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St Albans Beer Festival 2005 (CAMRA Beer Festival)
| Beer (sort) | Average Score (sort) | No. Samples (sort) |
|---|---|---|
| Tunnel - Tradewinds IPA |  | 1 |
| Station House - 1st Light |  | 1 |
| Mighty Oak - Maiden Over | | 1 |
| Nethergate (was Nethergate Growler for a while then name reverted) - Umbel Magna | | 1 |
| Evan Evans - Harvest Home | | 1 |
| Titanic - M G Y |  | 1 |
| Grand Union - One Hop Galena | | 1 |
| Cheriton (see now the entry for Flowerpots) - Best Bitter | | 1 |
| Mersea Island - Skippers | | 1 |
| Potton - John Cunningham Night Fighter | | 1 |
| Station House - 3 Score |  | 1 |
| Wickwar - Autumn Ale | | 1 |
| Peakstones (formerly Peakstones Rock) - Nemesis |  | 1 |
Visits Details
01 Oct 2005 (Ian)
Saturday session. Got there at opening time and met up with some friends from Ratebeer.com. Although some of the beers had already gone, there was still plenty left to try and the Reserve list beer started to come on too. Not overly full, but nice relaxed atmosphere. Foreign beer bar in the basement was very popular. Good beer festival and I will come back again next year.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tunnel - Tradewinds IPA | 4.60 | | Cloudy copper colour which lets it down on the appearance. Intense hop and IPA aroma. Bit more watery in the mouth than a US IIPA but has the same characteristics. This beer was virtually next to our table all day, but we only tried it towards the end. Now this is what I call an IPA |
| Mighty Oak - Maiden Over | 4.20 | | Very dark brown/ruby colour with beige head. Good stout with coffee/choc flavours throughout. Good body and nice lasting finish of espresso coffee. Very good stout. |
| Nethergate (was Nethergate Growler for a while then name reverted) - Umbel Magna | 5.00 | | Dark ruby colour with good spicey caramel and smooth in the mouth. Really quite like it, but not a lot of coriander, definite spicey edge with a bit of bacon? |
| Evan Evans - Harvest Home | 4.30 | | Russet colour. Bit cloudy with bubbly beige head. Good hop nose. Cascade hop flavour with some chocolate. Very good beer with hoppy/choc finish. Some orangey citrus |
| Station House - 1st Light | 3.80 | | Probably the hoppiest UK beer I had at the festival. Hazy gold colour. Rich, very extreme hop. Really bitter. I like this a lot. V hoppy finish. Wow! |
| Titanic - M G Y | 4.40 | | Orange copper colour, bubbly off white head, sherberty/grapefruit hop aroma, possible US hop influence. Good in mouth with hop/grapefruit finish. Yes, good 1st pint of the festival |
| Mersea Island - Skippers | 4.80 | | Red/ruby colour with lasting beige head. Good earthy hops, I quite like this. Bit of honey sweetness and good hop finish. Will look out for this brewery in the future |
| Potton - John Cunningham Night Fighter | 4.00 | | Dark ruby colour with lasting beige bubbly head. Nice choc malts and quite fresh. Very dry finish. |
| Grand Union - One Hop Galena | 4.50 | | I would love to do a horizontal tasting of all of these One Hop beers as I think that they are a great idea. This one had a golden orange colour with bubbly white head. Really good hop nose with good citrus and green hop flavour. SilkTork was banging on about the brewery, but I don’t care, these are cracking beers |
| Cheriton (see now the entry for Flowerpots) - Best Bitter | 4.20 | | Another cracker from this top brewery. Reddish brown colour with good malt/hop balance. Bit of choc and good hop flavours. Superb. Really nice flavours throughout and excellent dry hoppy finish. Gorgeous. |
| Station House - 3 Score | 4.50 | | Reddish brown, no head. Cider apple aroma, more sweetish in mouth with a bit of apple brandy and brown sugar and nice warmish finish. No great length, but this was ok |
| Wickwar - Autumn Ale | 4.60 | | Deep russet. Good autumnal fruit. Quite deep flavours. OK. Hops give is a goodish balance. Fruits are nice though |
| Peakstones (formerly Peakstones Rock) - Nemesis | 3.80 | | Hazy gold with little white head. Chemical bleach lemon nose. Better in mouth with some tart hops and some earthiness |
About the St Albans Beer Festival 2005
Summary of Beer Scores
| Total | |
|---|---|
| 1 |
| 4 |
| 5 |
| 2 |
| 1 |
The pub is found in St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3LD.
Annual beer festival held in the Alban Arena. Two large bars with 300 beers from the UK are supported by a cider/perry stand, a bottled conditioned stand and a foreign beer stand. The Main and Stage bars are located in the main hall with seating around the edge of the hall.
We have visited this pub once, seen 13 different beers and tried them all.
Postcode: AL1 3LD