The Eastbourne Beer Festival

An enjoyable interlude today as I met up with my brother for a session at the Eastbourne Beer Festival, held at the Winter Gardens. This was my fourth consecutive year of attending and on each occasion the weather has been quite remarkable. After yesterday's torrential rain the bright spells today were most welcome.

One is totally spoilt for choice at this particular festival with a selection of more than 120 real ales on offer and a multitude of ciders and perries. We had tickets for the 11:00am to 4:00pm session and enjoyed a variety of the beers on offer and were entertained by two bands: Pocketsize, a group of three with a terrific female lead vocalist, so reminiscent of Alison Krauss, performing material in the Americana/Country genre; and Wakin' Snakes, a terrific rock/folk ensemble with great vocals and an accomplished banjo player.

For the real ale aficionados, here is a record of my selected beverages:

• Ginger Tosser 3.8% from Skinner's Brewery in Cornwall
• Betty Stogs Bitter 4.0% from Skinner's Brewery in Cornwall
• British Bulldog 4.3% from the Westerham Brewery in Kent
• Lancaster Bomber 4.4% from Thwaites Brewery
• Battleaxe 4.2% from the Rudgate Brewery
• Hobgoblin 4.5%from the Wychwood Brewery
• Landlord 4.3% from the Taylor Brewery in Yorkshire
• Fortyniner 4.9% from Ringwood's Brewery in Hampshire

I hasten to add that my consumption over 5 hours was in half pints only! A most enjoyable day and it was good to see my brother again (he lives in Kent).