St Albans Beer Festival comes and goes every year, and all too often I'm not around to enjoy it. I missed out in 2001, and wasn't about to do the same in 2002.

Organised by CAMRA's South Herts branch, the St Albans Beer Festival has been running since 1996, and is becoming ever more popular. So popular, in fact, that when I visited two days into the show many of the beers were running low, and some of the more popular ones had vanished for good. Not a problem, since there were several hundred different beers left, and I was only really there to enjoy some of the more obscure ones.

I am not a beer expert. Other members of our party chose beers named after animals, beers from obscure places, or (gasp) beers by alcohol content. I chose beers based on... whatever took my fancy.

To start - "Opener" (Old Kent brewery, 4.2%)
quickly followed by - "Gravediggers Mild" (Church End brewery 3.8%)
"Summer Garden" (Moors brewery, ABV unknown)
"White Squall" (Newby Wyke brewery, 4.8%)
"Dog Bolter" (Verulam brewery, our local, 5.6%)
"Celtic Gold" (Flannery's brewery, 4.5%)
"D.G. Wholesome Stout" (Wye Valley brewery, 4.6%)
"Festivity" (Bath brewery, 5.0%)
"Smile for the Camera!" (Green Tye brewery, 4.0%)
and ending with - "Navvy" (Phoenix brewery, 3.8%)

and yes they were all half pints!

I'd be lying if I said I could remember which beer I liked best, or if I attempted to describe flavours. I enjoyed my evening of beer, and will be back for more next year.

POSTSCRIPT - Rather amusingly, the photo of the Beer Festival that appeared in CAMRA South Herts's newsletter "Pints of View" shows my father and I, plus hangers-on and 2000 other people. Intriuging. Photo to follow, I hope.

Al