Baron on Tour: Waterloo Beer Festival 2012

Last night I headed to the station to attend the Waterloo Beer Festival arranged by Liverpool Organic Brewery. Forty-five minutes later I was walking towards Old Christ Church on Waterloo Road following a number of other likely candidates for a beer fest (you can always spot them - guys walking in pairs, one of which is holding a piece of paper). Due to Google maps looking like it was a bit of a trek I was there 10 minutes early but wasn't the first to be hovering around the door like a bar fly.

A quick nod and mention that I was the Baron meant that I was in through the door with a half-pint glass in hand. The beers were all £1.25 regardless of strength and all the beers on the list were available (and it's an impressive list).

I headed straight for Dark Star Hophead (3.8%) knowing that it would be the perfect starter beer and give me a chance to look over the beer list in the free programme. It was lovely: bright, fresh, zingy hoppy beer and so drinkable, an amazing session beer with so much taste.

Next was Black Iris Krasney Red IPA (5.3%) which was a nice dark amber colour with a candied and fruity taste and a slightly burnt big bitter finish - a great red ale.

I've been drinking a lot of RedWillow ales recently in bottled form bought from Source Deli so I thought I'd best try one of theirs, Headless was on, a 3.9% pale ale which had a nice bite and a bitter finish, again similar to Hophead as a really tasty session ale - brilliant beer.

Next was Hackney Hopster from London Fields Brewery, a citrusy slightly pithy 4.7% ale with a long bitter finish, a really cracker and I can't wait to try this in bottled form.

By now I was starting to get a bit hungry and the pie stand run by Peninsula Luxury Pies seemed the perfect option, they had an excellent array of pies and pasties, I opted for the pork & Branston pie and it was excellent. £3.50 got you a huge pie, I only managed 1/2 in the fest, the rest was consumed on the way home ;)


It was starting to fill up by this point, and a nice hum of chatter was happening in the room, I'd also met up with The Liverpool Craft Beer Co. and so was having a good chat to him & his brother. They are doubling the brewery's output very soon and have moved into the unit next door as well to help with the expansion. I've been promised that bottled versions of their ales will be 'available soon'...

Shortly after I noticed that Karl from Liverpool Organic Brewery had arrived, so I headed over to say thanks for putting me on the guest list and to chat about setting up for the festival. He mentioned that they had brewed a beer especially for the festival called Special 247 so that was my next ale. It was a rich hoppy beer and drank well over it's weight of 5%. Karl mentioned that it was particularly heavy on the malt for this beer hence the overall impression. Karl then had to get to work behind the bar so I opted for one of my favourites of theirs ShipWreck IPA - this 6.5% pale IPA is awesome, packed with citrus flavours and a good bitter punch in the finish.

I then found The Liverpool Craft Beer Co. again and proceeded to talk beer stuff and try a load of ales for the remainder of the festival, here are the other beers that I tried, all of them were absolutely spot on and in perfect condition:

• Brodies London Fields Pale Ale - 4% crisp with a big lemon bite
• Ironbridge Citra Noir - 4.7% black IPA, smooth with a roasted taste and a bitter citrus finish, reminded me of Windsor & Eton's Conqueror
• Liverpool Craft American Red Ale - 5% amber ale with a slight lemony edge and some candied sweetness, big bitter finish
• Redemption Bigchief - 5.5% IPA big full flavoured ale with a sweet fruity flavour
• Saltaire Rye Pale Ale - 4.4% really tasted red ale, spot on!
• RedWillow Ageless - 7.2% double IPA, sweet, rich, absolutely amazing (and was the finisher of the night)

 I had a great night thanks to Karl from Liverpool Organic Brewery for inviting me, and was so good making new friends with The Liverpool Craft Beer Co. and his beer-loving brother - thanks guys you made my evening!