Muddy beer fest

Muddy beer fest

Stopped by opening day of the Peterborough beer fest yesterday to sample a bit of the real ale. The event actually covers more days this year and I was surprised to find the place already packed by the time we arrived yesterday evening. At least we got there before they started running out of the best beers (which always happens as the festival wears on over several days.)
This is the 28th annual event for the Peterborough Beer Festival, this year featuring more than 500 draught real ales. They pride themselves on the whole "real ale" thing, which has to do with the the lack of preservatives and an anti-corporate mentality (so you could indeed make a lip curl by mentioning Bass or Green King.)

The event takes place on a large lawn situated near the river and the Peterborough Cathedral (which was sacked by Vikings, and then later the workplace of gravedigger Old Scarlett, who was said to be the inspiration for Shakespeare's gravedigger in Hamlet.) It's easy to reach by train from London. It's just under and hour from King's Cross on GNER and then a short walk from the train station.

So back to the beer fest ... Having attended a few of these, I knew enough to head directly to the Oakham Ales kiosk, a local brewer who also wins top honors every year. Judging results weren't yet available, so we just tried the new ones they had for the festival this year, which turned out to be the Khyber Pass IPA and something called 12 Monkeys. My husband went back for an extra pint of 12 Monkeys if that tells you anything. The worst of the lot we tried was the Fuller's Vintage Ale, which tasted like someone dumped a vat of syrup into their keg.

Since concern about binge drinking is all the rage in England these days, this year's festival had a wrecked car parked out front to remind you of the dangers of drinking and driving. Not that that stopped anyone - there was an extraordinary amount of traffic on the way to the festival. (My father-in-law dropped us off and we took a cab home.)

One of the disappointing things about the fest -- which will get worse in upcoming days -- is the mud. This was a huge problem last year and the local paper claimed they had made provisions for this year, but that's definitely not true. Huge patches of mud everywhere, and there wasn't even rain yesterday. Today however, the BBC said to expect winter-type winds and rains. Last year the men wore their wellies.

Oh, and the men. Yes, again it's a big sausage fest. Very few women to be seen. And even if I were a single girl, I'm sure this beer fest would not be the place to go to find a fine bachelor to take home to me ma.

The festival web site runs web cameras, so if check them out now, maybe you'll be able to see the festival volunteers climbing into their tents for a bit of sleep, ending the all-night binge fest they're allowed to take part in nightly after the festival closes each night.

The festival runs through Sunday afternoon, if the beer lasts that long.
- posted by Amy @ 8/24/2005 02:45:00 AM