How was the beer festival at Torrens Parade Ground?

[William]

Gday,

 

There was a big show last weekend in Adelaide (1 and 2 May) - a beer and food festival sponsored by Coopers! I missed it, pooh.

 

 

 

Any good?

[Kai]

I went on the Saturday. The festival wasn't the greatest thing i've ever been to, for starters you received a bloody great goblet for your beer glass, which hardly lent itself to being a glass for all styles. I was disappointed with the range of beers too, I felt there needed to be much more.

 

 

 

Memorable beers were the Matilda Bay alpha pale ale and the Holdfast beers, especially the bronze ale.

 

 

 

The seminars were interesting, though. I caught Nick Sterenberg and Tim Cooper, as well as Peter Manders from CUB. It amused me that the Coopers talks were packed out but the CUB one was barely half full. The CUB one wasn't nearly as good, either, though it did contain some good information. I did get the feeling that the presenters were strongly drilled on what they were and were not supposed to be saying.

[Frank]

Brian: "There's just no pleasing some people."

 

Ex-leper: "That's just what Jesus said sir."

 

 

 

Monty Python's "Life of Brian"

 

 

 

I worked there on Sunday and thought it wasn't a bad first effort on the part of the organisers. The range wasn't huge, it's true but I'm sure you'll find that it will go from strength to strength in years to come. The glass was a good compromise - big enough to accommodate a full bottle of beer and a good shape to trap aromas during tastings.

 

 

 

I'd have to agree with your comments on the beers Kai. I had a pint of the Alpha Pale with lunch (an excellent vindaloo) and was impressed. Yes I'm a hop head. The Holdfast Brewing Company beers were all very good - I'll be paying them a visit in the near future.

 

 

 

Can't think of anyone who would be game enough to dictate terms and conditions to Dr Tim. They might try but he'd only laugh at them (politely of course).

[Kai]

I had the vindaloo as a nightcap, along with the butter chicken. Both were fantastic.

 

 

 

I probably will go again next year, as you said I expect it to expand a little on the range. I hope they improve on some of the beer and food pairings, though. Crown Lager on the Japanese stand? Blecch!

[Claire - Coopers Brewery]

The World Beer Festival was a joint venture between Rotary and the event Organisers called 'The Event Bureau'. The major sponsor was Sip'n'Save.

 

 

 

Coopers contributed by having their own exhibition stand.

 

I agree with Frank for their first time it wasn't a bad effort. Crowds could have been bigger but the weather wasn't that kind. Freezing cold and raining isn't ideal beer drinking weather.

 

Next year hopefully there are more beers to taste - I'm sure there will be.

 

 

 

My only concern is that the stands were divided into individual 'countries', but quite often the stands were showcasing beers that didn't belong to that country name. There was usually a 'main' beer that fitted under the heading but others in the stand didn't.

 

I noticed this on quite a few occassions. Eg: there was a German Stand that also had a Japanese beer and another beer from another country. I think the problem is that there is quite often more than one beer for each country. So if there's already a product under the heading of Japan, and someone else has a Japanese beer to showcase - they just put it with another stand and there you have the problem.

 

Hopefully this can be rectified next year somehow because its not entirely accurate and also misleading not to mention confusing.

 

 

 

Overall not a bad first effort though.

 

Cheers

 

Claire