East Anglian Beer Festival 2012

It's that time of year again. I have to say I still much prefer the old setting of the Corn Exchange, but the Beer Festival is in the APEX again. I took the Friday afternoon off work and got there before 1pm... and I got to visit again on Saturday afternoon too! It was nice and quiet to start with and most of the beers were still on. (You can find the complete beer list here).

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Stillage before it gets busy

By mid-afternoon the place had filled up...

The beer is in full flow now

And it was the same on Saturday afternoon... but the beers were running out by 5pm when I set off for home... through the rain. I can't remember the stagger home not being in spring sunshine before!

So, anyway, here are my favourites from this year's festival...

Two old favourites were as good as ever:
Woodforde's Wherry (3.8%) - Always have some of this when I visit The Ferryboat Inn at North Felixstowe - a favourite coastal day out.
St Peters Grapefruit (4.7%) - An annual treat here since I first tried it.

But new or less familiar beers to me that I particularly liked were, from 8th to 1st in order:
Waveney Lightweight (3.9%) - Light and refreshing. And, as the programme notes said 'strawberry and cream nose'. Not totally new to me - I liked this in 2006 and 2008 too
Colchester Red Diesel (4.2%) - Ruby colour seems to be in fashion this year
Red Fox Wiley O' Fox (5.2%) - I wrote 'typically regional'. Very tasty and, as the programme says, Aromatic and amber, made from English Boadicea hops and East Anglian Pale Maris Otter malt
Mauldons Cuckoo (4.3%) - Rich malty flavour
Cliff Quay Anchor Bitter (4.0%) - Dark and very fruity
Brandon Paddys Pride (4.0%) - A dark ruby mild. Very smooth.
Old Cannon Brass Monkey (4.6%) - A blonde IPA. Very hoppy and bitter... becoming lip smacking as you get over the initial shock
And... my top beer of the year
Grain Brewery Redwood (4.8%) - Rich, red, balanced and totally delicious.

Mind you, with 93 beers to try, I managed to taste less than 1/4 of them over the 2 days, so I am bound to have missed a few gems. Must get there earlier next year!