Running from 1st-4th May 2003 , Yogi and I made a last-minute decision to go along to the Saturday afternoon session. Situated in a huge marquee on the Kings Meadow near the station, it certainly looked impressive - with 333 real ales, 48 ciders, 18 perries and 99 continental beers to sample.

Out the back was a small outside area with some food stands, and naturally, it would have been rude not to try out their wares whilst we were there. First off was the Real Cornish Pasty van - these guys make it to a lot of fests, and as usual, their grub was superb. Pasties and ales seem like the ultimate combination.

Next was some Real Sausage and Mash - really tasty, meaty (80% pork) sausage, with some peppery mash and gravy. For £3.50 it would have been nice to have had a) more than one sausage; b) more than a small dollop of mash, which really did look as though it just had a sprinkling of pepper in it; and c) thick gravy as opposed to the watery stuff they served - but it did taste nice anyway.

Finally the Hog Roast beckoned. Not having had one before, it was quite amusing to see the body of a pig being rotated slowly in a metal oven (frivolous fact: it takes 4-5 hours to cook a pig in this way, compared to 7-8 hours over hot coals) Managed to get the last cut from the pig before they ran out of meat, and had it slapped in a french stick for £3 - tasted good with some apple sauce and stuffing. For some reason I was suprised that it tasted exactly like normal pork - I was hoping for a more roasty flavour - but maybe that would be more from the outside of the pig. Certainly good though.

Entertainment during the day was restricted to Morris Dancers , which I found quite scary. Quite why grown men would want to flounce around waving handkerchiefs and shaking bells in beyond me - I can understand the whole carying on of tradition and all....but surely some things are best left in the past?! Nonetheless, they were quite entertaining after a few pints, and the kids seemed to like them.

It was a shame the weather wasn't drier, as (as with all beer fests) there just wasn't enough seating - and the grass was too damp to sit on. Not that that spoilt it at all, as it meant we could walk around and check out the talent. That's right - ther were actually women there, and not just old men with beards (although I have to admit, there wasn't as good a show of facial hair as is normal at these events). Unsuprisingly, the more we drank, the more nice ladies there seemed to be, but whether that's because more turned up, I couldn't say...

Anyway, that's besides the point - beer fests are for drinking, and I was on a mission to find some nice dark ales and stouts. In general I suceeded, and the quality of the beers sampled was high - here are the (short and uninformative!) reviews:

Brewer	Region	Name	ABV	Tasting Notes	Rating
Bazens	Salford	Knoll's Porter	5.2%	Dark, malty and very smooth. A classic	8/10
Big Sheep	Bideford	Country Bumpkin	6.0%	Sweet and dark, but quite cloying, with an odd aftertaste.	6/10
City of Cambridge	Chittering	Jet Black	3.7%	Black, mild and severely lacking in flavour	4/10
Dent	Cumbria	T'Owd Tup	6.0%	Rich, full flavour with a tasty roasted aftertaste	9/10
Dwan	Co Tipperary	Dubhain Extra Stout	5.0%	Another dark roasty one - does the job	7/10
Garton	Yorkshire	Liquid Lobotomy	8.0%	Quite syrupy texture, but full of strong stout flavour	8/10
Sarah Hughes	W Mids	Snowflake	8.0%	Sweet, syrupy, strong, gorgeous beer. Very fruity.	9/10
Tindall	Norfolk	Ditchington Dam	4.2%	Well-rounded ginger flavour beer	7/10