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Festival Reports Archive
Beer and Music at Rowington Club August 2006
It was a pity to see the change of landlord at the Rowington Cock Horse - I enjoyed the beer and music in August 2005, let's hope that the new landlord is as good at keeping the beer.
However all is not lost - CAMRA often tries to encourage private clubs to offer real ale - their members will appreciate it. Well, Rowington Village Club - as found on the old Solihull CAMRA site - was certainly worth a visit. They have started an August Bank Holiday beer festival to fill the gap left at the Cock Horse.
Sunday was warm and sunny - there was music and a pig-roast laid on, both good.
The beer was excellent - I started with a Purity Pure Gold - under 4% - and it was excellent after a 10-mile cycle ride to get there. (I THEN noted that it had won a silver medal - well deserved) I sampled a few more - all in good condition, with varying styles to suit differing tastes, and a couple of draft ciders that obviously met with approval. This isn't a 1-hit wonder either - I noted 4 real ales on tap in the bar.
The locals were very welcoming: an annual membership fee is a mere £10, but a day membership is £1.... or FREE to CAMRA members. I shall certainly go there again.
Robert Cawte
Reservoir Beer Festival August 2006
In the middle of August, Nigel and Elaine held an excellent beer festival at the Reservoir Inn, Earlswood. The beer was set up under canvas on the pub’s rear terrace on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th August, and several CAMRA members enjoyed their visit!
There was a good atmosphere with a pig roast all day and live music provided by popular Leicester band Roadkill, supported by Roger Dean & the Music Machine, himself a local CAMRA member. Younger children enjoyed the Wacky Warehouse whilst their Parents enjoyed a pleasant pint.
About 20 real ales were on offer, mainly from smaller regional breweries such as Caledonian, Butcombe and Wychwood. There were some pale hoppy beers ideal for Summer drinking including Coach House Green Bullet, Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted, Wye Valley Leggers and Mauldon Mid Summer Ale – some of these being ‘new seasonal’ brews.
The weather was rather unsettled and rain did it’s best to dampen spirits on the Saturday evening, but Sunday stayed dry. The slightly cooler conditions however ensured that the quality and condition of the beers was superb.
Congratulations and thanks to Nigel and Elaine for organising such an enjoyable event!
David Queenborough
7th Heaven for Discerning Drinkers September - October 2005
The 7th Solihull Beer Festival was held on 30th September to 1st October 2005, once again at the Royal British Legion Club, Solihull. A record 643 drinkers visited over 3 sessions, and enjoyed the specially selected brilliant range of ales on offer, and drank the festival dry by 10.00 pm on Saturday night.
Beers of the festival were (1) Roosters Eagle Eye (specially comissioned for the festival), (2) Hadrian's Gladiator, (3) Fernandes Top Withen and (4) Church End Pulpit.
Visitors included those from as far afield as Canada and Spain. 18 new members were recruited to CAMRA, 13 of them for Solihull Branch, taking our total membership to 285, another record high.
£110 was raised for our selected charity, Macmillan Nurses.
When Is a Beer Festival Not a Beer Festival? May 2005
No doubt for a nationwide Beer Festival lasting 2 weeks there will be a number of points of view. Here is one of them.
I visited the White Swan at 8pm on a Thursday evening during the Wetherspoon's May Beer Festival. There was a choice of 5 real ales: Marston's Pedigree & Marston's Burton Bitter (usual beers not part of the Festival), Cain's Mild, Jennings' Golden Host & Coach House Banoffee Bitter. To be fair, the Cains Mild was very tasty and in excellent condition. However by the time I had finished my first pint, the Jennings' and the Burton Bitter had both run out. Worse, we were told there would be no replacements that evening. Now I understand the tactic of not tapping a new barrel on a Thursday to keep it fresh for the weekend in a quiet country pub. However this was a town centre bar with over 200 people in. So we were left with the choice of a mild, a beer available everywhere, and a speciality beer tasting of banana and toffee, which although very nice isn't something you would want to drink all night.
To add insult to injury the bar was full of signs proclaiming it the Biggest Beer Festival in the country. The festival is supposed to promote 50 beers over the 2 weeks it is on. At this rate there will be plenty left in June.
Carl Wright
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