AUTUMN RACING WEEKEND & ASCOT BEER FESTIVAL TASTING NOTES FREE INTRODUCTION By Mike Smith, Festival Organiser On behalf of everyone involved I would like to welcome you to the 13th FESTIVAL SPECIALS Ascot Beer Festival held in association with the Berkshire South East We are extremely pleased to offer you a number of beers which have been brewed especially branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). for the festival. Look out for the following: • Kissingate Brewery, Ripple Raspberry Stout ‘En Plus’ Edition The festival would not take place without a huge team effort from over one hundred CAMRA • Loddon Brewery, Wolf Quad volunteers who have lovingly selected and ordered over two hundred beers, perries and ciders, • Stardust - Nox arranged equipment deliveries and staffed the bars today to help you find your favourite tipple. Please don’t forget to vote for your favourite Beer of the Festival using the voting form in this Surrey Hills Brewery, since winning our Beer of the Festival at last year’s event with Greensand programme. This is a prestigious award for any brewer to win and the more people who take IPA, has achieved the ultimate accolade at this year’s Great British Beer Festival by having part, the better. another of their beers, Shere Drop, named as the Supreme Champion Beer of Britain. This award is the pinnacle for any brewer and thoroughly deserved. REAL ALE AND PUBS Pride of place at the bar alongside Surrey Hills beer will be Crazy Dave’s Berkshire Rebel, our current festival cider champion who has scooped the award two years running. Draught real ale tastes best at your local pub (or club). With pubs continuing to close at an alarming rate I would urge you to make a habit of visiting them to ensure their long- term survival. Your support will help make them a viable business going forward. Wokingham real ale haven, the Crispin, has done fantastically well to beat off stiff competition and win our branch Pub of the Year award. Angie and Aid Evans have worked hard to make the Crispin a fantastic venue for lovers of good beer. The selection of beers is mouth-watering with a lot of local breweries represented. Lastly, I would like to thank you for supporting us in this 13th year of the festival and please enjoy the beers and drink in a Angie and Aid Evans (Licencees) Ross Hunter and Mike Smith (Festival Organiser) Terry Burrows (Awards Co-ordinator) and responsible manner. The Crispin, Wokingham: South East Surrey Hills Brewery, Dorking, Surrey ‘Crazy’ Dave Snowden, Crazy Dave’s Cider, Berkshire Pub of the Year 2019 Holyport, Berkshire 2 3 ABOUT CAMRA BEER STYLES CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, is an independent REAL ALE voluntary organisation that promotes real ale and the pubs in Real ale is a fresh, natural product brewed using traditional ingredients and left to mature in which it is sold. It is considered one of the most successful consumer the cask from which it is served in the pub, through a process called secondary fermentation. It is this process which makes real ale unique amongst beers and develops the wonderful tastes organisations across Europe. Founded by four real ale enthusiasts back and aromas which processed beers can never provide. It is served without the addition of in 1971, today we represent nearly 200,000 members across the UK. extraneous carbon dioxide and is also known as cask-conditioned or naturally-conditioned beer. The fundamental distinction between real ale and other beer is that live yeast is present in the Our vision is to have quality real ale, cider and perry and thriving pubs in every container from which it is served, although it settles at the bottom and is not poured into your community. Our mission is to promote and advocate: glass. Real ale is a very diverse product and with more than 1,600 breweries across the UK there • the production, availability and consumption of quality real ale, is a beer out there to suit everyone’s palate. cider and perry Here is an explanation of the most common beer styles: • pubs and clubs as social centres and part of the UK’s cultural heritage MILD GOLDEN ALE • the benefits of responsible social drinking Mild is one of the most traditional beer Pale, Amber, Gold or Straw coloured ales styles and is enjoying a revival in today’s real that are hoppy and refreshing. This style ale market. Usually dark brown/black in has become very popular in recent years as YOUR LOCAL BRANCH OF CAMRA colour, due to the use of well-roasted malts or brewers seek to entice lager drinkers and a barley, it is less hopped than bitters and often younger clientele. If you enjoy real ale or real cider, why not join CAMRA at this festival? Your support helps has a chocolatey character with nutty and maintain the traditions of good beer in a convivial atmosphere. Whilst we take campaigning burnt flavours. Milds tend to have an Alcohol STOUT/PORTER very seriously, we believe the best way of doing this is to go out and enjoy good beer and cider. by Volume (ABV) content in the 3% to Porters are dark, hoppy beers made with the Berkshire South East branch of CAMRA is very active with a campaigning and social calendar 3.5% range. addition of roasted barley and tending to have which includes pub and brewery visits, production of a fantastic local magazine in the Mad a slight sweetness. This style originated in Cow as well as selection of pubs for the “Good Beer Guide”. STANDARD BITTER London around 1730 and by the end of the Bitters are highly-hopped ales. Standard 18th Century was the most popular beer style Why not come and join us where bitters or ‘session’ bitters fall in the ABV in England. Stouts are a stronger version of you will be made very welcome. range of 3% to 4% and generally have a Porter, originally called “Extra Porter” or lighter colour. “Stout Porter”. They are usually dark, heavy WEBSITE: and well-hopped with a creamy head and dry seberkscamra.org.uk BEST BITTER grainy taste from the dark roasted barley malt FACEBOOK: Bitters that are over 4% ABV. The most used in the mash. Berkshire South-East CAMRA common style of real ale found today with great variance in colour and taste within SPECIALITY ALE If you would like to find out more the style. This beer style captures the flair of the information about joining the brewer as he has experimented to bring out Campaign, please come and talk STRONG BITTER a new unique flavour and aroma. Beers in to us at the CAMRA bar or Bitters that are over 4.6% ABV and best this category may include the addition of visit camra.org.uk sampled with appreciation rather than to wheat, oats or other natural products to quench a thirst. provide something out of the ordinary to CAMRA Beer Festival Volunteers the beer drinker. 4 5 VOTE FOR YOUR BEER COPPER/RUBY ALE SOUR BEER & CIDER OF THE FESTIVAL Beers made with some more highly roasted Intentionally brewed with a high level malts to give a red or copper colour to the of acidity to give a “tart” or “sour” taste. beer. Usually not as well-hopped as a bitter Commonly produced with the introduction We would be grateful if you would take the time to vote for your Beer of the Festival. and often only available in the autumn. of a naturally occurring strain of wild yeast All voting forms will be entered into a draw to win a Polypin (36 pints) of your favoured ale. during fermentation or by barrel-aging in a OLD ALE wooden cask. An acquired taste and rapidly Beer of the Festival Vote Cider of the Festival Vote Typically black or dark brown, but can be paler. becoming more fashionable. Old Ales are full bodied with a malty richness. Ascot Brewing – Dark Horse Ciderniks - Kingston Black Fermentation characters such as fruity estery WHEAT BEER Bingham’s - Space Hoppy Crazy Dave’s - Cloudy Katy flavours should contribute to the flavour Malted or unmalted wheat added to the grist Bond Brews - Bengal Tiger JAR’s - Barkham Bite profile but considerable variation can occur imparting a clean, subtle flavour. Elusive - Morrisman Mr Whitehead’s - Rum Cask within the style. Usually between 4.3% and The higher protein content often produces Siren Craft - Suspended in Tutts Clump - Royal Berkshire 6% A BV. a large, longer lasting head with a hazy Hogs Back - Surrey Nirvana appearance. Signature characteristics are Loddon - Ferryman’s Gold Ballot box located next to the CASK LAGER CAMRA information stand the fruit-like esters, aroma and flavour Longdog - Lamplight Porter Beers brewed with lager malts and top- compounds produced during fermentation. Rebellion - Roasted Nuts fermented. Refreshing with a soft bitterness Stardust - Nox from traditional continental lager hops. Wild Weather - Full of Beans Usually very pale, with an ABV between 4% and 5%. Windsor & Eton - Guardsman The staff on the CAMRA bars are all beer-loving members of CAMRA who have come along as volunteers to help If you would like to join the Ascot Racecourse postal and e-mail mailing list for information on make this festival a success. They will be only too pleased to advise you on the beers and help you make your selection. All listings correct at time of going to print. An up to date listing can be found at ascotbeerfest.org.uk forthcoming events, please write your name, address and e-mail below: Name: CIDER AND PERRY Address: Real cider and perry are long- established traditional drinks which are produced naturally from apples (for cider) or pears (for perry) and are neither carbonated nor pasteurised.