Whitehaven Beer Festival
Friday November 20th / Saturday November 21st

(Countdown - 350 days approx to the next one!)

Beer of the Festival - WC Brewery' s Gypsy's Kiss 4.1%

West Cumbria Beer Festival raises cash for RNLI



Generous beer lovers at West Cumbria CAMRA’s Beer Festival in Whitehaven raised over £300 for the lifeboats last weekend.

The annual beer festival is now a permanent fixture in the Whitehaven calendar, and went ahead on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st November despite the atrocious weather conditions and floods across many parts of West Cumbria.

Organiser Stephen Walker said, ‘Our attendance numbers were slightly down on previous years. As usual we had groups of people who travelled from across the north of England, and we were well supported by folk from Whitehaven, but understandably there were not so many visitors from other parts of West Cumbria.’

‘We had already selected the RNLI as our festival charity this year, in recognition of their rescue work in disasters affecting local people,’ said Stephen. ‘But with the floods hitting west Cumbria this weekend, beer festival customers were even readier than usual to reach into their pockets and support the charity.’ A total of £342.36 was donated at the festival.

The festival itself was declared a success by organisers, some of whom faced long detours due to closed roads to get to and from the festival.

Of the 36 beers on sale, two thirds were from Cumbrian breweries and the rest from other parts of the North of England. Visitors included a group of six Japanese tourists, who enjoyed sampling from the range of beers on offer from Cumbrian breweries. Beer of the festival voted by customers was Gypsy’s Kiss from the WC brewery in Chester, a copper coloured ale with spicy citrus hops. Runners up were Tête à Tête from the Strands brewery in Nether Wasdale, and Mount Cook from Tigertops in Wakefield.

Organisers were also keen to thank festival sponsors Jennings brewery. ‘We are glad to hear that clean up operations at the Castle brewery are already under way,’ said Stephen. ‘We look forward to the Jennings site getting back into production as soon as possible.’

New feature:

BEER TASTING TUITION 2.00-3.00 & 3.30-4.30 Saturday £3.00
Linda Johnston of the Prince of Wales, Foxfield, (Leader of the local CAMRA Tasting Panel producing Tasting Notes in the GBG2010) ran two sessions helping drinkers understand the principles & pleasures of tasting beer. Tasting samples were provided and the sessions were informative and much enjoyed

Ciders we drank:


MILLWHITES-RUM MATURED 7.5%, HECKS-BLAKENEY RSD PERRY 6.0%, HECKS-PORT WINE OF GLASTONBURY 6.0%, WM WATKINS-PERRY 6.0%, WESTCROFT-JANETS JUNGLE JUICE 6.0%

And our Beers



Beckstones (Leat 3.6% and Rev Rob 4.6%);
Yates- Westnewton (Fever Pitch Golden Ale 3.9%, IPA 4.9%);
Cumbrian Legendary Ales (Langdale Bitter 4%, Loweswater Gold 4.3%);
Foxfield (Blackberry and Nettle 4% and Foxfield Mild 3.5%);
Stringers - Ulverston (Bitter 4.2%);
Geltsdale (Cold Fell 3.9%);
Ulverston - Lindal in Furness (Flying Elephants 3.7%);
Great Gable,Wasdale Head (Smokey How 4.5%, Yewbarrow 5.5%);
Strands Nether Wasdale (Tete a tete 3.7%, Red Screes 4.6%);
Great Heck (White Rabbit 3.8%);
Rudgate (Champion Beer of Britain - Ruby Mild 4.4%, Cuckoo 4.1%);
Marston Moor (Merrie Maker 4.5%);
WC- Chester (regional winner - Gipsy's Kiss 4.2%);
Tigertops - Wakefield (Mount Cook 3.7%, Das Alt 4.9%);
Wapping- Liverpool (Golden Ale 3.9%);
Keswick, (Thirst Ascent 4%);
Bitter End (Festive Ale 4%);
Marston's Jennings (Cumberland Ale 4%, World's Biggest Liar 4.3%);
Blackbeck (Blackbeck Belle 4%);
Whitehaven (Ennerdale Bitter 3.7%, Ennerdale Blonde 3.9%);
Hardknott (Stout Baaaa 4.6%);
Robinsons (Dizzy Blonde 3.8%, Double Hop 5%);


Several of these were being specially brewed for the festival, and many are not widely available, and there was a great selection.

Thanks



The Festival organisers would like to express their thanks to the following for their sponsorship in the form of Festival glasses, T-shirts and CD music;
Bitter End Brewery Cumbria Legendary Ales Jennings Brewery
Great Gable Brewery Hardknott Brewery Strands Brewery
Whitehaven Brewery Yates Brewery Fellside Records
and to The Candlestick, Jennings Brewery, & Strands Brewery for donating beers
CTN: Tasting notes by a CAMRA team & printed in the Good Beer Guide 2010
GBG Tasting notes from other sources, also in the GBG10
THU; Tasting notes by our local CAMRA group on Thursday afternoon.
Other tasting notes are from other sources but not in GBG10


Poster here