Tuesday 21 February 2012

London Events Calendar - Latest Updates

This week's beery happenings in my London Events Calendar:

BALD FACED STAG BEER FESTIVAL
Bald Faced Stag 69 High Road, East Finchley, London N2 8AB
Tuesday 21 February to Sunday 26 February
Can't tell you much about this one, which I picked up from the CAMRA North London newsletter, so you can blame them if this is a bum steer. The pub is Good Beer Guide listed but I haven't personally set foot in the place for many a long year. Their website is not exactly illuminating about the festival. In fact it isn't mentioned there at all.

BRICKLAYERS ARMS YORKSHIRE BEER FESTIVAL
Bricklayers Arms, 32 Watermans Lane, Putney, London SW15 1DD
Wednesday 22 February to Sunday 26 February
120+ beers from Yorkshire, many exceedingly rare and tough to find, even on their home turf. I will only be able to attend on Wednesday because I am actually heading for "God's own county" (not necessarily my own definition) and, more specifically, York (one of the greatest cities in the UK to visit - definitely by my own definition) for a long weekend on Thursday. York pub guide to follow in due course.

QUALITY SE1 PUB CRAWL
Wednesday 22 February, starts at 6:00pm at the Bridge House, Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2UP.
Then proceeds to the Draft House, The Dean Swift, Simon The Tanner and Platform (route map here). Yet again, I won't be able to make this, as I will be at the Bricklayers Arms Yorkshire Beer Festival (see above). One day ...

Wednesday 22 February to Sunday 26 February
Around 45 different beers available over five days, with 25 on sale at any time. Tends to feature several beers from each brewery, concentrating on a few breweries per festival, rather than ordering a single beer from many breweries. See the "currently in the cellar or on sale" listing on the pub website for an idea of what will be available.

Friday 24 & Saturday 25 February.
60 or so beers. Admission by pre-purchased ticket only and all tickets sold out for this year. So, if you want to go next year, remember - book early. 

Friday 24 to Sunday 26 February.
About 35 beers, all from the Greater London area. No further details available. Note to organiser: providing a list of the beers that will be available is a jolly good way of encouraging people to attend.

Part of a series of country themed festivals covering the entire period of the Six Nations Rugby Championship. 11 to 24 February features Italian beers. 25 February to 9 March is Welsh beers. 10 to 16 March showcases French beers. 17 to 24 March is Irish beers. Exactly what beers might available and when is not at all clear since the website provides no information in that respect. Given the duration of the event, it is probably a fair bet that the odd beer from the featured nation will make an appearance alongside the (excellent and varying) other offerings, but greater clarity would have been welcome. 

FUTURE EVENTS

I've also added a whole load of new events for March to May to the events calendar. Well, it really covers much of the South East and a fair few other events within day trip reach that I'm thinking of attending. In order to assist advance planning and for those of you who can't be bothered to click through to the calendar itself, brief details of the new additions (NB: this is not the full list of events in the period - some were listed already) follow. I'll provide fuller details nearer the time.

March
1 - 2 March:    Leyton Orient Supporters Club - March Ale Festival
1 - 4 March:    The Rake - Welsh Beer Festival
1 - 5 March:    Spotted Dog, Brighton - Welsh Beer Festival
2 - 5 March:    Grape & Grain, Crystal Palace - Beer Festival
3 March:         Camden Town Brewery - US Hells launch & brewery tours. email mark@camdentownbrewery.com for an invite.
3 March:         By The Horns Brewery - Open day (to be confirmed)
6 March:         Tap East - Launch of Chocolate Cyn
15 - 17 March: Bristol Beer Festival (CAMRA)
15 - 17 March: St Neots Beer Festival (CAMRA)
16 - 17 March: Winchester Beer Festival (CAMRA)
16 - 18 March: Rifleman, Twickenham - Beer Festival
27 March:        Wetherspoons, 02 Centre, Finchley Road - Adnams tasting evening
28 - 31 March: Wandsworth Common Beer Festival

April 
6 - 7 April:        Planet Thanet Beer Festival (CAMRA)
6 - 7 April:        Fox, Hanwell - Beer Festival
12 - 14 April:    Bexley Beer Festival (CAMRA)
20 - 21 April:    Hook Beer Festival
25 - 28 April     East Anglia Beer Festival at Bury St Edmunds (CAMRA)
27 - 28 April:    Chippenham Beer Fetsival (CAMRA)

May
4 - 7 May:         Duke of Hamilton, Hampstead - Cotwsold Beer Festival
10 - 12 May:     Banbury Beer Festival (CAMRA)
11 - 12 May:     Kingston Beer Festival (CAMRA)
18 - 20 May:     Yapton Beerex (CAMRA)
21 - 26 May:     Cambridge Beer festival (CAMRA)
24 - 26 May:     Northamptonshire Beer festival (CAMRA)

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