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Fetch Real Ale Drinkers (FRAD)

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Gooner Jun 2015 10:18pm, 10 Jun 2015 12,632 posts	Quote Pin Gooner And usually at least a couple from wychwood
BaronessBL Jun 2015 7:25am, 12 Jun 2015 4,432 posts	Quote Pin BaronessBL It was the opening night of the Ipswich Beer Festival last night - held on the practice pitch at Ipswich Town Football club for the first time. It always used to be later in the year and indoors in the Corn Exchange but moved to an outdoor venue for a couple of years which was never really satisfactory and then last year it wasn't held at all (well it was but not by CAMRA). I think the new venue works really well and hope it's a big success for them. Very similar feel to the Cambridge festival now. I had Golden Triangle's Mosaic City (from Norwich) 3.9% - didn't like it but I haven't had many 'Mosaic' beers that I love to be honest Lincoln Green's Marion Pale Ale (Nottinghamshire) 3.8% - which was OK, as was Rooster's Birdman (Knaresborough) 4.3% and my favourite of the evening was Waen Pamplemousse (Powys) 4.2%. I was at what they call the 'trade session' for invited guests and with some work colleagues so thought it best to stay off the stronger ones.. might pay another visit this evening though!
PerfectOrganism Jun 2015 7:53am, 12 Jun 2015 450 posts	Quote Pin PerfectOrganism Always a good idea to stay off the strong drinks midweek! I had a couple of pints of Camden Pale Ale last night. Full bodied and flavoursome and only 4%. Sure, it's one of the current wave of trendy new craft beers, but to be honest those are what got me into ales in the first place, and so long as they taste good I'm not complaining!
Scooby Dave Jun 2015 9:52am, 12 Jun 2015 293 posts	Quote Pin Scooby Dave Not lurked on here before but the other half has got me tickets for the Great British Beer festival at Olympia in August. Anyone going or got any tips? I've never been to a beer festival before. I understand that I get a glass and 100s of beers to choose from.
BaronessBL Jun 2015 10:00am, 12 Jun 2015 4,433 posts	Quote Pin BaronessBL GBBF is a massive event but certainly worth a visit. When I go to a beer festival I always like to choose beers that I'm not usually likely to be able to get in the pubs around here - for me much as I like the Adnams range of beers there's no point in travelling to a beer festival to drink beers that if I drove ten miles up the coast I could find in abundance. I'd rather try beers from other parts of the country or smaller breweries that my local pubs are unlikely to be able to get hold of. You'll get a festival programme listing all the beers (not all will be available all the time) which will also give you some guidance as to their taste, strength, whether they are golden, dark, amber etc. Oh and if you want to try whatever beer has won champion beer of Britain be prepared to queue up for most of the evening (that's if there is any left anyway depending which day you go!!!)
BaronessBL Jun 2015 10:02am, 12 Jun 2015 4,434 posts	Quote Pin BaronessBL And one other thing - don't go up to the bar and say 'Have you got any lager' - they don't tend to see the funny side... All the people working behind the bars will be volunteers... who just do it for the love (and possibly the free beer....)
Scooby Dave Jun 2015 10:34am, 12 Jun 2015 294 posts	Quote Pin Scooby Dave Cheers for the tips. Good point about trying the beers that you can't normally get. I've seen that there will be stands for Shepherd Neame, Adnams, Fullers etc etc but as you point out, many of these can be sampled at a local pub. Hadn't really thought about queues etc. I've now got the image of going to a theme park and queuing early on for the ride that are must have so as to make sure that you can at least do those.
Southcoastpete Jun 2015 12:18pm, 12 Jun 2015 5,107 posts	Quote Pin Southcoastpete Got my ticket for the GBBF too, going on the Thursday, which day are you going Scooby Dave? Always a good day/evening out. Though I try and avoid Friday as thats the busiest day. Another tip, is to get a pint glass, but order halves or even thirds. That way you can try more beers, and actually the servers tend to pour a bit more than a half anway.....as I did last Friday Off to a pub beer festival in a local village this evening, hoping the weather behaves
Scooby Dave Jun 2015 12:27pm, 12 Jun 2015 295 posts	Quote Pin Scooby Dave We have tickets for the Saturday so I'm expecting it to be packed and to be queueing a lot. Great idea about the halves & thirds, especially if they are generous.
Southcoastpete Jun 2015 12:43pm, 12 Jun 2015 5,108 posts	Quote Pin Southcoastpete Never been on a Saturday, could be OK. Tend to get busy Thursday/Friday evening with an out from work crowd. The only issue you might find with Saturday is that some of the popular beers would have run out.