Magna Real Ale Festival

[belperite 11]

It could make a nice change to have it in June though. Anyone have any experience of Magna in summer? Hopefully it doesn't get like an oven...

[Andy C 86]

It could make a nice change to have it in June though. Anyone have any experience of Magna in summer? Hopefully it doesn't get like an oven...

 

should be OK for the same reasons it is cold in Feb/Mar... June is fine as long as it doesn't clash with 3 Valleys...

[DnAuK 10]

'holding back' beers to make them last is certainly not CAMRA festival policy... the way I see it is if you go to the last session you can't expect the full range, but if you go to the start you can! I have no objection to being told I can't have a beer cos it's all gone, that's my own fault for not going earlier - I have a big objection to being told I can't have it cos they're saving it for putative customers the next day who may or may not even want it!

 

All I can report is what I witnessed and what I was told. I can even remember one offending beer - 'The Rat Of Khan' by Rat Brewery, which had the pump clip mysteriously turned around on entering the festival at 5PM on the Friday night indicating that it was off, only for it to be tuned to face forwards at around 6pm and then reversed AGAIN at around 9pm. When asked someone working behind the bar who I knew why I was told they had been instructed to. That said, the same didn't apply at the festival in Kelham last year. But then again we all know what happened there don;t we? ;c)

 

---------- Post added 15-01-2015 at 10:29 ----------

 

should be OK for the same reasons it is cold in Feb/Mar... June is fine as long as it doesn't clash with 3 Valleys...

 

And agreed - I don't think a steelworks is ever 'warm' unless you have the furnaces running! But June should be much better than February - as long as they avoid the weekend of the 6th!

[SteelCityAle 10]

All I can report is what I witnessed and what I was told. I can even remember one offending beer - 'The Rat Of Khan' by Rat Brewery, which had the pump clip mysteriously turned around on entering the festival at 5PM on the Friday night indicating that it was off, only for it to be tuned to face forwards at around 6pm and then reversed AGAIN at around 9pm. When asked someone working behind the bar who I knew why I was told they had been instructed to. That said, the same didn't apply at the festival in Kelham last year. But then again we all know what happened there don;t we? ;c)

 

I don't doubt it, but as Andy says it's certainly not policy. Possibly something to bring up in the bar manager briefing for this year's festival...

 

Some beers weren't available from the start due to being deemed not ready, something I agree with in principle, though certainly at least one bar manager had a different view from me as to where the line should be drawn regarding beer clarity...!

[Andy C 86]

All I can report is what I witnessed and what I was told. I can even remember one offending beer - 'The Rat Of Khan' by Rat Brewery, which had the pump clip mysteriously turned around on entering the festival at 5PM on the Friday night indicating that it was off, only for it to be tuned to face forwards at around 6pm and then reversed AGAIN at around 9pm. When asked someone working behind the bar who I knew why I was told they had been instructed to. That said, the same didn't apply at the festival in Kelham last year. But then again we all know what happened there don;t we? ;c)

 

---------- Post added 15-01-2015 at 10:29 ----------

 

 

And agreed - I don't think a steelworks is ever 'warm' unless you have the furnaces running! But June should be much better than February - as long as they avoid the weekend of the 6th!

 

Sounds like the beer being turned on and off was on the Ossett Brewery Bar (branded up to promote The Hop) which was staffed by the brewery rather than CAMRA volunteers, we perhaps need to take that feedback on board and ensure the staff are better briefed this year.

[SteelCityAle 10]

good point Andy, forgot the Ossett 'family' had their own bar and were a law unto themselves!

[Stoatwobbler 10]

As I'm sure many of you on here are aware, the Rotherham CAMRA beer festival was originally due to take place in November, however, the New York Stadium was chosen by the FA to host an under 18s football match on the same weekend - a fantastic coup for the town, but not so great for the beer festival.

 

The only date possible to re-arrange the New York Festival was the first weekend in January: Not ideal, but the festival took place last weekend.

 

And the beer festival at the New York stadium was very good. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

---------- Post added 15-01-2015 at 12:29 ----------

 

Yeah 3 Valleys is great. Completely different to most other festivals and a hugely enjoyable day out, particularly if the weather is good. But not for everyone - especially the purists who like their beer all under one roof.

 

3 Valleys is brilliant and a template that many other places could use in future.

 

Another event that I really like along those lines (but on a much bigger scale) is the "City Of Ale" festival in Norwich.

[DnAuK 10]

Sounds like the beer being turned on and off was on the Ossett Brewery Bar (branded up to promote The Hop) which was staffed by the brewery rather than CAMRA volunteers, we perhaps need to take that feedback on board and ensure the staff are better briefed this year.

 

That indeed would explain it! :c)

 

I should clarify that I wasn't actually complaining about this being done at a beer festival. As I work during the week and live out of town I often find it difficult to get to festivals before the weekend. And as my main drinking buddies are teachers who work out of town there isn't much point in booking time off earlier in the week as I'd largely be drinking alone. Despite what you might think I haven't quite reached that level of sadness just yet! Therefore it would be quite nice sometimes to turn up on a Friday evening or even Saturday lunchtime and see some of the decent stuff still left. Tho I know the CAMRA purists will shoot me down for this.

 

The way it stands we end up playing 'Brew-lette' A game devised by a few of us to take into account the fact that many beers we want to try may no longer be available. We simply use a random number generator to pick a beer and, if it's avaialble, you MUST have it. It's much more fun than it sounds, especially if one person gets all the cr*p, or indeed the very strong stuff all day and ends up falling over. I even have a protoype mobile app for this which we even broke down as far as rooms and beer styles for last years Magna and allowed multiple users to mark when a beer was sold out so it wasn't generated. This was before realising that you couldn't get a bleeding mobile signal in a sodding steelworks.... Doh!

[Andy C 86]

That indeed would explain it! :c)

 

I should clarify that I wasn't actually complaining about this being done at a beer festival. As I work during the week and live out of town I often find it difficult to get to festivals before the weekend. And as my main drinking buddies are teachers who work out of town there isn't much point in booking time off earlier in the week as I'd largely be drinking alone. Despite what you might think I haven't quite reached that level of sadness just yet! Therefore it would be quite nice sometimes to turn up on a Friday evening or even Saturday lunchtime and see some of the decent stuff still left. Tho I know the CAMRA purists will shoot me down for this.

 

The way it stands we end up playing 'Brew-lette' A game devised by a few of us to take into account the fact that many beers we want to try may no longer be available. We simply use a random number generator to pick a beer and, if it's avaialble, you MUST have it. It's much more fun than it sounds, especially if one person gets all the cr*p, or indeed the very strong stuff all day and ends up falling over. I even have a protoype mobile app for this which we even broke down as far as rooms and beer styles for last years Magna and allowed multiple users to mark when a beer was sold out so it wasn't generated. This was before realising that you couldn't get a bleeding mobile signal in a sodding steelworks.... Doh!

 

I'm not sure it is anything to do with whether you are a 'CAMRA purist', it is a case of juggling customer expectation with financial and operational viability. Basically when the Saturday is the final day of the festival, any unsold beer left Sunday morning (when everything is dismantled and returned to storage) has to go down the drain but still paid for. So a financially successfull festival really has to sell out of beer Saturday - unless either you make it much more expensive or all the beer is sponsored.

 

What we could do to increase the likelihood of the full range being available on Saturday would be to have a much smaller beer list but several casks of each beer. But either way you have a reduced choice!

 

The Steel City beer festival in 2014 with the move from Ponds Forge to Kelham Island saw us limited to how much beer we could order due to a dissapointing turn out and losing money the previous year combined with an increased attendance because of the more attractive venue!

 

This year now we've proved it works at Kelham Island we have a bit more confidence and are able to budget and plan facilities and beer supplies for the bigger attendance so hopefully there should be a better choice on Saturday when you come, although of course it being the last day of the event we will never be able to offer the full list - so within the limitations explained we should have improved the festival for this year based on lessons learned.

[SteelCityAle 10]

the only way to guarantee the full range at all sessions is to take beers off sale prematurely... Bradford beer festival do this, and is worse for it - you can go to the first session when by rights you should have the full choice, but after an hour beers start disappearing as they 'ration' them for future sessions, so you still miss out unless you accurately predict what will be taken off and buy them all in the first hour

 

As I say, I find it infinitely more objectionable to be told I can't have a beer in case 'someone else' wants it later than because people who got there before me drank it all

[DnAuK 10]

the only way to guarantee the full range at all sessions is to take beers off sale prematurely... Bradford beer festival do this, and is worse for it - you can go to the first session when by rights you should have the full choice, but after an hour beers start disappearing as they 'ration' them for future sessions, so you still miss out unless you accurately predict what will be taken off and buy them all in the first hour

 

As I say, I find it infinitely more objectionable to be told I can't have a beer in case 'someone else' wants it later than because people who got there before me drank it all

 

Yeah I get all that and, as I say, it's just a personal viewpoint of someone who can't often get to earlier sessions. And just brings me back to my original point of why I don't mind the SiBA Beer X format as much. I didn't realise Bradford did the same and might try this out. My first ever beer festival was at Saltaire some 12 years ago, and I haven't been back since.

 

I guess what works for some people can never suit everyone can it? :c)_

[SteelCityAle 10]

Beer X to me is the worst of both worlds - it doesn't matter when you go, three quarters of the beers won't be available!