Yesterday was Day One of the Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court, London, and aside from the Rudgate Ruby Mild from North Yorkshire being named Champion Beer of Britain – perhaps furthering the ongoing if slow-moving renaissance of Mild in this country – there was plenty to taste and discover. Some notes:
- Obviously, more than a few beers caught my attention, but perhaps most impressive yesterday was the oddly named Pivo Estivo from the Kelburn Brewery of Strathclyde, Scotland. Bright gold, dry and citrusy, it is a gorgeous pint that made me want to sit back and sup a couple of pints.
- Standing out for all the wrong reasons was Buffy’s Norwich Terrier, of which the less said the better.
- It’s not exactly diet food, but the fare on offer at the GBBF continues to be of very high quality. I had a pork and stilton pie from The Crusty Pie Company that was absolutely outstanding.
- Back to the beer, my colleagues on this side of the Atlantic were seen in great numbers crowded around the American end of the foreign beer bar. Wonder why that was?
- And speaking of American beer, I’m off in a few hours to judge the final round of the foreign beer competition. I’ll let you know about that later on.