Wandsworth Common beer festival October 2010

It was back to Wandsworth yesterday, to the latest beer festival at the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building. 

We got there in the afternoon and slightly disturbingly some of the beers were already off. I don't know if this beer festival is getting more popular or what but it looks like it's one to get to early. Fortunately I managed to find most of the beers that had caught my eye.

Camden Pale Ale from what the programme described as the Camden Town nanobrewery was slightly cloudy but a pleasant drop. I don't know how big a nanobrewery is and the website doesn't say a lot, presumably we're talking about the sort of set up a keen home brewer might have. 

At a slightly lager scale the Shepherd Neame microbrewery had brewed Royal Victoria Patriotic Bitter specially for the festival. One of the people I work with did some work experience there so I thought I'd give it a go but sadly it wasn't up to much, a bit like a slightly stronger version of Master Brew bitter.

Windsor and Eton's Guardsman was more like it, with a nice body to it and plenty of hops. Phoenix Brewery's also got the thumbs up for their hoppy White monk. 

I was intrigued to see that Downton brewery had a wheat stout on offer. An interesting idea resulting in a beer as black as your hat yet with the unmistakable taste of a wheat beer. I've been playing around with some yeasts recently to see their effects on flavour and I have a strong suspicion that the taste of wheat beer owes more to the yeast than the wheat. Investigations will continue...  

An old favourite, Sarah Hughes, was on hand pump in the inside bar. She wasn't her usual self sadly, tasting decidedly thin.

There may well have been one or two other beers consumed but the details escape me now. We finished off by sharing a bottle of one of my own brews that I'd brought with me. Bringing beer to beer festivals isn't something I normally do but some of my mates were interested in one I made recently and it seemed like a good opportunity.