Tuesday brought the anouncement of the Champion Beer of Britian. Bill will be happy to know it's Rudgate Ruby Mild out of Yorkshire. It was funny that this beer was on the staff bar the night before and we were all commenting how nice it was. When we found out it was the winner, we dropped what we were doing, ran up to the staff bar and got in line for a pint. May be the only time we see that beer again this week.
The other 2 Milds that won silver and bronze in the mild category are very good as well. Especially tasty was the bronze winner, Dark Munro from Highland brewery in Scotland. It's on the high side of a mild, more body and loads of flavor - I think it's closer to a dark brown ale. Casey - order Lots of this one! Full list of winners is above. Check out the 'golden ale' - a beer named American Pale Ale from Dark Star. It's a favorite with my friends over here - they love the american hops.
Below is an arial view shot of one of 3 stillage areas around the hall. Took it from the escalator coming down from the staff bar/canteen area. Just to give you some stats - CAMRA is now 100,000 members strong. 1000 of those members are volunteering this week to run the 5 day festival. (Photos of the staff T are below. Not as colorful or funny as in previous years.) Over 16,000 'punters' (semi-derogatory slang for patrons) visit the fest each day. On Tuesday they drank just over 60,000 imperial pints of beer.
Yesterday, I had a couple hours to enjoy the fest as a 'punter'. At Calvin's recommendation, I had the Unertl Bio Dinkel-Weisse. It's one of 3 wheat beers that Unertl has at the fest this year. A light, spicy/citrusy unfiltered wheat. A very small brewery out of Germany, according to Calvin, their beer rarely leaves Germany so quite a treat to have it here. Prost!
Today I'm in charge. The other 2 permanent staff (one of which is the manager) are off today so I get to run the prize stall today. Hope my request for additional staff is filled. Below is a photo of our stall before we started on Tues.
Hmmm... that sensory description didn't seem like the Unertl that I remember, which was more earthy and fruity than citrusy. And then I more closely read what you wrote: It was Dinkel! (No, not a typo of Dunkel; Dinkel is right.)
ReplyDeleteDinkel is what we Americans call spelt. That's an interesting grain to use in a commercial beer, but it's close enough to wheat that I guess it works fine. Unertl definitely didn't sell that kind of beer when I lived there. Good that you tried it -- I bet we'll never see that in Maryland.
We are brewing a big batch of Mild when you get back and after MASHOUT.
ReplyDeleteWas anyone complaining that all the beer was warm and flat?