The 21st London Drinker Beer and Cider festival took place at the Camden centre near Kings Cross in the middle of March. It was the third time we'd visited this one, and it fared as well as usual. Friday was the third and final day, yet there was still a very good selection of beer during the afternoon session, and they were all served in good condition.

The hall itself was crowded with little seating, but as it's a small venue there's not really any other way it could be. Still enough floor space to sit on though. Didn't sample the food, but there were plenty of porkies and spicy snacks to keep me going. The beer list was promised on the website, but never actually materialised this year (although if you wanted to look at the previous decade's worth they were there) - and the festival handout was good quality and clear, even if it did lack beer descriptions.

We only stayed for a few hours to avoid rush hour, but these are the beers sampled:

Brewer	Region	Name	ABV	Tasting Notes	Rating
Sharps	Cornwall	Doom Bar Bitter	4%	A pint of very pleasant bitter - quite a sharpish aftertaste, with a full flavour	8/10
Grand Union	London	Honey Porter	4.9%	Black with a yellowish head, this is a very smooth, sweet porter, with caramel overtones	7/10
Carlow	Irish Rep.	O'Hara's Stout	4.3%	Quite a chewy stout with a chemical aftertaste. Not bad, but also quite sweet.	6/10
Green Tye	Herts	Uncle John's Ferret	3.8%	Pale in colour, with a sweet, bland, watery flavour	5/10
Isle of Skye	Isle of Skye	Blaven	5%	Strong nose of apples fermenting; very strong flavour	6/10
Maldon	Essex	Puck's Folly	4.2%	Very pale, very drying	5/10
Spectrum	Norfolk	Old Stoatwobbler	6.%	Lovely, smooth, warming sweet porter. Good roasted dark flavour, without being overwhelming	8/10

Naturally the day didn't stop there, and after some red bull and vodka refrehment in The Dolphin opposite, we did a mini pub crawl around Stevenage's Old Town. Started off in The Standing Order (the local Weatherspoons) with a bottle of Staropramen (in preparation for drinking steins of the stuff in Prague) - then rapidly onto The Proverbial. This was quite a nice modern place, with fit young clientelle and cold beer on pump - opted for a pint of ale which was served well, but left when the rowdy locals made an entrance.

Next up was the Red Lion - where we had to settle for a Stella. Not sure whether it was a rockers or a metallers pub - but whichever it was, the music was good and loud. Also had a pool table out the back which was seeing some good usage. The final visit was to the Marquis de Lorne, which I think was quite a locally pub. Unfortunately the mix of Stella and G&T embibed there masked any memories that I might have of the place... and so, suitably saturated, the day was deemed a sucess (and the Hitchin beer fest was once again off the menu on Saturday)