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Planet Thanet Easter Beer Festival 2008 (CAMRA Beer Festival)
| Beer (sort) | Average Score (sort) | No. Samples (sort) |
|---|---|---|
| Dark Star - Six Hop |  | 1 |
| De Molen - Pek & Veren | | 1 |
| RCH - East St Cream (was East Street Cream) |  | 1 |
| Nelson - Pursers Pussy Porter | | 1 |
| York (now brewed by and at Black Sheep) - Centurion's Ghost Ale | | 1 |
| Sarah Hughes - Dark Ruby | | 1 |
| Wooden Hand - Black Pearl | | 1 |
| Berrow - Silver Berrow | | 1 |
| King Beer (formerly W.J. King) - Mother-in-law |  | 2 |
| Ballards (now a sub-brand of Greyhound) - Best Bitter | | 1 |
| Stonehenge - Sign of Spring | | 1 |
| Salopian - Razzmatazz | | 1 |
| Dartford Wobbler (re-named from Millis) - Old Kentish Ale | | 1 |
| Whitstable - Pearl of Kent | | 1 |
| Frog Island - Natterjack (aka Pale) | | 1 |
| De Molen - Donder & Bliksem | | 2 |
| Ramsgate Brewery (Gadds') - East Kent Pale Ale | | 1 |
| Larkins - Ian | | 1 |
| Robinsons - Old Tom | | 1 |
| Abbeydale - Brimstone |  | 1 |
| White Horse - Village Idiot | | 1 |
| Salamander - Mud Puppy | | 2 |
| Goacher's - Crown Imperial Stout | | 1 |
| Titanic - New World | | 1 |
| Broughton - Exciseman's 80- | | 1 |
| Weltons - Chocolate Rabbit | | 1 |
| Inveralmond - XXX | | 1 |
| Ventnor - Pistol Night | | 1 |
| Oakham - Haka | | 1 |
| Mordue - Pony Tail | | 1 |
| Downton - Mad Hare | | 1 |
| Arran (formerly Isle of Arran) - Ale (aka Light) |  | 1 |
| Leeds - Leeds Best | | 1 |
| Houston - Tartan Terror | | 1 |
| Cains - Dark Mild | | 1 |
| Frome (formerly Milk Street) - ! Beer | | 1 |
| Tower - First Swallow |  | 1 |
Visits Details
22 Mar 2008 (Ian)
Day 2 of the festival, some of the beers had gone. By the time I left about 1/3 of the beers were still on, so just the right beer ordering after a year of not enough and one of too much. Pub quiz in the afternoon was quite entertaining. Here with some of the Ratebeer.com crew.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berrow - Silver Berrow | 4.70 | | Gold, lasting white head. Very very drinkable golden beer. Excellent fruit. Nice hop. Really drinkable. |
| Ballards (now a sub-brand of Greyhound) - Best Bitter | 4.10 | | Amber colour with disappearing bubbly head. Standard best bitter aroma, some toffee, candy sugar and earthy hop. Standard, but tasty, good bitterness on finish. Good balance, decent condition, very drinkable best bitter. Also featured on The Market Kitchen on UK TV. |
| Salopian - Razzmatazz | 4.00 | | Gold, thin white head. Some yeast, some hop, some fruit. Decent golden bitter, with some earthyness on finish. Decent golden bitter with rather good tropical fruits. |
| Ventnor - Pistol Night | 4.40 | | Gold with thin bubbly head. I wasn’t expecting much as not a fan of this brewery’s past beers. But this has decent flowery hop and peach/apricot fruit. OK bitter with decent fruit. |
| Salamander - Mud Puppy | 4.20 | | Copper colour, clear with disappearing head. Quite a nice bitter. Decent earthyness. Good balance. Good fruit. Nice. Not wonderful, but decent bitter. |
| White Horse - Village Idiot | 4.10 | | Surprisingly, I’ve not had this before. Pale gold, slight haze. Thin off whtie head. Gooseberry citrus aroma. Pretty decent gold bitter. Nice bitterness on finish. Good condition, maybe a little young, not quite ready. OK golden bitter |
| Mordue - Pony Tail | 4.00 | | Hazy gold with thin head. Acidic aroma, bit cidery, acidic citrus, bit of plastic. It’s a golden ale. Pineapple. Earthy finish. OK, but not great. Lots of grapefruit/passionfruit. |
| Frome (formerly Milk Street) - ! Beer | 5.00 | | Gold with thin bubbly head. Bit of rubber on aroma. It’s alright, some hop, but too much rubber for me. Rest is ok, but unsurprising. |
| Houston - Tartan Terror | 4.80 | | Very deep ruby with lasting dark beige head. Better in mouth than aroma. Roasted, toasty, good milk choc. Aroma is not all that, bit of cheese. Still not overly good. |
| Tower - First Swallow | 4.50 | | Hazy copper with lasting beige head. Diacetyl. I really don’t like this and had to pour it away. Shame as most Tower beers I've had have been good. |
21 Mar 2008 (Ian)
Same venue as last year, i.e. the Winter Gardens at Margate. Excellent venue, plenty of tables and seating, nice view out to sea. Here with Martin and a couple of old lags I met at the London Drinker the week before. Beer ordering was about right, with some beers just going off as the day drew to an end, but still plenty for the following day.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Star - Six Hop | 6.50 | | First beer of the festival and one of about 5 that I was genuinely excited about. Gold with lasting beige head. Big PNW grapefruity aroma. Fruity grapefruit in mouth, malts are a bit syrupy, rather than biscuity. Hops on finish are really crunchingly green and attack the mouth. Great English beer for a hophead like me. Lovely. |
| Ramsgate Brewery (Gadds') - East Kent Pale Ale | 4.10 | | Gold thin beige head. Earthy hop aroma, some caramel/toffee in mouth with a strongish dryish finish. Parching almost. Easy drinking bitter with distinctive drying hop finish with some spicy sting. Caramel to the fore in the flavour. |
| De Molen - Donder & Bliksem | 5.70 | | Hazy copper colour with bubbly off white head. Some yeast, some herby hop on aroma. Some Dutch sweet malt. Then a good muddy earthy hop finish. Pretty decent earthy strong bitter. Good hop. It’s surprisingly good |
| King Beer (formerly W.J. King) - Mother-in-law | 4.40 | | Deep ruby, thick lasting deep beige head. Toffee, toasted malt, some dark fruits, raisins, currants. Some old ale character, but not sour really. It’s got maybe a touch of caramel/diacetyl. Really rather good. |
| Whitstable - Pearl of Kent | 4.50 | | Gold, bubbly beige head. Some decent citrusy fruits on aroma. It’s got some nuts in the mouth. Pretty decent bitter, moderate fruit, has an almost minty flavour. |
| Larkins - Ian | 4.30 | | Slight haze on deep chestnut and lasting dark beige head. Named after the son or dog of the brewer or something I think. Fruity best bitter, lovely brambly fruit. Good milk chocolate. Hedgerow fruit, earthy hop. Just a tad of chlorine. Cracking condition and lovely toasty malts. |
| Dartford Wobbler (re-named from Millis) - Old Kentish Ale | 4.80 | | Deep chestnut colour. Malts are rich and fruity rather than dry. Juicy raisins and sultanas. Spicy hop on finish. A kind of ESB I guess with good old ale flavours, a bit of a cross over beer. More of and old with a little bit of sourness. |
| Titanic - New World | 4.40 | | Slight haze, amber colour, lasting beige head. Bit of yeast on aroma. Herby hop. Very herby/nettley hop. It’s there, but not aggressive. Good condition. Excellent condition in fact, but the farty yeast/herb thing is not for me. |
| Inveralmond - XXX | 4.40 | | Amber beer with lasting bubbly beige head. Bready yeasty biscuity aroma of an 80 shilling. Some fruit in mouth. Lots of caramel biscuit. Slightly cheesey on the aroma. Some spicy hop on finish. It’s and 80 shilling that isn’t great. |
| Downton - Mad Hare | 4.00 | | Clear russet/chestnut, thin beige head. Aroma of dry malt and some spice. Dry malt in mouth with some fruit. Decent malty bitter with some lasting flavour of dry malt, fruit and very subtle spice. OK malty bitter. |
| Weltons - Chocolate Rabbit | 4.10 | | I expected this to be dark because of the advertised usage of choc malts, but it’s a hazy amber colour. Bit of farty yeast and fruit salad on aroma. Bit of choc maybe, but it’s got a good stinging hop end. Earthy malts and hops. Spicy and herby hop finish. Not what I was expecting. |
| Oakham - Haka | 5.70 | | Oakham’s is pretty much my favourite brewery in the country, so I was really looking forward to this. Which is why I was surprised that I gave it a lowish score. Even trying it the next day, I wasn’t won over. Hazy pale gold colour with bubbly beige head. Very nettley and ascetic hoppy blond beer. It’s got a bit of harshly citric nettle flavour which I wasn’t too keen on. Bit soapy too. Must be just about my lowest scored Oakham beer I think. |
| Abbeydale - Brimstone | 3.90 | | Chestnut colour with thin bubbly off white head. Yep, you get the amarillos on the aroma, some caramel. Fairly watery in mouth, not a lot of condition. Some good amarillo on finish. OK, but just lacks some body. |
| Leeds - Leeds Best | 4.30 | | Copper, off white head. Slightly yeasty buttery aroma. Buttery bitter, not my favourite. Some earthy hop on end. Possible diacetyl. |
21 Mar 2008 (Blair)
I volunteered from 12-4, it was incredibly busy. I had to stop at 4 otherwise I may have had a nervous breakdown. Great atmosphere with lots of friendly people.
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| De Molen - Pek & Veren | 8.00 | | This was my beer of the festival, smoky and very dark with a slight liquorice flavour. Wanted to drink more but I knew it would be too dangerous. |
| Sarah Hughes - Dark Ruby | 6.00 | | Delicious, very dark with a more pronounced nutty flavour than I've noticed before. This one one of the first to sell out unfortunately. |
| RCH - East St Cream (was East Street Cream) | 5.00 | | One of my all time favourite ales. Pale brown, malty with hints of chocolate. Gorgeous. |
| York (now brewed by and at Black Sheep) - Centurion's Ghost Ale | 5.40 | | Dark ruby with maltiness. My last beer so I don't remember all that much of this one other than I really liked it. |
| Wooden Hand - Black Pearl | 4.50 | | Delicious dark stout with a dark chocolate finish. Marked up at 4.5%. |
| Nelson - Pursers Pussy Porter | 4.80 | | My first beer of the festival, and it was a very good one. Traditional London porter with a hint of liquorice. |
| Robinsons - Old Tom | 8.50 | | Dark and rich, really tasty barley wine. This beer deserves respect. |
| Frog Island - Natterjack (aka Pale) | 4.80 | | Golden and smooth with a nice nutty flavour. Pretty good. |
| Stonehenge - Sign of Spring | 4.60 | | Had to try this just for the novelty value. Quite a nice malty beer. |
| De Molen - Donder & Bliksem | 5.70 | | Dark yellow beer with a hoppy, grassy flavour. I remember I liked it a lot, had this one towards the end of my session so my opinion isn't too reliable at this point. |
| King Beer (formerly W.J. King) - Mother-in-law | 4.40 | | Mid to dark brown with a full rounded flavour. Very nice. |
| Goacher's - Crown Imperial Stout | 4.50 | | Once again the cool temperature made this one suffer. The flavours were not pronounced enough, still a nice roasted chocolate flavour. |
| Salamander - Mud Puppy | 4.20 | | Copper coloured bitter, with a fruity aroma and bitter finish. |
| Broughton - Exciseman's 80- | 4.50 | | Dark and malty with a hoppy aftertaste. Not great but not offensive. |
| Cains - Dark Mild | 3.20 | | I think this beer suffered from the cool temperature it was served at. Slight roasted malt flavour but nothing to it really. I didn't want to finish it. |
| Arran (formerly Isle of Arran) - Ale (aka Light) | 3.80 | | Bitter grassy flavour. Wanted shot of this the moment I tasted it. |
About the Planet Thanet Easter Beer Festival 2008
Summary of Beer Scores
| Total | |
|---|---|
| 2 |
| 6 |
| 13 |
| 13 |
| 5 |
The pub is found in Margate, Kent, CT9 1HX.
The third Thanet beer festival held in the Winter Gardens, Margate. Great venue with plenty of seating.
We have visited this pub 3 times, seen 37 different beers and tried them all.
Postcode: CT9 1HX