(the prize was a sack of grain which should come in very handy). I can't really let it go to my head though as there was only one other beer to beat. I was hoping jymbo or more of the irish craftbrewers would have entered to get the numbers up.I got to meet a few of the lads from the irish craftbrewer website (beer nut, irish party ale, sauraman and big ears) all seemed decent spuds. I got to try a bottle of the pale ale i was up against (brewed by big ears) it was very good, certainly as good as the commercials and i'd have been quite happy to pay for it, if it had been on tap. So it was a small field but still stiff opposition.
Oh and i was talking to one of the local camra reps about the belfast beer festival, he confirmed that there was no beer festival this year (i think they lost money at the kings hall). But they are negotiating with the ulster hall for the year 2010 and onwards, so hopefully it'll be back in its rightful place slap bang in the middle of the city centre next year
and it was good to sample a range of cask ales which we don't often get. hopefully more of the icb contingent will enter next year, I think the fact that the compo was limited to pale ales this year meant that brewers who had other styles ready didn't enter.
