One Village, Six Pubs, Four Days

Long Itchington Beer Festival, May 2008

What better way is there to spend a warm spring bank holiday Saturday than drinking beer outside a series of pubs in a picturesque Warwickshire - aka the Long Itchington Beer Festival? Exactly, nothing. So we did.

Saturday 3rd May 2008 was a great day. We met at Solihull station for a train to Leamington Spa, and from there a local coach to the village. The return journey offered an early departure, or a full day option. We should use this approach more often.

Who went? Well, some of the usual faces, some of their friends, and a load of new people... our organiser Ian Edwards has clearly done a great job promoting the trip and I look forward to their report on the day. The formula was simple, it was like a mini pub crawl, you could stay and sample another beer, or move on, and usually bumped into someone from the party at the next pub, or they caught us up. Our paths kept crossing, which was very sociable, without any rush to move on or having to wait. This was probably just as well as some of the pubs only had limited numbers of pumps and staff and were perhaps not quite ready for the rush.

We started at one end of the village at The Cuttle, odd as it looked closed from the road, but the door facing the outside seating and the canal was open. Adnams Bitter and Wyre Same Again were both good and samples were offered. Others found the service very slow. From here we could see our next target across the canal - the Two Boats.

This had a wider range of beer - but an odd queuing system that made it hard to get to the bar; still the seating outside in the sunshine by the canal was very pleasant and the weekend felt as though it was in full swing. Due to a changing of the casks (aside from the regular beers) we started with some Cropton Monksmans Slaughter (6%) which I really enjoyed, but you can't do that for long, so next was some Elland Nettlethrasher, also very good. This pub majored on beers with quaint and amusing names.

Next came the Duck on the Pond, overlooking... the village pond. Idyllic setting, again nice seating outside (by the car park)... but you can't order the food for an hour (at least) one of the guests was off, the other guest was St Austells Tribute - now this is a good beer, but why 5 pumps offering Courage and Bombardier - are they taking this beer festival seriously, or are they just cashing in on the other pubs' hard work?

Time to cross the village pond... to a pub which does not appear in the GBG, but should do. Apparently a newly renovated derelict building, we were greeted by more beers than pumps, service with a smile (and a sample) and they were all real guests (not fancy names for the tourists, nor the same old ones you see everywhere). We had arrived at the Buck and Bell. We ordered some food (good value and well cooked) and were planning on sharing a large table with another group by the road when the landlord found us a table in a shaded area. He had been masquerading as a punter with a pint in his hand, clearly keeping an eye on things and it showed in both the service (more samples) and beer choice and quality. Beers: Sadlers Golden Gremlin and Oakham JHB... we wanted to stay, but it was only fair to try the other pubs in the circuit; we vowed to return.

The Harvester was next - this was a strenuous three minute walk and it nearly rained on us. This is in the GBG and I enjoyed a Cherwell Valley - Cropredy Bridge 1664 which worried me, but no relation of the cold fizzy one, and was named after the battle. The pub is definitely a village local. The beer range did not seem that great, but I missed a trick (draught Budvar dark which I would have liked to try) and others who returned later said the range kept changing all day - so they were obviously doing something right and it explains why they are in the GBG.

Last, on the first lap, was the Green Man at the far end of the village: Enville Nailmaker mild (well, you have to now and again) and a Goffs White Knight. This was the first pub to serve a duff pint - the end of the cask - pity they handed it over without noticing, but swapped it without question (it had just run dry). Plenty of seating outside in the sunshine and a pig roast was laid on. I can see this being a popular local on a summer's evening.

As promised, we returned to the Buck and Bell - clearly the best choice of beer, welcome and beer quality for me. We found some space inside - there were numerous rooms of different styles which is nice to see in a new business - and bumped into some other members of the party we hadn't seen for a few hours. Tried a few more beers between us: Blackwater Zulu (which someone raved about - just shows why we need variety) Exmoor Gold - it truly deserves its reputation and was on excellent form - Roosters Yankee (also very good, but what a contrast, see what I mean?) Time to buy a festival glass and go home.

A great day out, many thanks to Ian who had organised it. The Buck and Bell a clear winner, several other pubs with good beers - and it all worked well because they had joined forces for the weekend. Must do it again next year.

Robert Cawte