World's Biggest Real Ale Festival

My boss likes Thai food, and we had planned to hit this new Thai restaurant in town that he had visited last year.  I was game, and so was Ian, a gentleman that we were working with while we were visiting.  Unfortunately, similar to Burton Bridge the previous day, the place was closed, this time in the evening because they had moved to a “lunch only” menu.  And although we were disappointed, the great thing about Derby is they have plenty of what we would call ethnic restaurants.  So we went to a place we knew, and although the food was good the service was soooo slow.  So I let my portion of the bill and made it back to the room to Skype the family (thank goodness for the internet), before heading back out on the town to take advantage of the Wetherspoon World’s Biggest Real Ale festival (http://www.jdwrealale.co.uk/). 

Wetherspoon’s is a company that owns whole bunch of pubs in the UK, and they traditionally by cask ales that are close to expiring and then offer to their customers at a discount price.  The company is not loved by CAMRA because with so many establishments, there is bound to be cases of serving “bad beer.”  Fortunately for Derby, they have 3 separate Wetherspoon pubs, and one of them, the Babington Arms, is considered one of the best in the country.  I like the places for their beer selection and offering decent food any time of the day.  The festival is perfect for me, allowing customers to buy 3 1/3 pints for the price of a pint, and therefore allowing you to try more beer (perfect for me).  So I went to the Babington Arms first, and started with a selection of Falstaff Etta Jones (a tribute to an American Jazz singer), Craddock Crest golden ale, and Robinson Enigma, an Amber ale that was brought back for a limited spring offering.

Next was the Standing Order, previously a bank right off the center of town.  They were offering the same range as Babington Arms for the festival, but had different beers up for the tasting.  I tried the Hydes Owd Oak Old Ale, Nogne O (my new favorite Norwegian brewery) Bitter, and the Wadsworth Swordfish.  The Swordfish was a special brew, an ESB that was brewed with Pusser’s Rum.  The beer salutes 100 years of naval aviation with this unique beer. The Admiralty originally provided a rum ration issued daily to the sailors of the British Navy since 1665.

Finally, I made it next store to the Thomas Leaper.  This pub is a smaller version of the other two Wetherspoon pubs, but they too were offering a different set of beers.  I tried the Caldonian Coffee Porter, the Wharfbank WISPA (a strong IPA), and the Kelham Island Big Black Blue Sound.  Kelham Island was the pub that we had sought out last May, and this Black IPA was definitely worth the trip.

It was a great evening, sipping beers and talking with friends (and making new ones).  I got a lot of attention from my beer book, I can see a trend forming, popping out to try several beers each night.  Not a bad way to pass the time away. – 6000/12082

“Make sure that the beer – four pints a week – goes to the troops under fire before any of the parties in the rear get a drop.” – Winston Churchill to his Secretary of War, 1944