Craftwerk
Arriving in Neepsend 40 minutes early, I took the opportunity to visit Alder for a couple of halves. Set in the old shoe polish works, they have 5 cask ales available. I sampled the Pomona Island – Tarquill and Quafftide, a 3.8% and 4.5% respectively.
I then popped over to Peddlar Warehouse to find a relatively small queue, that was dealt with quickly. On entering, you were given a tickers lanyard and a half-pint glass. My first drink was a 5% Bombay Honey from The Indian Brewery, very Jaipur ish, with added sweetness. I then moved on to my second of the 16 brewers on display from around the UK, these included Lancaster, Surrey and Sussex, Kidderminster’s Copper Beach Brewing Company with a nice 4.6% APA. I then sat and had a chat with 2 guys who had travelled up from Nottiingham for the festival, I recommended that should they had room, and the legs for another, Kelham was just a short hop after the 23:00 closure.
Next was Lune Brew Co and their LB201, a Citra, Centennial and Mosaic hopped pale of 4.1%. These beers were going down well accompanied by a DJ playing Indie classics. The next selection brought a change of flavour with a Pineapple and Passion Fruit Palaver, a 4.5% fruited pale ale. This also brought a change of entertainment with a singer/guitarist covering reggae to Indie rock.
Seeing that beers were covered by the admission charge, it would have been rude not to try as many as possible. So, I then moved on to Bayonet Brewing – Delta Lima Six, a New England hazy pale at a sensible 4%. Next came my favourite of the festival, Only With Love’s Oh Yeah, an ice cream soda pale ale, but here’s what won it they topped it with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sprinkles. so nice I had 2 before it ran out. Even at this stage of the night with the hall full, there was never big queues and service was typically a minute or so.
Next came our local Thornbridge – Kipling, New Zealand Pale Ale at 5.2%. The next ones in succession were Siren Craft Brew – Juicy Details, a New England hazy 6%, Jimbrew Brewing Co – Maybe It Was Two Times, a 4.8 Gluten-free pale, Disruption Is Brewing – Digital Code at 5.5%. With beer comes munchies, so I went into the courtyard to see what was on offer and decided on the Jamica food stall serving very tasty pattys, I had the beef and it hit the spot.
Being fed, it was back to the beer and more music in the form of a young Indie covers band. The accompanying beer was Cloudwater’s Fuzzy, another hazy New England pale. This was followed by Only With Love’s – Bongo Tropic IPA at 4.5%, yet another New England style Brew. Next was Siren’s Soundwave, an American IPA of 5.6%.
As closing was coming up quickly, there was time for one last half from Pennine Brewing Co with Scapegoat, a Blonde Golden of 4.2%.
All in all, a very well run and value for money festival. The range of brews in taste and geographical locations was well thought out, as well as brewers willing to chat.
Here’s to next year.