Lloyd Rowling

Last night, a few of us visited the annual Gosport Beer Festival.

Once again, a hugely entertaining evening with loads of different real ales to try… and yet another souvenir glass to add to my collection! Music was from Stompin’ Dave, who did some covers of classics like Stairway to Heaven and I Shot the Sheriff.

I enjoy Mild beers, but sadly they are not readily available here in the south so beer festivals are an excellent chance to try these drinks. From CAMRA:-

Mild is one of the most traditional beer styles which is enjoying a revival in today’s real ale market. Usually dark brown in colour, due to the use of well-roasted malts or barley it is less hopped than bitters and often has a chocolatety character with nutty and burnt flavours.

Starting with the Milds, the beers I tried last night were:-

Bank Top Brewery from Bolton, Lancashire. Their dark mild was by far my favourite beer of the evening.

Another beer called Dark Mild , this time from Bridestones Brewery from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

From Bushy’s Brewery on the Isle of Man, I tried their Ruby 1874 Mild.

Leyden Brewery from Bury, Lancashire, also had a very nice beer called Black Pudding which went down very well.

The last of the milds I tried last night was Resistance Mild from the Summer Wine Brewery in Holmfirth, Yorkshire.

I then had a couple of Bitters:-

Old Dick from Suthwyk Brewery, close by to here in Hampshire.

Moondance from Triple fff Brewery, Four Marks in Hampshire was my final beer of the evening, and an excellent one to finish with. It was the Champion Beer of Britain in 2002.

An excellent evening with great company!

I’ve arrived home after an excellent Friday night spent with Martin and Miriam at the 23rd Hanover Beer Festival.

I’ve been to many beer festivals before, but this was my first time at the Hanover one and to mark the occasion, Martin and Miriam arranged to have a barrel dedicated to myself and two of their other first timer friends. Thank you!

Over thirty beers were available in the marquee. The event was very popular and it was packed to capacity! A choice of half pint or pint glasses were available. As usual, I plumped for a half as I can try more beers that way.

Beers I tried included:-

Acorn: Barnsley Gold (Barnsley, South Yorkshire)

Best Mates: Satan’s Sister (Wantage, Oxfordshire)

Coach House: Gunpowder Mild (Warrington, Cheshire)

Dark Star: Oktoberfest (Partridge Green, West Sussex)

Dark Star: Smoked Porter (Partridge Green, West Sussex)

Oakleaf: Nuptu’ Ale (Gosport, Hampshire)

Sarah Hughes: Ruby Mild (Sedgely, West Midlands)

… it was all a bit hazy after that!

So, cheers and here’s to the next beer fest!

Our last full day!

Today we visited the Roman Villa at Brading. This must have been quite a place in its time judging by the mosaics and items found there. It was discovered in 1879 and now has a visitors centre built over the top. It also has a rather good cafe.

One of its mosaics is the “Cock Headed Man”. He has been given the name “Gallus” which is latin for Cockerel. Apparently  he may have been a caricature of the Emperor Gallus, or a venator who specialised in hunting wild animals or a lanista who trained gladiators.

Gallus, the cock headed man

Detail

Other mosaics featured the Medusa, the four seasons, hunting scenes and heros such as Achilles etc

Entrance hall mosaic

Medusa

The exciting news is that there is to be an archeological dig there starting next week. They were advertising for young people to help out and Matthew has volunteered! He’ll be coming over to the island a couple of times a week and getting some behind the scenes experience of life at a dig and the journey artefacts have between being discovered and displayed.

It’s been a fantastic week and went way too fast. We’ll be packing up tonight and leaving for home in the morning. Tonight though, we’ll be enjoying the farewell childrens club and disco… with a pint or two of Fuggle-Dee-Dum : )

Cheers!

Last night I went to Winterfest XVIII, the 18th Gosport beer festival from CAMRA. It seemed rather quieter than previous years, but was still great fun.

My favourites this year were a mild from a new brewery, Hensting, called Winchester Mild and Lemon Blossom from the Hornbeam Brewery. Both had delicious flavours and were very drinkable.

It was good to meet up with friends too and I look forward to the next event.

Cheers!