Another West Yorkshire Pubfest (long)

Jul 23, 2008 47 Replies

The Navigation Inn, Mirfield (by the canal basin, and 2 minutes' walk from Mirfield Railway station) is holding its first ever beer festival from tomorrow, 24th July to Sunday 27th July.



It's not really a tickers' festival, but there are some good beers on the list nevertheless.



Here's the list: The Navigation Beer Festival



Wyre Piddle In The Pub ABV 4.1% A very well-balanced, golden bitter, hoppy to the nose and malty on the palate. A perfect session bitter, very drinkable.



Skinner's Ginger Tosser ABV 3.8% Originally created to aid the celebration of Pancake Day, now a permanent fixture among the Skinner's stable. Made with only the finest Cornish Honey.



Mordue Five Bridge Bitter ABV 3.8% A fruity amber beer with more than a hint of hops. The bitterness carries on in the aftertaste. A superb session bitter.



Woodforde's Nelson's Revenge ABV 4.5% A full-bodied pale amber beer, the rich and floral aromas initially excite the tastebuds. The following burst of combined flavours from the citrus hops and the blend of Norfolk malt confirms that this is indeed a delicious beer.



Stonehenge Pigswill ABV 4.0% This is a full-bodied beer rich in hop aroma which gives the beer a delightful taste. The warm amber colour is very appealing.



Shepherd Neame Whitstable Bay ABV 4.1% A pale golden ale with a distinctive fresh hoppy, orange-citrus nose with hints of vanilla. Ideal summer drinking.



Batemans Jester's I.P.A ABV 3.5% A light full-bodied bitter, mid-brown in colour. Well-hopped and easily quaffed.



York Guzzler ABV 3.6% A well-balanced, light beer with Pale malt character. Crisp and refreshing.



Cains Sundowner ABV 4.1% A refreshing, golden, premium ale for summer, to which an unusual citrus twist of lemon has been added.



Wooden Hand Pirate's Gold ABV 4.0% Tempting hop aroma with light fruit notes. Strong malt and hop flavours with a dry tangy fruit finish.



Exmoor Gold ABV 4.5% Pale gold in colour with a malty aroma and flavour.



Thwaites Lancaster Bomber ABV 4.4% A very easy drinking beer with an inviting malty aroma, this rich amber beer is brewed using Pale and Crystal malt to achieve this full-bodied flavour.



Nethergate Vixen ABV 3.9% Deliciously delicate in flavour, this ruby-red ale has four malts including Vienna with the addition of Hallertau hops.



Greene King Morland Original ABV 4.0% A refreshing ale with a distinctive and intense bitterness. The subtle fruitiness on the nose follows through to the palette along with a light touch of malt.



John Smith's Cask Best Bitter ABV 3.8% A copper-coloured beer, well-balanced with a short hoppy finish.



John Smith's Final Furlong ABV 4.1% Tasting notes unavailable at time of compilation.



Theakston Old Peculier ABV 5.7% A dark, strong beer. Justifiably famous for its rich and complete character, it's sheer strength



-and for being a beer with a long history.



Theakston Black Bull Bitter ABV 3.9% Crisp and refreshing; Goldings hops result in a citrus flavour (in both taste and smell), allied with a satisfyingly dry taste throughout.



Theakston XB ABV 4.6% A premium strength beer with a rich, fruity taste to match. Ruby-coloured, the extra strength in XB brings out its complex aroma to perfection.



Theakston Best Bitter ABV 3.8% Golden in colour with a smooth, mellow taste. Brewed and (dry hopped) using Fuggles hops.



Caledonian Deuchars IPA ABV 3.8% Deuchars modern appeal comes from its lilting citrus flavour, floral hop character and juicy malt.



The Theakstons beers, and John Smiths Cask, are the pub's normal offering.



All beers are £2.30 / pint.



Mirfield station is served by Northern Rail from Leeds, Huddersfield, Wakefield and Hebden Bridge [1]



The Hebden Bridge service doesn't operate evenings and Sundays.



The Wakefield service doesn't operate Sundays.



The remaining train service is only two-hourly on Sundays.



(Everybody in West Yorkshire stays at home on Sundays, of course).


Sorry, forgot to mention: there'll be a Theakstons cooper giving demonstrations on, I believe, Saturday afternoon. This is a bit special - very few breweries employ coopers these days - and worth making the trip for.

Visited tonight (Thursday) - excellent setup, all casks in the cellar with cooled lines to the handpulls so quality very good, all £2.30 / pint.

Cheers!

Might call on our Day Ranger tickets tomorrow.

Given up on Hawkshead as most trains are buses between Oxenholme and Lancaster so it's more biother than its worth.

Yes the same price for everything is the easy option, but I'd prefer the price to reflect the ABV.

Two reasons.. It is fairer - put another way, why should a barley wine drinker subsidise a mild drinker? It helps promote lower ABV beers such as milds

I'm not sure you can categorise drinkers in such a simplistic way. Many people drink barley wine, mild, porter, bitter, lager, in a variety of combinations. In fact surely that's the point of a beer festival - to sample the variety on offer.

Most beer festivals (certainly the many I have visited) attract 'sensible' people - ie not those who go straight for the higher gravity beers with the intention of getting as drunk as possible in the shortest possible time for the least possible money. Most people will sample what they want, irrespective of price and strength.

How much more civilised it is, given that you're catering for a civilised audience, to average out prices, rather than have a +5p,

+10p, -5p, -10p or whatever, ticketing system. One ticket equals one half pint. Easy for the bar staff, easy for the customers, and a reflection of the confidence that the organisers have in those visiting the festival.

Ok the dyed-in-the-wool barley wine drinkers might lose out to the tune of a few pence a pint - ten pints might see them lose out by as much as a pound or two - but if they're really that bothered, perhaps it might inspire them to try a lower gravity beer or two. Their livers might thank them for it, and who knows, they might actually like it.

And the same is true of milds. Are people at a festival really going to switch to milds because of the minus 5p or 10p difference between them and the standard beer.

Yes, standard pricing is the easy option, but it is also the sensible option, given the sort of people who frequent beer festivals.

Thinking about it, with a one-price system surely it's the other way round - the mild drinkers are subsidising the barley winers. That somewhat alters the slant of my paragraph 4 above!

All the above is fine if you are prepared to accept that: Every one attending your festival is a sensible person You are prepared to accept the negative connotations (eg health) of serving all drinks at the same price You are not interesting in promoting lower ABV (including milds) drinks.

I think a lot of this comes down to the range of ABVs on sale. If you are offering a limited range (eg 3.8-5%) then your rather unusual pricing strategy will cause less resentment than if you are selling a wider range (ed 3.2-7%+).

Most importantly you've given no reason as to why a festival should serve all beers at the same cost.

Not rocket science. If you average beer prices at, say £2, then a mild drinker, who might expect to pay £1.90 is subsidising a barley wine drinker, who might expect to pay £2.10.

Sorry no I havent. Well it makes things easier for all concerned, particularly the bar staff. If you've ever served at a busy beerfest you'll know exactly what I mean.

Easier signage, easier ticketing, easier accounting, in fact the more one thinks about it, the more one wonders why anyone ever does anything other than having a single price.

I know of no beer festival, ever, that has put single pricing in place and regretted it.

The reason for my original comment was that if you charge the same for an ABV 3.5 mild as you do for an ABV 8.5 barley wine, you are not doing any favours for the lower gravity beer, and implicitly encouraging people to go for as much alcohol per £ as they can get.

I also increasingly see this in pubs. Easier for them no doubt, but unfair on the punters who either prefer low gravity beers, or are driving and don't want something strong.

So no benefit for the customer then?

I am not aware of more than one or two festivals (other than those selling <

10 beers of a similar ABV) that adopt your model. That should tell you something - it is bad for the customer, it is bad for health promotion reasons and it is bad for campaigning.

we have always done it and it works well

Yes but for the organiser not the customer!

Funny how the customers always come back year after year!

Well I don't know how *you* can say that!

We know our customers pretty well and this is an area where people talk to each other. I have never heard anyone - or of anyone - complain about unfair pricing. It's a small festival and we mix a lot and talk to everyone. There has never been any comment - everyone just accepts it.

Also, I have never been aware of anyone going out to drink the stronger stuff because of the pricing. In fact, it's the lighter stuff that gets finished first, eg Yates Fever Pitch, 3.9%, always sells out first night, and the heavy that gets left.

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