Leicester Beer Festival

Our festival year kicks off in March with the excellent Leicester CAMRA Beer Festival (Wed 11th to Sat 14th). This will be the festival's 9th year at the Charotar Patidar Samaj, and the succesful formula of previous years has been maintained with over 200 real ales, complimented by around 30 ciders and perrys, and the unique Leicester Beer Festival Curry House experience! We'll be supplying a barrel or two of our new Sulgrave Orchard Cider for the event, our first sales of the year, and the first appearance of this cider anywhere.

The Leicester Beer Festival comes quite early in the season for us, in fact a little too early for some of our ciders to be ready. The Rockingham Forest Cider, which is made from a blend of tannic 'bittersweet' cider apples, is rarely at it's best until May at the earliest, but the Sulgrave Orchard Cider we pressed a little earlier in the season is fresh, fruity, and ready to go. This is a medium cider made from organic dessert apples in the Eastern Counties style, and is not too high in alcohol at 6.4% abv.

As for the rest of the ciders and perrys on offer, cider bar manager Susan Shirley has promised a wide range to suit all tastes. There will be more rich West Country ciders than previous years, though the Three Counties and Wales will also be well represented. I hope to get to the Saturday afternoon session, perhaps not the best day for overall choice, but still a good day out and an opportunity for a pint and a chat with old friends.