We went to the Cockermouthⁱ Beer Festival last Friday for our last beer fest of the year (not long 'til National Winterfest in Manchesterⁱ in Jan and Gosportⁱ Winterfest in Feb!). It was *much* better than last year, still some of the beer had an unpleasant TCP-like taste, but much less so than last year.

Beers we tried:
Allgates, Napoleon's Retreat - bilge water. Like the stagnant rain water in the bottom of boats.
Bitter End, Expresso Stout - some black choc flavour. Reasonable beer.
Cock Robin Cider, Perfect Pear - A great perry with a good sharpness you usually only get with cider. Rhian liked this. Vanessa didn't so Rhian & I finished it for her with pleasure!
Foxfield, Honey You've Shrunk The Mash Tun - rural. A little musty, but OK.
Fyne Ales, Avalanche - a good pale ale (rather than a Pale Ale). My 1st drink at the beer fest and the best one I had for quite a while.
Geltsdale, Brampton Bitter - undrinkable. The taste of TCP/phenol was overpowering, it was like being at last years beer fest all over again. Had to throw this down the sink. Worst beer of the night.
Hesket Newmarket, High Pike - sulphurous. Just to show me that my experience of Hesket Newmarket beer was only due to bad bottling practice, Andy bought one of these. It took him ages to finish it as it was foul. There was some nutty sort of taste to it but this was overpowered by the sulpurous off-flavour. Has strengthened its no.2 place on the Crap Beer Guide.
Hexamshire, Whap Weasel - Rhian liked this one & says it was smooth. I didn't make any notes on it so it was probably somewhere in the middle ground...
Jennings, Sneck Lifter - chocolatey and malty. A good beer if you aren't into massive on bitterness.
Kelham Island, Pale Rider - very pale ale. Some creamy vanilla flavour. I made a list of the beers that had previously been CAMRA Champion Beers of Britain and this was one. A great beer.
Lancaster, Dark Side of the Lune - good dark bitter.
Lancaster, Blonde - good blonde ale.
Marstons, Ugly Sisters - OK. Not a great beer review but not such a great beer.
Marstons, Old Empire - my last drink of the night, so I thought I'd go with a solid choice from an established brewer and then I couldn't go wrong. It tasted of caramel and the alcohol could clearly be tasted even though its not really a strong beer. Nothing special.
Mordue, Workie Ticket - a good bitter with good malt flavour. Another award winning beer that you can't get down south, so it was on my "must try" list.
Northern Brewery, Navajo - a gentle, subtle ale with just the tiniest bit of sulphur.
Roosters, Hooligan - very light and citrussy golden beer. Bought on the basis of this breweries fondness for American hops and it didn't dissapoint.
Rudgate, Ruby Mild - a good example of a mild ale. Rhian liked this one.
Saltaire, Winter Ale - very fruity. Like Roosters' beers this was bought on the basis of other Saltaire brews. I still prefer their excellent Goldings and Fuggles beers.
Timothy Taylors, Landlord - old faithful. Another award winning beer and a trusted brewery. I don't know what they did to it but it was only in the "good" category that night. Usually an exceptionally excellent beer.
Tirril, Old Faithful - OK, I suppose. Another beer with few notes written about. Draw your own conclusions.
Ulverston Beer Company, Lonesome Pine - a good aromatic pale beer. really good stuff.
Watermill Brewing Company, Collie Wobbles - caramelly but not sweet. Rhian liked this.
Yates, Fever Pitch - light & hoppy. A refreshing beer.

We went around the Jennings Brewery tour in the daytime before the beer fest and tasted some of their beers including; World's Greatest Liar (smooth, chocolatey, malty but with a fair amount of bitterness) & Dark Mild (malty, smooth & mellow).

As always we went to The Bitter End for a meal and a drink. We had 2 excellent beers there; Lonesome Pine from the Ulverston Beer Company and a house brew which I can't remember and I can't find even after trawling the internet. But it was great!

On Saturday we went into Keswick with Andy, Dougie & Vanessa and had a pub crawl. The Dog & Gun unfortunately was closed for refurbishment as this was our 1st choice for pubs in Keswick.

It would seem that the beers served in pubs around the beer festival are better than the beers actually served at the beer festival. Hmmm.