The 31st Kent Beer Festival made its regular appearance at Merton Farm in Canterbury in the middle of July - which fortunately coincided with a dry patch of the summer - fortunate because it's held in a cow shed (albeit a rather large one to hold the 150 beers!)

Prior to sampling the wares, we decided to get a few practice pints in town - including a quite pleasant B&T's Dragonslayer and an Odyssey in the Thomas Ingoldsby 'Spoons; and an Asahi in Wagamama's tasty new Japanese restaurant. Suitably slaked and a quick taxi ride later, we were in the queue for the fest to open. Parting with our fivers (the last few fests have all seemed quite pricy - and this without a CAMRA discount either...) and grabbing the tokens and glass, the session began.

Although we were first in, the place rapidly began to fill up - and by 8pm it was rammed. Bar service was good though, and there was a live music area for a bit of space. GBBF goers would have noticed Olive Girl making an appearance, but a plentiful bowl of seafood and noodles earlier meant she wasn't frequented this time.

Beers were very good, and quite a few were sampled. Unfortuntely I appeared to start misnumbering the notes towards the end, so the fest beer notes are quoted instead (and I'm sure there's at least one or two that I've forgotten to write down at all - which is also my excuse for feeling so rough the next day)

Brewer	Region	Name	ABV	Tasting Notes	Rating
Swan	Kent	Fuggles	3.6	Light, hoppy, slightly sweet aftertaste	7/10
Glastonbury	Somerset	Hedgemonkey	4.6	Quite sweet; chestnut in colour; very smooth and pleasant	8/10
Hexhamshire	Northumberland	Whapweasel	4.8	Amber, sweet, malty tasty one	8/10
Wolf	Norfolk	Granny Wouldn't Like It	4.8	Another malty chestnut one - slightly more bitter	7/10
Oakleaf	Hamps	Hole Hearted	4.7	Quite bitter aftertaste, but very flavoursome	8/10
Ramsgate Brewery	Kent	Goff's No 3	5.0	Light, hoppy, but quite strong - nice	7/10
Ramsgate Brewery	Kent	Dr Sunshine's Special Friendly Wheat Beer	4.2	"Light, clean summer ale, mellow yet refreshing"
Wild's	Weobley	Wild SX	4.2	"Light amber, lovingly hopped with Goldings and Fuggles"
Atlas	Scotland	Three Sisters	4.2	"Dark, sweet beer, heavy with summer fruits in the nose"

Leaving when they chucked us out at 11pm, and not fancying the monumental queue for buses and taxis, we began the 2 mile trek home. Via the kebab shop, naturally. :-)