Saturday was my first visit to the Kings Head at Bildeston and also the first public dance out of my new morris side - Treacle Miner Morris. On arriving at this rather unusual but very good little brew pub I was soon introduced to Nigel, the owner and head-brewer. I didn't waste any time in pressing a bottle of Treacle Miner Stout into his hands as a thank you for inviting us to dance at his beer festival. Very charmingly he immediately took me over to the bar to get me a pint of his own Oatmeal stout - Crowdie - which is a very drinkable oatmeal stout with a bit of coffee in the flavour from the malt and a well balanced bitterness. The beer festival was all happening outside at the back of the pub with the beer being served out of a garage. Unfortunately that meant there was no nice beer festival, rack of casks photo-opportunity. On the other hand it meant that the beer was nicely in the shade and cool, just the way it likes to be. Strangely enough for a beer festival in a brew pub there were also two lager taps on the temporary bar outside the garage. Clearly this was a beer festival that welcomed all comers! Soon enough the last of the Treacle Miners arrived and we started our performance. The space was rather cramped which didn't help us to show the full energy of our dancing. However, it was a good debut for the side. We all enjoyed it and so did the audience it would appear. Certainly we had many appreciative comments and I received my second free pint of the afternoon courtesy of West Suffolk CAMRA - or at least one of their members, whose name I sadly didn't catch. The pub itself is very small with less than a dozen tables which seemed rather crowded in. I had already been told that it was quite a musically oriented pub and this was evidenced by the instruments hanging on the wall, including (much to my excitement) a mando-banjo. However, it was only later that I noticed that roll down screen when it was put into service to show the FA Cup Final. Clearly this is a pub which appeals to quite a varied clientele - real ale fans, music fans, football fans - unlike many real ale pubs and brew pubs which I have visited. It certainly seems to work though. Outside in the beer garden the music, and the drinking, continued throughout the afternoon and evening. There was one bloke, playing guitar in this picture, who played and sang all day. He started off playing with three youngsters, then a couple of teenagers, with the young man in this photo and then with his own band, called Meddle. Most of the music consisted of covers of pop and rock classics from the 80's and 90's - great sing-along stuff for a sunny afternoon. All in all it was a great day. I managed to sample 10 of the 30 beers available on the day and they were all perfectly decent. My personal favourite was the Kings Head porter, Beerwitched, but honourable mentions must also go to 'Blondie' and 'Crowdie'. I hope to be able to get back soon and to have a look at the brew set up.
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AuthorI am Sean, husband, father, beer fan and homebrewer, morris dancer, teacher and sometime blogger. ArchivesCategories
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