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Pig's Ear Beer Festival 2008 (CAMRA Beer Festival)
| Beer (sort) | Average Score (sort) | No. Samples (sort) |
|---|---|---|
| Stumpy's - Drunken Dog |  | 1 |
| BrewDog - Coffee Stout |  | 1 |
| Bryson's Brews - Santa's Speedy Stout | | 1 |
| Marble - Porter | | 1 |
| Yates' (Isle of Wight) (some beers brewed at Goddards) - Yule Be Sorry | | 1 |
| Acorn - 6th Noel |  | 1 |
| Lakeland (formerly Stringers) - Genuine Stunning | | 1 |
| Lymestone - Foundation Stone | | 1 |
| Mallinsons - Medusa | | 1 |
| Ossett - Treacle Stout | | 1 |
| Three Castles - Knights Porter | | 1 |
| Wentworth - Oatmeal Stout | | 1 |
| Abbeydale - Smoked Porter |  | 1 |
| Crouch Vale - East West Ale | | 1 |
| Downton - Honey Porter | | 1 |
| Foxfield - Breakfast Mild | | 1 |
| Lakeland (formerly Stringers) - Golden Ale | | 1 |
| Little Earth Project (formerly Mill Green) - Mawkin Mild | | 1 |
| Adur - Velocity |  | 1 |
| Birmingham - Pale Ale | | 1 |
Visits Details
05 Dec 2008 (Blair)
It was very busy inside with people sprawled out against every spare bit of wall space, including the stairs at the entrance. We were all a bit gutted when we got here really. All the beers we were looking forward to trying had gone, only a limited number of beers were left. Generally at a beer festival I've found there is a reason that the beers left at the end are the last ones left. We just had a few then randomly decided to go to the Man of Kent in Rochester.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bryson's Brews - Santa's Speedy Stout | 5.00 | | Rich and chocolatey with a lot of dried fruit. Very good beer actually. |
| Wentworth - Oatmeal Stout | 4.80 | | Lots of coffee on this one, accompanied by some chocolate and roasted malt. Good stout. |
| Lakeland (formerly Stringers) - Genuine Stunning | 6.50 | | Strong, spicy ale. Easy to drink for it's strength. |
02 Dec 2008 (Ian)
OK, so it's not the best venue in the world, in fact it was freezing, but the guys on our table were good fun and the foreign stand was great. The Mikkeller Its Alight in bottle was my favourite beer of the day.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stumpy's - Drunken Dog | 7.60 | | Second place in South East barley wine category. Very dark ruby colour. Quite hoppy aroma. Really good. Hop and lovely choc. Doesnt drink its strength. Choc limes. Excellent juicy raisin. Surprisingly fantastic. |
| BrewDog - Coffee Stout | 9.00 | | Espresso coffee and hop aroma. For some unknown reason, a red chilli chinese meal springs to mind on the aroma. Big extreme beer, with ginger biscuit edges over dark choc and espresso smooth coffee, such a good beer. No alcohol heat evident. Really quite clean. The coffee is quite evident. Then the hop on the end is strong and spicy. Such a good beer. |
| Marble - Porter | 4.40 | | Black, ruby edges, thin tan head. Rather a lovely beer, good choc, good depth of flavour, excellent mouthfeel. Some spice on aroma. Bit oily, but good espresso coffee bitter choc. Really bitter. Good beer. Grainy |
| Yates' (Isle of Wight) (some beers brewed at Goddards) - Yule Be Sorry | 7.20 | | Winner of the South East barley wine category. Black/dark ruby colour. OK dark fruit aroma. Oh dear, very alcoholic, doesn’t hide its strength at all. Drank this side by side with the Stumpys Drunken Dog and the Stumpys wins easily. Some choc. Shares a lot of characteristics with the Stumpys except the drinkability. Not exactly a barley wine, more of an English strong ale. Still its quite good. Dried fruit flavours, some hop sting. |
| Acorn - 6th Noel | 5.30 | | Dark ruby colour with lasting beige head. Bit of farty yeast on aroma. Drinkable strong dark ale. Not quite as good as some of the previous years. Liquorice on aroma, not great condition. Bit restrained. Decent. |
| Mallinsons - Medusa | 4.30 | | Gold, bubbly off white head. Bit meaty, some yeast and hop on aroma. Citrusy bitter. Its a pretty decent bitter, good condition, good citrusy hops on the end. Nice drinkable bitter. White pepper hop and decent lime on finish |
| Three Castles - Knights Porter | 4.60 | | Black with a thin tan head. Some choc, bit of coffee. Its alright. Good depth of flavour, some grainyness. Its alright. Some decent choc. |
| Lymestone - Foundation Stone | 4.50 | | Gold colour with slight haze, no head. Slightly yeasty. Its ok, a bit run of the mill bitter. Decent flavours. Good lime citrus finish. |
| Ossett - Treacle Stout | 5.00 | | Black colour with no real head. OK thickish stout. Its quite tasty, good Ossett beer, nice oilyness. Good depth of flavour, nice grain |
| Crouch Vale - East West Ale | 4.30 | | Gold, thin off white head. American citrusy hop aroma. Yeah its ok. Typical Crouch Vale beer. Some pink grapefruit. Some dryness on finish. Fine. |
| Little Earth Project (formerly Mill Green) - Mawkin Mild | 2.90 | | Black, no real head. Roasted malt choc aroma. Bit watery in mouth. Quite bitter choc on finish. Fair amount of bitter dark choc flavour for a 2.9% beer. Lacks a little condition. But its ok. Some smoked charcoal |
| Downton - Honey Porter | 4.40 | | Very dark ruby colour, lasting off white head. Good condition. Little bit of honey. Decent beer, not too choccy, not too honeyish, but a little sweetness |
| Foxfield - Breakfast Mild | 3.40 | | Dark ruby colour. Inoffensive mild. Nicely drinkable beer, a little grainy. OK mild, little bit light on the roast and flavours. OK dark mild. |
| Lakeland (formerly Stringers) - Golden Ale | 3.70 | | Pale gold, thin lasting white head. Yeasty bready floral hop aroma. A floral hop blond beer, bit odd as most go for a citrusy hit on this style. This is different and quite interesting because of that. Bit yeasty. Fine. |
| Abbeydale - Smoked Porter | 4.40 | | Deep ruby colour. Yeah its got some smoked notes. Its ok, nothing too exciting. No real condition, some smokey choc. |
| Birmingham - Pale Ale | 4.00 | | Gold thin white head. Yeasty a little green appley. Just not very good really. Ugh. Just a bit ugly |
| Adur - Velocity | 4.20 | | Attractive chestnut colour with thin bubbly beige head. Some diacetyl, some butter, some nuttiness. Just pretty awful. Ugh. |
About the Pig's Ear Beer Festival 2008
Summary of Beer Scores
| Total | |
|---|---|
| 1 |
| 4 |
| 7 |
| 6 |
| 2 |
The pub is found in Hackney, Greater London, E8 1HE.
Held for the third year running at The Ocean venue, Mare Street, opposite Hackney Town Hall. The emphasis seemed to be on stouts and strong ales. Good selection of food stalls, plus a cider section and a foreign beers section. Very little seating.
We have visited this pub twice, seen 20 different beers and tried them all.
Postcode: E8 1HE