Enjoying a pint at the Falmouth Beer Festival are, left to right, Stuart Hughes, Skinner’s sales manager, Steve ‘Daisy’ Day, a CAMRA volunteer, and Cornish comedian Kernow King (Ed Rowe)
So, Skinner’s 7 Hop. 90 casks of it and then it’s gone. What a shame. Probably my beer of the Falmouth Festival, at the weekend, staged once more by the hardy volunteers of the Cornwall branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in the Princess Pavilion.
I get the impression, with the development of EPA earlier this year with River Cottage, and collaboration with them again on the food menu at their tap, the Old Ale House, in Truro, that Skinner’s is in forward-looking mood, not content to rest on the laurels of the Betty Stogs brand which has been so good to them over the years.
Among drinkers I know, Skinner’s is very much a marmite brand. Personally, I get on fine with the beers, although I prefer the hoppier, zingier Porthleven and Lushington’s, marketed under Cornish Beer & Surf Co branding, for their distinctiveness, and welcomed EPA with it’s English Cascade hop bitterness.
Apart from one comment of ‘average’, the beer, which has seven varieties of whole hops, ranks ridiculously highly on Untappd and not without good reason. With the possible exception of Pennycomequick stout, which I have quite a soft spot for, this could be Skinner’s finest hour. Leaving it as a seasonal would certainly create the sort of demand that Pennycomequick enjoys every autumn, but I feel 7 Hop (5% ABV) would make a magnificent addition to the core range.
Tribute, from St Austell, works as a beer because the man on the Clapham omnibus thinks “That’s a nice tasty bitter, refreshing and moreish”, while verbiose geeks like myself will pick away at the levels of bitterness and aroma, and deconstruct the juicy malt notes and the zesty, orangey New World hop notes. Skinner’s 7 Hop has similar potential, lovely depth of resinous, citrus fruity flavours of grapefruit and kiwi and a wonderful solid malt backbone. The only area in which I could mark it down is that the aroma wasn’t quite as pronounced as I’d expect from all those hops. All the same, I hope to encounter it again soon. Dunno which 7 hops they were, but they were magnificent.
Elsewhere, my festival highlights, drinking wise, included White Hind (4.5% ABV), from the Quantock Brewery, in Somserset, which had a very inviting aroma, and peppery hop and hints of tropical fruit on the palate. Could’ve drunk this all afternoon. Dark Ness (4.5%), from the Red Rock Brewery, in Devon, went down well, too, a porter-esque bitter, easy drinking and smooth, with a lovely bittersweet finish.
From Cornwall, Sharp’s Autumn Red Ale (4.4%) always excites me and this year’s vintage is no different. Vibrant berry fruit combined with the rich malty base of an Irish red style beer. Ideal for the season. Atlantic Brewery’s Easterly (5.5%) had lime aroma and ginger on the palate, yet all used sparingly and so complimentary on the palate, with a slightly fiery finish.
The festival was, as ever, a huge success, with just under 5,000 souls through the door, assiduosly tackling about 17,000 pints of real ale, some 4,800 pints of cider and perry and 920 pints of the flavoursome and deceptively drinkable Grandma’s Weapons Grade Ginger Beer, made by the Wheal Maiden Brewery in the depths of mid-Cornwall. I can recall at another beer festival managing to make my way through several hours of steady beer drinking only to eventually be floored by Grandma’s finest. Fiery, indeed.
The festival will return next year, of course, with a new boss at the helm, organiser of several years Gerry Wills standing down after 2014. “Thirty-five [festivals] is quite enough!,” he said. “In the main I’ve enjoyed the experience and I thank all the customers who have supported the festivals over the years.”
Peter Martin (left), brewer at Driftwood Spars, St Agnes, and Josh Dunkley, owner of Cornish Crown Brewery, Penzance
