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Norwich Beer Festival 2023

There has been something of a silence on my little blog for the last few days and so apologies to my two loyal readers. I’ve been volunteering all week at Norwich Beer Festival and have had a marvellous time, although I’ve exhausted myself out and required a long recovery period today. This photo is from early last Monday morning, a few hours before the trade session opened. St. Andrew’s is an undeniably grand backdrop to the festival and it’s always a delight to visit these buildings.

This is the rear hall that is Blackfriars just before set-up.

How exciting, I got a badge as someone who was “key staff”, although I was deputy on glasses. Actually, I’m not key anything, but I liked having the badge. Martin Ward was responsible for the wording of the badge which was done on the morning when it was realised they hadn’t done one for me. That shows just how key staff I actually was 🙂

Volunteers get rolls during sessions and then a hot meal during the interval between sessions. The food has been really rather decent all week, provided by the caterers who serve to the public. I’m likely one of the few volunteers who felt the need to take photos of all the food. And indeed, I can’t imagine many took photos of all the beers that they tried either, but I had an Untappd account to update.

My favourite lunches were when there were chips left over at the end.

And one of the rolls during a break. And crisps, which I accumulated quite a pile of during the week as some others didn’t want theirs. Thanks to the friends that came over to say hello in the week, it was much appreciated!

This is how calm it can be between sessions, or at least after the cellar team have rushed around preparing everything.

Julian’s badge and I really should have had the other half of this, but I didn’t think about that in advance…

The first King Charles III coin to come over the counter. I was more excited about this than anyone else.

Being able to have a beer after the festival closes (and indeed when it’s open) is a rather lovely little treat. My Untappd account shows what I was able to try during the festival, but more about this a little later on.

Beer slushies were a thing this year and there were some who didn’t feel that they were very CAMRA. And then the great and good tried them and were actually rather intrigued by them, I took the chance to sample several of them during the week.

Even Julian got in on the act.

The glasses manager was Roy, who is perhaps one of the most unflappable people that I’ve ever met. I only received one criticism during the week from him, which is that I was meandering off to get beer for myself, but neglecting his essential needs. The solution was obvious, when his glass appeared in the designated drinking zone, I would retrieve us both a drink. I became really rather efficient at this.

And there’s Roy after being supplied with a drink.

As a word or ten about the volunteers, they are a marvellous band of people who give up time to ensure that the festival happens. I can take very little credit for anything, I attended one pre-festival meeting, but there’s no end of work required to ensure that the festival takes place. I was at every session this year, but didn’t manage to make take-down, some of the other volunteers have far more energy than I do. I didn’t even stay for the pizza at the end of the festival, that’s how tired I was.

And here’s to the glasses crew!

The Incredible Hulk from Fat Cat.

Looking through my photos of the week, there are far more slushies than I remember getting.

And one with a flake 🙂

This is where I stood for most of the week, at my favourite place at the end of the counter. Roy, who doesn’t need the trinkets of high office, let me have the radio so that I could look more important. This went marvellously other than when I got a message that I kept pressing the button to talk by mistake. I’ve got more respect for TV presenters now who are trying to talk whilst listening to messages in their ear, it can be quite challenging.

And here’s me trying to look important.

The meal on the final day and it was getting sad that it was coming to an end.

And that’s the end, all the customers served and we had to start putting things away.

This is what it looks like five minutes after the final customer has left.

And from the other side.

And my favourite photo of the week. Roy, after I think hearing yet another customer praising me, wrote up a customer service form for me. I’m not sure he intended for me to actually start asking customers to complete it, but this is the result of me doing so. I agreed with the person who called me a “lifesaver” and the other who called me “inspirational”. Who can blame them? Roy was the real star in glasses, always there, never showing any signs of worry and always being supportive when I shouted for him for whatever crisis I encountered that I couldn’t solve. And big thanks to Jen, the previous deputy manager, for her support during the week, and of course all the other volunteers on glasses and beyond, particularly Peter who loyally attends for the entire festival every year, and Paula who we stole from the merchandise stand.

And for my beers of the festival? These are all the ones that I rated 4 and above to on Untappd. And please note that these are mostly tasters and I was selective about what I went for. Incidentally, my top rated beer from Fengate Brewery was also the beer of the festival from the scores given by customers.

4.5

Imperial Extra Double Stout from Fengate Brewery

Black Forest Gateau Stout from Play Brew

Limone from Pastore Brewing (in slushie form)

Lost Monster from Loch Lomond Brewery

4.25

Sub Rosa from Stealth Brew Co

Raspberry Blueberry Bubblegum Sour from Play Brew (in both normal and slushie form)

Chocolate Mild from Sunbeam Ales (in a wooden barrel)

Bakewell Tart Stout from Bexley Brewery

Rhubarb X Custard from Xtreme Ales

Doggy in the Woods from Brewhouse & Kitchen Worthing

Raspberry Blonde from Little Critters

Nutty Ambassador from Little Critters

Key Lime Pie from Yonder Brewing (in slushie form)

4

Only Villains Wear Cravats from Three Blind Mice

Melon Drama – Nene Valley and Brewdog Norwich

Audit Ale from Lacons Brewery

Blame it on the Tetons from Rooster’s Brewing Co

19|Gose – Peach Melba from Brew by Numbers

19|Porn Star Martini Gose from Brew by Numbers

Time Bender from Duration Brewing

Jester Brew 26 – Salted Caramel Stout from Goffs Brewery

Peach Tea Pale from Mr Winters

Strawberry Xtreme from Xtreme Ales

Wee Heavy from Moor Beer Company

Red Herring from Green Jack Brewing Company

1872 Porter from Elland Brewery (in wooden barrel)

Bear Hug from Play Brew (in normal and slushie form)

Miles Away from Howling Hops

Waffle & Maple Syrup, Blueberry and Coffee Stout from Play Brew

Sherbert Lemon from Riverhead Brewery

That’s it for 2023 and because of work being done to the Halls in 2024, it’s looking like that we won’t be back until October 2025. Roy and I have a series of ideas for improvements, which primarily us taking responsibility for more things as we feel we’re a marvellous team, but Craig and the other organisers might not be quite so keen. I’ve had a great time, so thanks to all 🙂

October 29, 2023
London Metro Memory Game

I like on-line quizzes, although not real-life ones as I realise how little I know compared to others, but this trending London Metro Memory game is just the sort of thing that I should be good at. It’s a memory test to remember every one of London’s stations and I confess that I haven’t done as well I would have liked. I got to 40% and then thought that was enough, I wasn’t getting anything more.

The game can be played at https://london.metro-memory.com/. I think I need to study the map for longer when I’m next on the network, I’m sure I should be able to get to 50%!

October 29, 2023
PRODUCT REVIEW : Shokz OpenRun Bluetooth Wireless Headphones

It’s often said that there is no beginning to my talents…. But, regardless of that, I’m verging into product reviews as Shokz sent me these headphones free of charge and I feel the need to note that they’re really rather good. They’re normally priced at somewhere around £130, although are probably cheaper on Amazon. They come in a slightly decadent box, rather different to the £1 Poundland packaging of my normal headphones.

The whole Bluetooth pairing process is smooth and efficient, with a full charge of the battery giving several hours of usage of the headphones. There’s also the option of having around one hour of usage by charging for five minutes or so, all suitably time efficient. The sound quality is high and they use bone conduction which means that I can also hear normal life at the same time as listening through the headphones. They’re aimed at runners, but I think that long distance walkers fall into the same heroic category. The headphones are lightweight and are a good fit, coming with a small bag to put them and the charger in.

As all my friends know, I’m a music expert and so listening to music is essential. By expert, I mean that I listen to the Wurzels, and I am refusing to rule out going to one of their gigs. I don’t know whether to pick the Las Vegas Sphere, the London O2 or the Cider & Pie Festival at Almondsbury, but I’d probably pick the latter. Although I digress here, it’s also handy to be able to listen to Podcasts whilst being able to hear some car driver meandering erratically down the road.

I’ve also discovered when someone phoned me that they’re perfectly good at handling voice calls, with an easily accessible volume button. They’re recognised by England Athletics for use at their events which sounds quite official and useful. Anyway, all told, I’m very pleased with these and their sound quality.

October 22, 2023
200 Years Ago in Norwich : Theft from St. Andrew’s Hall (and linking in nicely with Norwich Beer Festival)

And another in my series of posts of what was being published in the Norwich Mercury 200 years ago this week. This is a timely one as it relates to St. Andrew’s Hall and that’s where I’ll be this week, volunteering at Norwich Beer Festival. It likely won’t take place next year due to work in the halls, so I’ll have to make the most out of this one. But, back to the news story:

“On Saturday evening last, a robbery was effected at St. Andrew’s Hall, and from the appearances must have been attended with considerable violence. The thieves entered through the upper part of the window, on the right hand side of the door, and on their entrance, it is supposed, immediately broke open the desk under it. They then proceeded to the office of the Court of Requests on the other side of the passage, and forced open Mr. Herman’s desk, from which they stole from 7 to 10l worth of copper.

The villains made an attempt to break open an iron chest, but failed. Their next attempt was upon the Old Library Room, the door of which appears to have been forced open by an iron bar, the panels broken, and the lock completely forced off. A small cabinet standing in the room, containing various silver and copper coins, seems to have been one of their objects. This cabinet they robbed of several of its contents, and appear to have quietly departed. It is curious that this robbery should have effected to near to the direct beat of the watchman, whose box is within 20 yards of the Hall.”

This is an interesting reminder of the variety of ways that St. Andrew’s Hall and Blackfriars Hall have been used over the years, although none as exciting as Norwich Beer Festival of course. I note the way that the newspaper were unimpressed with the watchman who was meant to keep the area safe. I’m also intrigued by the “Court of Requests”, which seemed to deal with small claims, with Norwich being one of the first to have one. I’ll find out more….

Oh, and I’m sure I’ll post a few things about Norwich Beer Festival over the next few days to excite and delight my two loyal readers.

October 22, 2023
200 Years Ago in Norwich : Excessive Gas Usage

In my series of posts of things of interest (probably just to me, but perhaps one of my two loyal readers) in the Norwich Mercury of 200 years ago, I rather liked the angry advertisement placed in the newspaper by the Norwich Gas Light Company. They stated:

“The committee of the Norwich Gas Light Company having ascertained that a large number of the consumers of gas are in the constant habit of burning considerable after the time for which they are charged, and that some persons use it in the morning, feel it necessary to state that if such practices are continued the penalties under the Act will be strictly enforced. They have also appointed an Inspector to enable them fully to carry this resolution into effect.

Signed, by Order of the Committee, J. Athow, clerk, October 1823.”

Not long after this the Norwich Gas Light Company were purchased by the British Gas Light Company, so they must have still been a tempting acquisition. In 1825, the British Gas Light Company applied to build a gasworks at the site which is now the courts complex at Bishopgate.

I’m not sure of the situation in Norwich, but these were the wild west days for the industry with no regulation and certainly no Ofgem to keep energy companies under control. The industry was very competitive and sabotage of rival’s gas supplies were common, meaning that customers consuming more gas that they were entitled to would have been a problem in a sector which was not producing large profits.

October 22, 2023
Streets of Norwich – One Post Alley

Part of my Streets of Norwich project…. [updated in October 2023]

I’ve never noticed this alley before, it’s only through following a history trail produced by Norwich City Council (and more on these three trails later) that I came down here.

The alley connected St. Stephen’s with St. Stephen’s Back Street, although that latter street has gone and is now the boundary of Chapelfield (or Chantry as it’s now called) shopping centre.

It’s quite hard to make out this alley in old maps as it’s so narrow, but it appears to have been the one known as Stockings Alley, I assume after the nearby butcher. At the end of the alley (so on the left of the above photo) was the Unicorn Inn public house, sadly now demolished.

It’s not the most decadent of alleys if I’m being honest and there’s a limited amount of history that I can find to recount about it. However, according to the city council’s history, it takes its current name from there being one single post blocking the end of the alley off. And it was being blocked off to stop any cows disappearing up it when they were being taken to Norwich cattle market, although I had thought the cattle usually came from the direction of Norwich railway station and Prince of Wales Road. Either way, I like that this path has survived, it reminds me of the rows in Great Yarmouth and I’m pleased it hasn’t been incorporated into some shop in the way that a number of other yards on this road have been.

In September 1890, there was a newspaper article featuring the case of Elizabeth Houghton, a widow who lived along the alley. Detective Barlow, a police officer, noted that Houghton had been lifting up wood blocks that were being used to pave Prince of Wales Road. She hid these wooden blocks under her long cloak and so he decided, rather sensibly, to question Houghton on what she was doing. She wasn’t too keen on assisting the police with their enquiries, but he followed her back to One Post Alley. He then had a little rummage around and found that she had a heap of these blocks which she then admitted that she was using for firewood. It seems sub-optimal that she was burning the council’s new road surfaces, but I can imagine times must have been tough given she had lost her husband. The police were less forgiving as they claimed the amount of wood was substantial and the City Corporation said they had lost 1s 5d worth of blocks. The matter was so serious that it got sent to the next Quarter Sessions.

October 22, 2023
Streets of Norwich – Baltic Wharf

Part of my Streets of Norwich project…. This post was updated in October 2023.

Baltic Wharf is a relatively new road, it follows the line of the trees on this map from around 1900. SD on maps from this period either means sun-dial or a single-drain, so that little tiny circle next to the S might be a sun-dial…. There was a Baltic Wharf in the nineteenth century, but that was located a little further down the river.

There’s not a great deal of historic interest on Baltic Wharf, which leads off Mountergate, with the exception of St. Faith’s House which is a listed building. It was built as a three-storey grand private residence in the eighteenth century, although it’s now used as offices.

There was a planning application put in on November 2018 to build seventeen dwellings around the building and to change the property itself by kicking the businesses out and putting five flats in. The road is next to the large St. Anne’s Quarter residential building development (I thought the word quarter was being phased out, it has been so over-used recently….) and so this was always likely inevitable.

October 22, 2023
Greater Anglia – I’m Home

This is the outcome of Greater Anglia’s latest little debacle. It has also transpired that one of the largest taxi companies in Ipswich wasn’t contacted by Greater Anglia and they could have got a fair number of people back to Norwich in shared taxis. They’d better be reimbursing this promptly.

Brilliant taxi driver incidentally, very friendly and I got water and crisps since Greater Anglia hadn’t provided either. We had to go via Bury St Edmunds so it wasn’t a quick journey, but some roads are blocked.

October 21, 2023
Greater Anglia – Train Stuck Overnight in Ipswich as “Control Room Fail to Respond”

Excuse the poor quality of the photos in this post, I hadn’t expected to use any of them….. They are blurry, but they’re all that I’ve got at the moment. And this post might be slightly grumpy at I’m still at Ipswich railway station at 02:30.

This was the happy scene in London Liverpool Street earlier this evening whilst waiting for the train to arrive onto the platform before it became the 20:00 service to Norwich.

And here the train arrives in, ready for a quick turnaround so that it can return to Norwich. They were warning that they expected 15 minute delays during the journey due to localised flooding in Stowmarket.

I wasn’t thrilled that it was the bloody Stansted Express service once again, the train that keeps appearing on the mainline to Norwich which has no tables. I’ve asked the Greater Anglia press office and the train crew before why they keep using this train on the mainline and the former didn’t know, but one train guard told me last year “because they couldn’t run a piss up in a brewery”. I appreciated his candour, although it wasn’t quite the answer that I expected. Anyway, I digress.

Back to tonight, it was a train and that’s positive given the weather conditions today, so it’s not really a complaint for today (although I’ve moaned about it anyway). Off we went and the train arrived into Colchester more or less on time. Only then did Greater Anglia’s control room think to tell the driver that there were a series of trains stuck in front of it, meaning a long wait at Colchester. It did occur to me that this would have been useful information to tell passengers at London Liverpool Street, but there we go, we live in an imperfect world. The train behind us arrived into Colchester and then decanted onto the train that we were on.

The train arrived into Ipswich and there was some confusion as to what was happening. After a while they transferred us to the Norwich train on the adjacent platform, which transpired to be the train that had left London Liverpool Street one hour earlier that we did. This was at 22:31 and I’m writing this at 02:15 and the control room have still yet to come up with any information about what is happening. The driver has been endlessly apologetic that the control room have abandoned the train, but he and the rest of the crew are sticking with it. Not once has anyone at Greater Anglia explained what the problem is at Stowmarket or whether it can be resolved.

This is the train (the train in the rear of the photo, which I accept is terrible quality) that I arrived into Ipswich on. I wondered whether this would return to London and I decided that if it did, I’d get on it. The driver on our train then announced the train would be returning to London if passengers wanted it, so some decided that was the first organised communication that we’d had. At this moment, the train pulls off nearly empty and leaves the passengers wanting to return to London stuck in Ipswich, including myself. I remain annoyed (I expect I’ll get over it in a few months) that I could have been back in London in a hotel room ready to return when the railway line was back to normal.

I don’t think it’s a secret or I’ll get anyone into trouble by saying that the train crew have made a series of announcements about the behaviour of Greater Anglia’s control room tonight. To be precise, “Greater Anglia’s control room have failed to respond”. That’s their own train crew, just abandoned along with the passengers.

After three hours on the train, they asked us to move to another one. The train crew then said that they had finally got permission for passengers to book hotels in Ipswich, but there are of course none available. The cynic in me suspects they knew that when giving the permission, but that might be unfair of me.

And here we are, seemingly all night. It’s evident that this is the reality, but Greater Anglia still haven’t communicated this to anyone. The control room has apparently given up and it’s unclear what this train with around 150 to 200 people on is supposed to do. I don’t usually verge into the political and I have been deeply sceptical about the RMT, but it’s entirely unclear what the Greater Anglia management are doing to resolve this situation and I can see why their staff feel internal communications are a real issue from senior mangers. Between 17:00 and 23:00 they had the chance to communicate to passengers that they could stay in London, or return to London when it was realised how bad the situation was in Stowmarket, to get a hotel. I would have returned to London and then not been stuck on this train all night. Instead they just abandoned their train crew to deal with matters and have some social media team trying to respond without being given any information from their own control room.

The weather is evidently not in Greater Anglia’s control, but it’s clear that a better managed operation would have communicated far better. They had the opportunity to tell passengers to either stay in London, or indeed return them to London or elsewhere along the route, instead of leaving them on a train parked up overnight. And not once have they said what is happening at Stowmarket and whether the line might clear to given passengers the information they needed to make a choice. In fairness it’s positive that they have a social media team still on-line, but I can see why the train crew are upset at how Greater Anglia have treated them and their passengers tonight.

But, I will say most importantly, the train crew and station staff have been doing all they can by all accounts.

Oh, and the outcome….

October 21, 2023
Leominster – Press Room

Our final pub of the evening was the Press Room in Leominster, located next to the JD Wetherspoon venue. Apologies for the rather dodgy photo of the frontage, my photography skills are a little limited. It takes its name from the period when it operator as a printers, although it was actually the site once of the Duke’s Head pub. They couldn’t call it that though as JD Wetherspoon decided they would use that name for their neighbouring pub.

They had two real ales on and I went for the Town Crier from Hobsons Brewery who are a set-up from Shropshire. The venue is poorly rated on TripAdvisor and Google Reviews, so something appears to be up, but I found the service perfectly friendly during our visit. The management don’t reply to negative on-line reviews, so it’s hard to understand what exactly is happening here.

I might have forgotten to take a photo of the beer before I started drinking it….. It’s an error that I rarely make. I got a taste of apples from the beer, which was well kept and it was a rather decent golden ale which was also served in an appropriately branded glass. Julian found something non-alcoholic and Jonathan was tasting dry ciders, they seemed happy.

The bar was well presented although some parts of the venue were just a little grubby and disorganised if I’m being entirely honest. Maybe let’s try and put that in the quirky category though. There was a band playing which I can’t say did much for me, but there we go, each to their own and at least the venue was trying something to get customers in.

They’ve got a deli arrangement in the fridges, although the pricing wasn’t very clear but some of the products looked tempting.

It’s something of a quirky venue, although the volume of negative reviews is unusually high, but I didn’t experience anything problematic and the beer was fine. It’s certainly worth a little look in for those wanting a drink, there’s always a place for pubs that are a little different. It was also time for us to leave the delights of Leominster as we had late night Trivial Pursuit to play….. That’s just my rock and roll lifestyle.

October 19, 2023