Heapey Beer Festival 2007


















BrancoBlogger wishes to thank his Portuguese friend Luiz for alerting him to the local 2007 Heapey Beer Festival hosted at the nearby Top Lock public house. Luiz is currently conducting a 'whistle stop' tour of Lancashire and Yorkshire having arrived last Thursday from Castelo Branco. It was on a quick walk along Leeds Liverpool canal with Luiz last Friday that BrancoBlogger spotted the event.

Needless to say, within hours a trip to the Top Lock was arranged with next door neighbour Rick, a self confessed connoisseur of Beers and a one time master brewer himself. Being Australian, Rick was anxious to tone down his accent that evening, the Australians having suffered a 12-10 defeat at the hands of the English in the day's Rugby World Cup

The local bus whisked us speedily to the venue on Saturday night. Armed with beer glass and tickets we entered the specially erected 'beer marquee'. So many people, so much festival wildlife and so many beers. Where to start? Rick had promised to be on his best behaviour having vowed not to repeat the rather unpleasant scenes of a previous year brought on by over indulgence and enthusiasm for the beers available. We opted for the 'dark beers bar' serving milds, porters and stouts. The names alone make the events worthwhile: Sheepshaggers Gold, Old Legover, Duff Blonde, Old Fecker, Bitter & Twisted, Great Cockup, Pigswill, Village Idiot, Great Cockup Porter and Wobbly Bob, to name but a few. Of course, I'm not going to divulge our choices here.


















Festival entertainment included BrancoBlogger's old friend Nick Jackson, playing as the Nick Jackson Band. Great music and like the hat Nick.