Uppingham Oktoberfest

Another local beer festival comes along, and once again it's touch and go whether we'll manage to get to it. A plea to all beer and cider festival organisers, 'Don't organise your tipple-fest in October please, we're too damn busy!'... Well, it's worth a go.

The Crown Hotel is my pub of choice whenever I visit the Rutland market town of Uppingham. It's an Everards Brewery pub and therefore has beers I like (though sadly no cask Beacon), plus a better than average range of guest beers, and Westons Old Rosie for those who prefer the taste of fermented apples. The Crown has also become one of the centres of local CAMRA activity since licensee Alan Pickersgill was made Secretary of the new Rutland branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

This is the second of two annual beer festivals which take place at the Crown. The Oktoberfest (Thurs 9th - Mon 13th) will feature around 20 Real ales, draught German beers and a small range of real ciders, including our own Rockingham Forest Cider. This will be the last event we supply with cider this year, another significant milestone in our cidermaking year.

Update: Whilst delivering our cider yesterday I had a chance to chat with Alan. The beers are all stillaged, rigged up to cooling equipment, and settling nicely. There will in fact be 6 ciders available from Biddenden (Kent), Thatchers (Somerset) and Westons (Herefordshire), plus of course a barrel of our own from Northants.