Our lovely friends up at Hillside Brewery are 1 year old!! And to prove it they threw a great party, “The Hillside Sausage & Ale Festival” in their spacious bar/barn/venue/dance hall â not quite sure what official name it has, but it accommodates all of the aforementioned.
Sausage Fest!
The Sausage & Ale Festival was a great success and the party goers spilled out onto the sun drenched terrace on a fabulous Saturday in the Forest of Dean. Anzac; Legend; Pinnacle and Legless Cow were all available on draft. Their other beers were all available in bottles and the fully stocked bar catered for every other taste, including âfruit based drinks for the ladiesâ â Al Murray pub landlord on wine.
With live music from the Hillside Stage throughout the day, the event started with a real party atmosphere. First up on stage was The Six Foot Way – the raucous Irish folk band from Cinderford. We also had a solo set from the lovely Lydia Borg and a couple of sets from the Ukes uv Hazzard collective. Headliners were Vapor, with the fabulously voiced Onika Patterson smoothing over some classic reggae and soul tracks, making them her own.
Vapor last played on the Hillside Stage back in February when we all felt the chill wind of living atop May Hill. Since then, the Hillside crew have been busy installing amazing see through wind screens on the open doors, which eliminate the wind without cutting down the light. And the overhead heaters (which have always been there) now work fantastically that the wind has gone making the barn a great place for parties.
The sausage part of the deal came in the form of Cameronâs Butchers traditional and chilli sausages as hot dogs with chips â just what was needed for between-beers sustenance. A great mix of locals; real ale lovers; Paulâs friends and family and visitors alike â the visitors from London and Southampton were duly awarded the furthest travellers prize. All eight of them called in on spec and stayed all night!
All in all it was a great party and the Hillside field (superb views) was given over to camping for the party goers so no-one had to drive or taxi, if they didn’t want to. Camping is something that will be on offer at selected future events so follow Hillsides Facebook page or website for details.
The Speech House Hotel is the most iconic hotel in the Forest of Dean. Situated, as it is, at the very heart of the Forest of Dean and housing the ancient home of Britainâs oldest court has made it well known, and well loved by all. Nowadays, itâs equally well known for the adjacent Speech House field, home to the Forest Activities Festival, the Forest Showcase and the grand annual Fireworks night display events to name, but a few.
In charge at the hotel, husband and wife team, Peter & Gill Hands, run a tight ship with customer satisfaction unashamedly front and centre of everything they do. And the latest big news is that Hillside Breweryâs traditional IPA style best bitter – Legless Cow â is well and truly re-homed in the Speech House bar and on draught. Â The beer, named for the healthy appreciation the cattle up at Hillside have for the spent grain from the brewing process, has already sold out the first delivery. We caught up with Peter Hands, and Paul Williamson from Hillside as he delivered the next consignment.
Peter Hands of The Speech House Hotel takes delivery of Hillside Brewery Legless Cow ale, by Paul Williamson.
The ever ebullient host Peter, who has only recently made his Twitter debut, has been having a little bit of âpunâ in the Speech House social media channel (@speechhouse) on the Legless Cow theme. He started with âThere’s a Legless Cow meandering its way to the Speech House. Watch this space for more on its journey.â On a roll and seemingly unstoppable, he waded in with âWe are looking forward 2 stabling the Legless Cow at Speech House when Paul rounds her up and drives her down. Moooch joy @Hillsidebrewery.â We hesitate to say finally, because we donât think heâs done yet, but âMooovalous this Legless Cow Beer, Prime cut hops. No udder one like it. Cheers from Speech House Barâ â we can hear echoes of – “I thank you, Iâm here all week!!”
Hillside Brewery Legless Cow. Traditional IPA style best bitter.
Peter & Gill have always been supporters of local food and drink businesses. We last chatted to Peter at the inaugural Tourism Association event See, Taste, Buy in the spring where he was chatting to local suppliers to see, taste and, where possible, source good local produce. Paul from Hillside was there, but the two were already acquainted by that time. We chatted to Peter about the latest introduction to the Speech House bar:
WyeDean Deli Confidential: âSo, Hillside Breweryâs Legless Cow on draught.â
Peter Hands: âI love Legless Cow and the name still brings a smile to my face. We love what Hillside are trying to do and weâd love to be able to say that a much larger part of our stock is sourced from the DeanWye and other local producers with low food miles.â
WyeDean Deli Confidential: âWhat are the drawbacks or the hurdles in trying to achieve that?â
Peter Hands: âTheoretically – none. But we have to offer our customers great service and great quality products in everything we do. One of the key factors on the quality issue, when it comes to local producers, as opposed to national producers,  is consistency. Customers may already know a brand from their travels or they may be coming back to us, as so many do, and they expect that the things they love are the same each and every time. Itâs a commercial decision to stock local (and one which we are happy to make), but we canât accept products which change with the weather â itâs just a guaranteed way to disappoint the customer. Thatâs why we like Hillside Brewery. We’ve been up there and met Paul and his staff and looked at the operation. We like what they do, we like the fun and the passion they bring to it and we are seriously impressed with the investment they have made to ensure that their beers are top quality â consistently!”
WyeDean Deli Confidential: âAren’t local products more expensive than big brands?”
Peter Hands: âThey donât have to be. Big brands have definitely got the muscle when it comes to pricing, but we are always looking for the best prices from our suppliers â we have to. And the real key is, yes customers expect value for money, but itâs a mistake to assume that is their only driver, our customers also want quality. Itâs also a mistake to assume that customers make those decisions in that order. In my experience quality and taste comes first every time.â
Paul Williamson: âItâs great to hear Peter pick up on the consistency issue. We’ve worked so hard on our recipes to get the quality, depth of flavour and variety into our CAMRA recognised craft ales, but making the best beer in the world is pointless if you can only ever produce one batch of it.â
So, down at Speech House, the welcome is great; the countryside is great; the hotel is great (as is the food) and the bar is well-stocked with great local beers. The jokes â wellâŠâŠâŠ.
Nigel Slater: Eating Together – (C) Tigress Productions Ltd BBC Pictures – Photographer: Tom Blount
Donât know if you have been watching Nigel Slater (cook, author, The Observer food columnist) in his new series for the BBC â Eating Together? Nigel, who describes himself as “a cook who writes” is someone who we have followed for some time, he travels the world, in culinary terms, cooking, tasting and meeting those who have bought such a wealth of flavours and cultures to the British palate. If you havenât yet seen it you can catch a BBC One promo clip and taster for the series at www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone – we have and for a very special DeanWye reason!
Donât jump up to put the kettle on immediately the next episode ends, but wait for the credits. Right there, if youâre quick, youâll see the name Yvette Farrell! Thatâs right, the Yvette Farrell, our own local food hero, foraging Queen, Principal of Harts Barn Cookery School and this yearâs Forester Business Person of the Year as well as being champion of all things local and wonderful (see previous feature).
Yvette Farrell – brains behind Harts Barn Cookery School
The opportunity came about through a mutual acquaintance who happened to know that Nigel was one of Yvetteâs all-time food heroes. Pretty soon she was signed up, amidst total secrecy, for a gruelling week long schedule of 10/12 hour days cooking for Nigel and the crew during filming. Yvette got to work behind the scenes of the new series, which started this week on BBC1 and will continue every Monday night at 7.30pm. She appearing in the credits of the show and her main role was to prepare food and catering for Nigel and the crew during the long days of filming.
âIt was a great honour to work with my food hero, Nigel and he was every bit as likeable and caring as I had imagined he would be. His approach to food and cooking is very much in line with my own beliefs and ethos â one that I try to bring in to the Cookery School every day. My highlight was Nigel saying I made the best Flatbreads he has ever tasted â which is a great boost as I have plans to develop the Forest Flatbread for production and put the Forest of Dean on the map in the same way the Cornish Pasty has  done for Cornwall!â Yvette commented.
âI run a âHire A Chefâ catering service as part of the Cookery School, so I was well prepared for the hard work and the rewards really were fantastic,â she continued.
The new series sees Nigel Slater meet devoted home cooks across multi-cultural Britain to discover how food in this country has never been so exciting. From noodles, to dumplings and custard there are some dishes we all love to cook wherever we originate from in the world. In this series Nigel gathers inspiration from the distant cousins of some of his favourite recipes, finding out culinary secrets from across the world and discovering what makes different cultures within Britain tick.
Bristol-based cook Jo-Anne Lovemore of Green Tomato Kitchen creates abundant and delicious vegetarian buffet spreads for events and celebrations throughout the South-West and South Wales including the Wye Valley.
Curiosity about food and being interested in cooking has been with me for as long as I can remember. My mother enlisted my âhelpâ in the kitchen as soon as I could stand on tiptoes on a chair and wield a wooden spoon, and as children, my brother and I were allocated a corner of our garden veg patch each year to grow whatever flowers and edibles took our fancy. If I recall correctly, my pet rabbit was the primary beneficiary of the modest yield from my carrot crop, uprooted too early, thanks to my impatience.
During my teenage years, I (mis)spent many an hour glued to TV cookery shows, which at the time were enjoying a meteoric rise in popularity. I am sure this began as a diversionary tactic from schoolwork, but soon evolved into a genuine curiosity and a desire to experiment with newly discovered ingredients and culinary techniques. I would furiously scribble down recipes while Ainsley Harriott and co rattled through them at breakneck speed on the TV screen (this was before the days of the internet!)
Aside from a string of summer and weekend jobs working in kitchens while I was a student, my career path to date has taken me far away from the culinary world, although I continued to enjoy cooking for friends and experimenting with recipes. But it was only in my 30s when I began to question how I might get more fulfillment from my work and lifestyle that I decided to follow my heart into the kitchen. Since turning vegetarian at the age of 20 my interest and awareness has grown around what and how we choose to eat impacts our health.
Food is an integral part of any event â a tangible expression of care from host to guest. So with my recently launched catering business, Green Tomato Kitchen, my aim is to create delicious, original, varied and healthy menus that guests will remember for the right reasons. When designing menus, I work closely with my clients to really understand their needs and preferences. All of the food that I prepare is vegetarian, and I love to introduce people to the abundant variety of flavours and textures found within good vegetarian cooking.
Combining the freshest ingredients to create colourful salads, mouthwatering dips, hearty bakes, savoury pastries and quiches, and gluten-free goodies is my thing. I have a soft spot for baking cakes and desserts, and no buffet spread would be complete without a tempting sweet selection to round off the meal!
Dill, feta and black olive pogaÄa – small savoury Turkish pastries
Working from my home kitchen in the heart of Bristol, I’ll happily cater for clients with special dietary needs, or produce menus that are fully vegan, or lower in fat or sugar, for example. The central location in the south-west makes me ideally situated for one of the main strands of my business, supplying office lunches and celebratory feasts to business and private clients in the city. However, I’m not tied to the urban environment, being equally happy to offer the same high service to businesses or house parties and celebrations in  the Wye Valley.
At the moment I’m looking for a good, preferably organic, dairy supplier in the region and would be very happy to hear from any Wye Valley-based dairy farms producing delicious cheeses, butter, yoghurt and other dairy delights. Please do get in touch with any suggestions. To find out more about what Green Tomato Kitchen could offer you, visit www.greentomatokitchen.co.uk. I look forward to cooking for you!
Ed says……
We first met Jo-Anne at a business event in Bristol and we were immediately impressed with her passion for what she does. We asked her to tell us her story, particularly since she is always on the lookout for the very best vegetarian produce suppliers. So come on, if you think you can supply Green Tomato Kitchen, lets get a little bit of the Forest of Dean & Wye Valley into those sumptuous GTK buffets!! All pix M Lovemore.
Well the dust has well and truly settled on the inaugural Wye Valley & Forest of Dean Tourism Associationâs new food and drink event Local Produce, See, Taste, Buy. The event, originally conceived to match producers with potential  clients from within the tourism associationsâ extensive and diverse membership, was quickly turned over to a public event to coincide with English and Welsh Tourism Weeks respectively. Sited in the spacious âThe Venueâ function room on the CSMA site at Whitemead Park, exhibitors and visitors were protected against the worst the Forest spring weather might throw at anyone. In the event it turned out to be a beautiful Forest of Dean spring morning.
As the exhibitors built their stands before public opening at 10am the sights and sounds, and most of all smells of our fabulous local producers started to build and fill in the background hubbub.
Great names in beer Hillside Brewery LINK www.hillsidebrewery.com and cider Severn Cider LINK www.severncider.com were there in strength with Paul Williamson owner and head honcho from the Hillside Brewery with a broad selection of the great beers crafted up on the hill. Also showing, and tasting for the first time, their new Anzac beer brewed especially for the Gloucester Beer Festival. Nick Bull was in charge over at Severn Cider where, even though we were working hard, we had to have a small sample of their killer Severn Cider Perry.
Alongside these headline names in the now thriving local craft drinks industry, was the very tasty Apple County Cider applecountycider.co.uk with their deciderly good Dabinett and Vilberie dry and medium brands â very easy to imagine drinking those two beauties on a warm sunny evening! We also had Ty Gwyn cider, VQ Country Wines sporting their new swanky designer labels with the same great quality fruit wines still inside. Parva Farm Vineyard were there too showing a good selection of their Welsh wine from the terroir of Tintern – some great news for Judith and Colin lately in that Marks & Spencer have taken their award winning Bacchus white wine into stock. We couldnât resist a tasting stop at the amply stocked Chase Distillery stand either â hic!
Adding to the ambience were the great aromas of Jamesâ Gourmet Coffee brewing constantly in the background, Rayeesaâs Kitchen homemade curry sauce bases simmering away in the tasting pot and fabulous charcuterie cooking on the hot plate from the guys over at Native Breeds. Smarts Gloucestershire Cheeses seem to be essential to any successful food and drink event and no matter how many times youâve tasted their Gloucesterâs before, resistance is futile! Celiaâs Pantry was on hand to dispense Caribbean inspired tangy chutney flavours to go with it all.
For dessert there were two great ice cream makers were there Kelsmor Dairy and Hillbrooks Luxury Ice Cream with their own distinctive flavours â all of course available for tasting. The Chocolate Bar had a dazzling array of beautiful handmade chocolates to tempt the palate for that sumptuous finish.
The timing of the event is driven by the original concept to put producers and tourism association and other local buyers together before the busy Easter season and we think that that makes a lot of sense. A little later mind you and Whitemead would have been thronging with visitors to increase the footfall for the traders and give visitors a fantastic showcase of the produce and the ability to stock up the holiday larders for their stay and to take home.
The Venue is a great place for this event although perversely Whitemead donât actually signpost the halls location at the site entrances which makes things difficult for new conference visitors. The public parking there is also very restrictive (the design and concept of the site envisaged all of the visitor cars being parked around the site outside respective holiday lodges, caravans or tents). We spoke to Mike Carter (centre manager) who had already identified this issue as a growth limiting factor for this and other events. Heâs on the case he assures us.
Does this new event conflict with the hugely popular Forest Showcase event in the autumn fields of the Speech House Hotel www.thespeechhouse.co.uk ? Not according to John Theophilus of the Tourism Association. âWe developed this idea primarily as a trade show for producers to meet buyers from the local economy and tourism sector â and we think that it has worked extremely well! We are delighted so many members of the public came along too as it helps to spread the word about the great work being done in our tourism sector. This incidentally adds a great deal to the local economy. Itâs events such as this that make you realise how widespread the influence of a thriving tourism economy can be to the whole local economyâ.
Overall we loved the concept and thought that, as a first year launch event, it was a real bonus to the local food and drink network. We would definitely have liked to have seen even more buy-in from local businesses – every tourism association member and every pub in the area were sent invitations and we think all of them should have attended!
We know only too well that profit margins for local businesses are always tight and the drive for economy in purchasing is a constant pressure on small business. Small artisan producers make up for this lack of scale costs with bags of flavour, localism, innovation and skill. This added value is demonstrated nowhere better than in the tourism sector because those values produce a cash sales equivalent and really register with visitors who want to buy local great produce.
If you run a business selling food and drink, why not follow the lead of the Tourism Association and look for one new local supplier today? Let us know how you get on, weâd love to tell your local collaboration story.
Driving around the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley you canât fail to notice the dramatic display of frost white flowers coating every verge, bank and glade in our deciduous woodland and river banks at the moment. If you walk or cycle in those areas youâll also be treated to the wonderful garlicy and oniony perform of Wild garlic.
Wild garlic
Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) also known as Ramsons and bear garlic, has long been prized by county cooks and foragers and itâs a must crop for the kitchen as well as lifting the spirits and heralding spring proper. All of the plant is usable as a herb and has been used like its cultivated relative for donkeyâs years. Collecting and using this great abundance couldnât be easier. The leaves, flowers and bulbs are all edible but we prefer to use the leaves and flowers and use the bulbs for strong plants for next year! Pick them fresh and young and use them straight away for maximum flavour and colour. If you are unsure on identification just crush a leaf between your fingers and if it smells of garlic, onion or chives to you â itâll be wild garlic. If you are still unsure after that â the better part of valour etc. should prevail.
The leaves have a soft delicate garlic flavour when young and fresh, great in moderation for salads. The flowers too can be used in salads but they have a hotter, fiery flavour than the leaves to add a real kick and warmer flavour. A perennial favourite is wild garlic soup. So easy to make but so tasty and vibrant in colour, everyone should have a go. This versatile soup is great hot with great crusty bread, with cream or pesto added and even works cold as chilled soup for summer days.
Yvette Farrell – Harts Barn Cookery School
Top Forest & Wye cook and foraging queen, Yvette Farrell of Harts Barn Cookery School, also makes a killer wild garlic pesto where our native herb replaces the basil. An absolute treat stirred in to the soup or a little simple pasta dish. Ever resourceful, Yvette also uses wild garlic to add a soft perfumed flavour to home-made gnocchi by mixing in a little finely chopped leaf before cooking and then gently frying in butter to finish. So with so many options â why not give it a go?
Wild garlic soup;
Knob of butter
Two medium spuds roughly cut up
Small chopped onion
Stock
4 big handfuls of garlic
Option double cream
Heat the butter and add the potatoes and onions. Season, cover and soften on a low heat until soft. Add the sock and boil, throw in the garlic for a couple of minutes and then blitz in a blender (add some small fresh leaves now for additional colour). Return to the heat and warm, check seasoning and serve. It will keep well in the fridge for a few days but donât add cream.
Well that was a blast! Whenever we stray far from the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley to bring you a story, it has to be for a good reason. We found one! Stick with us though because there is lots of local interest to be had in this the third great event organised by those lovely people and beer & cider aficionados.
We first met the guys and girls from CAMRA Gloucester at Hillside Brewery (see ANZAC beer feature below) and have already covered the story of this fabulous charity fund raising commemorative ale. We thought that we would just bring you an update on the story as well as wax lyrical about this fabulous county beer event. First of all I need to assure you that there was lots of commemorating done over the weekend, so much so that the ANZAC beer was a sell-out. No flippancy intended for such a sombre historical event but we are sure that our Aussie pals would be celebrating too. Even the British Legion stand (the chosen charity for the festival) was selling presentation packs of ANZAC beer and we hope they made LOTS of money for a good cause!
Neil Richardson (CAMRA Gloucesterâs head of light entertainment) told me at Hillside, âwait until you see the venue â itâll blow you awayâ. OK, so Neil has now been outed as a master of understatement because the Blackfriars Priory on Ladybellegate Street a.k.a. Gloucesterâs Via Sacra, did more than that. Not heard of it? No, neither had the guy who lived in flat 100 yards away, or the countless other Gloucester residents who said the same thing. If Iâd have had a half a pint of Wye Valley, Kingstone, or Bespoke for everyone I heard comment in a similar vein, well I wouldnât have been here now.
My first thoughts about this imposing ancient monument, which donât forget now housed a beer festival for the weekend, finally â a Cathedral to Beer! This cavernous space with a high vaulted ceiling felt just that.
A cathedral to beer & cider
This finest surviving example of a Dominican Friary in the UK isnât a finely crafted polished visitor experience you might expect from the Chatsworth Devonshireâs, this a building in the raw. A building where beer festivals should be held. Chapeau to English Heritage and Gloucester City Council at this point for allowing the venue to be used for a such a great event. We are all used to that conserve/preserve viewpoint which doesnât envisage anything other than a slowly deteriorating pile for a visiting few maintained at public or charitable expense.
Not here though. The building itself, stripped bare of plaster belies that viewpoint. Stand in the hall, as I did on VIP night, and âreadâ the building with Nick Bull of Severn Cider  (an event sponsor and providers of the most serious bar I have ever seen), and the building shouts makeover upon makeover! It strips bare the concept that buildings should be âpreservedâ instead shouting loudly that they should, as Blackfriars has, evolve. Every use and every brutal change for every different use since 1239 is there for the layperson to see. Vaults, now going nowhere, false windows, filled in windows, tiny windows that once lit something no long there and projecting masonry used for â well who knows? The truth, for a building to survive and prosper for future generations, it has to be useful!
Beer and Cider lovers are life lovers. From time to time they may over train, but lovers of craft ales and ciders are a lovely bunch of people. Everyone I spoke to not only appreciated the building for its beauty and history but also the custodians for allowing it to be used and promoted to a wider audience. In the lower section beneath the huge glazed wall (replacing masonry lost to history) the monumental bar (Severn Cider bar hire) stood ready to prop us all up in style while we chose from the inexhaustible supply of great beer and cider. The modest festival entrance price includes a beer card worth £10 (I know, bargain) which you can cash in at the bar in pints, halves or thirds to sample and appreciate as many beers as possible. Wye Valley Brewery (HPA and Pedal Pusher), Hillside (Anzac, Compatriot, Legend of the Hillside and Legless Cow) and Severn Cider (a full suite of their fabulous Perry and Cider on tap) were heavily involved in supporting the festival but also there and very popular were;
Bespoke from Mitcheldean with their King Shilling mild ale with English hops.
Castles from Caldicot with a refreshing pale ale hopped with Saaz as well as White Knight American style pale ale.
Kingstone, Tintern with their 1503 Tudor and Abbey ales.
The raised second level of the main hall (North Range) housed the stage and ample room for sitting or standing and the limited number of available tickets  meant that it was a very comfortable atmosphere even when full. There was a very respectable chicken curry and other hot food on sale in the Language Centre restaurant as well as, my preferred option â Gloucestershire cheeses. I opted for White Heaven (to go with my Hillside heaven) a soft creamy Camembert style from the people over at Woefuldane. There were also several smaller rooms (East Range) for drinkers to sit and chat but The Scriptorium across the quadrant was just the most delightful piece of medieval architecture I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying a pint in!
The 4th CAMRA Gloucester Beer & Cider Festival? Â One for the diary!
How many of though, would include in our list of top ten cafes those outlets based in some of our best known tourist attractions. Would those of us who are lucky enough to live locally think that they were intended for us to use as well or just for visitors? It doesn’t work like this if you are a visitor of course. You may be taking the kids for a fun day out at an attraction and choose to have lunch there, or you may pick a likely spot along your walking route or your town or village visit it doesn’t really matter to you. But if you do live locally there is a tendency to forget about the attractions cafes. Some of them are open to the public (without having to pay for entrance), have great parking, and offer a really full daytime menu. Outside of peak times and school holidays they can also be nice and peaceful and who knows you may even get a thing some people in the Forest call, wi-fi!
Visiting Clearwell Caves  â we had just such a lightbulb moment. The Caves are one of our top tourist attractions (visited lots by local people too) and a magnificent natural film set for countless TV programmes and feature films.  Our top snapper happened to be there again shooting pictures for their new brochure â and there it was, right under our noses all along!
Next up we were treated to the Courgette and Brie homemade soup with a dark nutty granary roll to go with it. The soup, a lovely summer light green, was exceptionally tasty and roll had a really deep and satisfying flavour and together – really filling. Just the thing you might need to keep you going if you get lost for a few days in the fantastic underground caverns right beneath you (joking â there are only a couple of people who’ve never been seen again!).
You can of course read the fascinating history of Clearwell Caves on the world wide interweb if you want, and itâs true youâll be able to see great pictures and learn lots, but it wonât be the same as being there and you wonât get to enjoy tea and cake or soup of the day unless you actually Go!
*Freeminers is the term given to men born within the âSt Briavels hundredâ who hold the historic rights to mine coal and iron ore within the Forest of Dean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeminer.
Well the dust has well and truly settled on the inaugural Wye Valley & Forest of Dean Tourism Associationâs new food and drink event Local Produce, See, Taste, Buy. The event, originally conceived to match producers with potential clients from within the tourism associationsâ extensive and diverse membership, was quickly turned over to a public event to coincide with English and Welsh Tourism Weeks respectively. Sited in the spacious âThe Venueâ function room on the CSMA site at Whitemead Park, exhibitors and visitors were protected against the worst the Forest spring weather might throw at anyone. In the event it turned out to be a beautiful Forest of Dean spring morning.
As the exhibitors built their stands before public opening at 10am the sights and sounds, and most of all, smells of our fabulous local producers started to build and fill in the background hubbub.
Great names in beer Hillside Brewery www.hillsidebrewery.com and cider, Severn Cider www.severncider.com were there in strength with Paul Williamson owner and head honcho from the Hillside Brewery with a broad selection of the great beers crafted up on the hill. Also showing, and tasting for the first time, their new Anzac beer brewed especially for the Gloucester Beer Festival. Nick Bull was in charge over at Severn Cider where, even though we were working hard, we had to have a small sample of their killer Severn Cider Perry.
                       Â
Alongside these headline names in the now thriving local craft drinks industry, was the very tasty Apple County Cider with their âdeciderlyâ good Dabinett and Vilberie dry and medium brands â very easy to imagine drinking those two beauties on a warm sunny evening! We also had Ty Gwyn cider, VQ Country Wines sporting their new swanky designer labels with the same great quality fruit wines still inside and Wye Valley Brewery. Parva Farm Vineyard were there too, showing a good selection of their Welsh wine from the terroir of Tintern – some great news for Judith and Colin lately in that Marks & Spencer have taken their award winning Bacchus white wine into stock. We couldnât resist a tasting stop at the amply stocked Chase Distillery stand either â hic!
Adding to the ambience were the great aromas of Jamesâ Gourmet Coffee brewing constantly in the background, Rayeesaâs Kitchen homemade curry sauce bases simmering away in the tasting pot and fabulous charcuterie cooking on the hot plate from the guys over at Native Breeds. Smarts Gloucestershire Cheeses seem to be essential to any successful food and drink event and no matter how many times youâve tasted their Gloucesterâs before, resistance is futile! Celiaâs Pantry was on hand to dispense Caribbean inspired tangy chutney flavours to go with it all.
For dessert there were two great ice cream makers were there Kelsmor Dairy and Hillbrooks Luxury Ice Cream with their own distinctive flavours â all of course available for tasting. The Chocolate Bar had a dazzling array of beautiful handmade chocolates to tempt the palate for that sumptuous finish.
The timing of the event is driven by the original concept to put producers and tourism association and other local buyers together before the busy Easter season and we think that that makes a lot of sense. A little later mind you and Whitemead would have been thronging with visitors to increase the footfall for the traders and give visitors a fantastic showcase of the produce and the ability to stock up the holiday larders both for their stay and to take home.
The Venue is a great place for this event although perversely Whitemead donât actually signpost the halls location at the site entrances which makes things difficult for new conference visitors. The public parking there is also very restrictive (the design and concept of the site envisaged all of the visitor cars being spread out over the whole site outside respective holiday lodges, caravans or tents). We spoke to Mike Carter (centre manager) who had already identified this issue as a growth limiting factor for this and other conference events. Heâs on the case he assures us.
Does this new event conflict with the hugely popular Forest Showcase event in the autumn fields of the Speech House Hotel  www.thespeechhouse.co.uk (Peter Hands and his chef from the hotel were there and actively looking for new local suppliers – featured image)? Not according to John Theophilus of the Tourism Association. âWe developed this idea primarily as a trade show for producers to meet buyers from the local economy and tourism sector â and we think that it has worked extremely well! We are delighted so many members of the public came along too as it helps to spread the word about the great work being done in our tourism sector. This incidentally adds a great deal to the local economy. Itâs events such as this that make you realise how widespread the influence of a thriving tourism economy can be to the whole local economyâ.
Overall we loved the concept and thought that, for a first year launch event, it was a real bonus to the local food and drink network. We would definitely have liked to have seen even more buy-in from local businesses – every tourism association member and every pub in the area were sent invitations and we think all of them should have attended!
We know only too well that profit margins for local businesses are always tight and the drive for economy in purchasing is a constant pressure on small business. Small artisan producers make up for this lack of “scale costs” with bags of flavour, localism, innovation and skill. This added value is demonstrated nowhere better than in the tourism sector because those values produce a cash sales equivalent and really register with visitors who want to buy local great produce.
If you run a business selling food and drink, why not follow the lead of the Tourism Association and look for one new local supplier today? Let us know how you get on, weâd love to tell your local collaboration story.
If you happen to be an Australian or a New Zealander, youâll already know that 25th April is a very special day in the antipodean calendar. It is ANZAC Day and the remembrance of Australians and Kiwiâs who have died in conflict, this is a day deep in the down under psyche. Originally a day to remember those of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACS) who died in the failed attempt to capture the Gallipoli peninsula from the Ottoman Empire in April 1915 during the First World War. It was the first occasion that the joint expeditionary force took heavy casualties in that war and as such it has, ever since, been an important day for both nations.
Hillsides special ANZAC beer for the 3rd Gloucester CAMRA Festival
Now though, ANZAC Day has come to be a more general day of remembrance for the dead and all of those who suffered in all campaigns and Aussies and Kiwiâs, wherever they are in the world, hold this day dear. In the UK there will be major events at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and  I donât think that Iâll ever forget the emotional tension at the ANZAC Day memorial at the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium a couple of years ago.
Essex Farm dressing station
And given that the dates of the 3rd CAMRA Gloucester Beer & Cider Festival coincide with ANZAC Day, andâŠthe nominated festival charity is the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, our great friends and beer geniuses over at Hillside Brewery have come up with their own fitting tribute. Quite fitting that such a sombre day is being marked by the creation of something many of those from the southern hemisphere would appreciate very much â a great beer. Personally, I think that it is a great, and touching, opportunity to commemorate ANZAC Day and in doing so to help out the charity, based in this country, which has similar goals and very close links with the ANZAC associations.
The beer will be officially launched upon us at the festival, being held at the impressive Blackfriars venue, Gloucester. We had exclusive access to the new ANZAC beer and spent a very pleasant hour conducting a very in-depth and scientific tasting session whilst sitting in our shorts outside on a glorious spring day in the Forest of Dean & Wye Valley.
Fosters â it is not! This is a full bodied craft ale from Paul, Derek, Will and the boys. We served it slightly chilled â it being âscorchioâ at tasting HQ â and although it has body it tasted light and refreshing, with clear citrus tones and with mango coming through onto the palate. As the beer warmed in the sun, those flavours persisted throughout the tasting, as did the fabulous hop aroma you would expect from a Craft Special beer from Hillside. That hop flavour and aroma is created using British Challenger for the bittering blended, very fittingly, with Galaxy (passion fruit and citrus) and Rakua (more tropical fruit aromas) from Australia and New Zealand for that long lasting aroma.
All in all, we thought it was a fantastic beer. Itâs sad when you recall the story behind it but we think that all those ANZACâs from back in the day would have appreciated the sentiment in their honour so make sure you try at least one â especially on the 25th.
The 3rd CAMRA Gloucester Beer & Cider Festival kicks off proper on Friday 24th April and then you have to go back and do it all again on the 25th! Full information is on their website at http://www.gloucesterbeerfestival.org.uk/ and of course there is more information about all the beers from the Hillside stable at www.hillsidebrewery.com who also offer brewery tours and brewery experience days.
The product shot is a compilation done by us here in the WyeDean Deli Confidential studio. The back drop is a poppy cut into mild steel from the Essex Farm Dressing Station memorial site and the foreground is a shot of the battlefield debris as it would have looked and currently on display in the Tyne Cot Cemetery visitor centre, both of which are in the countryside around Ypres, Belgium
Official Brewery Tasting Notes:
On the nose is tropical fruit, pineapple and mango. The flavour is a full bodied, tropical fruit flavour with passion fruit, mango and pineapple with a caramel malt backbone with a slightly dry finish – leaving you wanting more. We have used Challenger which is a British hop for the bittering and Galaxy and Rakau from Australia and New Zealand for the flavour and aroma.Â
