Pig's Ear report
eastender
reportedly up 20% on last year despite major traffic chaos in the area.
Strong emphasis on winter/strong beers with some encouragement to get a
few brews done early.
Best beers sampled by me: Prospect (Wigan) Blinding Light; Phoenix
(Haywood, Manchester) Monkeytown Mild; Box Steam (Colerne, Wilts) Derail
Ale.
The Ocean is a great venue - far better than the one used for the London
drinker.
E.
Paul Rigg
"eastender" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:nospam-20512E....@news.virginmedia.com...
Preferred it myself when it was in Stratford Town Hall - Find the new venue
a bit dark and gloomy.
And there always seems to be a shortage of chairs, and I find these days I
need to sit down after a bit!
Dave
wrote:
Had four days there, an excellent selection of beers.
Don't agree with the venue though, so dark and dingy. Much preferred
it at the Stratford Town Hall.
Simon Cooper
I like the venue, I worked there last year too. It's a good festival
to work, as it's quite challenging to persuade some people that dark
beers might be to their taste, and just because we don't have only
ordinary bitters they drink in the pub doesn't mean they shouldn't
venture off the beaten track a little.
For me, O' Hanlons Port Stout (4.5%) and Wickwar Station Porter (6.1%)
were the best we had on the bar.
After it closed, we had a fair amount left over, and we spent a few
happy hours with nearly everyone heading back onto Crouch Vale
Brewer's Gold...
eastender
<a8253633-80b3-4367...@d20g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>,
Simon Cooper <simon.w...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I like the venue, I worked there last year too. It's a good festival
> to work, as it's quite challenging to persuade some people that dark
> beers might be to their taste, and just because we don't have only
> ordinary bitters they drink in the pub doesn't mean they shouldn't
> venture off the beaten track a little.
>
> For me, O' Hanlons Port Stout (4.5%) and Wickwar Station Porter (6.1%)
> were the best we had on the bar.
>
> After it closed, we had a fair amount left over, and we spent a few
> happy hours with nearly everyone heading back onto Crouch Vale
> Brewer's Gold...
That does it - I'll volunteer next year.
I didn't go when it was in Stratford but the Ocean I think is great
because it's clean and modern, and the atmosphere is very sociable and
it's easy to circulate and chat.
E.