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London Drinker Beer Festival March 2000
A Preview
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This year's beer festival's theme is the sea and pirates. Although at first there seems to be no obvious connection between London and pirates, there is indeed. Not only did a few notorious pirates sell their ill-gotten goods through London but some were in fact working for the Crown, with the Spanish declaring Sir Francis Drake a pirate. For many years pirates also operated on the Thames, robbing boats as they unloaded mid-stream. These pirates would pose as legitimate tenders and carry off the cargo to be sold as fallen of the back of a boat!
As usual the Festival will swing into action to tempt you with fine food to accompany your choice of beer or cider.
On Wednesday evening we are planning to hold a short breweriana auction.
On Friday night we have live music from 'Wolfie Witcher and his Brew', a band popular at Catford beer festival.
We are sure you will enjoy this year's festival. Please remember that everyone working at the festival is a volunteer, and if you are a CAMRA member reading this why not come along and have ago at working at the festival if only for a few hours. We would especially appreciate assistance on the Monday and Tuesday setting up the festival.
Ian Hasell, for the festival committee.
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Well, it doesn't seem like a year, but here we are again busy with the beer festival.
With a pirate for the logo this year, you can expect to find a number of beers with a seafaring theme. You may also be able to taste one or two with a hint of seaweed. Alongside, the Festival is making a point of having a number of beers from London's brewers. As well as the famous Fullers and Youngs, there will be a few from tiny gems such as Pitfield (including a festival special), the Yorkshire Grey and hopefully, Haggards and beer from the new Leyton Brewery.
Festival Organiser Ian Hasell commented "Many people do not realise that London has been experiencing a brewery revolution recently including a number of new pub breweries. London has breweries fit for a capital and we are proud to be giving some of them a showcase here at the London Drinker Beer Festival".
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Want some free beer & fun? If you have contemplated joining CAMRA, there couldn't be a better time than at this year's London Drinker Beer Festival.
The Festival is offering anyone joining CAMRA for the first time a FREE PINT and a reimbursement of the difference between the entrance fee for members and non-members. Simply find the Products Stand at the Festival for details.
And if you fancy some real fun, then as a member you can actually work at the Festival. There's free beer and a great staff party on the Saturday exclusively for workers. No experience needed, just a sense of humour.
Christine Cryne
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Once again, the cider bar will have an interesting range of real ciders and perries. For those only used to the fizzy keg ciders available in most pubs, real cider is made from freshly-pressed apple juice and then left to ferment naturally. Compared to keg cider, it is virtually a different drink altogether. Most keg cider is made from apple concentrate, often imported from God knows where, pasteurised, filtered, diluted with water and then gassed. You will find none of that here. Perry, made with perry pears, is today a very rare drink, as only a handful off pubs nationwide sell it. But thankfully, most CAMRA beer festivals stock it, often your only chance to try it.
Also available will be the latest edition of CAMRA's Good Cider Guide. Apart from the usual listing of outlets and producers, this book includes nineteen feature articles covering all aspects of cider and perry including pieces on US, French and Spanish cider.
Mick Lewis
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The food is always very popular at London Drinker Beer Festival. Peter Beasley lists his intended dishes that will be available from the Festival kitchen this year...
Wednesday
California Chicken
Hook's Pasta (see recipe below)
Thursday
Pork and Orange Casserole
Moroccan Chick Pea Stew with Cous Cous
Friday
Traditional Fish and Chips
Nut Roast
Daily
O'Hagan's Real Ale Sausages, Mash, Baked Beans, Cornish Pasties, Cheese/Ham Baps, Onion Bhajis, Vegetable Samosas, Mushroom Cheese and Beer Pate, French Bread.
All items subject to availability.
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Loredana Beasley, trouble and strife of the above, lets us into the secret of one of the dishes available at this year's Festival.
Hook's pasta
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 450g/ 1lb of spaghetti (or other type of pasta).
- 2 cloves of garlic.
- 8 ripe tomatoes 'on the vine'.
- 275ml / 1/2pint of Budweiser Budvar lager.
- 1 aubergine.
- 1 yellow pepper.
- 6 pitted black olives.
- Fresh basil. Salt and pepper.
- Olive oil and Sunflower oil or other oil.
- Grated Parmesan cheese.
Prepare the ingredients:
Peel and cut the aubergine into small cubes. Add some salt, mix well and put it into a colander to drain for at least one hour. Cut the pepper into slices and fry it with a little sunflower or other oil until it's browned (it will take about 15 minutes on a low heat). Put the tomatoes in boiled water, leave them for a few minutes and then take the skin off. Chop them into small pieces. Slice the olives. Chop the basil and the garlic cloves separately. Fry the garlic cloves with olive oil (approx. 8 tablespoons) in a saucepan for a minute on a low heat. Add the tomatoes, the aubergine, the pepper, the olives, the capers, the basil and the lager. Let it boil on a high heat for about 5 minutes then lower the heat and cook for another 15 minutes or so, until the sauce has thickened. Add salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, fill a large saucepan with water. Add some salt and bring to the boil. Put the spaghetti in when the water starts boiling rapidly and stir it constantly to avoid sticking. After 10 minutes drain the spaghetti in a colander and transfer it into the saucepan with the sauce. Mix well and serve with copious Parmesan cheese.
TIPS
- If you're not vegetarian you could add a few anchovies fillets cut into pieces to the sauce.
- Try using tinned chopped tomatoes instead of fresh ones, especially if you want to save some time preparing the ingredients.
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Foreign beer at the festival is previewed by Bar Manager, Keith Mapstone.
Once again we hope to stock some of Europe's most distinctive beers. At the time of writing we are scouring the continent for interesting brews, so what follows is a provisional list only.
From the Netherlands, we hope to have bottle-conditioned lagers from St.Christoffel, plus ales and spiced wheat beers. France should be represented by biere de garde, the malty ale style from the region near the Belgian border. Back by popular demand will be Belzebuth, devilishly strong at 15% ABV.
Belgium has the greatest diversity of beer styles of any country. The lambic family is unique in using wild yeast during fermentation, giving these beers a dry, sour palate. We hope to stock, from traditional producers, gueuze, an effervescent cidery blended bottled lambic, in addition to lambics steeped in cherries (kriek) and raspberries (frambozen).
Other styles that feature sour flavours will be stocked, such as Flemish Old Red (e.g. Rodenbach) and Old Brown (e.g. Oerbier). We also hope to have one or more examples of Saison, a pale dry hoppy / spicy summer ale from Hainaut, southwest of Brussels. Ales from most of Belgium's Trappist brewers, pale ales, wit biers and barley wines will also be stocked but perhaps the highlight of our Belgian brews will be the range of large 75cl bottles, good to share or as a gift, but maybe of most interest to those with cellars who like to bottle age their beers.
All our draught beers will be German and will feature dark lagers, strong bock beers and from Bamberg, smoked malt lager or 'rauchbier'. Germany's few remaining ale styles will be represented by Kolsch from Cologne and alt bier (old beer) from Dussledorf. As usual the Bavarian style of wheat beer will be prominent, along with their attractive vase-shaped glasses.
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 8.
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