Another excellent beer-filled weekend. On Saturday, Jo and I visited the inaugural Harpenden Beer Festival. The festival proved to be extremely popular throughout the weekend with a fantastic array of beers kept in fine condition. Jo, who has recently started drinking bitter shandies after years of protesting a dislike of beer, did me proud and ordered a couple of halves of ale entirely off her own back. Between you and me, internetters, I think she’s starting to like it…
We finally got round to adding Jo to my CAMRA membership (at a cost of £5 a year, saving £3 entry to each beer festival plus the various other benefits) and she was given beer vouchers to the value of £5 to be used at the foreign beer bar. Daunted and unsure what to order (and I’m not much help with Belgian beers, either) she plumped for a Brasserie Cantillon Kriek – a Lambic beer – due to my looser-than-I-thought translation of ‘kriek’ as ‘cherry’. Meanwhile, I played it safe by ordering a Aecht Schlenkerla Märzen Rauchbier – a type of German smoked beer which I tend to plump for when I’m in Germany. Wendy, who was running the bar, very kindly offered to replace it with a sweeter beer if Jo wasn’t keen on the tartness of Lambic beers. Surprisingly, she did like it, so Wendy bought her another one anyway! Many thanks to Wendy for her generosity and time in speaking with us and sharing her vast knowledge of foreign beers.
Highlights of the festival, for me, have to be the Great Oakley Wagtail – always a firm favourite of mine – and the Buntingford Polar Star – again, not a new beer on me but in fantastic condition at the festival and most refreshing in the heatwave!
On Sunday, we visited Jo’s nan and came back via The Three Hammers in Chiswell Green, which we’d had recommended for good food and beer. Unfortunately, there was an hour’s wait for food and we had to be at Ampthill before long, so we had a quick half of Golden Sheep before heading off on our way.
This week’s Thursday social for South Beds CAMRA is in Slip End. We’ll be starting at the Frog & Rhubarb at 8:30pm before heading on to the Rising Sun. Please do join us if you’re in the area.
