The market town of Newark-on-Trent grew up around the now-ruined Norman Castle, which sits on the bank of the River Trent, upon which the town is located.
The castle itself was besieged by Parliamentary forces during the Civil War and is the location at which King John died in 1216. Literally just across the river, is Riverside Park, the venue for this event and myself, Dean & Harriet arrived to find a long tent thronged with people with outdoor seating areas fenced into a single enclosure with food vans, cake stands and a stage also present. Oddly, the toilets were outside of the actual fenced-in area which made for some interesting issues which I will come to again later. With Newark Castle looming over the site from across the river it's a very attractive site to spend a few hours in the sun with friends and beer. Upon arrival, we paid our entry fee (£10 each with £2 refundable for a commemorative glass), accepted our tokens and I picked up a program which contained an extensive beer list. Tokens were allocated to 3 per person upon entry, with 9 tokens for CAMRA members (hooray for me!) and more tokens available to purchase within the festival. As the only ale drinker in our company I was very excited by what awaited me. 120 ales racked on both sides along both sides of the tent, arranged alphabetically by brewery. Dean is a real cider fan but he wasn't disappointed either with a large selection of cider and perry from across Britain, with a significant quantity from Somerset. After a few minutes perusing the extensive list of beers, I finally managed to reach a decision upon where I would start my journey. Prices were categorised as follows: 2 mini-tokens for 1/3 of a pint and 3 for 1/2. This rose to 3 and 4 respectively for brews above 5%. With this in mind, my first choice of tipple was Tricerahops from Wiltshire's Hop Kettle brewery. At 4.1%, this was a good place to start as it was a very fruity, triple-hopped, golden ale with an excellent all-round flavour and finish.
I mostly drank 3rds whilst I was there, largely because it enabled me to try more things without exhausting my supply of tokens too quickly. The only problem is that I did seem to be returning more beer quite often! Apparently 3rds don't last very long! As much as possible, I did my very best to slowly increase the ABV of the beers I drank as the day wore on so as to make the most of the flavours on offer. This was a good plan in theory but, this being the 2nd day of the festival, some beers had sold out so a hasty rethink was needed on occasion. My 2nd beer of the day was from my neck of the woods. The Wild Weather brewery is based in Silchester, Hampshire and my choice of their Stormbringer was wise indeed. This premium ale boasts well developed hop flavours and a very good all round taste. With a strength of 4.5%, this seemed like a good progression up. I followed this with a rare treat. Oxymoron is one of those strange beasts: a black IPA that had been dry hopped for extra flavour. This was surprisingly subtle for a beer of 5.5% and originated from Otley brewery in Pontypridd. So far, so good. I went back a step with my next choice. My original selection had run out so I switched to Cavendish from Welbeck Abbey. At a softer 5%, this was a strong blonde ale and barely touched the sides on the way down. At this point, a food break was required.
Heading out of the tent and back into the beautiful sunshine we decided to partake in some food from the on-site burger vans. I opted for a 1/2lb beef burger, Harriet opted for wild boar sausages in a cob, which I finished off and they were excellent. Dean decided on a venison burger, made better by the cheese apparently and we took a well deserved rest on some plastic seating whilst our food went down. Having made the rookie mistake of 'breaking the seal' on the way into the festival, I now needed another bathroom trip and this is where things got slightly ridiculous. I exited the tent, went to the toilet and then attempted to go back in, only to be forced to queue as there was now a '1 in, 1 out' policy in place due to the number of people. This was despite the fact that I was wearing a wristband that indicated that I had already paid and I saw other people being let back in whilst I was waiting. I understand that the security on site have a duty to adhere to the capacity guidelines and it might be I tried to go back in through the wrong side of the partition but it was a little frustrating. Thankfully though, I wasn't waiting for any longer than a couple of minutes.
Shortly, it was back to the beer and I had already earmarked my next choice: Sumo, from Market Deeping's Hopshackle Brewery. This is a golden, amber beer with an aroma and flavour brimming with hop resins. At 5.2%, it was very refreshing after the food and the queuing. By now, the tent was rammed with all manner of people and I was now onto my 2nd set of tokens, available for purchase at the price of 50p each. With my next choice no longer available, I settled for Benedictine Groove, an unusual concoction from Edinburgh's Elixir brew academy. This was unique with it's distinctive taste of smoked malt and a hint of tonic wine, all encompassed in a very dark beer with an ABV of 5.5%. I followed this with Sutherland, the latest Wicked Women beer from Brewsters. Whilst 4.8% is considerably weaker than my previous choice, it was well worth it. It was at this point that peer pressure persuaded me to try a taste of the strongest beer available over the weekend. Baz's Bonce Blower is a staggering 12.2% and I took a lot of persuading but eventually made my way over to the counter, only to find that it had all been sold the previous day. Not really a surprise and a lucky escape for me! Unperturbed, I went for an unusual choice instead; a mango, wheat beer called Wit Less II from Cheshire's Redwillow brewery. My gamble paid off and the beer was excellent, the fruity flavour and aroma balanced nicely throughout the 4.8% concoction.
With 3 tokens remaining and the sunshine and alcohol starting to have an effect, and myself running out of cash, I had the opportunity for one more half before we called it a day. I made the choice of an American-style pale ale called Old Colony from the 8 Sail Brewery in Heckington. At 5.3%, it did the job nicely and brought the day to a very good end. After ensuring that we had all of our belongings and that our commemorative glasses had been either refunded or safely wrapped up, we headed out and made our way back to the point from where Dean's mum was collecting us. It had been a very very good day and, from a personal perspective, a good insight into a proper beer festival. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I think everyone else did too. From a haunting perspective, the most well-known stories are confined to the nearby castle, with reports of stone throwing, strange flashes of light and disembodied footsteps. King John's spirit is believed to remain in the area where he died. Whilst these are not pub-related tales, Dean did share an interesting anecdote concerning the building that is now the Just Beer Micropub in the town. Back in the 1980's there was a case of kidnapping in which a one-legged kidnapper held a woman hostage in the flat above where the pub is now located. Although this is not a ghostly story, it is certainly a gruesome one as the perpetrator kept his unfortunate victim in a wheelie bin for a year, an event which would obviously have been very traumatic. There are other stories of ghostly happenings amongst the pubs of Newark and I will certainly be returning in future to investigate these and partake in their excellent beers. With this year's Newark Beer Festival done, I am resigned to visit again next year. If this year's is anything to go by, it will definitely be worth the effort!
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