Some of you may know that for a week each year, I work at the Bières Sans Frontières (BSF) the foreign beer bar of the Great British Beer Festival. I'll be there again this year. We have our own website and it gives details of the delightful beers on offer in 2008. In addition to various American cask ales, from far nearer home, comes ten, yes ten cask ales from Ireland. I am looking forward very much to trying Galway Hooker, having read about its charm in the pages of the Beer Nut. In addition there will be beers from Franciscan Well (3), Messrs Maguire (3), Carlow (2) and Porterhouse Brewing (1).
Our beloved leader writes that normally you have to go to Ireland to sample them. I suspect to find them in cask form, like Irish directions, you wouldn't start from there. All the more reason to get down to Earls Court.
Have a look at the website. It may well make you think "why don't I just hole up at BSF for the festival?" Why not indeed?
The Great British Beer Festival is at Earls Court, London from 5-9 August 2008
9 comments:
The BSF list looks excellent, as always... invariably my favourite bar at the GBBF. I should be there for at least some of the trade session on 5 August - who else?
They're all cask? Really?
From the Department of Tragic Ironies, I'm really looking forward to trying MM Imperial on cask. It's a marvellous beer, made on my doorstep, but the pub where it's made have no interest in selling it on cask. Or any other form, frankly.
Franciscan Well Purgatory on cask was Irish Beer of the Year for 2008, and chuffing lovely it was too.
I've had cask Hooker once, at the brewery. It was a bit green and disappointing. To be honest, I think the cleansing fizz from the keg adds to it. Its roots are in American pale ales, after all.
It's looking exceedingly unlikely that I'll be moving from the BSF bar all afternoon of the trade session. What sort of pasties will you be serving?
Looks like a great selection of beers - I'm going to be there for the trade session, so I'll pop by and say hello and have a few snifters.
Sounds like a bit of a "do" then!
Quite a few years ago, as Dwans was still in operation, I remember serving their Ruby Rich in cask form at GBBF (and a splendid beer it was... and you could sell it easily stating "it's everything Caffrey's isn't"). The guys from the brewery came along right at the beginning of the trade session and asked to try it, because they'd never had in in cask form, sinc elocal pubs couldn't be bothered to sell anything but keg. :o(
And Dwan's head brewer is the man now running the Messrs Maguire brewery, soon hopefully to go totally independent as White Gypsy.
I'd imagine Dwan's Ruby Rich and MM Rusty are very close relations.
Galway Hooker is indeed a nice drink. It can be found on tap in quite a few places in ... well galway strangely enough and I know that the Bull And Castle beer hall in Dublin has it as well
Enjoy
There are loads of American beers on this year do you know if they are keg or cask beers.
They are all in cask form.
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