1st-5th August - GBBF '06 moves from Olympia to Earls Court - bigger venue, more beers, a bound programme, and third pint glasses - lots of change, but still the same great atmosphere. With three GBBF's under the belt, it was difficult to get used to not knowing where all the bars and food outlets where - and map reading got progressively worse during the day... but it was definitely a change for the better, as there was so much more space to move around, and there was considerably more seating (although we still didn't manage to get one...)

Dan and I headed down for the Wednesday and Friday sessions - meeting up with Yogi on the former, and John on the latter.

Session 1...

On arriving at Earls Court tube station we headed straight for the pub opposite, where Dan opted for a Newkie Brown (surely not a good way to start a session?!) and myself a Greene King IPA (which I immediately regretted, as it was warm, creamy and tasted of wet dog). Half an hour later and we were standing inside the fest venue, wondering where the heck to go first.

Picking up a "souvenir programme" - which cost a pound this year (on top of the member's rate of £5 to get in, let alone the £7 for non-members!), and a nice shiny pint glass (on a £3 loan!) , we went for a wander round the site. After a couple of regional bars we headed to the St Austell brewery bar - where we managed to distract the barman whilst he was pouring my half of HSD, so I ended up with a pint for the same price - and what a great pint it was! - never fails to satisfy.

It was about now that Yogi arrived, and the following exchange took place (with a lot of artistic licence):

Me: "We're at bar B1" Yogi: "P1?" Me: "No - B1 - on the right B*ll*ck" Yogi: "You what?!" Me: "Look at the map..." *Yogi looks at phallic map layout* Yogi: "Gotcha - see you in two" *some time later* Yogi: "We're at P1 - where are you?"

(C) CAMRA, no doubt

It may have been nice with all the space, but it was bloody confusing trying to find the bar or food outlet you were after... Anyway, after a few more regionals and a couple of pies, we headed to Old Faithful number two - the Caledonian brewery bar for a Deauchers IPA - which was grand. A move to the Bieres Sans Frontieres stand for some foreign black lagers, and some chewy, tasty, beefy goodness (in the form of Biltong) and we decided a change of scenery was required. Leaving Yogi to it, we headed over to Piccadilly Circus for some pubs - including the Spice of Life (where I ended up with a glass of Rose for some obscure reason) and the Duke of York (for some Sam Smith's Stout and multiple G&T or R&C's).

And so ended the first session - here are the beers:

Brewer	Region	Name	ABV	Tasting Notes	Rating
Itchen Valley	Hamps	Hampshire Rose	4.2%	Chestnutm but sharp and watery	5/10
Milk Street	Somerset	Funky Monkey	4.0%	Straw coloured, nicely hoppy, good frothy head	8/10
St Austell	Cornwall	HSB	5.0%	Creamy, dark, beautiful malty pint of goodness :-)	9/10
Twickenham	Middlesex	Advantage	4.0%	Pleasant and easy drinking	7/10
Storm	Cheshire	Beaufort's Ale	3.8%	Chestnut, strong bitter flavour	5/10
Orkney	Orkney	Dark Island	4.6%	Nice, tasty, smooth stout	7/10
Caledonian	Edinburgh	Deauchers IPA	3.8%	Good as ever	8/10
Neder	Germany	Schwarze Anna	5.2%	Great black lager	8/10
Bernard	Czech Rep	Cerne	5.1%	Tasty, well bodied stouty lager	7/10

Session 2.....

After a day to recover (not really necessary this year, but three days in a row can get a bit much), Friday started in a similar fashion to Wednesday. Except I had two sausage and egg sandwiches before leaving the flat, instead of just a mug of black coffee - which meant there was actually something to absorb the booze.

Got to Earls Court at about 1pm, and began the mission of meeting up with Dan and JK who'd got to the beer before me.
"We're on the right b*ll*ck" says Dan
"Excellent - see you in two" I reply, with a sense of deja vu
Nuts. Forgot to ask whether that's the right as you look at the map, or from the perspective of the owner of it. Cue much searching around all the smoking areas and a stop off at the St Austell bar for a reviving pint of HSD, and we eventually meet.

Breaking with the GBBF tradition of drinking lots of regional halfs, I opt for a similar tactic to yesterday - going for pints of decent beer, old favourites and bottles of foreign stuff. And it was a good choice - here are the beers:

Brewer	Region	Name	ABV	Tasting Notes	Rating
St Austell	Cornwall	HSB	5.0%	Making the most of it	9/10
How Now	N Yorks	Brown Cow	4.5%	Great last year, but just a standard light, flowery session ale this year..	7/10
Cains	Merseyside	Dark Mild	3.2%	Very smooth and tasty	7/10
Karg	Germany	Dunkel Weiss	5.2%	Very wheaty dark wheat beer	7/10
Buffys	Norfolk	Mild	4.2%	Smooth, pleasant	6/10
Anchor Brewing	California, USA	Porter	5.6%	Good, strong flavour	7/10
Schlenkerla	Germany	Rauchbier Marzen	5.1%	Very strong flavour - dark, smoky beer. Fantastic	8/10
Caledonian	Edinburgh	Deuchchers IPA	3.8%	Good as always	7/10

Sprinkled amongst the above were a smattering of pies for myself (pork, sage and onion - of course) - John attempted to have one of eash pie and pasty available, and Dan stuck to the original steak Cornish pasty - whilst lambasting John for getting cheese and onion early in the day.

Full, and unable to tempt the others to have a few more cheeky halves (or indeed, a pub crawl), we headed our separate ways. On waking up somewhere along the north Kent coastal trainline, I looked left to the off licence, right to home, and opted for straight ahead for the mile's trek to the local - where the evening was rounded off with plety of (unfortunately) Dutch lager.

If you want to see fat, bearded men and a selection of pastry -based meat products, the photos can also be found in the Gallery