Much as I enjoy a beer I have not been to many beer festivals. Some of my colleagues are more dedicated drinkers and some are members of the Campaign for Real Ale. I went to the Hitchin festival with them last year. This week is the Stevenage Beer Festival. It's conveniently close to the office and the station. The programme lists all the drinks with some tasting notes. You buy a card that gets marked off for each drink so they don't need to deal with cash at the bar.
The venue is a sports hall, which is not that inspiring, but at least there's plenty of space. They could do with more tables. We were lucky to get one. The ales are all down the wall on the right with ciders and foreign beers at the back. There was also a food stall.
With over a hundred beers to choose from I was only going to manage a sample and I didn't plan to stay long anyway. I tend to pick some that sound interesting and that I might not normally get to drink. I rarely have a pint of anything as I like to try more variety. First up was Smoked Brown from [Anspack and Hobday]. This uses German malt and was definitely smokey.
Next was Junglist Massive by Elusive. I found the flavour of this hard to describe, but it seemed to rapidly disappear as you drank it. An odd sensation, but quite drinkable.
Next was something more adventurous. God of the Cold White Silence by Weird Beard is a white stout. I just went for a third of this, but it was very nice. They describe it as 'thick custard' and there was a definite hint of vanilla. This brewery definitely go for crazy names. Like a lot of specialist beers you probably wouldn't want to drink too much of it, but it can be enjoyed in small quantities.
Finally I went for something from the Keykeg range. Some of those were very strong and expensive, but I didn't have much left on my card. I went for Bugtown Brown by Cheshire Brewhouse. This is listed as an American brown ale. It had a 'chewy' taste with interesting flavours that I can't find the words to describe.
I left my friends to continue their drinking and made my way home as I had another event that I will also post about.
I'll post this in the Beer Saturday challenge by 
Cheers!
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