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Reading Beer Festival 2007 (CAMRA Beer Festival)
| Beer (sort) | Average Score (sort) | No. Samples (sort) |
|---|---|---|
| Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Kipling |  | 1 |
| Bowman - Quiver Bitter |  | 1 |
| Crouch Vale - Brewers Gold | | 1 |
| Oakham - Bishops Farewell | | 1 |
| Rooster's - Outlaw Amarillo | | 1 |
| Surrey Hills - Gilt Complex | | 1 |
| Van Eecke - Poperings Hommelbier | | 1 |
| York (now brewed by and at Black Sheep) - SPA | | 1 |
| Bowman - Swift One |  | 1 |
| Dark Star - Old Ale (aka Old Chestnut) | | 1 |
| Rooster's - Outlaw Mayflower | | 1 |
| Saltaire - Cascade Pale Ale | | 1 |
| Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Wild Swan (was 3.5%) | | 1 |
| Three Castles - Mad Spring Mild | | 1 |
| Beeston - On The Huh |  | 1 |
| Crondall - Best Bitter | | 1 |
| Triple fff - Rock Lobster (has previously been 4% & 4.5%) | | 1 |
| Zerodegrees London - Downtown (was Pale Ale) | | 1 |
Visits Details
05 May 2007 (Ian)
Sat in the main marquee. A lot of the beers had gone on the Friday. It was also incredibly dusty in the marquee. Everything was covered in a film of dust as the ground was so dry, it got kicked up. Beer wasn't as good as on Friday and I spent a fair amount of time at the foreign beer stand.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Van Eecke - Poperings Hommelbier | 7.10 | | On draught, but superb as always. |
| Oakham - Bishops Farewell | 4.60 | | Stunningly brilliant, citrus and everything else you need. |
| Crouch Vale - Brewers Gold | 4.00 | | Difficult to decide which was best, this or the Oakham Bishops Farewell. |
| Bowman - Quiver Bitter | 4.50 | | Copper, clear, lasting white head. Really good, aromatic, floral, elderflower aroma. Very good. Absolutely gorgeous in fact, and the best British beer of the Saturday at Reading for me. |
| Bowman - Swift One | 3.80 | | Gold with lasting white head. Fragrant hop aroma. Litlle bit soft may, but sherberty hop is tasty. I liked it, very sessionalbe, I like the hop, some US hop maybe. Very drinkable and the barrel had just come on. Good to see Bowman coming out of the ashes of the Cheriton brewery which was always fantastic. The Quiver though is better. |
| Zerodegrees London - Downtown (was Pale Ale) | 4.60 | | Had this at Reading BF from the Reading brew pub on cask. Not as good as before, bit flabby and bland. |
| Beeston - On The Huh | 5.00 | | Deep chestnut, lasting bubbly beige. Bit syrupy, good red berry fruit. Not a bad ESB. Decent hop on end. |
| Crondall - Best Bitter | 4.00 | | Copper, bit of a haze, lasting bubbly off white head. Farty yeast aroma, alright bitter. Enough hopo on end to be slightly bitter, but an undemanding bitter. |
04 May 2007 (Ian)
I got here around 12.30 and sat in the second tent (non smoking) with beers R-Z and Chris and Duff from Ratebeer. The great thing was for Gazza Prescott of Scoopergen.co.uk to come round and sit with us for a while and discuss beers. He really is very knowledgeable and good fun to be with. We also met Mick the Tick and Brian Moore the drinker of 32,000 UK beers.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Kipling | 5.20 | | Beer of the festival for me. Gold colour with lasting white head. Lovely, lovely aroma, fruits are limes, grapefruit, kiwi fruit, gooseberry, like a New World Sauvignon Blanc. Stunning in mouth. Awesome. The amount of fruity hop, great condtion, fresh, not flabby or astringent. Just fantastic flavour. |
| Surrey Hills - Gilt Complex | 4.60 | | Gold colour with lasting white head. Nice English light hop aroma. It’s a decent citrusy bitter. Lovely, great grapefruit, grassy, very good condition. Good zing, zesty, lovely and another good Surrey Hills beer. |
| York (now brewed by and at Black Sheep) - SPA | 5.50 | | First beer of the Reading BF on Thursday. Gold colour with bubbly white head. Good grapefruity hoppy astringent aroma. Very pleasant, great sharp grapefruit. Really very good. Quite dry. Very good condition. |
| Rooster's - Outlaw Amarillo | 3.90 | | You see this is the beauty of cask conditioned beer. On the Friday Chris_O and myself were recommending this beer to all and sundry when the Thornbridge Hall beers had run out. Gold colour with lasting white head. Resiny flowery aromatic Amarillo hop. Grapefruit, juicy in mouth. Very drinkable. Very dry on end. Good malt structure and the hop is excellent. |
| Rooster's - Outlaw Mayflower | 3.70 | | Pale copper/gold with bubbly off white head. Very hoppy aroma, dry spice. Very citrusy. Very very dry (or was that the dust?) Bit floral, but v. drinkable. |
| Thornbridge / Thornbridge Hall - Wild Swan (was 3.5%) | 3.40 | | Unbelievably pale gold, almost like a cider. Lasting bubbly white head. Really astringent aroma. Very very dry. Pretty good, but lacks a bit of back bone, but very very grassy. |
| Dark Star - Old Ale (aka Old Chestnut) | 4.00 | | Deep ruby colour with lasting beige head. Choccy aroma. Not overly sour, bit grainy, quite dry, lovely flavour, some charcoal towards end. Not really an old ale, more a strong mild. Nice though. Little bit of smoked ham aroma pointed out by Duff, but I didn’t get any sourness on finish. |
| Three Castles - Mad Spring Mild | 4.70 | | Very dark brown with thin dark beige head. Really good mild, lovely choc/coffee, superb, excellent mild. Got everything as well as good condition. |
| Saltaire - Cascade Pale Ale | 4.80 | | Gold with thin white head. Faint cascade aroma. Actually rather nice. Decent bitter, some citrus. |
| Triple fff - Rock Lobster (has previously been 4% & 4.5%) | 5.00 | | Deep chestnut with lasting off white head. Very malty, maybe not fully brewed out. Some malty fruit in mouth. Some sultana/raisin, bit juicy, bit dry. Fine. |
About the Reading Beer Festival 2007
Summary of Beer Scores
| Total | |
|---|---|
| 1 |
| 7 |
| 6 |
| 4 |
 | - |
The pub is found in Reading, Berkshire, RG1 8BN.
Probably the best beer festival in the country. Over 400 UK beers, over 100 ciders and perries, and a quality foreign beer stand too. Not only that but it is held only 10 minutes from the town centre in 2 large marquees with plenty of seating inside and outside. Beer condition is normally pretty good. Well organised and well run.
We have visited this pub twice, seen 18 different beers and tried them all.
Postcode: RG1 8BN