Well, it's certainly a bit autumnal out there! The nights are growing longer, the days are shorter, the weather is, by and large, awful and we are mere days away from the end of British Summer Time, which means the clocks going back and an extra hour in bed (although just for the one day, contrary to popular belief). This time of year means, of course, the return of one of my beer-related highlights, the Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival held, for the third consecutive year, at the iconic Trent Bridge Cricket Ground. Once again, Amy and I would be attending, putting our drinking skills to the test and, in the case of this year especially, attempting, often unsuccessfully, to stay as dry as possible in the face of Mother Nature's best efforts to achieve the opposite. Join us now, for our walk through this year's event and discover what we learned, what beer we drank and where we go from here. This is the story of Nottingham's Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival 2023.
As seen above, this year's event took place from the 11th-14th October and we would, for the second year in a row, be attending on the Wednesday, the first day of the festival, primarily to have as much beer choice as possible before the most popular, and most outlandish, options run out. This year, we had the added advantage of procuring free tickets to the trade session, courtesy of work, and so we arrived at Trent Bridge shortly after 1pm, pleasantly surprised to see that the venue was already quite busy. It later transpired that the gates had been opened around half an hour early, such was the volume of people eagerly waiting to get in, as well as avoid the impending rain. Our tickets were scanned, we procured vouchers and glassware and, in no time, we were immersed into an afternoon of beery joy. First, a caveat. Readers of previous entries regarding the beer festival will be aware that I've previously come up with strategies in order to decide what to drink, be that alphabetically by brewery or by trying to only drink beers from breweries I was unfamiliar with, as was the case with last year's edition. This year though, I had no plan. I decided that I was going to drink whatever sounded interesting, or fun, or bonkers and Amy was of much the same mindset. Aided by this year's festival program, I would be picking and choosing beers based on descriptions and names, as our beery overlords intended.
The first beer at a beer festival can often be the hardest to choose. The advantage of arriving on the first day means first dibs at some of the more novelty offerings and I had already spotted my first beverage on the beer list for one of the brewery bars. First though, we headed to the key keg bar, returning again this year with an even wider choice and noticeably bigger crowd levels. Amy is a big fan of sour beers so wanted to check out the selection for her first beer of the day. In terms of layout, things had been tweaked again from last year, this time making full use of the concourse and Undercroft areas, as well as space inside the pavilion. The brewery bars had been slightly rearranged to prioritise space and reduce bottlenecks and this definitely seemed to have paid off. The crowds certainly seemed to flow much more smoothly. Sour beer procured, we headed over into the main marquee, where the majority of the beers were stationed, with a couple of brewery bars facing each other next to the main entertainment stage. It was from one of these bars that I would start my beer journey, beginning with what initially, and unintentionally, became a little bit of a local jaunt. My first destination was Blue Monkey, always a festival favourite, as much for their beers as for their novelty hats. The beer that I had my eye on was exactly the sort of thing that you only ever see at beer festivals, and usually for good reason. Chimply Blue (4.5%), was billed as being sweet and tart like blueberry crumble pie. What really caught my attention though was that it was described as being 'very, very blue'. Whilst this wouldn't be the first time I've had brightly coloured beer at a beer festival, I'm sad to say that I was left disappointed. The beer didn't really taste of anything and, aside from the novelty value, it really did nothing for me, other than turn my lips and teeth temporarily blue. The appearance of the beer reminded me of the drink you're given after a trip to the dentist. I'm aware that beer is subjective, and I'm fully expecting some people to disagree with me, but I had made a poor choice to start the day. I was hoping that my next choice would be a better one. Opposite the Blue Monkey bar, was the Castle Rock bar, relocated slightly from previous years. I thought it was only fair to say hello to my colleagues and have a beer whilst I was at it. It might sound biased but Castle Rock have made some cracking beers recently, and not just for the beer festival. One of these stood out, a collaboration with Sheffield legends Abbeydale. Agamemnon (5.6%) is a lemon and lime IPA with Motueka hops and named after one of the Council House's famous lions. This turned out to be a much better choice, being very sweet and citrusy but without being too overpowering.
My local preference would continue with the next beer. Following a stop for more tokens to see us through for at least the next couple of hours, Amy and I wandered back along the concourse, stopped again at the key keg bar and continued along to the Undercroft, where a large number of the brewery bars had set up shop. One of these was Langley Mill's Bang the Elephant, who had brought a whopping amount of beer with them. I was hoping to get my hands on their 5 a Day, a chocolate and orange stout, but this had been held back in reserve for the time being. Not to be deterred, I instead went for a beer that was a little outside of my comfort zone. Deez Nuts (4.8%) is a chocolate and peanut butter stout. Normally, this wouldn't have been something I would have gone for, due to my intense dislike of peanut flavours, but I'm trying to be a bit braver with my beer choices. In the end, I needn't have worried. The peanut butter was very subtle, allowing the chocolate to do most of the work. It was a very good stout and I enjoyed it immensely, whilst Amy and I chatted to the folk from Sneinton Cider Co. Before long, our glasses were once again dry and so a top up was required. We ventured back into the main tent, which by now had become very busy. People certainly seemed to be out earlier this year. Perhaps any lingering COVID uncertainty from previous years had long since passed. My next beer took me further north than I'd been so far and lured me in with the name alone. Big in Japan (4.1%), from Backlash in Prudhoe, Northumberland, is billed as a Northumbrian red ale packed with malt flavours. This did exactly what it said on cask. Malty, bitter and red in colour, it was a nice middle ground between the darker and lighter beers that I'd tried thus far. Unfortunately, we did witness a medical emergency whilst I was at the bar getting this beer but the volunteers and medical team acted quickly and professionally and the gentleman in question was quickly treated and seemed OK. By this point, the rain had started in earnest. Thankfully, the main marquee provided adequate cover, without the issues of leakage that were often the problem when the event was held at Nottingham Castle. Speaking of leakage, my glass appeared to have a hole in the bottom. That's the only way to account for how quickly my beer went down. Onto the next, it would seem! Another beer name had caught my eye and it would see me once again sampling the delights of a local brewery, this time that of Firerock in Sutton-in-Ashfield. Kill the Ghosts (4.8%) would be my next choice, an Irish dry stout, with deep, dark malts and a creamy head. This was great. No gimmicks, no adjuncts, just a proper 'stouty' stout. Amy was definitely not a fan and, though I did enjoy it, I don't think I could have had more than one.
We continued to shelter from the inclement weather in the main marquee for a little while, occasionally bumping into friends and colleagues and, following a toilet break, we pressed on through the beers. Following on from the bitter, malty monster of a stout I'd just had, I was craving something lighter. Just as well then, that I stumbled across Honey It's Going Down (4.3%), from Coalshed over in Caerphilly, Wales. This is a golden honey ale made with honey local to the brewery. It was sweet but not overly so. The honey adds a pleasant extra flavour without being too cloying or sickly. Sometimes honey beers can be a bit medicinal but not in this case. Amy and I had made our way around the main marquee a couple of times now and had fully gained our bearings so we took up a spot towards the far end, directly opposite the beer garden of the Trent Bridge Inn which stands nearby. Even in the rain, it certainly appeared as if we were having a much better time than the occupants of that particular pub, and that was even before we discovered the amazing beer that we had next. From Bedlington, Northumberland, Metalhead had brought two beers with them and we couldn't help but be drawn to Ozzy Crazy Train (5%). I can't imagine why we were so captivated by it....... This was an absolute belter. This is a hazy IPA, hopped with Simcoe. The flavours are orange, passionfruit, pine and apricot and it's bloody delicious! Amy went back for it multiple times. This had definitely been the best beer of the day so far and that's not even a shot in the dark. After a few minutes chatting with one of our friends, and beer festival regular, Dale, we made our way back over to the Undercroft, in search of the Magpie brewery bar. Amy wanted to try their new pumpkin spice latte stout, Basic Witch (4.7%), which was making its debut at the festival. It sounded intriguing, so it would have been rude for me not to have a go at it too. I liked this more than I expected to. The pumpkin flavour takes the edge off of the coffee which made it much more drinkable from my point of view. I'm not a huge fan of coffee flavours normally but when they don't dominate, I can get on board with it. Amy was a tad disappointed with it, as I think she expected a bit more of a coffee kick.
By this stage of the afternoon, we needed both food and more tokens. After stopping to chat with Warren, a good friend of ours, we made the most of our proximity to a van selling Greek food and shared a portion of delicious halloumi fries whilst sheltering under Amy's umbrella. Then we joined the queue for more tokens, reloaded and off we went, back into the fray. I was now in the mood to investigate some of the smaller batch breweries (150L or less) that were occupying the nano bar which, this year, had been unceremoniously rammed onto the end of one of the larger bars in the main marquee, instead of occupying a space all to itself. This again seemed to be to ease the flow of foot traffic and also meant that people had no choice but to walk past the nano bar if they were going in that direction. For my first choice of nano beers, I opted for Tommy Two Coats (5.5%), from Dungeon, a brewery based out in Hilton in Derbyshire. This was billed as a hybrid pale ale, made with a combination of American and English hops. This was reflected in the unique flavour profile. The US hops provide citrusy and tropical notes, balanced against the earthy, more biscuity flavours of their English counterparts. I do enjoy trying beers from small breweries as and when I can. You do discover things you weren't expecting. The same would be true of my next beer. From Sawley in Derbyshire, Birch Cottage had provided a trio of tipples for the nano bar, one of which, Green Machine (5%), had caught my eye. This proved to be an unfined, hazy IPA, hopped with Mosaic, Chinook and Nelson Sauvin. All in all, it was hoppy and citrusy with a clean and refreshing finish. We had now navigated our way back round to the other side of the main marquee, close to the toilets, where we bumped into Rishi and Alice, who we hadn't seen for ages. We spent a while catching up on things and I accidentally volunteered to be added to a football team WhatsApp group, despite the fact that I haven't played for quite a while, no longer have any boots and, this is the important one, am grossly unfit and have bad knees. I blame the beer. Speaking of which, my next choice was another collab and again featured local breweries. It would also be the only time all day that I would repeat a brewery. Morgan Brewmasters from Melbourne, Derbyshire have teamed up with Bang the Elephant to produce Elephant in the Vaults (5.7%), a rhubarb and raspberry wheat beer. This could have been overly sweet and sickly but it was actually really tasty. The slightly spicy notes of the wheat base were a good compliment to the harsh acidity of the fruit. It was lovely and I would have had another one had another beer name not lured me in. Try as I might, I could not ignore Witchfinder General (5.5%), from Staffordshire's Kinver. As you might have guessed, this was a dark beer, specifically a porter. Very good it was too. Dark, heavy and as mysterious and intimidating as the man after whom it was named.
We fancied another walk at this stage, so once again we made our way down into the Undercroft where I was looking to try something from the brewery bar of Ampersand. After perusing their wares, I settled on Pulpit (5%), a pale ale with UK Cascade and Olicana as its hop profile. Though I've had Ampersand beers before, I rarely see them in Nottingham as they're based in Diss, Norfolk. This was a perfect example of their craft. Well-balanced with citrus notes and hoppy aromas, leading to a dry finish. The finish was certainly drier than the weather was and we took our time wandering back to the main area, using the overhang of the Bridgford Road Stand as cover. Conveniently, this area also hosted a small number of local brewery bars, including Lenton Lane, whom we get on very well with in both personal and professional capacities. I decided it was high time to go and say hello and also to treat myself to their wonderfully named To Be Confirmed (4.9%), a smooth American IPA with big doses of both Citra and Mosaic. It's no exaggeration to say that I've never had a bad beer from Lenton Lane and it was nice to be able to show support for their product in a place like this. Shout out to Jack and Scott for being genuinely great lads! We were beginning to flag a little bit now but that didn't stop us from joining in with a singalong to Tequila (The Champs, not Terrorvision version), being played by one of the live acts as we returned to the main tent. With only a few tokens left each we decide that we'd probably manage two or three more beers apiece before we called it a day. To that end, I decided on Paul's Pistachio Porter (4.5%) from Coach Brewing out of Bridgend. This was primarily because I am both a sucker for alliteration and also still trying to determine whether or not I like pistachio. I liked this well enough. It was dark and smooth and the pistachio did add an extra layer of complexity. Maybe I am coming around to it as an ingredient. I'm certainly expanding my palate when it comes to dark beers, as my penultimate choice would prove. Brolly Brewing, from Horsham in West Sussex, were a completely new brewery to me, as was their S'mores Like Yer Dad (5.9%), a marshmallow and chocolate porter made with real marshmallows. Despite the strength, this was sweet and very drinkable, with the marshmallows adding a fluffiness that made a welcome dent in the oomph provided by the chocolate and the associated bitterness. I really liked this beer, even if I didn't completely understand the name. The time had come. The last beer of the day was upon us. To round things off for another year, I went for a light beer from a brewery I've got a lot of time for, namely Burning Sky and their Fallow (5.8%). Hopped with Ahtanum, Simcoe and Mosaic, this is a hazy and juicy IPA that boasts big citrus zest flavours and an abundant fruitiness. It was a good way to finish what had been another very good beer festival. Final beers consumed and last minute toilet trips achieved, we made our way out of the ground to catch the bus.
On our way home, we reflected on this year's festivities. It's clear that the organisers have gotten the hang of holding the festival at the cricket ground, after the teething problems of the first year and refining of last year. Trent Bridge is coming into its own as a venue for this event and, as it looks likely to be hosting it for the foreseeable future, this can only be seen as a good thing. Overall, the new layout for this year certainly made things more efficient and made the site more navigable. One pet peeve was that this year's branded glassware was only given out once the public session started at 4pm, which meant that those of us who attended the trade session had to make do with reused glassware from previous years. This is likely down to glass shortages in general and is a minor quibble in what was otherwise another fantastic event. The longer this event continues, and the longer I attend, I find it hard to remember what it was like at the Castle. Although it is still a shame that it was unable to continue in what was an historic and atmospheric location, Trent Bridge can be seen as a very good alternative. Certainly, it has more soul and more atmosphere than the big cavernous spaces afforded by the Motorpoint Arena during its brief spell as host. I would say that, for the first time since the festival left the Castle, this year felt like the organisers got almost everything right. Now, if they could only fix the weather........
Beer of the Day: Metalhead: Ozzy Crazy Train. The fact that Amy went back for this multiple times and it's the beer that still sticks in my mind tells you all you need to know.
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