The beer festival is now ready. We have vented and tapped all the beers, dealt with the inevitable spills and a plea to those using plastic keystones on plastic casks. Please don't. They are as loose as a rattly cough and we had to replace a couple with wood today. Wood expands when wet and makes a good seal. Plastic doesn't. We lost a few pints over that one. We also had a few problems with our plastic friends moving as we hammered in the taps. Still, we are there. Just pull through 30 beer lines, attach the cask end stickers and that's it.
One of the benefits of looking after the beer is you get the odd taster. Brew Dog Coffee Stout was complex and at 9%, not for the faint hearted. Marble Ginger was clean, fiery and appealing, Dunham Massey Chocolate Cherry Mild was a powerful mix of cherries and marzipan and Phoenix Simcoe promises to be a belter.
I'll leave you with the picture above, which I thought amusing.
Interesting on the keystones. We've never had a problem except when the beer gets VERY lively. Mine are a kind of rubbery; I know some are harder plastic and maybe not so good.
ReplyDeleteLiked the sign a lot!!
See End of Carling
Hope it all goes well, and in my experience, it usually does. I've still got my 1988 festival t-shirt with the picture of the Drill Hall on it. That was my second Bury beerex.
ReplyDeleteDamn - wish I could make it, just for the Brewdog Coffee Stout and the Pictish Simcoe. And if those Outstanding beers are as good as those at Tamworth this year, you're in for a treat.
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