Kingston Arms Freehouse
"Keeping it Real Ale at The Kingston!"
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Kingston Arms Freehouse "Keeping it Real Ale at The Kingston!" |
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Monthly Beer Festivals
We are keen advocates of the Real Ale movement (as is evidenced by us being the first non lager pub in Cambridge). We are building on this by introducing another innovative service, MONTHLY beer festivals. To be exact, monthly during the summer. We might phase them out during the winter and start them up again during the spring. We are learning what's appropriate as we go along - and it's a sharp, but fun, learning curve!
'Best of the Fest' Award Scheme
In addition to this, since our second beer festival we also run the 'Best of the Fest' Kingston Arms Award Scheme! We have no say or control over who wins this, it's based purely on customer votes. And it's a good way of recognising some of the hard work and talent that brewers exhibit.
Relevant Links
Adam Walker, a local independent reviewer keeps a regularly updated, interesting blog. For more go to his 'pints & pubs' blog
Want to write your comments about our festivals on Adam's associated Kingston Arms blog page? Go here!
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Festival History (most recent/upcoming first)
Next Beer Festival Date!
Our 20th!
And it'll be Halloween themed! Double
Coming soon...
.
Beer Festival # 19 (Thurs 29 Sep — 5/6 Oct, 2011)
Another festival where we were drunk dry! As the weather gets colder we expect this not to continue. But when the weather improves nest year there is a strong case to be made for increasing the number of beers in our 'little 'ol festival'!
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Skinners: Betty Stogs!
Skinners Brewery are the first to win TWO awards (for 2 different ales!) from us!
Award and notification currently whizzing it's way across the interwebs to them...
.
Beer Festival # 18 (Sat 3 Sep — 8/9 Sep, 2011)
Another festival where we were drunk dry! Unfortunately one of the barrels was delivered in an 'off' state, so we didn't serve it. One thing to note was the unusual start day. We normally start our festivals on a Thursday, maybe a Friday, but this time we were forced to start on a Saturday. Why? Evidently the Bank Holiday caught beer suppliers unawares and they were, well, surprised.
If only bank holidays weren't so unexpected. Ahem!
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Triple FFF: Alton's Pride the winner!
"Thanks for letting us know about the award, that is really great news... Also, thanks for putting a link to our site on your Beer Festival page and we are just so pleased that your customers enjoyed Alton’s Pride so much." - Sara Carter, Brewster', Triple fff Brewing Company
And TripleFFF have a Facebook page too: http://www.facebook.com/triplefffbrewery
Beer Festival # 17 (Thurs 4 Aug — 10/11 Aug, 2011)
WOW, these festivals are getting popular! Another festival where ALL our stock was drunk. And most of it was gone by Tuesday! If this keeps up we might have to increase the number of beers for each festival :-)
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Skinners: Cornish Knocker Ale!
Response from Skinner's Brewery:
"Many many thanks for your recent email regarding your ale festival and the top award given to Cornish Knocker! It's fantastic news and we truly appreciate the fact that 1- you ordered the beer in for your festival and 2- that your drinkers enjoyed the beer so much. Your pub looks great and I'll make sure i pop in to try some of your 10 ales when I'm next passing." - Stuart Hughes, Skinner's Brewery.
For more information on Skinner's Brewery and their Award Winning Cornish Ales please click on the three video links below:
9
minute short film on Skinner's Brewery with Steve Skinner -
http://bcove.me/0yomu37e
Beer Festival # 16 (Thurs 7 July — 13/14 July, 2011)
Our 'Flyerless' Festival!
Another stonkingly popular festival, and the first time ever that we had absolutely no festival ale left! Not even a single half pint!
The only downside to this festival was that both Paul & Jane caught a virus, which meant no 'Notes from Paul & Jane' for this festival, and therefore no voting scheme nor festival winner :-(
Beer Festival # 15 (Thurs 2 Jun — 8/9 June, 2011)
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Wolf Brewery: Straw Dog!
Response from Wolf Brewery:
"A BIG thank you to all your customers for voting for us! Being appreciated is very much appreciated!"
Beer Festival # 14 (Thurs 28 Apr — 4/5 May, 2011)
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Green Jack Brewery: Mahseer IPA!
Response from Green Jack Brewery:
"Thank you very much for informing us about this. It is always great to hear that our ales are appreciated especially when its the customers that vote it one of the best... and also for allowing one of our award winning ales to be present at your beer festival!" - Martin, Green Jack Brewery
Apr, 2011
Certificates now available!
We have been working away feverishly designing our Beer Festival Award Certificate. Until now winner would be forwarded an image to be used on websites, etc. We will now also forward a full size certificate that can be hung on walls.
For those past winners who want a full size certificate, email us and we will sort one out for you.
Beer Festival #13 (2 Dec- Dec 8/9 Dec, 2010)
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Hammerpot Brewery: Woodcote Bitter!
Response from Hammerpot Brewery:
"It is great to hear people are appreciating our beer. We have changed a few of our beers around over the last 4 months but I am happy to say we still have Woodcote Bitter available!" - Sean Dwane, Sales/Marketing Manager
Beer Festival #12 (28 Oct - 3/4 Nov, 2010)
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Blue Monkey: 99 Red Baboons!
Response from Blue Monkey Brewery:
"That's great news - I'm really glad it went down so well! ... cheers!" - John, Blue Monkey Brewery
Beer Festival #11 (30 Sep - 6/7 Oct, 2010)
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Magpie Brewery: Magpie Blonde!
Response from Magpie Brewery:
"Hi Paul
and Jane. Thanks for your email... You really must have some discerning
customers. Thanks for letting us know and also and for your support for our
little brewery. All the best." - Bob, Magpie Brewery
Beer Festival #10 (26 August - 1 Sep, 2010)
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Brewdog: Alpha Dog! (guys, we luuurve the site! Very swish!)
Response from Brewdog Brewery:
"Awesome! Glad the beer went down well!" - James Watt, Head of 'Stuff'
Beer Festival #9 (29 July Thurs - 5 Aug Thurs, 2010)
The cooling system got another outing, and seems to work perfectly. It's definitely a 'keeper' so we will knock up a simple site showing how we made it so other festival managers/hosts can make a homemade cooling system too.
And as usual Jane excelled herself sourcing some rather excellent award winning beers! Another successful festival!
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Inveralmond: Thrappledouser!
Response from Inveralmond Brewery:
"It’s great to know that people from Cambridge appreciated our beer"
"I had a look at your web site and you certainly seem to be doing all the right things in this difficult climate. Long may our successes continue!" - Fergus Clark , Managing Director
Beer Festival #8 (1 July Thurs - 8 July Thurs, 2010)
This beer festival saw the use of our HOMEMADE cooling system! And it got a baptism of fire as the temperature during the festival week was high. Very! :-)
Did our homemade cooling help? Indeed it did. Customer feedback was VERY positive! It cost us a couple of hundred pounds to knock up as opposed to a couple of thousand for a commercial version.
And all the lovely weather brought people out, so a few barrels were drunk dry within a couple of days! :-)
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Buntingford Brewery: Twitchell!
Response from Buntingford Brewery:
"Hi Paul and Jane. Many thanks to you and your customers for the award – it is always nice to know that the drinking masses appreciate what we do, and it is equally nice to see that we are now on the list of respected beers and breweries that received this award from the Kingston Arms in the past. I think a small celebration beer may be in order, so cheers!" - Steve Banfield (Brewer)
You can follow Buntingford Brewery, and it's award winning ale 'Twitchell' here (Facebook - you'll need an account) & here (Twitter).
Beer Festival #7 (27 May Thurs - 3 Jun Thurs, 2010)
This beer festival was the first of our summer monthly festivals - and a good time was had by all. Weather was mixed, some days good, some days not so good, but that didn't dampen the spirits of our festival goers!
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Thornbridge: Lord Marples!
Response from Thornbridge:
"Hi Paul/Jane. Many thanks... it is always nice to hear that the beers have been received so well. I will pass the on this on to all the team at Thornbridge. Thanks to you and all the staff for holding such festivals - from those we gave been involved in we know how much hard work they involve. I hope the pub and the festivals go from strength to strength. Cheers"
Beer Festival #6 (29 Mar Mon - 5 Apr Mon, 2010)
This beer festival was run partly to celebrate National Cask Ale Week, and partly because it was Easter. It was our first beer festival of 2010, and also our first festival with a hog roast. Both the festival and the hog roast were popular!
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Humpty Dumpty: Porter!
Response from Humpty Dumpty:
"Great news - how exciting!!! Well done on a lovely idea and thank you for the certificate!"
"Just to say again that we are really thrilled about this..." - Lesley George, Partner, Norfolk Broads Brewing LLP, T/A Humpty Dumpty Brewery.
You can follow Humpty Dumpty, and it's award winning ale 'Porter' here (brewery blog) & here (Facebook).
Beer Festival #5 (3 Dec Thurs- 14 Dec Mon, 2009)
This beer festival was run as part of the Mill Road Winter Fair Celebrations! It was a success, particularly on the day of the Mill Road Winter Fair. However after the day of the fair it became apparent that the weather was too cold for some of the beers and they remained cloudy. This doesn't affect the taste, but customers insist that all beers are unclouded, so we finished the beer festival early. Well, we say early, it was still a 5 day run! During this time we garnered enough votes to establish a 'Best of the Fest' winner.
Unfortunately, despite a small but very vocal and supportive minority who want us to continue the festivals throughout the cold weather, we simply cannot. We would like nothing better than to carry these on, but there simply isn't enough support during the cold weather.
But as soon as the Spring arrives, the festivals will be back! :-)
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Vale: Gravitas!
Response from Vale Brewery:
"Paul, Jane. Fantastic news, it is great to get recognition for all the hard work." - Ian Mackey, General Manager.
Beer Festival #4 (29 Oct Thurs- 9 Nov Mon, 2009)
Our Halloween Beer Festival has been the most successful yet! the Halloween themed beers, roast chestnuts, marshmallows for cooking over our fires, low lights, candles and Halloween decorations have proved most popular.
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Leeds: Gathering Storm!
Response from Leeds Brewery:
"The award is great news and our brew team are delighted. Good luck with your future festivals and best wishes for the future." - Sam Moss.
Beer Festival #3 (24 Sep Thurs- 4 Oct Sun, 2009)
We were surprised about the number of customers! And as a result we will run the next festival with more staff. The beer cooling unit also needs replacing. And the Best of the Fest! is proving popular, with a large number of votes. In short, a success all round!
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Great Oakley: Wagtail!
Response from Great Oakley:
"That’s brilliant news…….it makes all the hard work worthwhile."
Beer Festival #2 (20 Aug Thurs- 30 Aug Sun, 2009)
All the changes have resulted in a MUCH smoother running beer festival. Customers like the outdoor covered festival, and we introduced an outside bar which went down well.
We also tied the festival in with some of our other attractions so we could offer Festival Highlights.
Monthly Beer Festival - Highlights
20 (Thurs): Evening BBQ & Beer Festival 21 (Fri): Beer Festival 22 (Sat): Beer Festival 23 (Sun): Lunchtime BBQ & Beer Festival 24 (Mon): Evening Live Music ('Late Risers') & Beer Festival
And we had a lot of votes for the Best of the Fest!
The only aspect that needs improving is the dates. Because we want to run the stock down, and there is no way to accurately forecast when that will happen, we added dates to the festival, and advertised this via the website and our Privilege Club. For the next festival we will plan for a longer run time from the start.
'Best of the Fest' Award...
...our customers voted for Brewsters Hophead!
Response from Brewsters:
"Thanks very much for the "Best of the Fest" award for our Hophead. We're really pleased that it's been so well received by your drinkers...pass on our thanks to them!"
First Beer Festival #1 (Mid July, 2009)
We tried to use our internal air conditioning to cool our beers, and to this end we made an indoor beer tent. It wasn't ideal. The beer was cooled, but we had to lose indoor seating which affected our diners. We therefore decided to host the following festival outside in our covered garden.
Although we advertised extensively it wasn't widely known. The feedback from those people who did attend (most notably Adam Walker, who writes an interesting 'pints & pubs' blog) was very enthusiastic. So lessons for Beer Fest #2, hold it outside under cover, source alternative cooling, use tasting notes, and implement the award scheme.
'Best of the Fest' Award...
Award scheme not yet implemented.
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Website design by Paul Boggia (Alex Nesling Ltd) | Kingston Arms is a division of Alex Nesling Ltd |
