Confederacy of a Dunce - London Drinker 2006

Friday, March 24, 2006

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London Drinker 2006

On Wednesday Mrs. Dunce and I went to the nearby London Drinker beer festival. Our visits to other London beer festivals in recent history (Great British Beer Festival last summer, Battersea Beer Festival in February) have been somewhat less than ideal as we chose to attend the Friday evening session, along with thousands of other like-minded souls who had no doubt been working for the weekend. Both previous festivals seemed impressively overcrowded (I might point out here that I do suffer from a teeny bit of anxiety among crowds of people), and even worse, the selection of drink was seriously reduced by the time Friday rolled around (I think both of these festivals started on Wednesday). At the Battersea festival we were reduced to mopping up various liquids on the floor and wringing the mop into our glasses (or at least, reduced to drinking FOREIGN beer because all the British ales, ciders and perries were long gone). So we decided that our visit to the London Drinker would be on Wednesday, the first night rather than the last.

Unfortunately even on a Wednesday it was quite crowded (exacerbated by the number of wise souls who clustered at the serving areas to enjoy their drinks, rather than moving along so that others could be served). Worse, it seemed like the festival organizers had adopted a slow-release approach to the drinks on offer; it seemed like half (or less) of the beers listed in the guide (LIST link) were actually available. Good for visitors later in the week, not so good for us (Mrs. Dunce was particularly sad that the Damson Porter (official link, one review) by Burton Bridge was not on offer). We did, however, come across quite a few beers that we really enjoyed. It seemed like there were a lot more dark beers than lighter ones, and a real boom in milds on offer (mild has seen quite a renaissance recently. Here's a general description and some examples).

Our vote for the winner was one of the milds:Pig on the Wall Mild although I also enjoyed the Malt Shovel Mild quite a bit. My real favorite was from the FOREIGN department (maybe I shouldn't admit this while my application for British nationality is being considered): a German smoked beer, Schlenkerla Bock Rauchbier. There were quite a few rauchbiers on offer, which I take as an enouraging development.

We left fairly early -- it was just too crowded. But we can hardly take the less-crowded alternative (the festivals are usually also open for lunchtime/afternoon sessions) as our employers may not appreciate this sort of behavior.

consume

Friday, March 24, 2006 10:34:40 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)