Brunswick Beer Festival

Another day at work, but this time it was at one of the vendors down in Birmingham.  By the time we got back to Derby, it was getting dark and we were getting hungry.  I still wanted to take the guys to a carvery, so we made plans to have dinner at one of my traditional favorites, the Coopers Arms (http://www.thecoopers-arms.co.uk/) out in Weston.

I was taken to Coopers Arms on one of my first visits to Derby, and I’ve been able to return there every trip since.  If I recall correctly, I was not able to find a variety of foods at the time, so someone recommend that we try a carvery and in particular Coopers.  Coopers is situated off by itself in the countryside (driving there is part of the fun), and sits next to a stocked trout lake.  I always get the Coopers choice, slices of roast beef and pork loin with roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and homemade stuffing.  Sometimes I get sides of different vegetables (asparagus when it is in season), but not tonight.  The homemade horseradish makes the beef dish, and there is gravy for the pork.  The food is delicious, and on this trip I got a Leatherbritches Coopers ale on cask to wash it all down.  The desserts are great, but I never have enough room at the end of the meal (plus I have to same room for beer later on).  The guys were thankful for the vittles, and agreed that it was too early to turn in.  So we headed back into town, and walked over to the Brunswick.

You see our favorite downtown brewery was having their own beer festival, taking up one of the rooms to set up racks for casks.  The selection was awesome, and we had a lot of fun sampling the different beers.  It was a good thing we were walking, since the “samples” were all ½ pints (e.g., 10ozs.).  Some of the best included:

-       Leatherbritches Scary Mary Ginger Hairy: Scary Hairy is Leatherbritches ESB, and this version had ginger in the brew.

-       Brydy Conwy Autumn Red: This Autumn ale starts with distinctive citrusy/grapefruit aromas followed by a pleasant rounded bitter finish. Brewed by the same brewers who gave us Welsh Pride, I had to get it in honor of Jenn and my trip to Wales last March.

-       Everard Pumpkin Ale: ‘Tis the season, so trying an English Pumpkin ale seemed logical.  Lighter on the cinnamon and nutmeg than most American Pumpkin ales.

-       Great Orme Welsh Black: This was the bottled beer that I was able to on Llandudno Pier in Wales, a wonderful Dark Mild.  Rich, dark and full of malt flavors, giving it a velvety smooth rich coffee finish.

-       Brunswick Bullocks Silver Wedding Special: A special beer from the host brewery, I never found out who Bullocks was, nor was I able to confirm the style of beer (I think it was a Bitter).  It sure was good though.

I had so much fun, I had to buy a souvenir shirt.  I got to try 12 different beers, and I’m pretty sure that I enjoyed them all. – 6119/12946

“Whoever serves beer or wine watered down, he himself deserves in them to drown.” – Medieval English saying