Beer Festival 21st-27th February 2005

Our third beer festival took place from Monday 21st February to Sunday 27th February.

Beers

Arundel - Wet Willie 4.0% (Sussex)

A pale, golden medium-bodied beer with a distinct hop character. light juicy and hoppy with citrus. Clean and light with a crystal malt body.

Atlas - Blizzard 4.7% (Argyll)

Atlas Brewery's winter beer, Blizzard, is a rich golden 4.7%, with a distinct warming spiciness and a dry hoppy aftertaste. The beer is brewed with a combination of four different malts and three different hops - providing a rich, sophisticated balance of different aromas and flavours to tickle the tastebuds and warm the toes through the winter months.

Atlas - Nimbus 5.0% (Argyll)

A well-balanced yellow/golden beer. Dry and fruity at front, becoming slightly astringent with lasting fruit and a pleasant dry finish. resembles the famous Kölsch beers of Cologne: pale in colour, soft in mouthfeel, but strong in alcoholic content. This beer has a rich, warming hop and a memorable malt character.

Buffy's - Polly's Folly 4.3% (Norwich)

A mid-brown beer with a clean, well-defined feel. The initial aroma is of malt softened by a touch of peach. The initial taste, however, is of a clear bitterness that will hold to the end with little loss of character. A good helping of hops gives a dryness that grows as the malt subsides quickly, as does the gentle toffee-like sweetness.

Bunces / Stonehenge Ales - Great Bustard 4.8% (Salisbury)

The colour is deep amber with a red hue derived from the head brewers' unique composition of ingredients.

Coach House - Dick Turpin 3.9% (Warrington)

With a full toffee-like palate the beer has a mellow hoppy nose and smooth aftertaste. It has an exceptional appearance in the glass.

Crouch Vale - 3333 4.6% (Chelmsford)

This beer is Crouch Vale's 3333rd brew! Light brown in colour, this an aromatic beer.

Green Jack - Grasshopper 4.2% (Lowestoft)

An amber coloured beer with hoppy notes and a smooth fruit finish.

Green Tye - Merrymaker 4.6% (Hertfordshire)

Chestnut coloured premium bitter rounded with good hop and malt character. Fresh hop aroma and a smooth bitter finish.

Green Tye - Snowdrop 3.9% (Hertfordshire)

Light copper-coloured bitter. Flowery hop aroma and taste. Light, refreshing flavour, with a slight sweetness. A spring special.

Mighty Oak - Maldon Gold 3.8% (Essex)

Brewed using only Maris Otter pale malt for a light golden ale with biscuity malt flavour. Mount Hood and First Gold hops give a disctinctive citrus character along with a long dry bitter finish

Mighty Oak - Happy Hooker 4% (Essex)

A blond refreshing ale with both a floral and fruity aroma. A palate dominated by orange and grapefruit zest, balanced by a moderately sweet malt flavour and finishing with a dry aftertaste.

Mighty Oak - Jake the Snake 4% (Essex)

A very pale straw beer, a fresh hoppy aroma and taste and more tangy and fruity hops at the finish, ending hoppy and bitter. A golden beer. Aromas are floral, dry and fruity. Flavours are pears, floral and sweet pine hops with sulphur and some sweetness.

Milton - Aphrodite 3.8% (Cambridgeshire)

Pale hoppy session bitter, citrus notes - one of the Oakdale's most popular beers, never lasts too long on the bar.

Milton - Caligula 8.8% (Cambridgeshire)

Insane: pale and tasty, you'd never guess it was 8.8%: a perfect session beer for the seriously deranged.

Milton - Electra 4.5% (Cambridgeshire)

Golden colour, hoppy aroma, with a biscuity malt flavour balanced by a strong and lasting bitterness.

Milton - Jericho 4.8% (Cambridgeshire)

You'll fall down after a few pints. Pale for its strength with sherbet hints - very drinkable.

Milton - Jupiter 3.5% (Cambridgeshire)

A golden session beer with a delicate hoppy flavour leading to a satisfying bitter finish.

Milton - Mammon 7.0% (Cambridgeshire)

Hugely flavoursome, rich and warming - this dark and mysterious brew is the ideal beer for a chill winter evening. More flavour than can be reasonably fit into a pint glass!

Milton - Menelaus 3.9% (Cambridgeshire)

A dark nutty mild, back by popular demand after our last beer festival.

Milton - Minotaur 3.3% (Cambridgeshire)

Milton's ever popular rich and dark mild. Fruity and malty with with bags of character from the lavish use of chocolate malt.

Milton - Nero 5.0% (Cambridgeshire)

A deeply flavoured oat stout, one of the blackest beers around with a remarkable amount of flavour. One of our most requested beers at the pub.

Milton - Pegasus 4.1% (Cambridgeshire)

Complex copper-coloured beer. The initial hoppiness is balanced with a long fruity, malty finish. Very moreish. Former Champion beer of East Anglia.

Milton - Rasputin 7.0% (Cambridgeshire)

Byelorussian Stout

Milton - The Glory That Was Merv 4.2% (Cambridgeshire)

Hoppy bitter.

Mordue - Workie Ticket 4.5% (Tyne&Wear)

Complex, tasty beer with plenty of malt and hops. Long, satisfying bitter finish. Champion beer of Britain in 1997.

Nethergate - Brewers Drop 4.6% (Suffolk)

Clear deep tawny colour, with a red tinge. Biscuity cereal malt and caramel aroma. Earthy and slightly woody. Lots of licorice comes through on the very extended finish and aftertaste. Quite nicely balanced.

Nethergate - Sweet Chariot 4.6% (Suffolk)

A 6 Nations rugby themed beer. A premium bitter ale with an overall rich and satisfying finish.

Nethergate - Wild Fox 4.3% (Suffolk)

A delicious straw coloured ale, a disctinctive refreshing citrus palate leading to a well balanced flavour of malt and hops - made with stryian goldings and first gold hops.

Nottingham - Bullion 4.7%

A single malt beer with a delicate lightness which belies its strength and a multi-faceted triple hop finish.

Nottingham - Cock and Hoop 4.3%

Round on the palate with a citrus hop flavour and a crisp finish.

Nottingham - Legend 4.0%

Traditional, amber session ale with a flavoursome malt character and lively hoppy finish. A beer that will be talked about for generations!

Orkney - Dark Island 4.6% (Orkney)

Dark, beautifully balanced and full of roast, malt and fruit, and a hint of caramel. A sweetish taste leads to a long-lasting, roasted, slightly bitter finish. Full-bodied and deceptively drinkable. If beer was whisky, this would be it.

Orkney - Dragonhead Stout 4.0% (Orkney)

A strong, dark malt aroma flows into the taste in this superb Scottish stout. The roast malt continues to dominate the aftertaste, and blends with chocolate to develop a strong, dry finish. Hard to find - get it while it lasts!

Orkney - Northern Light 4.0% (Orkney)

A lager-coloured beer, hoppy and refreshing. Fruity hop notes can develop a true lager nose. A late copper hop that is intense without being cloying.

Red Squirrel - Gold 4.2% (Hertfordshire)

A full-bodied golden brown golden ale. Contains a large amount of pale coloured malts giving it a characteristic flavour.

Red Squirrel - IPA 5.0% (Hertfordshire)

Brewed in the traditional IPA style. Large lemony hoppy after taste from the Golding hops. Full-bodied malted wheat taste. A good session beer.

Tring - Darville's Winter Ale 4.2% (Hertfordshire)

A warming winter ale with a reddish hue and a slightly sweet finish.

Tring - Old Shonks 4.5% (Hertfordshire)

Golden coloured ale with a fruity finish and a generous late hop.

Tring - Jack O'Legs 4.2% (Hertfordshire)

A combination of four types of malt and two types of aroma hops provide a copper-coloured premium ale with full fruit and a distinctive hoppy bitterness.

Wickwar - I.K.B. 4.5% (Gloucestershire)

Strong in multi-malt flavours, and very well-balanced to produce rich fruit flavours of cherry and plumb.

Wolf - Coyote 4.3% (Norfolk)

Citrus notes introduce this amber-coloured bitter. The first impression is of a distinctive mix of malt and bitterness side by side with a dry hoppiness. The flavours are distinctive but none is initially dominant. Bitterness holds up well as the other flavours quickly fade.

Ciders