Bury Beer Festival 2011

I went to my very first beer festival last night. Bury Beer Festival 2011, with the slogan Real Ale, Real Music, Real Love, was held at The Met in the town centre. The festival beer glasses were £2 each, and then you bought 'beer vouchers' which I loved having. There were lots of local breweries represented, and at £1.20 for half a pint for most of the beers, I thought it was great. The Bury breweries were Brightside, Leyden and Outstanding, then we had Irwell from Ramsbottom, Greenmill from Rochdale, Robinsons from Stockport, Dunham Massey in Altrincham, Bowland in Clitheroe....the list goes on. There were some great names for the beers too: Headless Peg, Purple Moose, Clocking Off, Floral Dance and Blindfold among them.

It was held in 2 rooms that weren't too big. In one was a stage and we got treated to a couple of folk bands. Men outnumbered women by about 50:1, and they weren't all beards and bellies. We did see a couple of 'young people' who stood out being about 18!

We noted the beers we tried, but unfortunately I can't say much about them as things got a bit vague.

1. Chocolate Cherry Mild 3.8% (Dunham Massey, Altrincham). I loved this one and it was like a real ale version of Kriek Belgian beer.
2. White Chocolate Porter 4.5% (Bowland, Clitheroe). I had to try this as it was made with white chocolate from The Chocolate Cafe (@welovechocolate for Twitter users) in Ramsbottom.
3. Blond Witch 4.5% (Moorhouse's, Burnley).
4. Build a Rocket Boys! 4.0% (Robinson's, Stockport). Served at the Ramsbottom Festival Bar. Now this was the reason I wanted to come. I was very impressed at Elbow performing at The Royal Albert Hall but I was totally in awe of them when they made their own beer. This beer is also being sold in Morrisons in Harwood - it isn't widely available. We were planting trees with Mr Elbow this morning, and I told him he must be partly responsible for 'Im Indoors's bad head! http://www.elbowbeer.co.uk/#
5. Selling Out 3.8% (Outstanding, Bury). I tried this as it was quite weak. It was lovely, a bit spicy.
6. Pumpkin Ale 4.5% (Greenmill, Rochdale). See what a healthy evening I had. It was a very nice beer.
7. East India Pale Ale 6.0% (Oakham Ales, Peterborough).
8. Boarsland Gold 3.8% (Bowland, Clitheroe).
9. Rammy Rocket 4.2% (Leyden, Bury).
10. Ossett Treacle Stout 5.0% (Greenmill, Rochdale). This was really thick and treacly. You couldn't drink a lot of it but I managed half a pint.
11. World's Biggest Liar 4.3% (Jennings, Cockermouth). I made 'Im Indoors try this as I liked the name. I don't think he was disappointed.
12. Citra 4.2% (Oakham Ales, Peterborough). This was brilliant and was with grapefruit, lychee and gooseberry aromas. Obviously very healthy.
13. Blond 4.5% (Outstanding, Bury).
14. Black Pudding 4.2% (Leyden, Bury). This was a strangely very nice ale.
15. Lightweights and Gentlemen 3.2% (Irwell, Ramsbottom). We were told this was very popular with the ladies. 'Im Indoors had it.

I wasn't too worried after this as I knew that real ale didn't give you a hangover. We hadn't had time to eat earlier as we'd been called in to help FB move house. What we should have done is get in a taxi and call in the chippy on the way home. 'Im Indoors however had other ideas. The Trackside pub in Bury in a small station bar, funnily enough on the platform at Bolton Street Station. http://www.eastlancsrailway.org.uk/food-drink/the-trackside/ This is a real ale pub too, so off we went. We finished off with:

16. Pendle Witch 5.1% (Moorhouse's, Burnley).
17. Piston Broke 4.5% (Outstanding Bury).
18. Smart Arse 4.5% (Smart Brewing, Essex).
19. Hop 3.8% (Black Edge, Horwich).

'Im Indoors then had another of his bright ideas; we could finish the night off with a kebab.  haven't had a kebab since I went to see a band in whatever Jilly's Nightclub used to be called (Fagins?) on Oxford Road in Manchester, about 20 years ago. About 5 minutes after I agreed to it I realised we must have had far too much and should go home instead! We got a bag of crisps and a taxi.

I.I. has been up since 5.30am feeling very ill, but seems to have recovered now.

We spent the morning with our TWIGs group (Tottington Wildlife Watch Group) at Diggle Lane Allotments, planting some trees that had been donated by The Woodland Trust. This allotment society is excellent, and there is a hut that sells drinks and snacks too. We all got a cuppa, and then the sausages and bacon started to be made. I think the breakfast did I.I. good. http://www.digglelaneallotments.co.uk/index.html

I haven't planted a tree since I was at school, but by strange coincidence I am involved in the planting of another tomorrow. The ongoing work on the banking at the end of our cul-de-sac is continuing tomorrow. We are having a bit of a clear up, but are then burying a time capsule and our oldest residents are going to officially 'plant' our tree - a cherry blossom one. There should be a lot of the close out and I'm looking forward to it.