Good Times at the Third Altrincham Bottle & Cask Festival

Having been to the first AB&C Fest two years ago, but missing last year’s event due to a prior commitment, Jo and I decided that we’d make the effort this August Bank Holiday weekend and get on the tram to Altrincham for the Festival’s third outing.

We headed down there on the Sunday afternoon. Man United were playing at home (an 8-2 victory over Arsenal, as it turned out) so we needed to get the tram-timings just right. Setting off at lunchtime, we aimed to get there before the trams got too busy (we failed on that score) and then leave again before the crowds got kicked out (again, didn’t work out as planned, but we emerged unscathed from the press of bitterly disappointed North Londonders heading back to Piccadilly train station, so that was okay).

The first thing we noticed on arrival was that the festival was blessed with a lot more room than on our first visit. That first year, it had been crammed into barely a quarter of Altrincham’s indoor market and if the ceilings hadn’t been of the arching, Victorian wrought ironwork variety then I would have feared for the oxygen supply. This time around it seemed as though fully half to two-thirds of the space had been made available; plenty of room for the Sunday afternoon crowd to spread out and raise their supping arms (without fear of elbowing a neighbour in the face) and with a row of tables for those who wanted to have a sit down as well; a big improvement all round.

Less of an improvement was the introduction of an 80s / 90s rock covers band, who weren’t awful but unfortunately subscribed to the all-too-common “the louder we play, the cooler think we are” school of thought and were therefore deafening*. On a more positive note though, Jo and I were both impressed with the healthy mix of patrons: all ages were represented (from kids through to grandparents) and there was a roughly equal mix of ladies and gents. Leaning slightly towards the latter, but not too heavy on the stereotypical middle-aged real ale bloke. It looked like a fair few first-timers were getting stuck in as well, which is always good to see.

And so, to the beers. Jo and I stuck to halves throughout – we were there to sample and discover rather than get bladdered – and here’s what we tried between us. (These notes are pretty much as-typed into my mobile phone, so the later ones may be lacking in descriptive nuance…)

Derby Brewing Co. Dancing in the Moonlight 4.2%
A smoky, dry porter with a pronounced coffee after-taste. A good one to kick the session off with.

Leatherbritches Scoundrel 4.1%
A lighter, sweeter session porter with a lot more chocolate malt. Not quite as impressive as the Dancing in the Dark.

Tap House Dark and Dangerous 5.0%
Described as a porter but with very sweet, almost milk stout flavours; lots of chocolate and some coffee. Not bad, but maybe just a bit too sweet for me.

Leatherbritches Lemongrass & Ginger 3.8%
One of Jo’s. Very pale, light-bodied, slightly sour-smelling (but wasn’t off). Lemongrass and ginger flavours were muted (Jo said it needs more ginger…) but the overall effect was pleasantly sharp and refreshing.

Falstaff Smiling Assassin 5.2%
A copper ale with good body, nutty caramel flavours and a big shot of hop bitterness at the end. Good stuff. Wins the prize for the best beer name of the day.

Dancing Duck Gold 4.7%
Recommended by one of the two blokes we were talking to (Chris and Steve? Dave and Steve? Chris and Dave? Something like that…) Amber-gold, well-balanced malt & hop flavours, with a sharp finish. Good stuff again.

Bollington Oatmill Stout 5.0%
Another one of Jo’s. And another smoky, dry stout with more coffee than chocolate flavours.

Red Willow Smokeless Porter 5.7%
One of the beers I’d been looking forward to all afternoon. Delivered a big whiff of smoked malt on the nose and lots of dark chocolate flavours on the palate. Very drinkable indeed.**

Thornbridge Geminus 8.5%
A predictable highlight of the afternoon: a double IPA with a huge marmalade hop profile and a very lovely mouth-feel. Gorgeous and Dangerously Drinkable…

Black Hole Super Nova 4.8%
One last half for the road. A pale ale brewed with lager malts, something like that? Biscuity, sharp hops, quite dry. Decent, but I probably should have finished on the Geminus high-note. Anything after that was bound to be an anti-climax.

So there you have it: we came, we saw, we messed up our tram times, we chatted to a couple of blokes who we might have persuaded to come on up to this year’s Bury Beer Festival, we supped a wide range of new-to-us beers, we ate paella (although on reflection, maybe that wasn’t such a great idea…), we didn’t dare the cider bar (nothing under 5.5%), we (or rather I) resisted the temptation to buy a load of Belgian bottled beers, and finally we headed home happy, with mental-notes made to come back next year.

If the Altrincham Bottle & Cask Festival (and, judging by one of the pint pots we ended up with*** there’s a Buxton Bottle & Cask Festival as well, for those who can make it to that one) continues to go from strength to strength

* Don’t get me wrong, I love a good, loud rock band, but at a gig, where the whole point is to listen to good, loud rock music. Not so much at a beer festival, where you might want to have a bit of a chat – say, about the beers you’re drinking – to the person standing next to you, without the need for a megaphone. If the organisers happen to end up reading this piece, next time out how’s about an acoustic set, or a folk band, something that adds atmosphere without ruining conversation?
** And clearly tasting just how it should, as opposed to the obviously-off pint I was served at the Soup Kitchen in Manchester a while back. Which I wouldn’t still be complaining about if the server in question hadn’t then made a point of coming over to our table to tell us there was nothing wrong with the beer, it was supposed to taste sour, they’d had it elsewhere and it always tasted like that etc…
*** One minor niggle here as well: I’m sure all the advertising said there was a £1 deposit on glassware, but when I tried to take our pint pots back to the desk at the end, I was politely but firmly told they were mine to keep. I didn’t mind so much – outsize pint glasses are always handy to have in the cupboard – but maybe that’s something else the organisers could clear up for next year?

3rd Altrincham Bottle & Cask Festival this Bank Holiday Weekend

This Bank Holiday weekend sees the return of the Altrincham Bottle & Cask Festival. Organised by the Le Trappiste Belgian restaurant and beer house, this will be the festival’s third outing (click the image to the right for a full-sized, legible version of the poster).

Jo and I had a great time at the first ABC Festival back in 2009* but managed to miss last year’s, so we’re hoping to tram it on down there on Sunday for a session at some point (although we’ll need to take into account Man U’s home game against Arsenal, which kicks off at 16.00, so the trams are going to be hammered for an hour or two before kick-off and again after 18.00 – so maybe Saturday evening might be better instead…)

The beer list on the ABC Fest website makes for impressive reading. Just on first glance I’d definitely be happy to have a go at the likes of Bollington Le Trappiste Classic, Derby Brewery Dancing in the Moonlight, Dunham Massey Dunham Gold, Dunham Massey East India IPA, Falstaff Smiling Assassin, Kirkstall Brewery Dissolution, Milestone Little John, Red Willow Smokeless (or Directionless or Wreckless) and Thornbridge Geminus (and probably Galaxia and Sequoia as well).** And that’s just the draught ales list. I haven’t even started on the bottled Foreign Beers list yet.

Meanwhile, I’m sure Jo would be likely to make a bee-line for the Bollington Oat Mill Stout and Leatherbritches Scoundrel Porter, as well as trying a couple of the darker ales.

We’re looking forward to a good session, assuming nothing crops up to de-rail us before then. Anyone else planning on heading down there this weekend?

* I just hope they’re taking over more of Altrincham’s covered market than they did the first year round, when the punters were crammed in like sardines.
** Although if I did manage to sup a half of all of those, someone would probably have to pour me back onto the tram for the return trip.

Jo and I made the trek down to Altrincham on Sunday afternoon for the Altrincham Bottle & Cask Festival. We hadn’t been to a beer festival for ages, and although the normally straight-forward trip across the city was stymied by the tram re-fit in Manchester city centre, we thought we’d make the effort and give it a go.

This was the debut year for the festival, which was organised by Le Trappiste Belgian Café Bar. As a result, there was a big range of interesting-looking bottled Belgian beers on offer, alongside a wide range of traditional ales from a number of local mainly local breweries. It was held in Altrincham’s market district, in a covered area that was half full of market stalls and half full of kegs and tables. By the time we turned up at about 3.00 p.m. the venue was already heaving, and things didn’t seem to get any less crowded as the day went on. Undaunted, we paid our £4.50 entrance ticket (10% CAMRA discount, there), picked up our commemorative pint glass, invested in a tenner’s worth of tokens and headed for the beer.

We’d both checked out the guest list in advance and so we both made a b-line for our particular first-choice beers. For Jo, that was Bollington Oat Mill Stout, which turned out to be a rich, smooth, coffee-flavoured stout that was deceptively easy-drinking for its 5% abv. Very tasty indeed. Meanwhile, I’d legged it round to the top end of the other aisle in search of the holy grail: Thornbridge Jaipur. I’ve been hoping to encounter Jaipur for a long time now, especially as I’ve apparently narrowly missed it on a couple of occasions, so this was a pretty big moment for me and I went for a full pint to make the moment last. How would it shape up? Would it be worth the wait?

It certainly was. Even with the slightly flat gravity-pour, the first mouthful still unleashed an explosion of fresh flavours, with huge hops leading the way, with a rich malt backing it up and a slight honey-tone on the finish. Jaipur reminded me very strongly indeed of the Marble Dobber that I tried on Friday (and which was also on offer in Altrincham). They’re both big, bold, beautiful beers though, but where Dobber is distinctly citrus-sharp, Jaipur is a little smoother on the after-taste. But yes, I was very glad indeed to have tracked Jaipur down at last and I’ll be re-visiting as often as possible.

But variety was the name of the game yesterday and there were plenty of now beers to try, so Jo and I moved on. Next up we decided to double-team a couple of milds. Jo picked the Dunham Dark, whilst I opted for Phoenix Monkey Town Mild. Dunham Dark turned out to be a pleasant enough, slightly sour mild. Bit thin on the mouth-feel but otherwise quite drinkable. I preferred the Monkey Town myself: it had a slightly odd, burnt-match aroma and again it was a bit on the thin side, but there was a pleasant nuttiness to the after-taste. Again: quite pleasant and drinkable, but I’m not sure I’d rush back to either of those.

Next up we both went for the Dunham Porter, after a glowing recommendation from local photographer and beer enthusiast Adam Bruderer (@doncaosdelanada on Twitter) who was volunteering behind the bar. It was a damn good call as well – a smooth, rich mouth-feel carried a delicious blend of mocha flavours, with a very slight smoky-sweetness on the after-taste. Jo declared it to be liquid tiramisu and I reckon she hit the nail right on the head there. Lovely stuff, cheers Adam!

Jo took a breather for the next one (or did she go back to the Oat Mill stout? Details a little hazy…) while I decided to give another Phoenix beer a try, so I opted for a half of Arizona. This one was a pleasant, drinkable pale ale, but it didn’t really seem all that remarkable. Maybe one that would be better sampled on draught? Jo was back in the rotation for the next one and wanted to try something lighter so she sent me round to the Bazens section, where I picked up half a Pacific Bitter and half an Argent Pale Ale. The Pacific was dry, smoky, lightly hopped, bitter and quite refreshing. I only had a taster of the Argent – which has been brewed to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Opening Times, the Stockport and South Manchester CAMRA branch newsletter – before Jo drank the rest. From what I remember, that one seemed like another fairly typical, easy-drinking, slightly anonymous pale ale. Probably a good session beer, but it didn’t knock my socks off.

By now we were getting close to about 6.00 or so – curry time – so we said farewell to Graham and Steph, a lovely couple from Altrincham who we’d never met before but had been quite happily chatting away with for the past couple of hours. They gave us the benefit of their local knowledge and steered us in the direction of a couple of good curry houses, but first we had a last half-pint voucher to spend. A swift re-visit to the Dunham Porter? We thought that sounded like the best option…

All in all then, a rather fantastic afternoon’s drinking and chatting and above all, an excellent selection of beers. Beer of the festival? On a joint verdict we’d have to go for the Dunham Porter – a truly delicious beer that I’ll be keeping an eye out for in future (and I think they might sell in bottled form in the Manchester Market micro-bar). Of course, the Thornbridge Jaipur was a very close second and if I’d been drinking that one from a full draught setup then it would probably have edged out the Porter. But then, who knows? Maybe one glorious night they’ll have both of them on in the Trackside (with Outstanding Stout and Marble Dobber alongside) and I’ll be able to test my theory.

Very well done indeed to the organisers from Le Trappiste and the relevant CAMRA branch(es). Jo and I had a great time and will definitely aim to come back next year. Although, if anyone who’s likely to be involved in setting up next year’s event is reading though, could I offer a quick suggestion? A bit more elbow-room and some indoor seating really wouldn’t have gone amiss. Looked like the landlords were only letting you use half the market hall, but if you could prevail on them to allow a bit more breathing space next time, that would be grand!