Notes from the 10th Worthing Beer Festival
Allgates -- Napoleons retreat. 3.8% From Wigan, one of the hits of the festival, easy drinking yet complex.
Beartown Pandemonium. Blackcurrant-flavoured, the most unusual beer in the festival. I felt that the fruit completely overwhelmed the beer, but it was popular enough with the punters.
Black Country -- Pig on the Wall. 4.3%. From a brewery linked with Sarah Hughes, this proved popular. People have no problem drinking mild in the right setting.
Bowland British White -- 4.5%. Most British wheat beers are tweaked for a Bitter drinker's palate. This is an uncomprimising variety, white and
cloudy with citric and butter notes. Described as German style, but I found it reminiscent of a belgian blanche, such as Dentergem's.
Breconshire Honddu Gold -- 4.8% Easy-drinker pronounced "honthee"
Castle Rock -- harvest pale 3.8% A favourite from rpevious festivals, stil good.
Cotswold Spring -- Codrington Royale 4.5%. Reddish autumnal ale, complex and well-balanced.
Dark Star -- Hophead 3.8%. A firm local favourite, even lager drinkers like it. Extra casks were orderd for the saturday.
Fallen Angel -- Naughty Nun Witbier 4.5%. Welcome cask outing from a new local (Sussex) brewery specialising in RIAB. Very nice, the added orange giving a cointreau-like flavour.
Hammerpot -- Martlet 3.5% A new brew from the the brewery most local to the festival. "A golden ale made with three hop varieties and a malty taste". With a musty aftertaste, it provoked rather mixed reactions.
Harveys - Old Ale 4.3%. A local (and seasonal favourite). One customer drank pint after pint, ignoring the other 45 ales. Sussex Old Ales are a somewhat weaker than the northern kind.
Moorcock -- Mescans Porter 4.3%. Roasty, toasty notes predominating.
Oakleaf -- Hole Hearted 4.7% This flavoursome britter form a local-ish (Portsmouth) brewery was the star performer in the cask--every drop as clear a a bell.
Oldershaw -- Grantham Stout 4.3%. Muscular stout with cffe notes.
Phoenix -- Monkeytown Mild. Very popukar despite the M-word.
Reepham -- Velvet Stout 4.2%. Very smooth, as the name suggests.
Spectrum -- Old Stoatwobbler 6.0%. This stout was the heavyweight of the festival, very nice.
Spire -- Sergeant Pepper Stout 5.5%. One of the more unusual brews,this was a peppered stout -- a very successful combination in my view, but it helps if you think beer and chilli were made for each other!