Beware of beer geeks bearing gifts

Last Friday, I visited the London Craft Beer Festival, held at Tobacco Dock, Wapping, on the edge of London’s’ East End. I don’t know how many years the festival has been running, but this was my first visit, and I only went along on a whim after seeing a spare ticket advertised on one of the local CAMRA WhatsApp groups. I was at work, and in the middle of something, so by the time I’d considered whether or not I wanted to go, someone else had snapped up the ticket.

Undeterred, I rather cheekily applied for a ticket in my own name, citing my Beer & Travel Blog as professional interest. To my surprise I qualified for a Press Pass for Friday’s opening session, and what's more, as well as admission to the event, the pass entitled me to free beer. If I’d had to pay for the ticket, it would have cost me £58, so what not to like!

Friday is one of my non-working days, and with Mrs PBT's engaged on exciting stuff such as VAT and income tax returns, CIS payments etc, I was free to hit the big city. I was not in a hurry, and with a bit of business to conclude down in Tonbridge, I called in at my local building society, before walking along to the station. Instead of my usual travel card I just bought an off-peak return to London, the idea being to use my Senior Citizens Bus Pass for return travel to and from Tobacco Dock, and see an area of London from street level, rather than being stuck underground in a metal tube.

I said I wasn't in a hurry, but I still found it annoying when my train was held outside London Bridge for about 10 minutes, due to congestion. Eventually we reached the station, where I embarked and made my way outside to one of the bus stops in Tooley Street. I'd carried out a spot of online research during the journey up, to establish which buses would get me to Tobacco Dock, and although I could probably have walked it in 20-25 minutes, it was enjoyable just to sit on the bus watching the various stops flash up on the indicator, whilst the world sailed by outside.

I changed buses at Aldgate Bus Station catching the No.100 bus in the direction of Shadwell. The app I was using directed me to get off at the third stop, which I did, and it took me through a very pleasant, mixed development primarily of new housing that was not at all like the Wapping of old. Switching to Google Maps, I reached a small canal that I hadn't been aware of before, and after following this waterway for a short distance, I arrived at Tobacco Dock.  

Looking at the map, Tobacco Dock is just a short distance from the much better-known St Katherine’s Dock, and within easy walking distance of the Tower of London. Built in 1812 as a hub for tobacco and other luxury commodities from the New World, the 19^th Century Grade 1 listed buildings were sensitively restored in 2012. Today the complex is one of the most versatile events spaces in the capital, although the people that run the building really need to expand the totally inadequate toilet facilities, especially when contemplating a beer festival!  

I found the entrance, showed my pre-printed QR Entrance Pass to the security people, and was admitted – complete with the obligatory wristband. I was handed a ½ pint, “balloon-style” glass, marked with lines indicating ⅓ pint or “sample”, along with a floor plan showing both ground and upper floor levels, and off I sent. All beers were free but dispensed solely in “sample” size “pours”, as the Americans would say! If you wanted, you could keep going back to the same stand, and the same beer, but the staff still wouldn’t serve you more than a sample, each time.

I estimated the number of different breweries represented at around 30, but this was way off the mark, as according to the LCBF website, there were over 100! Nearly all the beer was pressurised, either from “Key-Kegs” or from more traditional, industry containers, but there was some cask available, and what there was turned out to be very good. Leading the charge for cask was Timothy Taylor’s, who had a good selection available at their stand, including Knowle Spring, Dark Mild and Dark Landlord. This was the first time I’ve come across this beer on draught, as it is normally only available in bottles. Another fine cask ale was Bostin’ Dark Mild from Green Duck Brewery, who are a small outfit based at Stourbridge in the West Midlands.

A handful of European brewers were also represented, including O’Hara’s from Ireland. Budvar from Czechia, ABK from Bavaria and La Chouffe from Belgium. The latter’s stall was easy to find, as brewery staff were handing out red “gnome” hats, as worn by the company’s well-known, gnome mascot. I tucked mine away, inside my rucksack, as it’s not the type of headgear to be seen wearing on the train home.

One other highlight was the stand run by Braybrooke Beer Co, and I mention this because I have recently signed up to the brewery’s Lager Club, a monthly subscription service whereby subscribers receive 12 bottles of the brewery’s classic core beers (including their famous Keller Lager), along with specials and guest lagers each month. Visiting their stand was an opportunity of previewing a couple of Braybrooke beers, including the aforementioned Keller Lager and their excellent Smoked Bier.

The Braybrooke, the cask and the European beers were the ones which, for me, really stood out, with most of the rest being a sea of pale ales, IPA’s, Pilsners, DIPA’s and just about every other sort of blonde coloured beers imaginable. I was probably one of the oldest visitors at the festival, not that it bothered me particularly. I met up briefly, with Nick a relatively new member of West Kent CAMRA, and someone who I have been friends with, for some time, on Untappd. He had left a group of friends to come and say hello, as we both thought it good to put faces to each other's names.

I was starting to feel hungry after all that free beer, even if it was only “sips,” so I ventured out onto the terrace, overlooking the canal, where there were a number of food stands. The various offerings were on the pricey side, but seeing as I hadn’t paid for any of the beer, I didn’t feel too bad forking out £11 for a hot dog. It was a “gourmet” hot dog, mind you, but judge for yourselves from the photo whether or not it was worth the double figure price.

It was an interesting day out, although if I hadn’t qualified for the press pass, then I wouldn’t have gone to LCBF. With hindsight, perhaps I shouldn’t have attended, because mingling with all those people in a crowded event space, was probably where I contracted COVID for the third time! I didn’t feel that brilliant on Monday but put it down to a rather nasty summer cold, but overnight my symptoms worsened, and I feared I might have contracted the dreaded lurgy. We had a couple of Lateral Flow Tests left over from the end of last year, so I took a test, and unfortunately, and as feared, it returned a big fat positive red line.

Yes folks, COVID hasn’t gone away, and despite the initial two-shot, vaccination, two boosters and two occasions where I actually contracted the disease, I have discovered I am not immune to what, I imagine, must be this latest strain of the virus.  Mrs PBT’s is not very happy about it, and I have also had the embarrassment of phoning in sick to work and apologising in advance for potentially spreading COVID about the workplace.

On a more personal note, I am slightly concerned at having caught COVID for the third time, because if the science is to be believed, each recurring infection increases one’s risk of complications or more serious illness. Still, as a colleague of mine is fond of saying, “It is, what it is,” but with an eye towards self-preservation, I shall try and take a little more care in future, particularly in crowded situations.