very fruity, with hints of elderflower, grapefruit, honey, lemon & ammonia. http://tweetphoto.com/37408654
• Barngates Red Bull Terrier: dark red, clean sweet smelling, charcoal flavour and very bitter finish http://tweetphoto.com/37414575
• Yates Sun Goddess: whiskey colored, fresh and sour aroma, delicate & sparkly tasting with hoppy finish http://tweetphoto.com/37419538
• Barlow Carnival Ale: deep golden colored, tart hoppy aroma, very clean IPA taste, with rough peppery finish
• Richmond Swale: looks and smells like an old brown ale; gently sour foretaste, very smoky finish. http://tweetphoto.com/37428199
• Bollington Oatmeal Stout: bacon and prune flavours, very little roast to it, green but promising stout
• ending the session with a Banks Mild: predictable, full-flavoured, rich and slightly sweet. Cheers!

Great British Beer Festival 2010, tasting notes via Twitter (1)

Earl’s Court: Wednesday Evening session

• Downton Chocolate Orange Delight. Surprisingly non-gimmicky and palatable. Smooth, sweet.
• Cairngorm Black Gold: slightly peaty, smoky, quite sweet, a hint of liquorice and the familiar Cairngorm grapefruit/elderberry mix
• Highland Orkney Blast: very hoppy, very bitter, almost lime in there, slightly sweet but some hints of camphor
• Brewsters Hop a Doodle Do, less hoppy than expected, a rounded beer http://tweetphoto.com/36824806
• Daleside Old Legover: yeasty, almost bready aroma, flavour is a nice mix of smoky, sweet malt and bitter.
• Glastonbury Lady of the Lake: strong, fruity nose, a little tart, hoppy and malty at the same time, light and throaty.
• Beowulf Strong Mild: lovely, rich dark aroma, but very strong, almost syrupy taste. Great old ale, but not a session beer...
• Nottingham Rock Ale Mild: gentle aroma, slightly disappointingly mild, a bit of peat, raisin and plum. "smells like a tube station"
• Salopian Shropshire Lass: fruity and hoppy, full-flavoured, a little bit lambic, a little tart. Pleasant, though.
• Abbeydale Doctor Morton's Milk of Amnesia: light and wheaty, but unexpectedly smoky. Belgian. Banana. Yeasty.