Egham Real Ale & Cider Festival

Chris Walkden (‘Chaps2034′ from Stockport) via Scoopgen

Richard Griffin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:25:00 +0000

Hi Bob

Just a quick note to thank you and Richard and all at Egham for yet another outstanding festival – once again well worth while to come down from the frozen North. An excellent beer range, quality and good company too as is the norm nowadays.

And thank you for providing some rain again – although I’m glad I got back to Feltham before it started tipping it down on the Thursday night!.

Great to hear of your excellent effort on the fundraising too for such a worthy cause.

Hopefully I’ll be there for EBF11 at Easter. Perhaps the food offering could include Easter Eggs this time??

Cheers

Chris W

Martin the Mildman via Scoopgen

Richard Griffin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:13:20 +0000

Hi all,
Firstly, just to add to the many who have expressed their thanks and appreciation to Bob, Richard and all the team and volunteers at the Egham club, I’d like to register my thanks and appreciation too. Once again a top class festival delivered with all the professionalism of the great team at Egham Club.

Now here are my awards/scores for this festival:

Gold (18/20 or higher) – no contenders this time.

Silver:
HAVANT X-rated Blackberry Milk Stout 4.2% 17,A
Loads of flavour for its strength, there’s a bit of everything in there,
roast malt, chocolate, coffee and of course fruity Blackberries.
BINGHAM’S Old Ale 4.5% 17,A An excellent old ale in the style of Harvey’s etc, lots of malt flavours but also a little hop balance.

Bronze:
CANTERBURY BREWERS Foundry Black 4.0% 16,A Black bitter with good mix of bitter hop and roast malt flavours.
REBELLION Decomposed 4.2% 16,A Sweet but well balanced amber bitter with a good clean finish.
VIBRANT FOREST Dark Castle Porter 5.2% 16,A Excellent dark brown porter with a strong malt character and smooth mouthfeel.
KENT BREWERY Coffee Porter 5.5% 16,A Does what it says and very well too.
BINGHAM Hop Harvest Best 3.7% 16,A A sweetish and malty base with some hop character. Fruity finish.

Highly commended:
BY THE HORNS Pale Ale 3.8% 15,A
MONCADA Notting Hill Blonde 4.2% 15,A
XT BREWING XXXXX Sorachi Roast 4.1% 15,A
LONDON BREWER’S ALLIANCE (Windsor & Eton) IPA 5.8% 15,A
LONGDOG Bunny Chaser 3.6% 15,A
OLD DAIRY Fresh Hop 4.0% 15,A
MONCADA Notting Hill Bitter 4.3% 15,A
BRIGHTSIDE Best Bitter 4.3% 15,A
VIBRANT FOREST Stormbrew 4.7% 15,A
HAMMERPOT Harvest Ale 4.8% 15,A

Acceptable:
LONDON FIELDS Love Not War 4.7% 14,A
REDCHURCH Bethnal Pale Ale 5.5% 14,A
CANTERBURY BREWERS Biggleston’s Brown Ale 3.8% 14,A
VIBRANT FOREST Mrs Miggins 4.5% 14,A

Not to my taste:
ASCOT ALES Single Hop Nelson Sauvin 4.6% 13,A Hop flavour drowned out by too much malty, yeasty flavours.

Looking forward to Easter 2012 already!

Cheers,
Martin the Mildman

Sheila and Alastair via Scoopgen

Richard Griffin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:01:56 +0000

After three great days at the USC beerex Egham, we would also like to add
our thanks to Bob, Richard. Julie and the team for providing us with such an
enjoyable time. Excellent beer and food selection all served by friendly
staff. It was also great to meet so many scoopgeners under one roof.

Thanks again to the team

Cheers

Sheila and Alastair

Gill Smith via Scoopgen

Richard Griffin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:02:50 +0000

Thank you all at Egham from us two too. Always a great time with such a grand beer list to choose from.
Gill.

Glenn R via Scoopgen

Richard Griffin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:01:45 +0000

Yes thanks again for a great fest well worth the five hour trip down and the bus ride

Cheers Glenn R

the.chair via scoopgen

Richard Griffin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:29:36 +0000

BF10 Another superb effort By Bob, Richard and the team produced a list to Die for….. on this occasion majoring on the new wave of London based micros.. Beer quality was as ever very good and a nice selection of Darks alongside the bitters with a couple of Brown Ales thrown in. This Fest deffo ticks all the boxes IMO and long may it continue. Thanks again lads. Great to spend time with some fest regulars not to mention a Landlord….on a busmans holiday

Camra Beer Scoring Guide: 0-5 (5 rarely given, tho one used today… However the highest appropriate score is used)

Egham USC TW20 9PE
Bar:
Rebellion: IPA 3.7/ Decomposed 4.2 (Score 3.5)
London Fields. Love Not War 4.7 (Score 3)
Windors & Eaton Conqueror 5.0 (Score 3.5)
Moncada: Notting Hill Amber 4.9 (Score 4)
Binghams: Old Ale 4.5 (Score 4)
XT: Sorachi Roast 4.1 (Score 4)
Acorn Old moor Porter 4.4

Outside Bar/Stiilage
By The Horns: Pale Ale 3.8 (Score 5)
Camden Town: Showboat Brown Ale 4.5 (Score 3.5)
Moncada: Notting Hill Amber 4.9 (Score 4.5)
Rebellion: Decomposted 4.2 (Score 3)
XT: Sorachi Roast 4.1 (Score 4)
Botanist: Night Porter 5.0 (Score 2)
London Fields Brewery: Love Noit War 4.7 (Score 3.5)
Kent: Coffee Porter 5.5 (Score 3.5)
Old Dairy: Fresh Hop 4.0 (Score 4./Tsar Top 8.0 (Score 4.5)
Havant: X Rated 4.2 (Score 3)

Those Beers tried have an indication of their quality/taste marked alongside with just a nod to personal prefernce. On this occasion they represent the view
of the compiler alone.

Bitter of the Day:
Actually a Pale Ale… By The Horns Pale Ale

Dark of the Day:
Old Dairy: Tsar Top

Rgds Rich
Brother Rich on Beer Tour

Mark Ostrowski via Scoopgen

Richard Griffin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:26:48 +0000

Thanks to Bob, Richard & all at USC Egham for yet another excellent festival.

Mark.

John Stevenson via website email.

Richard Griffin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:23:24 +0000

The club’s 10th festival & the 5th that I’ve attended. Everyone of those five has been remarkable; new breweries, new beers plus some old favourites like the Ascot stouts. The friendly atmosphere makes this festival my favourite. Many thanks to everyone at the … Continue reading →

Nicky Humphries via Facebook

Richard Griffin — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 08:59:05 +0000

First time I’ve been to Egham, top beer festival. Certainly something I’ll add to the diary for next year
Loads of new beers and breweries plus a good location. Backed by local staff and
volunteers, which is great for the community.

Beer reviews from Chris Owen

Richard Griffin — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 07:59:52 +0000

https://www.facebook.com/notes/chris-owen/egham-bf-summer-2011-day-1-beer-reviews-tasting-notes/235872906457258

http://chrisobeer.blogspot.com/2011/08/and-now-for-something-completely.html