Spa Valley Railway 2011 Beer Festival

The inaugural Spa Valley Beer Festival is on 22-23 October.

Saturday 22nd will see an intensive service using the lines Diesel Locos and on Sunday 23rd RSH UGLY and LMS Jinty 47493 will be used on all services.

Tunbridge Wells West will be the focal point, with at least 15-20 beers and ciders to try in the Engine Shed. There will be further beers and cider at Groombridge and Eridge, and at least two more on the train in the bar car "Kate".

The festival will be open from 11am on both days, but with Tunbridge Wells continuing to 9pm on Saturday night.

Commemorative half-pint glasses will be available to purchase.

Of course, our buffet cars will be in service both along the line and at Tunbridge Wells, and there are also refreshments and snacks available at Groombridge and Eridge.

Watch this space for details of timetables and fares for the weekend, plus updates on what beers are coming.

 

Taken from the Spa Valley website:

CAMRA Beer and Cider Festival

Saturday 22 - Sunday 23 October 2011

We are delighted to announce the first such event on the Spa Valley Railway! With lots of beers and a few ciders to choose from, there'll be plenty of choice at Tunbridge Wells, Groombridge and Eridge stations, plus on the trains as well.

Combined with an intensive timetable (appearing here shortly) and our autumn diesel running day on the Saturday, a great day out for beer enthusiasts is guaranteed!

Tunbridge Wells West station will be the focal point, open from 11am to 9pm on the Saturday, and from 11am to 5pm on the Sunday. Groombridge and Eridge stations will be open from 11am to 5pm both days.

We are sourcing some special commemorative Festival half-pint glasses, which will also be marked for third-pint measures, allowing you to maximise your taste buds as well as your voluminous stomach capacity.

The event will have it's own currency in the form of plastic counters, exchangeable for real money at the ticket office windows.

Normal train fares apply, and we will have our usual array of bacon rolls, pasties, etc to soak up all the beer. We are "promised" a few morris dancers too (they are never very far away if real ale is in the offing...).

All beers/ciders are £3/pint, £1.50/half, £1/third.

Here's the guest list as at 20/09/2011 - there may well be more/other beers and ciders as time goes on:

Style Brewery Name ABV Colour
Mild Rother Valley Smild 3.8% Black
Mild Whitstable Renaissance Ruby Mild 3.8% Black
Mild Batemans Dark 3.0% Black
Mild Rudgate Ruby Mild 4.4%

Bitter

Black Cat Hopsmack 4.0% Golden beer
Bitter Tonbridge Coppernob 3.6%
Bitter Tonbridge Rustic 4.0% Deep Bronze
Bitter Royal Tunbridge Wells Sovereign/Royal 3.8% Blonde
Bitter Kent Brewery Black Gold 4.0% Dark
Bitter Westerham Flyer 4.0% Amber
Bitter Larkins Traditional 3.4% Amber
Bitter Springhead Bramley Bitter 3.8% Very Pale
Bitter Rudgate Viking 3.8% Pale
Bitter Skinners Heligan Honey 4.0%
Bitter Ramsbury Tackle Down Under 4.0%

Best Bitter

Black Cat Original 4.2%
Best Bitter Tonbridge Ebony Moon 4.2% Black
Best Bitter Royal Tunbridge Wells Beau 4.8% Black
Best Bitter Westerham British Bulldog 4.3%
Best Bitter Kent Brewery Cobnut 4.1% Ruby
Best Bitter Loddon Ferrymans Gold 4.4% Golden
Best Bitter Tripple fff Moondance 4.2% Amber
Best Bitter Acorn Old Moor Porter 4.4% Dark
Best Bitter Elgoods Golden Newt 4.1%
Best Bitter Lymestone Pounamu Pacific Pale Ale 4.7%
Best Bitter Dark Star American Pale Ale 4.7% Pale

Strong

Moorehouse Blonde Witch 5.1%
Strong Royal Tunbridge Wells Golden Ticket 5.0%
Strong Larkins Porter 5.2% Dark
Strong Springhead Roaring Meg 5.5% Golden

Cider

Rough Old Wife Dry Significant Irrelevant
Cider Rough Old Wife Medium Ditto
Cider Rough Old Wife Blushing

 

Wonder how long it'll take Mr Wesson to go through them all lol

 

Just to update the planned locos mentioned in this thread, the Saturday will be a Diesel day with classes 33, 37 & 73 in operation, whilst on the Sunday we hope the visiting M7 and 33063 will operate in top and tail mode. Both days will have an enhanced timetable, and this plus confirmation of the locomotives in use on Sunday will appear on the Spa Valley website nearer the time.

 

Timetables for both days of this weekends beer festival are available on the Spa Valley web site. Unseasonal sunny weather is forecast both days so even better reason to sample the 30+ beers

 

Stu/Jon,

What are the commerative glasses like? Any chances of purchasing one long distance? A keg would also be nice but I doubt my student funds will stretch that far!

Regards,

Ross (Stuck in Leeds still!)

 

Is there any news on which loco will be working on the Sunday?

 

The M7 according to the news section of the website.

 

Thanks, had missed that

 

An enjoyable event, with a great select of beers in Tunbridge Wells West Shed, plus a small selection of beers on the platform at Groombridge ( Did not notice if they had any a Eridge) The M7 was operating and the promised Morris Dancers turned up. A small selection of photo's can be found at http://paulsimpson.zenfolio.com/p888912367 which include one of the special commemorative Festival half-pint glasses.

Hopefully this will become an annual event.

 

Ross,

The special glasses look great and well worth £3 - sure there are a few left. Sure an email to the GM will secure one till you can escape from Leeds,