This weekend was the 2009 Bradfordⁱ Beer Festival in Saltaire, West Yorkshire.   This is a fantastic weekend not just because of the beer festival - which isn't bad at all - but because there are so many great pubs around Bradford for making a weekend of it.

So early on Friday myself, MU & newbie to the Bradford experience AW drove over to Bradford & dumped the car for the weekend - drinking & driving doesn't mix kids!

We met up with AF & a short train from Bradford to Saltaire to arrive at around midday.   The excellent Saltaire Brewery had a fine turnout with Texas Brown: a light brown beer with 3 American hops in.   Almost certainly there was Cascadeⁱ & Amerillo in there but I'm not good enough to taste individual hops that well.   Trio Pale was a pale ale again with American hops.   We didn't get time to try the Hazlenut Coffee Porter, but there are so many beers!

Ashover Brewery's Coffin Lane Stout was a smashing bitter chocolate & coffee tasting beer, One Hop Wonder wasn't quite the beer I thought it would be (one distinctive hop & used in abundance) but was perfectly pleasant.   Bridgestones Brewing Co made an Armadillo which predictably enough I liked with the American Amarillo hop flavour.   We all decided to give Crown Brewery's Ring of Fire chilli beer at over 10% alcohol a miss, but only because we wanted to save our tastebuds.   Derby Magical Blonde was another nice enough beer but nothing that stands out.   Fyfe Brewery another beer that I new I'd like called Cascade.   Can you guess what hop they used in that?   A predicably smashing pale yellow beer.   More perfectly reasonable beers that just didn't stand out from the crowd were; Hadrian & Border's Tyneside Blonde & Fyfe Brewery's Fyfe Fuel,

Unusually for Little Valley Brewery their Python IPAⁱ was so-so, as was Workie Ticket from Mordue as it was previously a Chmpion Beer of Britain.   Local brewers Salamander Brewery's Waxing Gibbous had a good burnt malt flavour like in some stouts.

Shortly before the beer festival session ended we decamped to Fanny's Ale House to chill out on the leather settee there before everyone else joined us.   Knowing that the Roosters Brewery use lots of American hops in their beers, I thouroughly enjoyed a pint of Leghorn there.   By now the local pubs are packed as the beer festival empties until the evening session.   Over the road to the Victoria pub for a swift couple before catching a taxi back to Bradford.

 A curry & a pint of cola in Omar Khan's for a paneer curry with extra sag paneer.

Now we are getting a thirst on again so a march up the hill to Delius.   Perhaps the closest to an ordinary pub we will go into all weekend.   Loud music, people shouting to talk over it.   Black Sheep Riggwelter on the pump clip but regular Black Sheep when served though.   Hmmm.   No matter, on to the best pub in Bradford:   The New Beehive were KR joined us for a few.   Although the decor doesn't look like its been changed since the '70's, some people like me insist that this is called character.   Two previous Best Beers of Britain on tap - Pale Rider from Sheffield's Kelham Island (wonderfull pale ale with a flowery hop & turkish delight flavour) brewery plus Mordue Workie Ticket - alongside old favourite Timothy Taylor's Landlord (A good combination of blossomy aroma hops & earthy bitterness) & a curious Raspberry Blonde from the smashing Saltaire Brewery.   All this plus Erdinger Weissebier on tap & Budvar in a bottle.   Although the Raspberry Blonde wasn't the best beer of the night (only due to the extremely high standards of ale) it was the most interesting.   Definitely rasberry flavour but not sour at all like a Framboise & not overpowering or sweet at all.   A gentle pale ale backing up this flavour with very little hop flavour I could detect.

Enough for one day & we retired to bed.