When Lord Clive of Crawley informed the Glasgow Brethren that there is now an annual Bedford : Bamberg Bier Festival we took note. When he assured us that the price of the Bedford Travelodge and flights to/from Glasgow to Luton were within acceptable parameters we were hooked.
Howard and Tracey managed to get an afternoon flight down south, so by the time Hector was underway the Bier List was known. Meanwhile [Stan.TB] was in St Alban’s on other business whilst Clive and Maggie negotiated the perils of crossing That London when all the train signals were out.
Four of us arrived at Bedford Train Station within minutes of each other; three of us grabbed a taxi and went up the hill to check-in. [Stan.TB] went to rendezvous with H&T. I never did find out if he did as by the time we arrived at The Corn Exchange, H&T were on their way out after a four hour stint. Amateurs.
Twelve Biers vom Fass were on offer, only six of these were actually from Bamberg and two of these were the dreaded Pils. The remainder of the Draught Bier was from München, nothing outstanding here on offer. Fässla’s Zwergla (6%) was available on Draught – usually this is in bottles at The Source, this had to kick the night off. It was OK, not outstanding. This Bier can be demanding, the palate had not woken up.
Across the road from Fässla lies Spezial, perhaps the lesser of Bamberg’s famous Rauchbier sources but an excellent Bier in its own right. Sadly the Bier was flat despite being taken from the Barrel under pressure. Perhaps they should have used gravity dispensers. Hector was not doing too well. It was Bamberg’s most distinctive Brewery which came to the rescue: Schlenkelra’s Eiche was first experienced by The Chaps at this year’s Manchester Winter Festival. Hector has tasted a solitary Bottle at The Alison Arms (Glasgow). At 8% verging on the ridiculous. Urbock this Doppelbock is not, it is an Amber colour but still packs the Schlenkerla smoky flavours – it was superb. It became the Bier of choice for the remainder of the evening. Thought of tomorrow and this time next year were already being mooted.
Meanwhile we marvelled at the performing Band from Bamberg – Don Bosco Musikanten – we hoped to meet Don Bosco’s Sister…
Then there was the issue of Lord Clive and his Beard. This had been grown in the latter part of his trip to India with Lady Maggie – very strange. Even stranger than Spock’s Beard.
By the time the hall stated to clear a bit we found ourselves at the front. ‘Sierra Madre?’ I asked a Doris in the front row of the Band. Her opposite Doris was subsequently asked for Rosamunde. She was engaging. There was no joy with the musical requests – no music – but when the band completed their set, Doris #2 came down to chat.
Meanwhile [Stan.TB]’s polo-shirt had attracted attention. This was from a Brewery just outside Bamberg where one of the Band was from. The final stretch was spent chatting in a combination of Deutsch and English. This is why we were here.
There was no Curry-Heute!