If everything breaks favorably, I'll be visiting the United Kingdom come early July. Of course, England means cask ale, and cask ale means the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) as handy local reference to which ales and pubs are best. Accordingly, I found the Plymouth CAMRA website, and am delighted to learn that their annual Beer Festival is running on July 12 and 13, 2013.
This makes me very happy. All I really want to do on holiday is drink cask ale in the company of steak and kidney pie, Cornish pasties, fish and chips, one good carvery, the occasional Vindaloo, and a custard tart now and again.
Following is a brief digression following my last journey to Devon and Cornwall, in 2009.
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In the modern era, beer enthusiasts the world over refer to different fermentation methods, and hence different fundamental types of beer, as ale (top fermented) and lager (bottom fermented). As is the case with two people divided by a common language, colloquial English usage in the UK confuses matters, because there, people say "beer" when they mean "ale," although "lager" remains "lager."
Beyond this, England remains a great place to experience "ale," primarily cask-conditioned "real" ale, so long as the visitor understands that not every pub plays the game the same way. It is absolutely essential to have a copy of "Good Beer Guide," the campaign for Real Ale's annual guidebook to the best pubs that serve the best cask ale. Without it, your beer hunting will be an expensive crap shoot.
After sampling at least 20 different cask-conditioned ales, the majority of them one shading or another of Bitter at around the 4% abv mark, I can say that the great triumph of English brewing methodology is producing richness of malt character in a low gravity quaff. It amazes me. Surely hop character is excellent, if restrained by American micro standards, but it's the malt that always impressed me in the best cask pints.
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4 comments:
Imagine my surprise when searching for info on my home town beer fest to see a blog from a US brewer not only advising they’re attending this year but also had in the past! Sadly I only got into Real Ale/Craft Beer after moving away from Plymouth. I now live in Leeds Yorkshire where the beer scene is far more active, new microbreweries are popping up at such a rate as are places to go and enjoy drinking them. A lot of these are now heavily influenced by what you guys are doing in the States. Sadly Plymouth is lacking in this vibrancy, however both Cornwall and Somerset (the areas either side of Plymouth) have a number of new exciting breweries. I’m hoping when the beer list for Plymouth is announced it reflects these new and interesting breweries. I’ll give you some recommendations if they do. Sam
Sam, thanks for reading. Any information that you're kind enough to offer is eagerly anticipated at this end. I'm looking forward to the trip.
R
Apologies but looks like they've decided not to release the beer list in advance. The only 2 I know they'll have which are of interest are St Austell's 1913 stout & Big Job (double IPA). Also if you're looking for good food I'd recommend Rock Salt brasserie which is walking distance from the venue.
I managed to get some of the Big Job. More later after I unpack.
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