Last Friday, March 18th, we went to "Hitchin Beer & Cider Festival". Something totally new for me and gratefully turn as an interesting experience. The festival is organised and run by the volunteer members of Hitchin Round Table and North Hertforshire Branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale based in St Albans. This year they were celebrating 40 years of CAMRA at the Hitchin Town Hall, which was very well organised, different rooms for the different beers, ciders and perries to taste and enjoy.
"cask/real ale" is the term for unfiltered beer which is conditioned and serve from a cask. In this festival there were a large selection of cask ale form independent UK brewers.
There were also foreign beer in cask and bottles such as Trappist, Lambic and wheat beers, pale ales, brown ales and largers...plus another small and good selection of ciders and perries.
A few hints for newcomers to beer festivals:
- The souvenir festival glass is paid at the entrance with a returnable deposit if you don´t want to keep the glass.
- Speak with the volunteer staff, they will be delighted to give guidance and answer questions.
- Start with low strength beers and eat some food too.
Last year both Pint and Half Pint allow a legal measure of one "Third-of-a-pint-measure", to allow to sample more of the beers and ciders if you wish.
In any of the cask, there was a label with 3 different prices: for a Pint, half pint and a third of a pint. We tried a great assortment thanks to this new measure which is really handy :) and Mark bought a selection of nice olives to accompanied, which we really enjoyed!!!
Unos consejillos para "principiantes":
"cask/real ale" is the term for unfiltered beer which is conditioned and serve from a cask. In this festival there were a large selection of cask ale form independent UK brewers.
There were also foreign beer in cask and bottles such as Trappist, Lambic and wheat beers, pale ales, brown ales and largers...plus another small and good selection of ciders and perries.
A few hints for newcomers to beer festivals:- The souvenir festival glass is paid at the entrance with a returnable deposit if you don´t want to keep the glass.
- Speak with the volunteer staff, they will be delighted to give guidance and answer questions.
- Start with low strength beers and eat some food too.
Last year both Pint and Half Pint allow a legal measure of one "Third-of-a-pint-measure", to allow to sample more of the beers and ciders if you wish.
In any of the cask, there was a label with 3 different prices: for a Pint, half pint and a third of a pint. We tried a great assortment thanks to this new measure which is really handy :) and Mark bought a selection of nice olives to accompanied, which we really enjoyed!!!
El pasado viernes 18 de Marzo, nos fuimos a un festival de la cerveza y sidra en Hitchin. Algo totalmente nuevo para mí que se convirtió en una interesante experiencia. El festival está organizado por voluntarios de Hitchin y la CAMRA, que es la Campaña de la cerveza de barril, en St Albans. Este año celebraban el 40 aniversario de la fundación en el Ayuntamiento de Hitchin, lo cual debo añadir, estaba muy bien organizado, en diferentes salas para los diferentes tipos de cerveza.
Antes de seguir, es interesante que sepáis los diferentes tipos de cerveza que podéis encontrar en cask/real ale:
Ale es un tipo de cerveza (beer) fuerte y de color claro. Stout es oscura, a veces dulce y con fuerte sabor a malta, lager o pale ale es cerveza rubia, brown ale es cerveza negra, mild es suave, bitter es amarga, special es fuerte y espesa y shandy es cerveza con gaseosa.
Unos consejillos para "principiantes":
- El vaso que se paga a la entrada, lo compras como souvenir, y si al final no te quedas con él, te devuelven el dinero.
- Es interesante hablar con los voluntarios y algunas personas que entienden un poco más de cervezas, para que te aconsejen y den respuesta a tus preguntas.
- Se aconseja empezar por cervezas suaves, o sidras y comer algo también.
El año pasado se incorporó una nueva medida a los vasos de Pinta y media Pinta, "el Tercio de Pinta", lo que permite probar muchas más cervezas diferentes.
Otra cosa curiosa, es que en cada barril de cerveza hay un cartel con los 3 diferentes precios: para Pinta, media pinta y el tercio.
Nosotros probamos más cervezas y perries (sidra hecha a base de peras, más dulce que la sidra normal), gracias al Tercio y gracias a que Mark compró una buena selección de aceitunas para acompañar, lo disfrutamos mucho más!!
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