Beer Festivals > Whitstable (July 27th 2007)
The Whitstable Brewery Bar hosted a beer festival over Wed 25th to Sun 29th July, and from previous experience of this fantastic pub it definitely wasn't one to be missed. Dan made the trip down on Thursday, and the plan was to have a couple of cheeky pints as a warm up in Herne Bay that evening, followed by an afternoon session at the fest on Sunday. Perhaps unsuprisingly Thursday turned out to be a bit more than expected...
Thursday
Pretty much the only pub I've used more than a couple of times in the 18 months I've been in Herne Bay has been the Hampton Inn - with its decent local crowd, darts, pool and inoffensive beer. Unfortunately it's a 2km hike from the town centre, so for Thursday's crawl was out of the question. Instead we chanced a half dozen within walking distance of each other.
We kicked off in the Four Fathoms, where a couple of lagers and snacks were purchased. Visited on a previous crawl, it was a standard local with a couple of pool tables at the back and an ItBox that decided it would eat the money we put in without allowing us to play any games. Feeling despondant we made an exit and walked down the High Street to the Druids Head. A smaller local, this also had a pool table - which we made some fine use of - as well as a big-screen TV. The added bonus was a range of Shepherd Neame ales in bottles, so we didn't have to chance the bitter on tap.
A stroll down to the seafront afforded the Ship - apparantly under new management and offering all day food, a large seating area, jukebox, regular live music and a pleasant atmosphere. If it wasn't so far away I could quick happily have used this as a local I think. A return back up the coast led to trips into the Saxon Shore - a half decent Weatherspoons now it's non-smoking, with the usual chain-wide problem of only having one person serving, hence a wait for the beer (but at least the barmaid was cute); the Bandstand - good for watching the sport, with a youngish crowd in the evenings, cheap drinks promos and DJ at the weekend; and the Pier - with it's pool table and minimilist feel.
With the evening drawing in we decided the crawl quota had been reached and it was time to head back. With Dan still in need of beer, a trip to Threshers was made for restocking. It was now I sprung my secret weapon - fig spirit from Marrakech. |
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Either those North Africans have some bizarre taste, or they brew this stuff only for unsuspecting tourists. Either way, it's lethal. A curious flavour of white spirit with a hint of figs, the only way to drink it is quickly. For some reason Dan wasn't overly impressed, as seen here (you can probably guess what's through the door...) |
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Friday
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Feeling somewhat delicate (for "somewhat", read "extremely"; and for "delicate", read "ill"), there was some doubt in my mind as to whether we'd even make it to the festival. In a bid to turn things around, we went for the all-out recovery package - fry-up, exercise and more beer. The exercise part was the decision to walk to Whitstable. Conveniently this also allowed the incorporation of beer at the Hampton at noon... Unfortunately we forgot to check the map before leaving, hence didn't realise Whitstable was a good 5km walk away |
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Arriving hot, knackered and dehydrated, the sight of the Brewery Bar was like a mirage. But with beer. Securing a table, we dashed in for the first pint. Racked up in the main bar were 19 ales from Crouch Vale, Oakham, Wolf, Dark Star and Mighty Oak breweries, as well as the full range of Whitstable brewery beers. As the fest had been underway for a couple of days, they were in great, settled condition, and served at perfect temperature. This was a seriously good event. We probably spent about 5 hours at the fest, making the most of the food stand that opened in the late afternoon, and soaking up the sun. |
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After around 7 or 8 tasty pints the weather got a bit breezy and chilly. This, combined with a touch of sunburn (sun lotion was the last thing on my mind when leaving the flat...), led to us thinking it was time to head homewards. Not wanting to rewalk the route home, we made our way into town to find a taxi. This proved a lot more difficult than you may expect - with no taxis on the street, and all the Whitstable cab firms either refusing to pick up the phone or saying their one car was already booked up for the night. Seriously - we tried 8 different companies and none were avaialable. At all. |
| Whilst we pondered the situation it seemed natural to find some shelter - and conveniently this turned out to be a pub. A couple of refreshing lagers and some sustenance (with possibly the largest good quality pork scratching I've yet seen) led to the conclusion that a train was the answer. |  |
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On arrival back at the flat, knackered from all the walking and suffering from severe booze-related munchies, a curry was deemed necessary. An hour later, full with lamb rogan and sat in front of Clerks, the day was declared a great sucess. Whitstable - we'll be back next year! |
