Pig's Ear festival in Hackney started yesterday, first night attendance reportedly up 20% on last year despite major traffic chaos in the area.
Strong emphasis on winter/strong beers with some encouragement to get a few brews done early.
Best beers sampled by me: Prospect (Wigan) Blinding Light; Phoenix (Haywood, Manchester) Monkeytown Mild; Box Steam (Colerne, Wilts) Derail Ale.
The Ocean is a great venue - far better than the one used for the London drinker.
E.
Preferred it myself when it was in Stratford Town Hall - Find the new venue a bit dark and gloomy. And there always seems to be a shortage of chairs, and I find these days I need to sit down after a bit!
Had four days there, an excellent selection of beers. Don't agree with the venue though, so dark and dingy. Much preferred it at the Stratford Town Hall.
I like the venue, I worked there last year too. It's a good festival to work, as it's quite challenging to persuade some people that dark beers might be to their taste, and just because we don't have only ordinary bitters they drink in the pub doesn't mean they shouldn't venture off the beaten track a little.
For me, O' Hanlons Port Stout (4.5%) and Wickwar Station Porter (6.1%) were the best we had on the bar.
After it closed, we had a fair amount left over, and we spent a few happy hours with nearly everyone heading back onto Crouch Vale Brewer's Gold...
That does it - I'll volunteer next year.
I didn't go when it was in Stratford but the Ocean I think is great because it's clean and modern, and the atmosphere is very sociable and it's easy to circulate and chat.
E.
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