Nottingham Beer Festival 2009

Well it's been a few days now and I think I can remember what a good time I had, based on feedback from others...

Friday night was wet on the outside so I met up at 7.30 with Bill and Chris to get very wet on the inside, thanks to the nice people at Nottingham CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) and the City Council. We paid our £10 which got us into the festival at Nottingham Castle, a souvenir half pint glass, and two beer tokens. To speed up serving and to remove the need for the servers to handle cash, you buy a token for £1.25 from the CAMRA sales table which then gets you a half pint of your chosen brew from the people by the barrels. We decided that we needed another £5 worth of tokens on top of the two we got at the gate.

We weaved our way through the crowds, sampling beers as we went, and bumping into old friends (including a lager drinker!) and acquaintances. I was pleased to see so many young people at the festival - as I explained to Chris, we need the next generation of real ale drinkers to make sure the breweries are there to supply us with decent beer once we retire...

Once we had finished our 6 samples, we had to make a tactical decision. In the words of the old Clash hit - should we stay or should we go? As it was after 10 we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and headed out of the marquees into the fresh air. After a brief stop to unload some of the fluids we had taken on board, we got into a waiting cab and headed up the the Lincolnshire Poacher. We met up with a few friends who had not made it down to the castle that evening and I had a couple more pints. Apparently we were well behaved but found most things funny (so it sounds like we were giggling drunk). Knowing my limits, I finished off my second pint and wandered out to hail a cab home.

I must have enjoyed the evening because Sonia said that I told her about it three times before I fell asleep.

The morning after wasn't too bad. I found two souvenir glasses on the side in the kitchen and then remembered that Bill hadn't wanted his so I had bought him a pint in exchange (that explained the second pint in the Poacher!). After a visit to the barber and the shopping run, the hangover had gone and I was ready to face day properly...getting ready for our niece Lauren to come for an overnight stay while her mum and dad went to a gig in Birmingham.

Give me another year and I might just be ready for the next Nottingham Beer Festival.