The Green Goblin Blog

Time	Brewer	Beer	Strength
6:35	Hammerpot	Meteor	3.8%
6:45	Goachers	Silver Star	4.2%
7:05	Abbeydale	Moonshine	4.3%
7:25	Everards	Sunchaser	4.0%
7:52	Dark Star	Festival	5.0%
8:20	Beartown	Ginger Bear	4.0%
8:45	1648	Triple Champion	4.0%
9:20	De Troch	Banana	3.5%
9:40	Rother Valley	Level Best	4.0%
9:50	De Trock	Fraises	3.5%

So less than 5 pints as the fruit beers were only 250ml bottles.

The festival must have started running out after 9pm. When I returned to the main hall to get a drink after spending a while in the foreign beers/cider/games room, I was surprised to see so many dead barrels - maybe 90% - with still over an hour to go. Luckily I was leaving early for the train back to Reading.

With my remaining tokens I did buy a 330ml bottle of Hoegaarden Grand Cru to take away for the train journey back. Fortunately, I decided against consuming this 8.5% brew and will save it for another day.

Labels: Beer, Portsmouth

I wanted to go for a theme to the beers I was drinking at the festival instead of just random choice. The first beer that caught my eye was Buffy’s “Norwegian Blue” so I went for a Monty Python feel. Unfortunately I quickly discovered that no other beers or brewers had names that gave themselves. Now a Norwegian Blue is a famous parrot so maybe birds would be a better choice? Highgate’s “Pheasant Plucker” was a refreshing half but Rooster’s “Hooligan” was a no-show at the festival. Hawkshead’s “Lakeland Gold” was not a great drink and Conniston’s “Conniston’s  Bluebird” did not have a barrel available. Goose Eye’s “Pommies Revenge” seemed to be the last beer on-track so I decided to extend my theme to include land animals (Nelson - "Powder Monkey", Everard’s "Tiger", Irvine’s "Frigate" (another bird) and Grainstore’s “Rutland Panther”.

"Fossil Fuel" from the Isle of Purbeck brewery is obviously included as fossils can be from animals - inspired or what?

And Ossett's "Beijing Gold"? Well, Beijing is the name for what we used to call Peking and Peking Duck is a bird - see, it all makes sense.

No, I can't explain the addition of Irvine’s "Captain Buggernuts".

Time	Brew	ABV
6:44	Buffy’s – Norwegian Blue	4.9%
6:56	Highgate – Pheasant Plucker	4.1%
7:13	Hawkshead – Lakeland Gold	4.4%
7:26	Goose Eye – Pommie's Revenge	5.2%
8:01	Irvine – Captain Buggernuts	5.3%
8:24	Nelson - Powder Monkey	4.7%
8:46	Ossett – Beijing Gold	4.4%
9:18	Everards – Tiger	4.2%
9:47	Isle of Purbeck – Fossil Fuel	4.1%
10:00	Irvine – Frigate	?
10:22	Grainstore – Rutland Panther	3.4%

 

Labels: Beer, Portsmouth

6:50 - Dark Star Espresso Stout (4.2%)
7:05 - Enville Chainmaker Mild (3.6%)
7:17 - Hook Norton Hooky Bitter
7:33 - Bowman Quiver (4.5%)
7:53 - Coach House Gunpowder Strong Mild (3.8%)
8:03 - Cottage Brewery Best Bitter (4.6%)
8:28 - Cottage Brewery Norman Conquest (5.0%)
8:49 - Stumpy's Brewery Grumpy Stumpy (4.5%)
9:07 - Butcombe Gold (4.7%)
9:33 - Ballard's Golden Bine (3.8%)
9:57 - Cottage Brewery Golden Arrow (4.5%)

Labels: Beer, Portsmouth

Labels: Portsmouth

I quite like the Spinnaker Tower - it looks very impressive and can be seen from miles away but I can see why some of the older members of my family are not so happy. Nobody was consulted as to if they actually wanted such a building and it was completed 5 years too late for the Millenium with a taxpayer bill of £11,000,000 after the councillors originally promised that every penny was to come from lottery funding. According to the BBC last year, "In 2004, council leader Leo Madden resigned over delays and spiralling costs, while a council legal adviser, Barry Smith, retired after being suspended on full pay."

A local person interviewed for the website said that she was "not really into that sort of thing" and would "rather have an Ikea here." So the tower is on the edge of a 500,000 square foot shopping complex and she feels that the continent-sized 8,000 square feet taken up around the tower's base would be better spent on a branch of IKEA. An Ikiosk, morelike.

But I'll conclude with a reference to the title. As my daughter and I were walking along the seafront we took various photos of the Tower but the best one was when we were hurtling around the Skyways at Clarence Pier. Even when we weren't taking photos of the Tower, it still managed to gate-crash the party:

Labels: Portsmouth

Another successful attendance at this year's Portsmouth Beer Festival - that's every one since 1983 and no sign of stopping  :-)

Only managed 9 halves - gone are the days of indecipherable beer notes in the programme and avoiding any drink under 4%. Nowadays I seem to be avoiding anything over 4.5% but then I am drinking with my dad.

7:06	Footslogger (4.4%)	Arundel (Arundel, West Sussex)	This was my first half of the night. The programme description said "golden, light and very refreshing beer, using Challenger hops to give a good bitter flavour and hoppy aroma." Definitely refreshing and the sort of pint you'd want after a hard day at work - would look out for it again.
7:17	Black Cat (3.4%)	Moorhouses (Burnley, Lancashire)	"Dark, refreshing beer with a distinct chocolate malt flavour and a smooth hoppy finish." Not sure about the supposed chocolate flavour unless by that they somehow meant burnt as that was the overriding taste for me.
7:35	Barm Pot Bitter (3.8%)	Goose Eye (Keighley, West Yorkshire)	For some reason the programme had this one as "Barn Pot" - not that the real title "Barm Pot" is in any way more sensible. "A good session bitter with hop and citrus flavour balanced by a malty base with a somewhat dry finish." Could smell the lemon here so have to agree.
7:53	Special (4.5%)	Young's (Wandsworth, London)	I don't normally buy beers at festivals from breweries that I can buy from at the local supermarket but I do like the Young's brand and the ram's head label design. Looks very different, modern and stylish - deceptively pagan, even - so "half a Special, please".
8:14	Powder Monkey (4.4%)	Nelson nee Flagship (Chatham, Kent)	Too late to make the programme but not the festival.
8:36	Golden Bine (3.8%)	Ballard's (Rogate, West Sussex)	"Golden in colour, with a light floral flavour and aroma."
8:53	Fruit Bat (4.5%)	Banks & Taylor (Shefford, Bedfordshire)	"Exciting, raspberry flavoured, hoppy cask-conditioned fruit beer." Does what it says on the tin - so much lovely fruity goodness that it must be healthy for you.
9:17	Explorer (4.3%)	Adnams (Southwold, Suffolk)	"Blond beer suffused with aromas of a grapefruit grove, with New World hops delivering its fruity bitterness." Well, with hops named Chinook and Columbus, definitely not Old World but don't recall any grapefruityness.
9:42	Slater's Top Totty (4.0%)	Eccleshall (Eccleshall, Staffordshire)	From an Inn with its own brewery - sounds like a great place to visit.

Labels: Beer, Portsmouth