Return to 2009 Hinckley Beer Festival Page
Home Page

Hinckley CAMRA Beer Festival

Friday 12th to Saturday 13th September 2008

at the
Masonic Hall, St. Mary's Road, Hinckley, LE10 1EQ

PHEW!! It's all over now!

Champion Beer of the Festival:
Dent Aviator, a 4.0% amber Bitter.

Over the three sessions there were just over 1000 visitors
who managed to drink over 3000 pints of beer.

The Festival was officially opened by the Mayor of Hinckley, Councillor Jeffrey Bannister, who drew the first pint of
Festival Special - Joseph Hansom IPA, a 5% Strong Ale, brewed by Bell's Brewery.

As Staffing Officer I must thank everyone from H&B Branch who helped to make the Festival a success. From Sunday 7th until Sunday 14th, 40 members signed on, giving a total of nearly 600 hours of their time. It was pleasing to able to staff the entire Festival with members of our Branch. My thanks also go to members from other branches who offered their services but were not needed.

top

The Story of a first Beer Festival in pictures (Click images for larger images)...........

Floor protection goes down	Our new stillaging is assembled	Banners are put up	The beer starts to arrive	Treasurer looks worried	The beer's all here	Labelled & ready
Chairman & Organiser discuss details	There's a queue outside	The Mayor draws the first pint	We're open!	The first one in	Ben with the ciders	The Mayor interviewed by OakFM
The Mayor chooses another beer	The cellarmen look happy	Treasurer looks a bit happier!	Security trying to look hard	The Mayor chooses another beer	Getting busier	and busier
Bar in full swing	Even the Staffing officer gets tired	Dipping the remains	Hard working crew take a break	Stillaging comes down	All down now	Only the cleaning left to do

Photos by Chris Davies & Steve Colbourne

top

A Bird’s Eye View of the First Hinckley Beer Festival - by Rosie Cooke

 So it’s over.  The first one.  For all the ladies who worked at the Beer Festival – Celia, Diane, Hilary, Mandy, Janet, Yvonne, Jill and myself, as well as those behind the scenes, and the wives of the men who had to put up with sundry bits & bobs of festival stuff all over the house and garage, or just being festival widows, hopefully we can all get back to some semblance of normal (until the next time).   I think though we all enjoyed it.  Hard work, even harder on the feet and backs but we did seem to enjoy it. 

 Seen from behind the bar everyone else seemed to as well.   It was like one big party really, and everyone was really friendly.   We managed to have a chat with a lot of people and serve.  It was good to see people who were supporting it from as far afield as Maidstone, Doncaster, Hull,  Oakham who had had to get several trains, as well as closer to us from Birmingham, Loughborough, Leicester, Coventry and even closer all the villages around us.   Thank goodness the weather turned out so good.

 Lots of ladies seemed to enjoy the ciders, and for many (like me) their first taste of perries, most of which went down really well.   (We almost sold out).  The fruit wines were brilliant, and most people were interested in where they had come from.  Even the last two tipples we were saving for ourselves got sold. I think the Black Beer & Raisin one should have the Fruit Wine of the festival award, and the Thatcher’s the Cider award (first one to run out, and it deserved an award just for its luminescence).

I was only proposed to once, and the streaker (there’s always one) “barely” raised a passing glance (well the fruit wine was more attractive).

 Everyone behind the bar at various times really worked well together, considering they hadn’t before, not much was spilled, and for the most part we managed to avoid any collisions.  Perhaps we can hire ourselves out as an established Team, but don’t get any ideas Treasurer!   

top

Jill making sure the Mayor gets a pint	Diane & Hilary “enticing the crowds in”	Mandy just reaching the top of the stillage	Cider with Rosie (and Celia)	Janet takes a break

top