How to Survive a Beer Festival

Well with the football season , almost out of the way, I’m looking forward to concentrating on another great British tradition, the beer festival.  The first ever London's Brewing organised by the London Brewers' Alliance (londonsbrewing.co.uk) took place over the weekend of 3-5 May and first reports sound encouraging although apparently a bit more organisation was required.   

Then of course there is the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) at Olympia (gbbf.org.uk) in August which is a must.

Now of course it does in part depend on what your aim is, but any enjoyable festival trip will usually leave you a tad sozzled. If your aim is to sample some new beers and remember them for the future I hope the following will help.

1. Book your tickets in advance and do a little homework

This will save you queueing on arrival and immediately get down to the job in hand.  If you know in advance the layout of the festival, you'll know what they have on offer and where it is so that you won't miss out on anything. 

2. Arrive early

Its not the most fashionable thing to do these days but its worth it.  Less queues, less danger of beers running out and you'll avoid the scrums of sozzled people all vying for a sample.  You will also avoid the after work hoards

3. Graze and snack.  Its very easy to fill up on the beer

4. Try and order your drinks according to some sort of strength

Start with the lighter pale ales and session beers and them finish off with the crazy stuff.  If you immediately dive into the strong beers your palate will be ruined and anything else after that will just taste like water. 

A friend of mine did this at a recent event starting with a German rauchbier (smoke beer) at 8%.  After that all of his drinks tasted like a barbecue in his mouth.

Alternatively, I sometimes just stick to one style of beer during the whole session.

Lovely drop of Ale at GBBF

5. Use your smart phone

If like me you wish to impart your experience in a blog, it’s pretty difficult to keep tabs on all the beers you tried so just take a photo of each of them.  This will also give you a chronological order  The photo shown is one I took at last year’s GBBF .  You could use your electronic note pad or email to write notes or just stick your thumb up or down in the picture to indicate your approval of said beer.

6. Ask!

Beer festivals are usually staffed by volunteers but some of the specialist stands or larger breweries will have staff from the breweries on hand.  Many will have had an opportunity to sample or will have had feedback from other festival goers and it doesn’t do any harm to get an idea of a beer's characteristics before you buy from the person manning the pumps.

7. Its not about the volume

The introduction of the third of a pint measure is a recent but thoroughly sensible innovation that has appeared at beer festivals.  You don’t even have to stick with a third pint glass as the full pint glasses have third and half pint markers down the side of them.  Remember, if you like a beer you can always come back for more.  It may be sacrilege in some people's books but don’t be afraid to throw away drinks you don’t like them, or even better share them with a friend. 

8. Have fun!

The most important rule which goes without saying and if it means throwing all this guidance out the window then I say go for it !!

The Panic is Setting in ...!!!!!

 No, no, no......don't worry!  For once I am not worried about Charlton’s form on the pitch and whether we will survive in the Championship or not.  The football season is effectively over for us on 4^th May (unless by some miracle we manage to squeeze into the playoffs).  We have done well this season with a strong home form finally kicking in at the back end to compliment our fine away form.  In addition our under 21 and under 18 teams have won their respective leagues ensuring a good potential supply of youngsters for the future.



Stress Free Alternative to Charlton



What I am panicking about is that with the end of the season I will have little, football wise, to celebrate or moan about over the summer leading to a potential lack of blog activity over the next few months.

I’m not a die hard Charlton blogger, in that I don’t do the full pre-match build up and then a blow by blow account of the game.  I would just be repeating better reports by people far more skilled than me at this.

I also don’t have any insider contacts or people who can supply me with hot tips as to who has allegedly been seen at the Valley (if you do and would like to let me know you are more than welcome - I'll buy you a pint if you are right!!).  I suspect that Chris Powell will also have a limited budget to spend and will concentrate on keeping the current squad together.

So apart from a few small moans when the new fixture list comes out about why we have to play Brighton away on a Tuesday night, the blogging is going to be rather limited.   

For my few regular readers (for which I thank you) you will know that I try to write at least two entries a week, alternating between the trials and tribulations of my football team with my love of real ale.  So it looks like I will have to sacrifice my liver rather than my nerves, and trawl around a few more watering holes to bring you some juicy reviews.

Look for the Sign

So for all you Charlton fans out there, don’t abandon me, lets chill out and enjoy stress free Saturday afternoons and explore our capitals finest offerings of hops and malt.

To get the ball rolling let me suggest an ale and a pub for you to try.  As a starter keep an eye out for Hoptimus Prime from Robinson's brewery. Its a seasonal ale that only appears in April and May so you only have a limited time to try it out (www.robinsonsbrewery.com )



Thames side Pub: The Gun

 

Also if you like pubs with a river view try out the Gun on the Isle of Dogs which has a small but smart terrace looking onto the O2 (www.thegundocklands.com) .  They currently have a nice collection of beers from Battersea's Sambrook's Brewery including Jugged Hare Pale Ale which is made especially for them. 



Wolves devoured at the Valley



Its a Marathon, not a Sprint



The game at the Valley may have been an ugly affair but Charlton fans are used to that and  it's three more points in the bag for the team.  Amazingly, our tally of 61 points and ninth position has only now just secured our place in the Championship for next year with two games remaining.  This shows you just how competitive things are in this league and will lead to a real dog fight over the night fortnight from the teams below us.  According to the Football League show there are no less than 15 clubs still in the mix to go down.

Excellent reports of the match can be found on the official Charlton site and my fellow bloggers shown on the right but as always I offer my thoughts on a few moments during the match.

Earlier in the day Dean Saunders had said that Wolves were the in form team having won eight points in fifteen games.  He conveniently forgot that Charlton also had the same tally.  Wolves had previously lost to Huddersfield but had impressively beaten Hull in their last game on Tuesday, so the Valley faithful were wondering which team would turn up.

On nine minutes young Callum Harriott showed us why he is an automatic pick for the first team with a magnificent dribble of the ball down the left wing.  He is also now linking up nicely with Rhoys Wiggins in the manner that Jackson so capably did in last year's successful league one season, and lead to the build up for our winning goal.

There was a slight comedy moment on ten minutes when the Wolves physio appeared to pinch and hide the ball as it came off the pitch so he could attend to an injured player.  Unfortunately it looked like Andrew Hughes ongoing injury problems caught up with him at the same time and he was substituted by on loan Gower.  After a few dodgy touches he found his form and linked up well in midfield.

Karl Henry almost provided the goal of the day to embarrass Charlton and Ben Hamer in goal when his 45 yard kick hit the crossbar.

There was another odd moment when a free kick was given and the ball stopped right by the Linesman (they will always be a "lino" to me rather than an assistant referee) but miles away from any player and who then refused to kick the ball back.  This meant a comical  wait for the Wolves goalkeeper to walk 25 yards to retrieve the ball right next to the official.  I know it's somewhere in the rules but it really looks like a "Jobsworth" to me when this happens and I wonder if anyone can explain the reason behind this bizarre practice?

Our 2-1 win was like the dogged and scrappy wins of old with a well deserved lead, being taken back by some sloppy defending and goal keeping only for a last gasp winner from a Charlton super substitute.  Sounds familiar?

Like cigarette packs, our season tickets really should carry a health warning on them that watching the Addicks is not good for your health, especially when there are six minutes of additional time against a team scrapping for their Championship status.  The number of times fans had to gasp and cringe in the game, I'm surprised that we don't have more casualties amongst the supporters from heart palpitations and other related ailments.  I jest of course and its all worth it when you walk away from the ground with a smile on your face.

Previously I have argued that Fuller needs to start to get the best out of him.  However, he looked a little tired on Saturday's game and given the impact that Obika has made in the last few games by scoring our winning goals, he deserves a chance to show us what he can do for the final two games.  Let's see if Chris Powell agrees.

No match photos from me today so I leave you with a picture of Sunday's marathon which went off peacefully. 

We all know what seagulls do

They either swoop down to pinch your chips or bomb you with unmentionables.  However, it was Charlton that knicked a hard earned point at the Amex stadium last night, drawing 0-0 with Brighton.  The coaching team have obviously done their homework and are to be congratulated for their tactics in what was still a tough game.

I'm afraid I didn't get a ticket for the game so it was good to see that BBC London and Radio Five were concentrating on the Championship last night rather than the Champions League.  My ears were be glued to the radio commentary with a cup of tea and the remnants of my chocolate Easter egg!  The BBC London radio commentator described our defending as the last stand at the Alamo and he wasn't far wrong with all the players putting in a solid performance against a team that I believe is undefeated at home this season.

It is also worth noting that this was Brighton's second highest attendance of the season, no mean feat given it was a Tuesday night.
I was feeling rather pleased about our position in the league table after Saturday's win over Bolton.  However, I think virtually every other game played at the weekend went against us and despite our point last night and 14th position we still need to maintain our composure as the season draws to a close.  I cannot believe how tight things are, with only twleve points separating a playoff position from relegation.  I can see everyone from Birmingham in 11th to Peterborough currently in 23rd (but on a 7 game unbeaten run) vying to remain up.

While looking up last night's game I noticed that Brighton produce a DVD of each home match
www.seagullsdirect.co.uk/dvd/season-201213-matchday-home-dvds

and wondered why Charlton don't produce one of these before my brain kicked in about our home form this season.  However, for those memorable games such as against Cardiff this is a nice idea.

We move on to face Leeds this Saturday, without Neil Warnock.  This is the third time this season that we will be facing a team that have just sacked thier manager.  Let's hope it doesn't buoy their team up too much!