Festival ales

[Beerlover]

I've been looking at the festival ales as they seem to have a lot of good reviews, I read somewhere that each one of their ales is brewed to taste like a famous ale from around the country, I was just wondering if anyone knows which is supposed to taste like which?!
Thanks

 

[Chippy_Tea]

There are 6 festival reviews in the A - Z here - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=37183

 

[Beerlover]

Cheers Chippy_tea, I have read them, I was just wondering if anyone knew the actual beers they were based on? Think I'm going to go for the golden stag and razorback ipa.

 

[Hoonigan]

Cheers Chippy_tea, I have read them, I was just wondering if anyone knew the actual beers they were based on? Think I'm going to go for the golden stag and razorback ipa.

I'm brewing the Razorback now, been in for 14 days now and still bubbling away every 70-90 seconds, looking forward to adding the hops soon think it's gonna be a good one...

 

[Beerlover]

Bought the golden stag kit today along with another FV and PB, going to start it off on Sunday, I've got a woodfordes Wherry which has been in the FV for 10 days now and still bubbling and a Nelsons Revenge in the garage in a PB which I'll be sampling next weekend, next kit is the razorback ipa which I'll be ordering next week, exciting times as these are the first kits I've done! ������������������

 

[sausagefingers]

I've done the Golden Stag and Summer Glory kits and they were both fantastic,really top notch pint. I've also got the Razorback brewing now as the reviews on here all seem to be very positive so fingers crossed for that one :

 

[sausagefingers]

Just to add the best advice I've had is leave it for as long as possible once bottled, it's not easy to do but it really does improve massively if you can keep your mitts off it for a good few weeks

 

[H0PM0NSTER]

Will be bottling a batch of Razorback IPA this weekend. The sample jars already taste great! Be careful adding the hops too early - the instructions say they need 5 days before bottling but the fermentation takes a lot longer than the suggested 10 days. Mine will have been in the FV for 4 weeks and I waited until the gravity was 1.010 before hopping (FG should be 1.005) to make sure it was on the home straight.

In answer to your original question, according to my LHBS website:
Festival Father Hook's Best Bitter is based on Hook Norton's Old Hooky
Festival Golden Stag Summer Ale is similar to Hook Norton's Hooky Gold
Festival Landlords Finest Bitter is based on Timothy Taylor's Landlord
Festival Old Suffolk Strong Ale is based on Greene King's Strong Suffolk
Festival Pilgrim's hope is based on Shepherd Neame's Bishops Finger
Festival Pride Of London Porter is similar to Fullers London Porter

 

[Beerlover]

Thanks Hopmonster, 4 weeks in the FV?!?! There's me worrying about my Wherry having been in there for 11 days! Cheers for the list, I haven't heard of most of those beers, I was wondering if any of them were based on London Pride or Speckled Hen as they are two of my favourites. Looking forward to cracking on with the golden stag and razorback, just wish I could have another 10-15 PBs and FVs to do loads more, I'm enjoying this new hobby of mine, even more so when I can start drinking them!

 

[sausagefingers]

I know what you mean about FVs , I bought another one so I could get 2 brews going at the same time. My stash took a right hammering over christmas leaving me with not a lot of drinkable stuff. I've been brewing like mad this month and bottling every week so by February I should have plenty to go at, the beer that wasn't ready this month will hopefully be fineby then, and by the time I've drunk all that I'll make a start drinking this months produce. It's like a long production line of golden goodness :drink:

 

[H0PM0NSTER]

Bottled my Razorback IPA this evening. This was the first opportunity to taste it since dry hopping and I wasn't disappointed - massive grapefruit / citrus taste with some floral undertones. Reviews from other members say the grapefruit flavours mellow with conditioning but I love beers of this type and would be more than happy if retains the current intensity.

Also checked my brew log and it's actually been 23 days in the FV - so not quite the 4 weeks I thought, but a lot longer than the estimated 10 days in the instructions! I brewed it a little short (21 ltrs), so it's come out at a heady 6.2%.

 

[Beerlover]

Got the golden stag going yesterday and it's now in the FV sat at 20-22c with the airlock bubbling away like mad, razorback ipa is next on the list.

 

[Sandimas]

Can you guys taste the difference between the various ones? I did a Golden Stag, then tasted a different one (Razorback) and they tasted very similar, in fact very similar to the Youngs APA/AAA. I guess they all use US-style Citra hops.

Just wondering if any of their kits are a bit more British, I like Citra and couldn't get enough of it when I first tasted it 3 or 4 years ago, but getting a bit fed up with it now, even the local beerfest had about 70% citra-based ales on last summer. Bring back the British pint....or at least a bit of variety :)

 

[Beerlover]

Razorback IPA ordered, Golden Stag bubbling away in the FV as I type!

 

[louis macneice]

Can you guys taste the difference between the various ones? I did a Golden Stag, then tasted a different one (Razorback) and they tasted very similar, in fact very similar to the Youngs APA/AAA. I guess they all use US-style Citra hops.

Just wondering if any of their kits are a bit more British, I like Citra and couldn't get enough of it when I first tasted it 3 or 4 years ago, but getting a bit fed up with it now, even the local beerfest had about 70% citra-based ales on last summer. Bring back the British pint....or at least a bit of variety :)

I think the Golden Stag is a lot more subdued than the Razorback IPA; they are similar in that they use some of the same hops but intensity, colour and sweetness are quite distinct.

The other one I've done is the porter which is unsurprisingly very different and very good.

All that said, I know what you mean about the British pint; I would love to find a kit or a kit capable of being tweaked into Harveys Best.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[clibit]

Can't you tweak a kit with a mini-mash to make a good British Pint Louis?

Bland kit, Maris Otter and crystal malts, English hops and WLP002, perhaps? Even Windsor or Nottingham, or Mauribrew ale? Or S-33.

 

[louis macneice]

Can't you tweak a kit with a mini-mash to make a good British Pint Louis?

Bland kit, Maris Otter and crystal malts, English hops and WLP002, perhaps? Even Windsor or Nottingham, or Mauribrew ale? Or S-33.

You certainly can and I think I have - using a Coopers English Bitter kit and pretty much as you describe - but I was being a bit cheeky. Harvey's is local to me (about 7 miles away) and a well kept pint of their bitter or their old is something very special; they've been using their own yeast for god knows how long and they're not exactly giving away the fine details of their recipe.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[clibit]

Go and pick up some of their yeast. That would be a good start....

 

[H0PM0NSTER]

I feel awkward enough asking pubs for empty bottles, let alone asking a brewery for some of their yeast! However, if they do tours around the brewery, I bet you could get them chatting about the hops they use and rough brew timings they follow.

 

[clibit]

When I decided to try AG I walked up the road to the Hydes brewery and asked if I could have a bit of grain for a small batch of beer. I got a full tour of the brewery, half a sack of malt and a bottle of yeast. The yeast was their idea not mine. They thought it was great I was giving it a go. I think most breweries see home brewers as comrades. Bigger breweries are not threatened by us, micobrewers often started out as homebrewers. Most breweries will give you yeast, I think, if you take a sterilised container with you. They create tons of yeast, and they can just tap it off from a fermenter.