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2025 Beer
list now available
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Work
is currently taking place to obtain a large and varied selection of
beers from across the country. More details will appear here nearer the
event, once orders have been finalised |
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As you might expect from the
branch
that pioneered CAMRA's LocAle scheme we showcased beer from our local
breweries and in 2019 over 25% of the volume of all beer consumed came
from breweries located within 20 miles of the festival. |
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At the Festival
you will notice
numerous beers
marked as “unfined” and will no doubt be wanting to know what this
means. Well it means they are suitable for Vegans but there is a lot
more to it than that and omnivores will be just as interested to sample
these interesting brews.
Given enough
time a beer will
clear naturally,
but there is often not time to allow it to settle in the cellar for a
couple of weeks or more, while nature does its thing. So it has long
been the practice to add a suspension of tropical fish swim bladders
mixed with sodium metabisulphite (a disinfectant and preservative).
This is called isinglass and the majority of beers at our festival will
be cleared by this method. The process is known as fining the beer.
However it is
becoming accepted
by some
drinkers that beer does not have to be crystal clear to taste good. We
accept that a wheat beer is going to be cloudy and we perhaps expect a
very hoppy IPA to have some hop haze – so what’s the difference?
Nothing, there is nothing special about crystal clear beer and
naturally conditioned, hazy beer has loads of flavour. An alternative
to fining the beer would be to filter it, this will clear any haze and
it is a Vegan friendly method. But filtering also strips out flavour,
the one thing brewers have worked hard to put in - ever wondered why
mass produced keg beers and lagers are tasteless compared to cask
beer?! So will hazy beer give you a bad stomach? Not if the haziness is
caused by yeast suspension, as in our unfined beers (unless you’re
allergic to yeast). Brewer’s yeast is a natural product and a source of
Vitamin B and protein. So look out for beers marked as “Unfined” at our
festival and give them a try, we think you will agree it is worth it.
And of course these beers are suitable for Vegans to enjoy.
Pedantic note -
finings other
than isinglass
are available, these alternative finings are not made with animal
products, they are chemical in nature and are not quite as affective in
clearing beer. A small number of beers will be fined by this process
but for convenience these are also shown as "unfined". So "unfined" is
our shorthand for "not fined with isinglass" and so suitable for Vegans.
Thanks to Andy Sales for
the glorious stacks of casks images from the 2018 Festival!