Letchworth Garden City might not seem the most obvious place to find a beer festival, a town that had a ban on alcohol licenses until 1960 and no pub in the town centre until 1974, but it’s been held for over 20 years.
This year was the first in a new venue, the Green House, a glass-roofed indoor market, and it may be the last here if the proposed ‘redevelopment’ of the building goes ahead. We visited on a sunny Saturday, the glass roof giving it the feel of an outdoor beer fest, the atmosphere relaxed and friendly. Perfect conditions for drinking beer.
Good choice of beer too. I thought the Moor Revival was the best on the day, and the Buxton Axe Edge was great as always, but there were some beers new to me that I found particularly interesting – Windsor & Eton Kohinoor spiced with ‘jasmine petals, cardamom and coriander’ and Harknott Cool Fusion with way more than a ‘hint of sweet ginger’, a splash of lemon and plenty of spicy, peppery notes too, but with an earthy hop flavour coming through it all – lovely stuff.
Tiny Rebel Dirty Stop Out (‘Colour – Slag Heap’) had the best tasting notes:
All this and only half an hour from Cambridge by train? Turns out Letchworth is a great place for a beer festival.
The Green House
Thank you very much for your review and for underlining our plight re the demoliition of our fabulous, unique building! We loved having you all here and hope we survive long enough to hold another! Lovely crowd and great atmosphere! The volunteers worked so hard to make sure everything was as good as possible, CHEERS!