GBBF - The Great British Beer Festival
or The Great Beer Belly Flop - a personal experience by our Bill
Wc arrived courtesy of British Rail at Olympia to find a few odd fellows
wandering around with silly hats on. We both laughed and said "stupid sods,
they're obviously well tanked".
We opened our programme and gaped with awe and confusion. Where to start? So we
set to with Maclay's and then we were away, moving from Scotland to Hertfordshire
to Wales and, just for a bit of home support, to East Anglia. We took part in
Rolling the Barrel and Northamptonshire Skittles; we watched trials of strength
and auctions, and listened to some culture; we ate and ate and drank. Then some
more. We gravitated towards British Rail, and as we were leaving, we
contemplated buying some exotic headgear which looked the business.
The results of the voting on the 8 categories of beer were:
- Milds:
- 1st. Ridleys
- 2nd. Hoskins and Oldfield
- 3rd. Cain's Dark
- Bitters:
- 1st. Cheriton Pots Ale
- 2nd. Everards Beacon
- 3rd. Oakham JHB
- Best Bitters:
- 1st. Fuller's London Pride
- 2nd. Hogs Back TEA
- 3rd. Otter Ale
- Strong bitters:
- 1st. Hadrian Centurion
- 2nd. Fuller's ESB
- 3rd. Hop Back Summer Lightning
- Old Ales/Strong Milds:
- 1st. Theakson's Old Peculier
- 2nd. Orkney Dark Island
- 3rd. King and Barnes Old
- Barley Wines:
- 1st. Cottage Norman's Conquest
- 2nd. Woodforde's Headcracker
- 3rd. Pilgrim Conqueror
- Stouts/Porters:
- 1st. Harvey's Porter
- 2nd. RCH Old Slug Porter
- 3rd. Hop Back Entire Stout
- Bottle-conditioned Beers:
- 1st. King and Barnes Festive
- 2nd. Gale's Prize Old Ale
- 3rd. Worthington White Shield
- Overall Beer of the Festival:
- Cottage Norman's Conquest
ALE Autumn 1995 No. 282
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