I flew to the United Kingdom for only four, hop-filled letters: B, E, E, R. Though the country's beer culture isn't as renowned as Belgium's or Germany's, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to attend the annual beer festival in London: the 2011 Great British Beer Festival.
Hosted by CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale) in Earl's Court Convention Center, the festival exceeded my expectations in all regards. The beer was plentiful, diverse and tastier than expected, while the bartenders and attendees as friendly as your local neighborhood hole-in-the-wall.
I got to the festival on the fourth of five days; being a Friday, the place was packed from its noon opening until a couple new friends and I left some ten hours later. Along the way, I tasted brews from every corner of England. Organized by region, sixteen primary bars sprawled along the convention center's cavernous interior. Between them sat countless kiosks of food, beer literature, clothing and more bars, including some for the wine aficionados.
After finding my glass and guide, I started drinking. While sipping my first pint, I leafed through the guide and started to make sense of the beer madness and refine my goals. With about ten hours to sample England's finest brews, I decided to try at least one beer from each bar, rate them and crown a winner. The first step to making it through the day would be to stop taking full pints, so I opted for a half-pint at each stop.
All bars for the 2011 Great British Beer Festival were named after Medical heroes and coincided with this year's nominated charity, Sue Ryder Care. If you find this ironic, you're not alone. Heroes ranged from Dr Jenner, who developed the smallpox vaccine, to Dr Harvey, who was the first person to describe the human circulatory system, to Florence Nightingale, who came to prominence during the Crimean War.
It was tough to discern between the different ales and pick a winner, but after the most unscientifically-conducted taste-testing, I have my winners, by bar. I tried every kind of beer available and found each of them with their own merits, but the top three happened to be stouts from the Harvey Bar (Featuring Real Ale from Channel Islands, Cheshire, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Durham), Jenner Bar (Aberdeen & Grampian, Argyll & The Isles, Ayrshire & Arran, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cumbria) and Hastings Bar (South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Tayside).
Inevitably, as I shouldered up to the bars, I began the toughest part of my day: deciding which beer of twenty to drink. Again done in an extremely non-scientific way, I used an array of decision-making criteria: best name, most understandable description, most appealing logo, shortest line, cutest bartender, etc. Nowhere did titles such as "best beer" enter into the equation. Each half pint cost around $2.50 but well-worth it given the immense selection (which I believe was quoted at over 10,000 ales, stouts and ciders).
The beer quality was as diverse as the regions from which they came. Some were chocolaty where others were aromatic, spicy versus bland, filling against light, high alcohol content and low. There were even some American beers present that I didn't recognize (or stop to taste).
With new friends, a few musical acts and several bathroom and food breaks keeping my equilibrium somewhat straight, I made it out of the convention center a little more aware of British medical heroes and the beers representing them. After a premature underground ride back to the train station, I was on my way to my next destination: Amsterdam!
Ideally situated across from the underground, the convention center has hosted the event for over 20 years at least!
Hosted by CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale) in Earl's Court Convention Center, the festival exceeded my expectations in all regards. The beer was plentiful, diverse and tastier than expected, while the bartenders and attendees as friendly as your local neighborhood hole-in-the-wall.
I got to the festival on the fourth of five days; being a Friday, the place was packed from its noon opening until a couple new friends and I left some ten hours later. Along the way, I tasted brews from every corner of England. Organized by region, sixteen primary bars sprawled along the convention center's cavernous interior. Between them sat countless kiosks of food, beer literature, clothing and more bars, including some for the wine aficionados.
Food to the left, Beer to the right. I went right...
After finding my glass and guide, I started drinking. While sipping my first pint, I leafed through the guide and started to make sense of the beer madness and refine my goals. With about ten hours to sample England's finest brews, I decided to try at least one beer from each bar, rate them and crown a winner. The first step to making it through the day would be to stop taking full pints, so I opted for a half-pint at each stop.
New but Well-Used.
All bars for the 2011 Great British Beer Festival were named after Medical heroes and coincided with this year's nominated charity, Sue Ryder Care. If you find this ironic, you're not alone. Heroes ranged from Dr Jenner, who developed the smallpox vaccine, to Dr Harvey, who was the first person to describe the human circulatory system, to Florence Nightingale, who came to prominence during the Crimean War.
Dr Black would be proud of the tap-work!
It was tough to discern between the different ales and pick a winner, but after the most unscientifically-conducted taste-testing, I have my winners, by bar. I tried every kind of beer available and found each of them with their own merits, but the top three happened to be stouts from the Harvey Bar (Featuring Real Ale from Channel Islands, Cheshire, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Durham), Jenner Bar (Aberdeen & Grampian, Argyll & The Isles, Ayrshire & Arran, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cumbria) and Hastings Bar (South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Tayside).
The Gray Bar had some of the best variety early in the day.
Inevitably, as I shouldered up to the bars, I began the toughest part of my day: deciding which beer of twenty to drink. Again done in an extremely non-scientific way, I used an array of decision-making criteria: best name, most understandable description, most appealing logo, shortest line, cutest bartender, etc. Nowhere did titles such as "best beer" enter into the equation. Each half pint cost around $2.50 but well-worth it given the immense selection (which I believe was quoted at over 10,000 ales, stouts and ciders).
Another beginning to a beautiful beer!
The beer quality was as diverse as the regions from which they came. Some were chocolaty where others were aromatic, spicy versus bland, filling against light, high alcohol content and low. There were even some American beers present that I didn't recognize (or stop to taste).
With new friends, a few musical acts and several bathroom and food breaks keeping my equilibrium somewhat straight, I made it out of the convention center a little more aware of British medical heroes and the beers representing them. After a premature underground ride back to the train station, I was on my way to my next destination: Amsterdam!
My afternoon racing crew off to a good start!
Two of my favorites, Allen and Brenda, whom I ran into about a dozen times as they took a more methodical approach to beer tasting. Yup, that's all 10,000 beers, and they went down all of them, pointing out which they've not yet tasted. Great people and a fine example of studious drinking!
My evening drinking buddies, Haley and Bianca, posing with one of the dozens of lucky groups of guys they graced with their presence. If you had a funny hat, you got a picture with these two lovely ladies!
Through it all, the bands played on.
A friend posted that yesterday was International Beer Day. He has a much refined taste for beer, but I like your criteria. Short lines would be mine, too, or maybe artsy labels.
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