September 2023. End of the Road Festival.
Food and beer are a big part of the End of the Road, even though (unlike many festivals) you can take as many cans as you like in. Loads of Punk IPA and Abbot, since you ask.
A lot of local cask, a short-lived dalliance with Beavertown, and a permanent warmed cider bus with a booming disco next door that drowns out the sensitive folkie from Georgia next door.
On the first night you get limited site access, so the beer choice seems centred on Bristol’s Lost & Grounded and the Beer Factory. There’s an eponymous cask but it’s hidden so you won’t ask for it.
Mrs RM immediately decides that Lost & Grounded Helles is to be her beer of choice, particularly as the heat rises through the weekend, but Friday sees the opening of the Garden, and the Craft Bar (top).
Sadly, there’s not really an 11% Pit Stop IPA here, but the cans on the wall are close enough.
Remember kids, drinking beer straight from cans gives you a green tail.
£7.50 a can is a poor deal. Luckily, you can have pints of the afore-mentioned Bristolians (L & G, BBF) for £6.50, or pay another quid and get a pint of the Verdant which my notes record as being 9%.
Yes, a 9% pint before noon. What bliss it was in that time to be alive etc etc
Or it would have been, if the WiFi at the bars wasn’t down. Staff couldn’t take cash and immediately after we did get served, after five anxious minutes, the festival went dry for two hours. The perils of a cashless society.
For an anxious hour I thought EOTR had gone completely keg this year, but they’d just moved the cask to a less glamorous setting between stages. All your Dorset/Somerset/Wilts faves here.
Actually, the real ale in a non-glass glass was rather less than convincing than the keg, particularly at £6.50 a pint, but you knew that already.
retiredmartin 
“The perils of a cashless society” not suffered last Monday in Mancetter.
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Going cashless is a really bad idea, as the organisers of this event no doubt discovered when the Wi-fi crashed.
Similar difficulties were experienced at a local, outdoor event in Tonbridge recently. ☹️
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“When falls Atherstone, so falls society”.
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Is there a way of not receiving the notifications of comments on here I’ve been getting for a while which amounts to several dozen emails a day which means I could miss important ones and takes time to delete ?
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Paul, next time you comment you’ll see a little box just before you hit post that asks if you want to received notifications. Untick that box.
I’m sure Etu or Bill or Paul can explain that far better than I just did !
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Thanks.
I’m trying that and there’s a black circle in each oval now.
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Bingo ! (perhaps)
Bring back carrier pigeons.
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No, I’ve had ten notifications since 9.27am.
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Press them again and get rid of the black circle in each oval ?
If all else fails I’ll have a look at your device when I catch up with you, hopefully soon.
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Try deleting RM’s cookie too.
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Leave my cookie alone ! Especially the salted caramel one.
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e.g. paulloveskeg@craftymail.co.uk
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If that fails then use a phoney email address
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Thanks Martin for sorting that out.
I’m not getting any notifications now.
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Teamwork, Paul. I’m afraid I understand these things as imprecisely as you, but I’m relieved you and others can still comment as the comments are what makes it worthwhile.
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Oh no, I’ve just had notifications at 9.50 and 9.51am !
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Not sure if it’s everyone or just those with WP accounts, but in these notification emails I’ve seen a link, which takes you to “my notification” settings or some such.
On one of the pages there’s the option to block all emails from WordPress.
Otherwise you might have to uncheck the option on every article separately…?
I’m still getting no option to leave a name or anything.
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Thanks.
I’ve tried that now.
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Timofnewbury says
Thanks for End of the Road festival report. What time did the cask ale tent run dry? Good to see the cask list. Brewery list looks much the same as previously. Was there any Cranborne cider? Any sign of 8 Arch Brewing? Perhaps they can sell beer token cards next year so service can continue without Wi-Fi or cash.
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Should have said, I had the last pint of Moon Lore (in honesty, it tasted like the last pint) at 10.15pm on the Sunday as we headed from Ezra to King Giz. So actually it all worked out pretty well though I was sorry the Summer Lightning had gone.
And yes, my last pint, watching King Giz, was indeed Cranborne cider (and very good too, far better than the cider bus).
Didn’t actually drink that much in honesty, sharing pints with Mrs RM. The craft pints were the highlight.
No sign of 8 Arch. Glad to see the last of Two Tribes !
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Leaving cash issues to one side, it’s good to see such an excellent choice of beers at this event, and being able to bring your own tinnies along too, is another big plus.
Other festivals and outdoor events, please take note!
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I suspect you’d find the music a bit lacking in tunes for your liking, Paul, but I’m sure you’d really like the rest of the festival experience as long as you had your own toilet there (more of that aspect later if I remember).
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Martin, if the spread sheet you published on one of your other (many) posts about EOTR is anything to go by, it seems very much like new music overload. As with exotic brews at beer festivals, that no one has ever heard of, how many of those acts would you expect to see out in the wild, so to speak? Like many of the man in a shed breweries, that the CAMRA’s rave about, I suspect few of these “new” artists will manage to break through into the big time, no matter how talented or deserving.
I know they do it for love, and all that, but love doesn’t pay the bills. Sad, but true, and whilst a sensible modicum of new music is usually welcome, with that number of new performers to sit through, it appears more an endurance test than actual appreciation. My, admittedly, limited brain would certainly have turned to mush long before the end of the first day!
Moving onto toilets, it is the other members of my family who are averse to sharing facilities, to the point where I dare not book a hotel room or B&B that doesn’t have an ensuite! Most hotels do, of course, but the same cannot always be said about bed & breakfast establishments. What I’m trying to say, is I don’t HAVE to have my own toilet, even though I prefer to!
Music, craft beer, and toilets aside, the important thing is you and the family had a good time at the festival, and at the end of the day, that is all that really matters.
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It’s a good question Paul.
I wouldn’t have expect any of these artists to be the next Pink Floyd, but I would anticipate seeing them on the bill at local gigs I’ll enjoy just as much as more successful bands.
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It’s always fascinating seeing what tins (no glass allowed on site) folk are carrying around. Quite a lot of the popular cider brands, but also a fair amount of best bitters. Hall & Woodhouse, Speckled Hen, Doom Bar still popular. I think people stock up at Shaftesbury Tesco on the drive to the site.
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So that’s what the Kaiser Chiefs were about
Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby!
Deya Deya Deya Deya!
Etc.
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But that’s quite enough about modern music.
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