Beer flows as festival promotes local real ales
Published Date:
18 September 2008
The beer glasses clinked, the ale flowed freely and around 3,600 pints were sunk when St Ives held its 30th beer festival.
The event was declared one of the best ever after a total of 1,400 thirsty folk walked through the doors of the Burgess Hall to sample an array of hop-based delights.
The CAMRA Booze on the Ouse event also saw a record number of Cambridgeshire and East Anglian brewers and cider makers serving up.
And, as tradition dictates at beer festivals, there was no shortage of ales with unusual or silly names.
Spud, an ale brewed by the new Son of Sid brewery at the Chequers in Little Gransden, proved to be one of the best sellers at the event. Other novelty named beverages included Nobby's Wild West, Potbelly Streaky, Phoenix Wobbly Bob and Cambridge Moonshine Blackhole Stout.
CAMRA organiser Paul Moorhouse, from St Ives, said: "One of my favourites was one called VIllage Idiot!
"The event was a real success. We were about one third up on last year.
"This year we have really tried to promote local breweries - about half the beers we had came from East Anglia, with about 15 from the immediate local area. We are really pleased about that as we want to really promote the local beers we have.
"Local beers are just as good as any that are about and the environmental benefit from reduced beer miles is obvious."
More than 56 real ales were ordered at the event and visitors were able to sample from a selection of real cask milds, bitters, porters, stouts, old ales, golden ales, wheat beers and speciality real ales flavoured with ginger, honey, coriander grapefruit and raspberries.
But it wasn't just beers that were on offer, but also ciders, foreign beers, wines and spirits.
Real draught ciders were available from new Huntingdonshire cider makers, Cromwell Cider and Ouse Valley Cider, and commemorative festival glasses were available for punters to take home.
Following the festival, which took place on Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday afternoon and evening, CAMRA is now taking steps to promote local breweries even further.
It is hoping to set up an accreditation scheme which pubs who sell local real ales can join.
Mr Moorhouse added: "We are hoping to introduce what we will call the Locale scheme which will allow pubs who sell local real ale to become accredited by it.
"We really want to promote local ales and this is a way to do it."
The CAMRA Huntingdon Branch is already setting its sights on organising next year's beer festivals for St Neots and St Ives.
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Last Updated:
18 September 2008 11:18 AM
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Source:
n/a
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Location:
Huntingdon