31 Years Young! - Norwich Beer Festival 2008 (Norwich in General)

Member Name: yackers1

Product:	Norwich in General
Date:	01/11/08 (162 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beer... lots of it.

Disadvantages: Flatulance.....lots of it

The organisers
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The Norwich Beer Festival is an annual event organised by the Norwich & Norfolk Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

Its main concern is with the promotion of cask conditioned beers (commonly referred to as "real ale") allied to traditional British breweries and pubs.

It is a volunteer-led organisation and all local events are organised by volunteers in their own time.

Location
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The beer festival is always held at St. Andrew's and Blackfriars' Halls which are located on St. Andrew's Plain, at the junction of St. Andrew's Street and St. George's Street, in the centre of Norwich

Norwich Railway Station is approximately 10 minutes walk from the halls, and city centre bus stops are a few minutes away.

The logo
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Norwich Beer Festival has for many years had an image of a dragon incorporated in the festival logotype but not all the logos have had a dragon in them.

The main inspiration comes from the Snap dragon which has featured in the history of Norwich. A representation of a dragon was at one time paraded around the city as part of civic ceremonies, and the last version to have been so treated is still on display in the city.

The 1990 Norwich Beer Festival logo featured a very friendly dragon (drawn by David Read) enjoying a pint of ale, and this image was subsequently adopted (with some slight modifications) as the branch logo and in 1997 a pint glass was produced with this image on it.

Session times and prices
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There are two sessions per day. A lunchtime one running from 11.30 am to 3.00 pm and an evening session running from 5.30 pm to 11.00 pm.

Lunch time sessions are typically £1 to get in and evening sessions up to £5 depending on the night.

Last admissions are half an hour before the session ends (if you can actually get in that is) which I think is quite generous. There are many pubs around where I live that refuse entry an hour before the pub closes.


The Drinks
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It is not only cask ales that are served during the beer festival. There are also bottled beers (both national and international) and ciders.

This review is about my experience of the beer festival and I can't see any value in listing every type of cask beer, bolted beer or cider available.

I will say that there were over 100 breweries represented at the festival and each with several types of beer. Trying all of these would be an amazing feat!

If you are interested in the breweries represented and the beers then please follow the links below:

http://www.norwichcamra.org.uk/festival/beers08.p df
http://www.norwichcamra.org.uk/festival/cider08.p df
http://www.norwichcamra.org.uk/festival/bottle08. pdf


I will also include my favourite beers of the festival:

Sara Hughes Dark Ruby Mild, ABV 6%. It is a dark ruby strong ale with a rich malty flavour. This was a really popular beer and in order to get a taste you had to be very quick. I made it my mission to find this first and start the session with this to ensure I had some. Sarah Hughes is so popular that it wasn't available every session. The organisers put it on for only one session a day to ensure that it lasted throughout the duration of the festival

Woodfordes Head Cracker, ABV 7%. It has an fruity orange aroma and is pale in colour but it is a full bodied barley wine. Like the Dark Ruby Mild this was difficult to get hold and there was limited supply.


Adnams Tally Ho, ABV 7%. It is a rich and complex barley wine which is matured for a year. There are hints of sherry and complex fruitiness. This one was available at every session and was in plentiful supply.

My favourite beers were a bit head strong and you could certainly tell that you'd had them once finished. They weren't as strong as some other beers (well barley wines) that were available such as the Museum at 10.2%, Humpty Dumpty No. 10 at 9.2% and the strongest one of the festival Warthog at c. 13.5%.

Whilst I did get to drink a half pint of the Humpty Dumpty No. 10 (I can't begin to describe the strong taste of this and I didn't like it) and a sample of the Museum (you can have a 'shot' sized taster before you buy) I did not get to try the Warthog.

I did try a fruity beer, a Krick which is a cherry beer but I found it absolutely foul and did not try any others.

I cannot comment on the ciders since I am not a cider drinker and did not indulge this year.


Queuing
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Unfortunately, queuing is a fact of modern day society and I am sure that I have read somewhere that the average person will queue for approximately 5 years in their entire life. So you've got to expect to queue regardless of the session attended or the time you actually get to the rooms.

Once it is moving the queue runs very smoothly and the maximum time we waited was 45 minutes. This was the Friday lunchtime session and this is traditionally busy as many people take the afternoon off work. We also arrived at 11.00 am, half an hour before the rooms opened,

The crowd control do a fantastic job of ensuring that the queue does not interfere with daily life and that shoppers, students (the venue is near the City Art College), workers and cars can pass easily.

The crowd control also prevents queue jumpers and those individuals who arrive later and finds a 'friend' in the queue to jump in with. One of my pet hates!

CAMRA members do not have to queue and can walk straight in.

Advance ticket holders enjoy the same benefit although advance tickets are only available for the Friday and Saturday night sessions! These are very busy and you are advised to get tickets for these nights since they guarantee entry. In past years I have walked past the rooms on a Friday night and there is still a large queue at 10 o'clock and those at the back have had no chance in getting in.

Getting the beer and payment
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Once in the rooms you have to purchase a glass (unless you have already bought one with you) and some tokens. To speed this process up starter kits are available consisting of a pint glass with £5 or £10 of tokens. The glass costs £2.50 and considering this is a one-off for this year only (the design is changed every year) it is well worth it.

A half pint glass is available, although I am unsure how much these cost.

Drinks are paid with beer tokens and not cash. Whilst this is a great idea as the bar staff can serve quicker without having to faff about with change, it can be quite annoying since each token is worth 10p. That's right a measly 10p. This means that for an average priced half you have to part with 13 of them and they come in strips of 5.

As the session progresses it becomes more and more difficult to tear off the tokens and many of them start being ripped in half, or even more pieces. However, the staff are very understanding and will never reject a token.

A tip is to purchase a pint glass and buy half pint measures since you always get more than a half pint measure. For those alpha males who think that buying a half pint is not "manly" regardless of whether you can actually finish it or not need not worry since almost everyone drinks half pints unless they have found a favourite and are going to stick to it or it is something that is very popular and being consumed very quickly.

There are so many beers available and so many that I wanted to try I did not buy one single pint measure this year. I only drink real ales on occasions, like beer festivals, and as such I find it is a totally different beast to lager. I find real ale sits heavier and is a lot more potent than lager and half measures are more than enough.

Beer of the festival
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Every year there is a beer of the festival competition. Throughout the week the drinkers are invited to vote for their favourite beer by writing down the brewery and the type on a sheet of paper and putting it in a ballot box. At the end of the week the votes are counted up and the "beer of the festival" is revealed on the Saturday night.

Staff
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Other than people who work for the venue all other staff are unpaid volunteers that do the job for the love of it. They do get to drink whilst on duty and if they attend the festival on sessions where they are not working they can queue jump and will get free drinks but, in my opinion, this is the least they should get for doing such a great job.

The staff are really knowledgeable and are only too happy to recommend a suitable drink based on your taste requirements. This is good because being faced with so many barrels and not really knowing what to go for is daunting and many people make the mistake of buying beer with funny names or based on the strength and hence missing out on some great tasting ales.

If you find some beers in the same location then a good tip is to keep going back to the same member of bar staff. Always ask for their recommendation and have a bit of banter with them and you'll find the half pint measures get larger and larger and in some cases reach the dizzy heights of the pint line!

On the other hand if you upset a member of staff (like a girl in our group managed to do) then you'll find that the measures are as they should be and other people will be served ahead of you. DO this at your peril.

Atmosphere
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Despite the sheer number of attendees and the business of the event the atmosphere is chilled out and relaxed. I guess it follows the 'normal' speed of the sleepy Norfolk lifestyle.

There are security guards, used as crowd organisers, dotted about throughout the venue but they aren't really needed. I think they are only there to adhere to the strict health and safety requirements imposed on modern day society.

People
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The diverse range of people who attend the beer festival never ceases to amaze me. If we are to "pigeon hole" then there are representatives of every social group, other under 18s, from suits to OAPs to hoodies etc, and whilst there is a distinct social divide on the streets this evaporates as soon as you set foot in the rooms.

Everyone is so friendly and chatty. Standing at the bar you get recommendations of what's good and what's not so good, as well as the beer connoisseurs swilling the glasses, smelling the content and commenting on the fruitiness or the oak smell. The only thing they don't do is spit any out which is good because buckets are not provided at this event!

I suppose it is the fact that everyone is there for the same reason - to taste beers from around the country, as well as German and Belgian bottled beers, that they would not usually get the opportunity to taste that creates the banter. In normal circumstances I don't like small talk but it is different at the beer festival.

As the sessions progress and the beers starts to run dry the attendees get progressively more and more tipsy. Despite the alcohol fuelled bodies and the gently pushing and shoving as people mill about there is no trouble whatsoever.

If the session was a typical clubbing night then the alcohol and testosterone would kick in and there would be brawls, fights and conflicts all over the place but not at the beer festival. You can actually make eye contact, and nod, without being accused of "trying to kick off". It is a really safe environment - which is good considering the security/crowd control are volunteers who are only there to sample the beers for free and avoid queuing to get in!

Food
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Food is served throughout every single session in the Black Friars Hall. The choices are not extensive but this is not a restaurant and the attendees are not here for an eating experience.

It does help to soak up some of the beer, enabling you to try more of the beers available and it does cure the inevitable munchies.

The food available includes cold items such as sandwiches, crisps and pastries as well as hot offerings such as hot baguettes (pork and beef), chilli and chips (with or without cheese), fish and chips, pie and chips or just chips (in portions of varying sizes).

Prices are inflated to a premium, as expected at events where there are captive audiences, but they are not as extortionate as some events I have been to.

As an idea, a hot baguette is £4.00, chilli and chips is £3.00 (£.50 with cheese), fish and chips is £4.50 and chips vary in price from 80p to £2.00 (depending on the portion size). The cold food prices are from £1.80 to £3.00 depending upon the specific requirements.

The chilli is highly recommended (if you like spicy food) and the portion sizes are very generous.

Entertainment
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Entertainment of some kind is provided during every session.
The entertainment varies from the Matthews Norfolk Brass Band (who are very, very good) to the Mike Capocci quartet, to the Gallery String Quartet, to the Cromer Smugglers (a vocal group singing sea shantys) to a steel band.

In the absence of any external band the rooms will provide a pipe organist.

The entertainment is not actually needed but it is a nice touch and the fact that it is free makes it even better. Most of the time you can't hear the entertainment, unless you're right by the stage, as there is so much background noise in the rooms.

Smell
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I couldn't finish this review without mentioning the smell of the rooms. Whilst at the start of the session the smell of real ales and ciders fill the nostrils, unless you are in the Black Friars Hall where the food is being served this smell changes as the sessions progress.

The smell of recycled ale becomes more and more prevalent, and I don't mean through vomit..... There is a distinct smell of gas and real ale is well known for creating flatulence.

A lot of people seem to find farting quite funny (myself included in the right situations) and you can find numerous farting competitions throughout the rooms. Whilst you'd think they would be young men (maybe I am stereo typing here?) they tend to be mixed sex groups of the older generation - 60 years plus.

Some times you need to go to the toilets to get a break from the smell!

Summary: An opportunity to try real ales you never normally would get the chance to in a fantastic venue.