Joining The Old Man's Club

[lupestripe]

I guess it was heading towards being inevitable but Wolfie and I both joined CAMRA - the Campaign for Real Ale - at last night's Dewsbury Beer Festival. Not because I actually advocate campaigning for real ale but because I like beer festivals and we do seem to be going to an awful lot of them lately.

Last night's beer festival - which was in a Dewsbury Town Hall that was being renovated so it looked like a cock and balls sheathed by a condom - was fun, with Patter also in attendence for his very first beer festival. It was smaller than March's Leeds Beer Festival but 70 beers are still more than enough to get through in an evening. Had the delightful La Chouffre from the continental beer bar - worryingly I had tried every other beer - and a couple of pale ales and bitters which were pleasant without being outstanding. I am hoping to discover more about continental beers rather than ales - the ale brewing tradition in this country has meant that we produce very few decent lagers and pilsners and it would be good if this changed - and also I may try and ask whether they can bring in beers I have had in foreign climes that I would love to try again.

The food section was typically local, with teacakes for £1.50 and pie and peas for £3.00. I opted for West Indian Lamb Curry on the bone, cooked by a student in his bedroom it seemed. It was excellent tucker and Patter tried pork scratchings for the first time! We also got chatting to a social worker and Labour party supporter called Jed at the event - he was a very interesting fellow and gave us a fascinating insight into the world of child welfare and Labour party activism during the General Election.

A lot of people at CAMRA are grizzled with beer bellies, which is where I am heading so I am sure I can fit in. I also had a limp to increase the authenticity as I have had a blister for the last five days on the ball of my left foot. Unfortunately, walking from Chez Patter into town it burst and it was very painful. On asking Wolfie over t'phone to buy me some plasters, a kind woman who had overheard my conversation produced two and an alcohol-free cleansing wipe for me. It was one of those occasions that made you restore your faith with humanity, which has been reducing in recent weeks. Still, with this ridiculously hot weather we have been having, perhaps that will improve.

Comments

[greyscar.livejournal.com]

If you love real ale then you would have loved to have been where I was last weekend. I got invited to TV smith gig at the elland brewery thus I was given a pint glass and asked to sample as much as I wanted of the brews I could. In the end after having atleast two pints of every barrel on tap I settled in for a session on the award winning Elland 1872 porter. It truly is a nice pint and even better when you have a keg to yourself.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Elland 1872 is not bad but it tastes too much of burnt coffee for me to get a strong taste for it. I am more a fan of continental beers really but there are some ales and bitters that I like. I am just dipping my paw in the water regarding ales and stuff. Hope you had a good time, it sounds like you did :)

[greyscar.livejournal.com]

Oh I had a blast of a time. Am just waiting for the pictures of me passed out next to the keg. And to think I was intending to attend the gig as one of my dragons. Bad idea OH YES.

I did not mind the porter at all its strong taste is the thing I like about a good pint. Currently they only sell it as cask but intend to start bottling by summer. I look forward to it.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you had quite a night then - how come the situation changed from you suiting to you not suiting?

Strong tastes in beer get very overpowering very quickly for me. And I just don't like coffee. The first time I had 1872, I loved it. The next two times, less so.

[greyscar.livejournal.com]

It changed due to past expriances with beer and fursuits. They really dont go well together and been stuck in a hot costume while needing to pee is not a good thing when in public. So I desided against but theres next year and people are expecting it if earthbound 2011 is at Elland again.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

What is Earthbound? Is it like a huge ale festival at the brewery? Beer and fursuits never go well together, that's true.

[greyscar.livejournal.com]

It was a set of 3 fan club gigs that TV smith did in the UK. The one at the brewery was a guest list only gig and was called earthbound 2010. you can see a few vids on youtube of it

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Cools, I may check them out :)

[kajidog.livejournal.com]

I used to do the CAMRA thing, but stopped because of how rabidly political they got (tax increases on alcohol and banning smoking in pubs being two things where our views differed).

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I think alcohol is taxed far too much but I am for the smoking ban. I won't be entering the political side of things, I just joined to get discounts on beer really :)

[jm-horse.livejournal.com]

Yay for real ale. Bastett and I are members for pretty much the same reasons as you guys - so I guess they now have 4 furries hidden amongst their UKIP-supporting ranks.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Well I'm about as far away from a UKIP supporter as you can get. Maybe worth bringing them down from the inside.

[blueberrybadger.livejournal.com]

+1!!!!!!!

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I hope to be able to fly the flag for decent pilsner in CAMRA - they are cottoning on to its potential.