I’m enjoying the sun and soapy suds, as you Yanks say, at the End of the Road Festival. Loads of youngsters with beards. It could be IndyMan.
The Beavertown bar has a craft peacock to protect it against hostile takeover by Big Beer.
We’ll see how corporate Beavertown have become when they open their mega bar at “New Spurs”, probably in 2021 at this rate.
I’m a fan of the Beaver boys, and you get a good selection of their finest murk in their little bar in the gorgeous Larmer Gardens.
No point having Gamma Ray (£6.50) of course, you can probably get that on draught in Tesco cafes these days.
No, I ask for the special and get something called Sapling. £5 a half, or £10 a pint if you’re a Sun reader. Folk behind me were asking me for a recommendation, like I was a sommelier (perhaps I am).
Proving the Nanny State still exists, they refuse to serve it in pints, so unfortunately it’s drunk before Mrs RM joins me on the Woods Stage for Josh T Pearson.
I buy her a fudge brownie to make up for it.
This is her view of the music by the way.
When she orders me to get a beer, I ask “pale”, “dark” or “murk filth”, and choose her the Zig Zag Stout from Milk Street.
Now, I won’t lie. 80% of the booze here is in cans bought from Shaftesbury Tesco and carted up a back-breaking hill to the camp site.
Brew Dog seems the can of choice, but the chap in front of me (it wasn’t Ian) proudly downed his Bass, origin unknown.
But End of the Road flogs a lot of cask, and if you want to sample beers from the established breweries along the A303, this is the place to come.
And they know how to keep beer cool (it’s chilly on Cranborne Chase, too).
I gave the Zig Zag a 4.5, a ridiculously high score for a beer at a festival in a plastic glass.
I’m either going soft, or perhaps September is the month that we’ll see cask reborn after the traumas of Summer.
retiredmartin 
A Milk Street “veg ale”? Is it made of boiled broccoli?
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Yes, isn’t all homebrew made of boiled vegans ?
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I enjoyed the festival 😉🔺
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Hi Martin, sorry I’ve not been around lately; the hassles of life distracting me from important things, like your blog!
If I am not mistaken, £5 a half works out to a drink that has flakes of 14-carat gold at the bottom. 😉
That Zig Zag must have been impressive indeed, overcoming the stigma of being served in a plastic cup. But what score will you give it when it’s been served in a proper glass, in a nice pub, with a packet of Pipers? 4.75??
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Given a glass describes the material the glass is made out of, it is surely impossible to have a plastic glass. I’d prefer polycarbonate drinking vessel, or plastic beaker for short.
I note that you have used your pink highlighter on your gig timetable. What do you do with the other colours? Do you share packs with Simon and swap his pink for your green? I only use blue for my Bakers and Quails, thin markers only in the latter case.
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There is no other colour, Tom.
You’re right about glasses.
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£5 for a half pint in a polycarbonate drinking vessel !
How much would it have been in a proper glass ?
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£3.60
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“It could be IndyMan.”
In the photo below the fellow in the, um, hat looks like he’s from a Monty Python Gumby sketch. 😋
“Proving the Nanny State still exists, they refuse to serve it in pints,”
Fingers crossed they don’t decide to do that for all beers. 😒
“a ridiculously high score for a beer at a festival in a plastic glass.”
Agreed. The plastic glass alone should be worth minus one point all on its own. 😱
“or perhaps September is the month that we’ll see cask reborn after the traumas of Summer.”
To be honest, it couldn’t get much worse. 😏
Cheers
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I’m posting comments in a virtual nomansland at the moment having transferred to Blogger – so I hope you get this…if you do can you tell my wife that I hope to be home for tea….
I’m guessing that Beavertown beers are so expensive because of the artwork, or the extra craft skill required to make them so murky…;)
Naturally having led a very sheltered life I don’t know half of the stuff that goes on at music festivals, but is that a troll sat on the shoulders of the bloke standing in front of Mrs GH?…
Like Tom the highlighted festival program stood out… the question on everyones lips is….
….do you highlight your shopping list as well….
🙂
Looks like the guy in top photo with wellies and woolly hat is expecting snow – noting like being prepared…(hang on has Russ already said that…no – that’s ok then….)
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Oh yes, blogger working. Will catch up with you and discuss mechanics.
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Cheers Martin….is that Mike & The Mechanics…?
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I’ll get back to you on others.
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It looks as if one of the beers is Smog Rocket.
“Craft” brewers are no longer content with just Hazy or Cloudy.
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Smog is their London themed beer.
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Yes,but not “The Living Years” please.
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“New Spurs”, probably in 2021 at this rate….
You are clearly working to a Crossrail timetable.
How about ready for the group stages of the 2030 World Cup ?
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Ever the pragmatist, Fred. They can play at Brisbane Road when Wembley gets sold and used for Beavertown events.
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You can tell no Spuds fans read this, no cask fans in Tottenham bar Mr Flett, of course.
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After having our lives impacted and seriously restricted by a large music event recently, I will not make further comment, at least it’s only once a year and we managed to escape on the Saturday. Boom … Boom Boom Boom. Boom … Boom Boom Boom. Boom … Boom Boom Boom. Boom … Boom Boom Boom. Boom … Boom Boom Boom. Boom … Boom Boom Boom. Boom … Boom Boom Boom.
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Yeh, those old folkies at that Clifford Beer Fest near you made a right racket.
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