22 April 2011 (Good Friday) - Chambers Beer Festival


Having had four consecutive good night’s sleep I was overdue a bout of insomnia. But not too much of one. “My Boy TMcame home “quietly” at 2am, and now with a broken leg in a cast, his “stealth skills” have exceeded the expectations of even his staunchest critics. However it only took him ten minutes to clump, crash and bash his way to bed, and I was soon asleep again.

Over breakfast I realised we had some post. On a Bank Holiday too(!) It was an election leaflet from the dribbling democraps. On reflection it’s amazing how much the result of last year’s election has affected me. Politically I suppose I am a life-long Labour supporter who has tactically voted against the Con-Servatives in favour of the dribblers for the last twenty years. And so when the dribblers abandoned all principles last May, I’ve taken that betrayal somewhat personally.
I actually laughed out loud at the local dribbling democrap’s election slogan: “no politician – just a fellow citizen”. If he’s truly “no politician” he should stand for election as an independent candidate. The leaflet included the candidate’s address, and I actually found myself considering sending him a turd through the post as a political statement.
I *really* need to let this issue go….

It’s traditional on Good Friday to go to Chambers Bar in Folkestone for the beer festival, and after a full English breakfast at the Gorge we bought our train tickets. The station staff never volunteer information about the bargains they have available, but will tell you if you ask. Since there were four of us needing tickets I asked for a group discount; and what would have cost us £6.20 each only cost £3.15.
Brian and Lisa joined us on the train with seconds to spare, and once we met up with the Folkestone contingent nine of us formed a queue at Chambers Bar, where the ales were quite good. I tasted one or two, and made notes:

  • Goff’s Jouster:  “ooooooh! 3/5”
  • Dale’s Golden Daffodil: “Yus – 3/5”
  • Wychwood Hot Chocolate – “Woof! – 4/5”
  • Ilkley’s Black: “Tastes of bacon – 3/5”
  • Keltek’s Golden Lance: “Session beer – 3/5”
  • Bateman’s Willy’s Crown Jewels: “tastes of arse – 1/5”
  • Hopback’s Crop Circle: “wheaty – 3/5”
  • Titanic’s White Star: “mmmmmm -! 3/5”
  • Hopdaemon’s Green Demon: “oh go on then - 3/5”
  • Gadd’s Dogbolter: “oooh ya f*ck*r!! – 4/5”
  • Cottage’s Vantage: “no, not really – 2/5”
We all enjoyed the first pint or so – that was common knowledge, but at the afternoon wore on, what was once common knowledge became something of a schecret (which is a feature at this sort of event); especially once the Bat had taken a large mouthful and the fruitiness had worn off. Or so I discerned from my tasting notes. There was also talk of producing cocktails from the strawberry flavoured Fruli beer: child-friendly snakebite was mentioned, as was the possibility of the creation of the potentially dubious website ratemyunderpants.com.
As the afternoon wore on so more and more friends joined us, and we then moved down to the courtyard at Pullman’s wine bar where a pint of Gadd’s Number Five slipped down nicely whilst we discussed the various merits of the young lady with (and I quote verbatim) “legs all the way up to it’s bum and jubblies like barrage balloons”. (Sometimes it pays to take notes)

The plan originally called for us to be taking the 5pm train home. We eventually got the 7.30pm one. But bearing in mind the disastrous state I’ve been in after some Good Friday beer festivals, I think I came home in rather a good condition.
Having said our goodbyes we decided not to cook this evening, and instead we had KFC whilst er indoors TM laughed at classic episodes of Star Trek….


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