This was my 3rd consecutive trip to one of the UK's largest and most popular beer festivals, itself celebrating its 40th anniversary. Accompanying me on this year's adventure was a fine cast of close people: Amy (obviously), Matt (who journeyed up from Bristol), Sarah, Emili and Chris from work who was experiencing his first trip to Nottingham's finest beer fest. The day was dry and warm for the time of year as we began the day the way that every beer festival should begin: with a Wetherspoons breakfast and a fortifying pint. Once we had eaten our fill, it was time. Clutching our tickets and with anticipation and excitement etched on every face, we joined the not unimpressive queue outside Nottingham Castle and waited patiently for the gates to open. Finally, just before 11am, the gates were opened and we were in!
The first task was receiving our tokens upon entry which was a quick and easy job and Matt and I relished in receiving extra tokens due to having our CAMRA membership cards. With our tokens and commemorative glasses at the ready, we were all set to begin the days festivities. We decided to begin at the bandstand area in one of the smaller marquees set up for the event. The tough task at any beer festival is working out which beers to try and in what order. My tactic is always beers with interesting names and/or interesting ingredients. Chris and I were instantly rewarded in this respect, thanks to some helpful questions from another festival goer, a girl who had asked for a 'girlie beer'. She was recommended a beer that Chris and I ended up partaking in as our first for the day, Golden Bounty from Sperrin a brewery based in the Warwickshire village of Ansley. This ended up being an excellent choice to start the day. At 4.8% this is a summer ale with hints of chocolate orange, coconut and white rum. It's a superb mix with the orange to the fore and the rum obvious underneath. This first beverage was enough to spur us all on.
Matt, Amy and Emili had started the day on cider, with Matt and Amy opting to begin on Wilkins, a cider from Matt's neck of the woods that packs quite a punch. We made a group decision to make our way up to the main marquee or, as I call it, heaven. Chris was overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the event, something that I can relate to from my first visit. As I was drinking 3rd pint measures, I was already in need of further refreshment and, after further perusal of what was to offer, I went for a beer from Three Kings, based in North Shields. Devil's Advocate (4.3%), as well as being excellently named, is an English pale ale with delicate, mint, grass and floral hop tones. It's certainly very refreshing and everyone is starting to get into their stride as we head outside to enjoy the sunshine whilst it lasts. Chris and Matt had already started on heavier beers such as porters and Emili was hitting the higher ABV beers, no doubt influenced by her job at BrewDog. My next choice of beer for the day was a foray into the realms of darkness, something I've been getting more use too on my recent excursions. From the Summer Wine brewery in Holmfirth, my next beverage was Teleporter (5%), a rich, dark and creamy porter. This was surprisingly drinkable for a heavy beer and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Upon returning from this trip to the bar and once again congregating outside, we came across something marvellous. A gentleman near to our group was drinking green beer. Green beer! Green! Beer! Naturally, we had to find out where this had come from so Chris made some enquiries and we were informed that it came from one of the brewery bars. The search was on! Frustratingly, we didn't appear to be able to find where this unusual concoction was, until Chris and I decided to apply a reverse psychology approach. Needless to say, as soon as we stopped looking for it, we quickly located it. Brewed by Worksop brewery Hale's the beer was being served from a bar shared with Grafton brewery. At 4.6%, the beer is a special brew to celebrate the festival's 40th birthday. Called We're Firkin 40, it is a medium hopped beer with its characteristic green colour making it a surprise hit. It's really easy to drink and the subject of much discussion amongst our group as well as other festival goers.
The day was progressing well by this stage and we were all thoroughly enjoying this year's visit. My decision to drink only thirds was a good one as it meant that I had more vouchers left than anyone else already. I decided to give up another couple on an interesting sounding beer from a relatively local brewery. Attracted by the name, I went for a beer called Lost Time from Torrside brewery in New Mills, Derbyshire. All of the brewery's beers are vegan friendly and this particular one is a 4.8% wheat beer made with trans-Atlantic hops. It's traditional cloudy appearance is matched by its sweet, smooth flavours. I'm a big fan of wheat beers so this was something of a treat. We were waiting for Sarah and her housemates Dom and Sam to arrive so, for the time being, we stayed put in the main marquee. We had only been here for a couple of hours or so, so we knew there was still plenty of time. I had already decided upon my next beer as I had spotted it earlier as was immediately intrigued by it. Brewed by Mid-Glamorgan's Hopcraft brewery, Spanish Main (5.9%) is a Jamaican stout with heaps of piratical character stemming from its base ingredient of rum. I'm definitely getting a stronger taste for dark beers and this would become a bit more of a theme throughout the day. Sarah and co had arrived by now, so we decided, after a brief break to regroup and recuperate, to head back down to the lower bars again. The bandstand was in the process of being set up for the day's entertainment. This happened to be directly opposite the tent that was being operated by Castle Rock. With that in mind, it seemed rude not to check out what they were offering. With Halloween around the corner, I couldn't help but ask for Most Haunted (4.4%), a porter brewed with pumpkin and spices. It has a very festive feel to it and the sweetness of the pumpkin is balanced nicely with the spicy infusion.
We hung around in this area of the site for a little while as we were enjoying the atmosphere of the open air. My next incursion into the smaller marquee reintroduced me to a brewery I am familiar from a couple of excursions, most recently my Cardiff trip. Heavy Industry is based in Henllan in Clwyd and I was immediately drawn to their Freak Chick (4.5%), a red, malty brew with an earth, spicy and zesty character. It was upon retrieving this particular beer that I bumped into people I was not expecting to see, namely Jade's mum, stepdad and brother. Thankfully, the atmosphere was jovial, there was no awkwardness and everyone was pleasant. We regrouped outside of the tent and decided that more food was probably a good plan. Sam opted for a Cornish pasty (his first ever!) whilst Chris and I were tempted by an authentic bratwurst which was an excellent decision. Refuelled, it was time for yet more beer and I was drawn to the offerings from Q Brewery, out of Queniborough in Leicestershire. I opted for the 1630 (5.5%), a strong, dark ruby ale bursting with fruit flavours. We were all in the mood for another walk at this point so we wandered back up to main marquee and gathered near to one of the side entrances, where conversation turned to experiences with mental patients as both Sarah and Matt swapped stories from their respective jobs in mental health care. There are some things that should not be shared!
I made a conscious effort to sample a few local breweries at this year's festival and I'd already managed a few before I got to Milestone, based at Cromwell. Intrigued by the name, I opted for the Springbok (5%), a collaboration brew with Robson's of Durban in South Africa. It was certainly a delicious coalition of flavours and nations and well worth 2 beer tokens. I took a gamble on my next beer and went further afield and significantly stronger with Stockport's Deluded IPA (6.5%), a classic IPA with a generous blend of US hops which give this a heady, fruity kick. Casual conversation was in full swing amongst the posse although it had thankfully moved away from slightly distressing workplace stories. Instead, we were all embroiled in general catch up stories and relationship chat. There was then a mutual decision amongst myself, Amy and Emili to have a crack at the offerings from Blue Monkey, who had a bar set up in the corner of the main tent closest to where we were currently located. As tempted as I initially was by their Big Blue, I instead went for the weaker Junior Ape (4.4%), a pale ale with an assertive profile of American hops and big flavours.
I was already well into a newly purchased set of tokens having exhausted my initial supply so the task now was to find interesting beers on which to spend them. Having had a break to go back to paler beers, it felt like the right time to move back to the dark side of the beer spectrum. This quota was filled nicely by Madhouse from Worksop's Double Top brewery. At 5.2%, this is a modern style porter, silky smooth with hints of coffee. The flavour is intense and delicious and certainly maintains my feelings that dark beers can be very good indeed. The time had come to move on again and the festival was now very busy so we wandered back down towards the bandstand where a very good covers band were halfway through their set. We needed beer to accompany the music so Matt and I made a dive back into the marquee for some further liquid sustenance. I was drawn to Twisted Dragon (5.8%) from Wrexham's Sandstone brewery. This is a premium ale with 5 hops, giving it a truly unique flavour.
Following a good old sing along to, amongst others, Mustang Sally, Sex on Fire and Livin' on a Prayer and with the evening drawing in, we were content to stay in the same place for the foreseeable future. A stone's throw away was the bar of another local brewery, Nottingham Brewery. Deciding it couldn't hurt to look at what was on offer, I had a quick peruse and discovered a couple of beers that I was unfamiliar with. One of these, Spoon & Arrow, ended up being my next choice. This is a hoppy, malty golden ale with a modest strength of 4.5% and very refreshing. The next band had begun by this point and we watched with amusement as we tried to figure out whether they were as good as their predecessors before deciding that this was not the case. Still with some vouchers left, I had plenty of time to pick my next beverage, eventually settling for Rocky Mountain from Shropshire's Big Shed brewery. At 4.8%, this is an American-style pale ale, one of the 'in beers' of the moment with an emphasis on big hop flavours and fruity finishes. The sun was going down by now and the night was getting chilly but thankfully there were enough people around that nobody felt particularly cold. The best designed bar of the festival was definitely that of Fun Fair brewery with its steampunk theme and costumes and a steam-powered meat smoking machine. It was certainly quirky and an interesting change from the marquees and caravans seen elsewhere on the site. Their beer is good too and I was able to partake in Ghost Train (5%) a very dark, scary but tasty stout.
By now, we were all beginning to feel a bit worse for fear, mostly through tiredness than through alcohol consumption. The crowd was the biggest it had been all day but, for now, we weren't deterred and I picked an absolute belter for my penultimate beer of the day. From the Dewsbury based Partners brewery, Tabatha (6%) is a Belgian-style tripel beer, fruity with hints of coriander and bloody gorgeous! Time was ticking on and we'd been here for around 8 hours by this stage. With only a couple of vouchers left and a number of the group beginning to flag, the remainder of us decided to make our departures. Emili, Sam and Dom had already left so Amy, Chris, Sarah, Matt and myself began to head for the exit. I still wanted a final beer. 'One for the road' you could say, and I found it in a beer with an apt title: Stark Reality from the Reality brewery based, I was surprised to learn, in Chilwell. At 4.5%, this is a nice amber bitter with a good malt and hop balance. It was certainly a good climax to the day and, thoroughly impressed with the day as a whole, we made our weary way out.
This year's Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival was again an enormous success. Much beer was drunk, friendships were cemented and much fun was had by all. The thing that is always wonderful about this event is the fantastic atmosphere, the sheer quantity of people, all there for the same reason and, most importantly the scale of the thing with an unprecedented range of beers of all kinds, of high quality and significant quantities. 40 years on, the momentum shows no signs of slowing. Long may this and other events continue to fly the flag for the real ale movement and long may we all have the privilege of enjoying these for years to come. I don't intend to miss one for as long as I live. Praise goes to all of the breweries, the hundreds of staff and volunteers and, more than that, all of the visitors who made the effort to ensure that the festival is still going strong after 40 years. As a wiser man than me once said, 'If you build it, they will come'. Point definitely proven.
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