Book festival's beer necessities

By rbest

Y OU really don't have to go far to find a link between books and booze. Some of the most celebrated writers of both fact and fiction have been legendary drinkers. Indeed for a not insignificant number of our most creative wordsmiths, alcohol has been the raw material from which their downfall was engineered.But the organisers of Appledore Book Festival are hoping that Chapter One — the festival's very own brew — will be responsible for nobody's downfall. In fact they're hoping that anybody who drinks enough Chapter One to cause them even to fall down will at least be good enough to do so in the comfort of their own homes...Chapter One was first served on draft at the Beaver Inn, where the regulars had no problem with the delights of the 5.2, hoppy, dark pint that is more redolent of a winter ale than the sort of thing you might use to wet your whistle when limbering up for a poetry recital. Beer this strength is a thing of beauty only if everybody in your party is drinking it, and at the same rate. However, it would seem that regulars at the Seagate Hotel, not more than half a mile away, were not too keen on a beer that strong. Perhaps there are more daytime drinkers at the Seagate than at the Beaver... Who knows. Whatever the reason, though, Brian Broughton, from the Torrington-based Clearwater Brewery which makes the beer, was asked to come up with something a little less heavy on the liver. And so he duly made Chapter Two, which is doing rather better at the Seagate than its predecessor.So can Brian explain the vagaries of Appledore's beer drinking public? Apparently not. "There are certain pubs on my books which have stronger beers and don't have problems selling them. But, in my experience, there is nothing more fickle than the pub trade," he said. "I really don't know why a beer that sells well in one pub is less popular just down the road."Chapter One is a beautiful dark brew that, for all those real ale aficionados, combines First Gold and Fuggles hops to give a fruity, aromatic pint with a good bitter finish.Chapter Two, I couldn't tell you about as I haven't tried it.Come to mention it, I've barely tried Chapter One — the launch was held at 11am in Appledore which, I must confess, is a little early for me. Frankly any time before clocking off is too early to truly appreciate a beer that clocks in at 5.2%. I did have a little taste, in order to enable me to write about it, but I await eagerly the bottles that festival director Nick Arnold promised me. And in return I pledge to fall down only in my living room...OU really don't have to go far to find a link between books and booze. Some of the most celebrated writers of both fact and fiction have been legendary drinkers. Indeed for a not insignificant number of our most creative wordsmiths, alcohol has been the raw material from which their downfall was engineered.

But the organisers of Appledore Book Festival are hoping that Chapter One — the festival's very own brew — will be responsible for nobody's downfall.

In fact they're hoping that anybody who drinks enough Chapter One to cause them even to fall down will at least be good enough to do so in the comfort of their own homes...

Chapter One was first served on draft at the Beaver Inn, where the regulars had no problem with the delights of the 5.2, hoppy, dark pint that is more redolent of a winter ale than the sort of thing you might use to wet your whistle when limbering up for a poetry recital. Beer this strength is a thing of beauty only if everybody in your party is drinking it, and at the same rate.

However, it would seem that regulars at the Seagate Hotel, not more than half a mile away, were not too keen on a beer that strong. Perhaps there are more daytime drinkers at the Seagate than at the Beaver... Who knows. Whatever the reason, though, Brian Broughton, from the Torrington-based Clearwater Brewery which makes the beer, was asked to come up with something a little less heavy on the liver. And so he duly made Chapter Two, which is doing rather better at the Seagate than its predecessor.

So can Brian explain the vagaries of Appledore's beer drinking public? Apparently not.

"There are certain pubs on my books which have stronger beers and don't have problems selling them. But, in my experience, there is nothing more fickle than the pub trade," he said. "I really don't know why a beer that sells well in one pub is less popular just down the road."

Chapter One is a beautiful dark brew that, for all those real ale aficionados, combines First Gold and Fuggles hops to give a fruity, aromatic pint with a good bitter finish.

Chapter Two, I couldn't tell you about as I haven't tried it.

Come to mention it, I've barely tried Chapter One — the launch was held at 11am in Appledore which, I must confess, is a little early for me. Frankly any time before clocking off is too early to truly appreciate a beer that clocks in at 5.2%. I did have a little taste, in order to enable me to write about it, but I await eagerly the bottles that festival director Nick Arnold promised me. And in return I pledge to fall down only in my living room...