Yesterday I made the 20-minute train journey down to Stafford to go to the town’s beer festival.

Small but well-stocked would probably best describe it. The festival had been running from Thursday so I expected when turning up on Saturday afternoon, the last day of the event, that there would have been a shortage of beer. However, unlike other beer festivals that seem to start running very low remarkably quickly, there were very few ‘sold out’ signs when I left at 7:00pm (despite my best efforts!).

The school sportshall in which the festival was held was nicely laid out with local beers, and perries and ciders, on one side and national beers on the other and plenty of leaning posts in between.  I got stuck into quite a few, favouring darker beers as usual, but there were also some nicer best bitters and lighter, more summery brews – although the 10% bitter I tried last would tempt me back!

The music made quite a change with a local brass band playing for much our the afternoon.

The only bad thing about the event was the weather – nice, warm and sunny – so it seemed a bit of a pity to spend the day inside.  However, this might be another event to keep in my diary for next year.