"The Vibrant Forest (brewery) Beer Festival'
Yes the Old Farts had the privilege of securing tickets for the first ever beer festival held by the Vibrant Forest Brewery of Lymington, Hampshire. This was held on Saturday 12th September 2015 in Brockenhurst village hall in the New Forest.
The OFs opted for sustainable transport to the festival not just to avoid drinking and driving, but most importantly to demonstrate our low carbon footprints and show that beer festivals can be 'environmentally friendly'. So hopping on the local bus we enjoyed a somewhat tortuous route taking in a tour of the local communities, before arriving at the train station.
Before catching our train to Brockenhurst as luck would have it (or was it carefully planned?) we had time to pop in at the Elephant and Castle for a pint of St Austell 'Proper Job' on draught. In addition to this excellent Cornish beer, the OFs all agreed that the pub had a couple of things going for it but after a heavy day at the beer festival, have now forgotten what they were.
Anyway...we walked quickly down to the railway station, and, having extricated one of our number from a shop apparently selling single malts, we were just in time to catch our train. The train journey was short but nevertheless had some lovely forest views...
...then we arrived at Brockenhurst. Not (at this stage) being aware of the short cut to the village hall/beer festival we wandered (quickly) around the road route avoiding obstacles carefully placed by the New Forest ponies...
....finally arriving at our destination where there was already a throng of participants spilling out of the hall enjoying the autumn sunshine (and the beer)...
Having been processed on entry (ink stamp on hand to be able to wander in and out drunkenly - unimpeded by security; free glass chosen and beer tokens duly purchased) we entered the hall to be confronted by a fine display of Vibrant Forest's beers...
.... sampling commenced with the cunning plan that, as we could not try all the beers and stay standing up at the end, we would try most of them between us and tell each other whether we liked them, either using words or expressions...
Not only were there fine ales a-plenty but also fine food at the festival and we indulged in some home-grown/cooked delicacies from local sellers - delicious...
Having sampled a few of the lovely VF beers we decided we would have a change of scenery and wandered back into Brockenhurst village - still unaware of the short cut, but the walk was good for us. There we stumbled upon a local hostelry (The Foresters Arms) where we popped in for a pint of Ringwood Brewery's ales - well actually we sat outside in the sunshine and keenly observed the comings and goings of the village...
...and although nearly fifteen pounds was considered to be a bit pricey for an elongated pile of rice masquerading as a vegetarian dish, the food was generally good.
Whilst at the Snakecatcher we encountered some fellow beer festival goers who happened to mention that there was a handy short cut footpath to the village hall. We therefore took this footpath back to the festival for a final early evening sampling of the beers, this time accompanied by music from a couple of local lads from Brockenhurst College.
All too soon it was time to go home and no amount of staring in desperation at the bottom of an empty glass could change things...
So we bade farewell to a fantastic beer festival having listened to the Brewery owner, Kevin, announce that he would definitely be having another one next year. However using the short cut back to Brockenhurst, there was just time to pop in at the Snakecatcher to have a wee dram of one of the single malt whiskies we had spotted earlier in the day...
Then with grateful appreciation to the son of one OF who had very kindly agreed to pick us up and drive us home (and coped with the gibberish we were talking on the way) the Vibrant Forest Brewery's and OF's first beer festival was over.
With our selfless commitment to support our nearest microbrewery (excluding the Furze Dale Brewery) - we're looking forward to next years festival!
Time gentlemen please!!
