Essex Days Out

The Thatcher’s Arms at Mount Bures ran a beer festival over the weekend, and we found the time to pop in to sample a couple of pints. There was a good range of beers for a pub beer festival, a couple of dozen or so, and I was trying to work out if it could fit into our living room!

I started with a Delapra Dark, a dark old ale made from five malts, which went down a treat! It comes from the Great Oakley brewery in Northampton, and is an award winner, and is also available in bottles. Hmmm, where’s my christmas list….

The designated driver was only allowed to have one half, and she chose the Holden’s Black Country Mild, which the tasting notes supplied by the pub told us had “biscuity notes”.

I finished with a Blue Monkey ’99 Red Baboons’ which is one of the stranger names for a beer I’ve come across, and was quite distinctive in its taste – hoppy and malty according to the tasting notes. Ideally I’d have time to sample a few more, and to let the palate make a decision based on a bigger sample than just one, but certainly the kind of interesting and complex taste I like to get from my drinks, which is why preference is for porters/stours, as bitters I find to be far less interesting.

It would have been nice to have stayed later (it was an early evening visit) to listen to the live band, which promised some classic mod vibes, which would have appealed, but it wasn’t to be.

There’s a Bonfire Night Party at the Thatcher’s Arms (website) this Saturday, which is looking mighty tempting at the moment!

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