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Kent Beer Festival 2007 (CAMRA Beer Festival)
| Beer (sort) | Average Score (sort) | No. Samples (sort) |
|---|---|---|
| Dark Star - Hophead was 3.8% (some has also been brewed by Fuller's) |  | 1 |
| Cairngorm - Trade Winds |  | 2 |
| Shepherd Neame - Old Faversham Dark | | 2 |
| Ramsgate Brewery (Gadds') - No. 7 | | 1 |
| Westerham - Summer Perle | | 1 |
| RCH - PG Steam |  | 1 |
| Lincolnshire Craft (formerly Tom Wood's) - Best Bitter | | 2 |
| Acorn - Barnsley Gold | | 2 |
| Goacher's - Real Mild Ale | | 2 |
| Batemans - Dark Mild | | 2 |
| Inveralmond - Ossian's Ale | | 1 |
| Ramsgate Brewery (Gadds') - Sandboy | | 1 |
| Beartown (latterly part of Manning Brewers) - Pandamonium | | 2 |
| Itchen Valley - Godfathers | | 1 |
| Purity - Pure UBU | | 1 |
| Phoenix - White Monk | | 1 |
| Kelburn - Goldihops | | 1 |
| Rother Valley - Copper Ale | | 1 |
| Goacher's - Special House Ale |  | 1 |
| St Austell - Proper Job | | 1 |
| Nelson - Friggin in the Riggin | | 1 |
| Nelson - Master Mate Mild | | 1 |
| Harviestoun - Bitter & Twisted | | 1 |
| Hambleton - Bitter | | 1 |
| Nelson - Loose Cannon | | 1 |
| Hexhamshire - Strong (aka Whapweasel) | | 2 |
| Butts - Barbus Barbus | | 1 |
| York (now brewed by and at Black Sheep) - Stonewall | | 1 |
| Moorhouse's - Black Cat Mild | | 1 |
| Butts - Organic Jester | | 1 |
| Ballards (now a sub-brand of Greyhound) - Nyewood Gold | | 1 |
| Grainstore - BBB (Bunny Brown's Bitter) | | 1 |
| Nelson - Pieces of Eight | | 1 |
| Eastwood & Sanders - Lockkeeper | | 1 |
| Whitstable - Supreme Blonde | | 1 |
| RCH - Hewish IPA | | 1 |
| De Molen - Engel | | 1 |
| Larkins - Traditional |  | 1 |
| Whitstable - East India Pale Ale (or EIPA) | | 1 |
| Dartford Wobbler (re-named from Millis) - Strawberry Fayre |  | 1 |
Visits Details
21 Jul 2007 (Ian)
The Saturday session. A lot of the beers had gone on the Friday night, but there was still plenty of beer left for the day. Enjoyable day with more families and a very relaxed feel. The ex Mogul Dover group were sat at the next table.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| RCH - PG Steam | 3.90 | | Copper, lasting bubbly beige head. Actually a great session bitter, good malt/hop combo, hop on end was very good. Balanced and drinkable. I liked it. |
| Ramsgate Brewery (Gadds') - Sandboy | 3.80 | | Gold, bit of haze, lasting white. Sort of light and drinkable. Decent Goldings finish. Nothing big or strong, but pleasant easy drinking beer. |
| Purity - Pure UBU | 4.50 | | Chestnut, thin off white head. Rather a harsh hop aroma. Really rather nice and different from the run of the mill best bitters. Bit of tea. Very herby hop. Good condition. |
| Butts - Barbus Barbus | 4.60 | | Gold, bubbly white head. Bit yeasty on aroma. Some citrus hops. It's a fairly standard citrusy bitter. Fine, if not outstanding. |
| Butts - Organic Jester | 3.50 | | Gold, lasting white head. Moderate citrus hop. OK so it's 3.5%, so not expecting huge flavour. Very dry and hoppy on finish. Hops in fact are stronger than you would expect. Interesting. |
| Grainstore - BBB (Bunny Brown's Bitter) | 4.20 | | Badged as Triple B. Copper with thin off white head. Fairly standard best bitter. Has some nice malty fruit. Drinks ok. Bit acidic maybe, bit sharp. |
| RCH - Hewish IPA | 3.60 | | Pale chestnut, really nice colour with thin white head. It's fine. It does what it says, a drinkable session bitter. Decent hop. |
| Nelson - Loose Cannon | 4.30 | | Chestnut, thin beige head. Lacking a bit of condition. Some decent malts, nice hop on end. Would be better in top form as malts are great. Could be good, but dullish on this form |
| Hexhamshire - Strong (aka Whapweasel) | 4.80 | | Gold, thin white head. Very fruity aroma. Tapioca and semolina flavour in mouth. Not to my taste. |
21 Jul 2007 (Andrew)
Best of the 3 sessions I went to. Here with Ian, Martin, Adrian and Paul and Simone.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cairngorm - Trade Winds | 4.30 | | Turkish delight and mandarine. Rich. |
| Beartown (latterly part of Manning Brewers) - Pandamonium | 4.50 | | Sour blackcurrant. Down as a stout but it must be an Old surely. Lots of blackcurrant. Smooth rich oily blackcurrent finish |
| Goacher's - Real Mild Ale | 3.40 | | Better condition than on Thursday night. Fresh and creamy with coffee on the finish |
| Kelburn - Goldihops | 3.80 | | Big drying hop bite with raspberry underneath |
| Lincolnshire Craft (formerly Tom Wood's) - Best Bitter | 3.50 | | Good condition on this best bitter. Some woody hops and earthyness. |
| Acorn - Barnsley Gold | 4.30 | | Mid brown bitter. Very base bitter flavour, overpoweringly so. Not a lot else going on |
| De Molen - Engel | 4.50 | | Smells fruity. Big burnt perspex flavour with some red fruit hiding underneath. Big burnt perspex finish |
| Larkins - Traditional | 3.40 | | It was drinkable but I've had this loads of time and this outing tasted nothing like the real thing |
20 Jul 2007 (Ian)
Day 2. Andrew and myself walked up and got there around opening. All the beers were still available. I seem to remember getting quite drunk and staggering out with the last half pint of Dark Star Hophead. Anyway, I still made my train home.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batemans - Dark Mild | 3.00 | | Black/dark brown with virtually no head. Yeasty aroma. Decent mild, decent choc, very nice mild. |
| Inveralmond - Ossian's Ale | 4.10 | | Gold, off white bubbly head. Rather attractive aroma. Very drinkable, excellent fruit. Good range of citrus fruits. Good condition. I liked it. Slightly flinty, but different from your usual bitter. |
| Rother Valley - Copper Ale | 4.10 | | Red to deep russet, bubbly off white head. Decent choccy, red/black fruity malts. Very good beer, lovely deep malts. I'm impressed. Very drinkable. |
| Hambleton - Bitter | 3.60 | | Gold, bubbly white head. Citrusy bitter. OK, bit of yeast, some apple and lemon. OK, bit empty up front. Decent raspberry fruit finish. Fine. |
| Ballards (now a sub-brand of Greyhound) - Nyewood Gold | 5.00 | | Gold, disappearing off white head. Some hop and golden syrup on aroma, fine in mouth, good tingly carbonation. It does have a fairly hard hop finish. |
| Lincolnshire Craft (formerly Tom Wood's) - Best Bitter | 3.50 | | Amber/orange with no head. Decent hop/malt aroma. Suppable session bitter, decent citrus fruits. Finish tingles the tongue. Nice. |
| Nelson - Master Mate Mild | 3.70 | | Black, very dark brown, disappearing tan head. Slightly raisiny dry fruity aroma. Little bit thin in mouth. V. decent hop on finish. Some choc. Decent malts. Fine, if a tad acidic. |
| Dartford Wobbler (re-named from Millis) - Strawberry Fayre | 4.10 | | It's terrible in my opinion. Gold, no head. Smells of yeast and strawberry. It does have strawberry and a minty finish as the description said, but really not in a good way. Vile. |
20 Jul 2007 (Andrew)
Here with Ian, Brian, Pete and Martin. A good session but after last night I wasn't really up for hammering the beers so I was drinking at about a pint every 2 hours - a new slowness record for me.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batemans - Dark Mild | 3.00 | | Caramely. Sweet with mildly bitter finish |
| Itchen Valley - Godfathers | 3.80 | | Hazy copper brown. Red fruit flavours and a soft mouth feel. Deep bitter finish. It grew on me |
| Goacher's - Special House Ale | 3.80 | | Okay this wasn't actually on the beer list but Brain had a half of Dark and I had a half of Light and both were a bit harsh so we mixed them as 1/3 Dark, 2/3 Light and made Special! Didn't help the taste much but it was fun to do. |
| Harviestoun - Bitter & Twisted | 3.80 | | No real condition. Smelt and tasted of sweet mandarine |
| Nelson - Pieces of Eight | 3.80 | | Brown beer. Reedy bitter bite and earthy |
19 Jul 2007 (Ian)
Funnily enough, I think I enjoyed this year's festival more than any other. I seem to have accepted that it is in a cow shed. The organisers had bought 2-3 barrels of each beer, so there was always something on the go. Plus they used proper cooling jackets to keep the beer in good condition. Thursday night had a great Blondie tribute band. The beer line up was good if unspectacular.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Star - Hophead was 3.8% (some has also been brewed by Fuller's) | 3.40 | | I can't improve this beer in any way. Beer of the festival for me. |
| Cairngorm - Trade Winds | 4.30 | | Great aroma, Great in mouth. It is a seriously good beer. Great flavours and condition, but there is something that just doesn't click with my taste buds. I can see it's great, but hey, just doesn't wow me. |
| Acorn - Barnsley Gold | 4.30 | | Gold/copper with lasting white head. I rather like this, nice malt/hop balance, decent hop on end. Really enormously drinkable. |
| Phoenix - White Monk | 4.50 | | Citrusy wheat beer. Good, fine. Not as good as White Dwarf, but with a decent citrus finish. |
| Shepherd Neame - Old Faversham Dark | 3.50 | | The company have bought a micro brew kit which they have set up in the brewery to do test beers. This is a go at a cask mild. Black /ruby colour with lasting deep beige head. Slightly yeasty, dark mild aroma, choccy. Actually it’s really good, I hate to admit it of Sheps, but it is a very drinkable, nice, balanced dark mild. |
| Beartown (latterly part of Manning Brewers) - Pandamonium | 4.50 | | Very deep ruby colour, with disappearing tan head. Sour, sour vinegar/old ale aroma. Surprisingly good in mouth and the choc rescues it, then lovely espresso coffee on finish. Terrible aroma, but rest is good. Funnily enough someone else had it 2 days later and it was a lot better. |
| Whitstable - Supreme Blonde | 4.30 | | Gold with lasting off white head. Some citrus on aroma, good condition, reasonable hop on end. After drinking Dark Star Hophead though, this was a tad bland. |
| St Austell - Proper Job | 4.50 | | Gold with lasting beige head. American lemon/grapefruit hop aroma. Good sherberty grapefruit on finish. Lacks a little in the mouth. Little bit lemon washing up liquid flavour. I must admit, I prefered the bottled version. |
| Whitstable - East India Pale Ale (or EIPA) | 4.10 | | I didn't even write notes for this. I remember it not tasting of anything much and certainly the strong hop influence wasn't there. |
19 Jul 2007 (Andrew)
Here with Jane and Ian. Fairly busy with a good rock band followed by a Blondie Tribute act. The beers were in excellent condition and, for the first time, all had cooler jackets on. I got to talk to the brewers of the Shepheard Naeme Mild who said it was going to be distributed in the Faversham pubs.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ramsgate Brewery (Gadds') - No. 7 | 3.80 | | Pale amber with a good frothy white head. Bread doe smell and flavours with a sweet mild bitter finish. Prince of session beers |
| Westerham - Summer Perle | 3.80 | | Sharp with hints of lemongrass. Got a free half from CAMRA because I posed with it in one of their publicity photos! |
| Shepherd Neame - Old Faversham Dark | 3.50 | | Smells of sweet chocolate. Sharp sweet chocolate bite. A classic mild |
| Goacher's - Real Mild Ale | 3.40 | | An odd one. Bit of fish and a bit of smoakyness. Not really like Goachers' mild at all. |
| Moorhouse's - Black Cat Mild | 3.40 | | Smooth with a coffee bitter finish |
| Nelson - Friggin in the Riggin | 4.70 | | Dark plum brown colour. Rich and smooth with a cardboard tart red fruit flavour |
| Hexhamshire - Strong (aka Whapweasel) | 4.80 | | Sandy brown. Rips the back of your tonge off with a burnt flavourless sugar flavour. |
| York (now brewed by and at Black Sheep) - Stonewall | 3.80 | | Pale brown. Bit yeasty. Perl like hops. Bit too sharp and unsubtle |
| Eastwood & Sanders - Lockkeeper | 3.90 | | Bitter but with a burnt edge to it. Pale brown and not that great |
About the Kent Beer Festival 2007
Summary of Beer Scores
| Total | |
|---|---|
| 1 |
| 6 |
| 15 |
| 22 |
| 3 |
The pub is found in Canterbury, Kent, CT4 7BA.
The annual Kent Beer Festival. Apart from a great list of beers look out for the gents toilet consisting of a large metal container with a gutter welded down one of the inside walls - great!
We have visited this pub 6 times, seen 40 different beers and tried them all.
Postcode: CT4 7BA