|
| |
Another great Birmingham Beer Festival
The 2004 Birmingham Beer
Festival was the ninth to have been held at Aston Students Guild in Gosta Green,
Birmingham and was arguably the most successful of them all. The 2002 event had
been the closest to being a sell-out, but this year's festival came to a close
at 9pm on the Saturday, 2 hours early.
The theme for the festival was the 80th anniversary of the birth of Tony
Hancock, the locally born comedian who had many successful radio and television
series in the 1950's and 60's. The Tony Hancock Appreciation Society were
represented at the festival and kindly provided an article for the festival
programme.
Once again, there was a wide
selection of real ales from the
extremes of the UK, many new to the discerning drinkers who visited the
festival. There were beers from the far reaches of Scotland and the Orkneys,
plus some from a little closer to home. Local brewers, Church End, were again
well represented, with a selection of fruit and novelty beers. As part of the
festival's theme, one of these beers was named 'The Blood Donor' and was an
appropriate shade of red.
Entertainment was provided on Thursday evening by a variety of acts, who perform
regularly (amongst others) at the Old Moseley Arms in Balsall Heath, Birmingham. Friday Evening
saw the return of 'Back In Time', who kept the crowd on their toes, with their
50s, 60s and 70s rock 'n Roll sounds.
This year's bottled beers came mostly from the usual favourite locations of
Belgium and Germany, but also from Holland and Lithuania. The latter of these
proved to be extremely popular and were quick to sell out. The bottled beer
range was, as a whole, much wider than in previous years and this meant that
Graham was kept busy all through the festival.
Cider this year came from a much more mainstream range than last year, but it
proved to be just as popular, selling out at the same time as the real ale and
bottled beer. There was also a selection of perries to sample, which went the
same way.
Melbourne Catering were again in attendance
and their German bratwürst, French crepes and vegetable bakes were as
well-received as ever.
The 2004 West Midlands Speciality Beer of the Year award was up for grabs at the
tasting panel, which took place on Thursday evening.
This year's event surpassed even the Festival Committee's expectations and it is
hoped to improve further on the success of 2004, in planning for the 2005
Birmingham Beer Festival.
© Richard Reynolds,
October 2004
|
