Last night I died and went to heaven. Well, Falmouth actually. It was the "sponsors night" of the 2008 Falmouth Beer Festival and my mate (Graham who happens to run my local) and myself were guests of Skinners Brewery, one of the sponsors. Even better than that the owner himself, Steve Skinner, very kindly picked us up, gave us unlimited beer tokens to sample as many ales as possible, and took us home again afterwards! Result!
After picking up the larger-than-life-itself Betty Stogs on the way, (the great Fred Thomas in drag - top bloke, er, bird, er...) we headed towards the Falmouth Princess Pavillion - venue for the best annual beer fest in the county.
It was hugely busy and we just gaped at the vast amount of ales surrounding us. Beer heaven. Tasting glasses and programmes in hand we steadily, and then not-so-steadliy made our way around the different regional sections (Cornish ales, Up North ales, Down South ales, Celtic beers etc).
Sophie, Graham's Skinners account manager, kept us topped up with beer tokens. Whilst sampling the lovely Scotts 1816 from Copper Dragon I seem to remember that Andrew Ridgeley (for it is he, a keen CAMRA member apparently) did try to jokingly blag some of our tokens from Sophie but to no avail - she was far too loyal to us!
In the table below I've listed most of the beers we tried with the official ale festival description followed by our own comments made on the night. I think that we've created a new beer rating scale as you'll see. The late, great beer writer Michael Jackson would turn in his grave!
By the way, big thanks to Steve Skinner for a great evening!
| Beer Name | Official Tasting Note | My Tasting Note |
|---|---|---|
| Blackawton Cornish Gold (4.1) | Light golden ale fruity with a hint of vanilla. | Gold, bit bland. |
| Coastal - Golden Hind (4.3) | Classic style of India Pale Ale using four different varieties ofhop. | Ace! |
| Penzance Brewing Co - Gopher Gold (4.9) | Light golden hoppy ale brewed with lager hops. | Good. |
| Ventnor - Pistol Night (4.4) | Flowery hoppy bitter. | Shite! |
| Church End - Vicar's Ruin (4.4) | Straw coloured with initial bitterness softening to a delicate maltfinish. | Bit farmy. |
| Copper Dragon - Scotts 1816 (4.1) | Well-balanced copper coloured bitter with a dry hoppy finish. | V nice. Andrew Ridgley! |
| Kelham Island - Pale Rider (5.2) | Full bodied straw coloured pale ale fruity hoppy with a wellbalanced finish. | Little bitter. Nice though. |
| Woodlands - Bees Knees (4.5) | Light coloured beer laced with honey. | Honey. Got better. |
| Purple Moose - Snowdonia Ale (3.6) | Golden refreshing bitter with citrus fruit hoppiness in aroma andtaste. | Ace! |
| Barum - Breakfast (5.0) | Smooth tasting premium ale. | Nutty shite. |
| O'Hanlons - Port Stout (4.8) | A black stout with added port. Winner of many medals. | Lovely Jubbly. |
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