Hello everybody
We were all back in Ipswich on the bank holiday weekend and visited the Briarbank Beer Festival on the Friday evening. We previously did a podcast about Briarbank just after it opened which you can listen to here. Rob also wrote an excellent piece about being the brewer which you can read here.
But let’s talk about this beer festival. Spanning over two weekends this promised to be Briarbank’s biggest festival to date. There were a staggering 17 beers and one cider to choose from. This was a huge amount considering that when Briarbank first opened they only had around five or six beers to choose from. However the increase in volume has not led to a decrease in quality which is fantastic. If anything the beers have got better. Check out the detailed beer descriptions below. There is also a tasting scale on their website.
We thought that being a Friday night that it might be quite busy but it was really quiet. It was also a surprise that only the outside bar was open and you could only go inside to use the toilet. As it got later it did get quite chilly which may have put people off, especially as the outside heaters didn’t seem to have much effect.
We also got an exclusive tour of the brewery where Rob talked us through the process of brewing. To listen to the interview with Briarbank brewer Rob and to find out what our favourites from our tasting session, listen to the corresponding podcast here.
Jon