The final word on beer festivals?

I’ve been to dozens of beer festivals over the course of the past four and a half decades,  mainly here in the UK, but I've also been to a handful in Germany and one in Spain. I’ve enjoyed some more than others, but that’s only to be expected. Beer and the appreciation of it, is the common them running through these events, but the best ones have been those where the appreciation of the beer combines with the enjoyment of it.

Whilst the two are closely related, they are not mutually the same. There is a world of difference between sniffing, tasting and then analysing a small sample of a specialist  beer,  and the sheer enjoyment which comes with sinking a beer which really grabs you by the back of the throat, but still leaves you thirsty for more.

The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is the ultimate example of the first, whilst Munich’s world-famous Oktoberfest is the perfect example of the other. The former involves sipping, whilst trying to savour a 1 oz sample, in the expectation you will get something from such a tiny amount. The latter means knocking back  suitably large volumes of beer, in the company of hundreds of like-minded souls, and really getting into the spirit of things.

I know which one I prefer, even though I haven’t been to GABF. Beer is a long drink, and without hesitation, I'd say it is "the best long-drink in the world." As Dickens famously wrote, “It can’t be tasted in a sip,” so who would be foolish enough to try? But if the GABF is anything to go  by,  plenty of people are doing just that, so is there anything in between the extremes of Denver GABF) and Munich?

Well there is of course, the type of beer festival most of us are familiar with in the UK. These are the events which follow the typical CAMRA pattern of a wide variety of a certain type of beer (cask-conditioned in this case), covering several different styles (mild, bitter, pale, golden, dark, strong etc).

It could be argued that these events, CAMRA-backed or otherwise,are something of a hybrid, in so much that they allow visitors the chance  to both savour, and really enjoy the beer.  By offering drinkers a choice of beers either by the pint, half pint or third of a pint,  punters get the chance to enjoy and savour a decent amount of each beer should they wish or, they can try a number of third pint samples, in order to form an impression of a particular beer.

There is still a fair amount of comparison, note taking and even navel gazing involved at UK festivals; certainly when compared to a hedonistic event such as Oktoberfest.This is obviously not the case with the American festival, where thimbles are the order of the day, but again not having been to GABF I can only really speculate.

My views regarding beer festivals have certainly changed over the years, and so have my aims.  At that first festival in Covent Garden, I was like a kid in a sweet shop, with all these beers which I’d heard about – thanks to that first Good Beer Guide, but never tried, so at that event, and more importantly at subsequent festivals, I set out to "tick" beers from all the surviving independent brewers of Britain, as well as a fair few of the cask offerings from the "Big Six."

I made good progress to start with, although a trickle of brewery closures did spoil things for a while.  At one stage I was close to  having sampled the majority of the country's cask ales, with only beers from the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man standing between me and completing this task.

Then came the new breweries; often referred to as micro-breweries today. Starting in the late 1970's, the latter came along in waves, but numbers peaked in the mid-1980's and actually fell off for a while after, as many of these new entrants to the trade struggled to find outlets for their beer.

It was a lot harder "ticking" beers from these outfits, as by their nature distribution was very localised, and they weren't always represented at beer festivals. I persevered, seeing another boom and bust, but just about managing to hold my own, so far as ticking these newcomers off was concerned.

The introduction of "Progressive Beer Duty" in 2002, opened the floodgates for a whole host of new breweries, encouraged by the fact that due to their small scale, they paid considerably less beer duty than their larger brethren. The numbers of breweries in the UK grew steadily, and when a decade or so ago, "craft beer" took the world of brewing by storm, brewery numbers increased exponentially. There are now over 2,000 breweries in the UK, the most since the 1930s, and it is estimated that today there are  64 per cent more breweries than there were five years ago.

There was no way I could swim against such a strong tide, so I gave up my forlorn quest a decade or so ago. Instead, I adopted a policy of seeking out unusual beers at festivals, particularly if there was some history or provenance associated with them. I remember queueing up one year at GBBF to sample the strong-vatted 12% ale, which Greene King use as an addition to their excellent 5X Suffolk Strong Ale. Equally good were cask versions of Fuller's 1845.

Back at the turn of the century, at the East London Pig's Ear Festival, I was able to enjoy a small glass of the legendary Bass No. 1 Barley Wine, along with the same company's P2 Stout. These  beers were recreations of old Bass beers, brewed on the pilot plant at the former Bass Museum in Burton-on-Trent, and very good they were too.

Such beers became harder and harder to track down and eventually, I succumbed to the philosophy, which many of my CAMRA friends had already adopted, to go along to a beer festival and just try which ever beer took my fancy.

I think it was my visit to the German festival of Annafest in 2013, which finally converted me to this way of thinking.  This event takes place every July, in woods above the small Franconian town of Forchheim; a town which is blessed with four breweries. The festival is held at the “Kellerwald"; a  wooded hillside, just on the edge of Forchheim. Here are around 20 Bierkellers - open air beer gardens really, most of which only open for Annafest, although a small number are open all year.

The four Forchheim breweries all brew a strong Bock beer called Annafestbier, especially for the festival , and a number of other local breweries also supply their own beers as well. The beer is only served in one litre Maß Krugs, which makes sampling more than a few different beers in the course of a session not really advisable. It is certainly a world away from the half, or even third pint measures, beloved by “tickers” at GBBF 

The main appeal for me though, was the outdoor setting,  helped of course by the fine weather. In my book there’s nothing finer than sitting out in the fresh air, whilst enjoying a few beers in the presence of friends or family.  For the same sort of reason I have always enjoyed the annual SIBA Festival, held in my adopted home town of Tonbridge.

Last year, I finally visited the grand-daddy of all beer festivals; Munich's world-famous Oktoberfest. Despite people's per-conceptions, Oktoberfest is not just a glorified “piss-up”, with crowds of mainly blokes, sitting in enormous beer tents, swilling litre-sized mugs of beer. Instead it is the world’s largest folk festival, travelling fun-fair and a celebration of all things Bavarian. 

There are scary fairground rides which spin you around at a great height and more traditional  attractions such as a “Haunted House”, the motor-cycle “Wall of Death,” shooting galleries and  those “try your strength” machines, where you have to bring a large wooden mallet crashing down on a “puck” in an attempt to ring the bell at the top of a tower. There are also  enough food stalls to feed an army; an essential consideration given the 3 million odd visitors who flock to the event each year.

If you so desired you could spend an entire day at Oktoberfest without a single drop of beer passing your lips, but you'd be crazy to miss out on what for most visitors is the main attraction.  Just don't turn up expecting a CAMRA-style beer festival, as the only brewers allowed to serve their beers at Oktoberfest are those within Munich's city limits. This effectively means just six brewers are represented, and these are Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner and Spaten.

Unlike many British beer festivals, there is no admission charge. The costs involved in providing the “temporary” infra-structure, paying the staff and the all the other ancillary charges involved in putting on this mammoth festival, are recouped  by the price of the beer (and to a lesser extent the food).

Last year a litre, or Maβ of beer cost €10.80. Expensive you might think, but you are getting a specially-brewed Festbier which is around 6% ABV, waitress service – all those good-looking Frauleins in their traditional Dirndls, bringing armfuls of beer to your table are definitely worth the additional cost, plus the atmosphere, camaraderie and general ambience of the whole event.

So to sum up, these days I regard beer festivals as primarily a social occasion, rather than an event I go to in order to sample as many beers as possible. This is because after trying more than around four or four beers in succession, they all start to taste the same. Far better to find a few beers which take your fancy, stick with them and just enjoy the festival in the company of either friends or family.

Tunbridge Wells Beer Weekend

I've got rather bogged down with my beer festival article and although I've written a large chunk of it, there's still quite a bit of juggling around and polishing up to do. In the meantime life goes on, things evolve and events which a short while ago seemed weeks away, are suddenly looming large on the horizon.

First and foremost is the inaugural Tunbridge Wells Beer Weekend, which kicks off today  Thursday13th September, and runs through until Sunday 16th. As with similar events held up and down the country (Brighton, Manchester, Norwich, Leeds), Tunbridge Wells' festival  will be a celebration of all things beer. 

For beer lovers or simply those looking for new food and drink experiences, this four day festival has something for everyone. The event will be spread across nine separate venues throughout the town and will be a weekend of tastings, talks on the history of brewing, tap takeovers, special food events, live music and even guided walking tours of historic Tunbridge Wells. In short, there will be something for everyone.

The nine venues which will be hosting or putting on the various events are listed below. Click on the links in order to see what's on where.

Fuggles, 28 Grosvenor Rd
Pig & Porter, Unit 18H, Chapman Way
The George, 29 Mount Ephraim
The Royal Oak, 92 Prospect Rd
The Ragged Trousers, 44 The Pantiles
The Beer Boutique, 40 Mount Pleasant
Sankey’s, 39 Mount Ephraim
The Bedford, 2 High Street
The Pantiles Tap, 39 The Pantiles

For details, ticket information and prices for certain events, or to reserve yourself a place at an event, please check in with the pubs directly. For an overview of the whole event, you can look on the Tunbridge Wells Beer Weekend Facebook page.

Another "destination pub" for Tonbridge

Following close on the heels of the re-opening of the Nelson Arms in Tonbridge, news has broke that another “destination” bar could be opening in the town. If the plans go ahead, Tonbridge drinkers will be even more spoilt for choice than they are now.

Some of us have been aware of this possible new outlet for some time, but following the approval of planning permission, I can now announce that a former jeweller’s shop in the High Street is set to become a bar offering a selection of cask ales, and possibly craft beers as well.

The long-established jewellery business of John Angell ceased trading mid-way through last year, and the site stood empty for a while before being acquired by new owners.  The prospective tenant is Beer Seller Ltd, which currently runs the well-known Halfway House pub at Brenchley, near Paddock Wood. The Halfway House has built up a name for itself locally thanks to its well-kept "real ales" served straight from the cask, and the plan is to offer something similar in Tonbridge. 

In their submission to the local planning authority, the new owners stated they had been looking for a suitable location for a second establishment for some time. They went on to say that they felt the location to be ideal for a successful bar facility, which would be used by shoppers, office workers and the general public visiting the High Street, and also travellers using the station.

It had been known for some time, especially amongst local CAMRA members, that the Halfway House was looking for an urban outlet to complement their rural one, so were only too  happy to offer their backing when the news broke. Several of us wrote letters of support to the planning committee, in respect of the application, and are pleased that the application was successful.

Summing up their reasons for approving the proposals, the planning committee said: “The application will enhance the viability and vitality of the town centre and contribute towards both the quality and quantity of the facilities available on Tonbridge High Street.” 

They went on to say, “The potential impact on the amenity of nearby residents can be mitigated through the imposition of planning conditions controlling amplified music and opening hours.”

To avoid disturbance to nearby properties, the pub’s business hours must be between 9am to 11pm on Monday to Saturday and 11am to 10.30pm on Sundays. Similarly, a ban on live or amplified music has been put in place in the interests of residential amenity.

Overall, there were four objections to the plans and ten in favour. A neighbour in favour said: “The applicant has a good track record of running successful and award-winning outlets. If it’s as good as The Halfway House then it will be a great asset to the town.”

Another added: “It should be welcomed rather than leave an empty unit. The occupancy will prevent the building becoming another empty premises on the High Street.”

The owners now have a maximum of three years to develop the site, before the planning permission expires. I seem to recall the plans were displayed on the local authority’s planning application site, but  now the proposals have been approved, I am unable to find them.

However,  having seen the site from both the outside as well as the interior, I would say a reasonable amount of work is required, but nothing too drastic. In the meantime, watch this space for further news.

Four decades of the Great British Beer Festival

I mentioned in the comments on my recent  article about this year's Great British Beer Festival, that I was in the process of drafting a post about beer festivals. This would primarily be about my feelings towards festivals, and how these feelings have changed over the years.

In the process of writing this post I found that I was constantly being drawn back to GBBF, and how that event had changed over the past four and a half decades. So without further ado, here is my own personal take on that enduring institution that is the Great British Beer Festival.

I'm pretty sure I'm correct in crediting CAMRA for introducing beer festivals to this country. I'm also fairly certain that the idea for such events came from Germany, where there is a long tradition of festivals involving the consumption of copious amounts of beer. If I'm wrong with these assumptions, then please let me know.

The very first beer festival organised by CAMRA was the Cambridge Beer Festival. which took place in 1974. The event is also the longest continuously running event in Britain;  although it has moved site three times. The Kent Beer Festival, at Canterbury probably comes second in the longevity stakes, but again that event has had several changes of venue.

Andreas Praefcke [CC BY 3.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

I would say that in terms of timing, CAMRA's first national festival comes in third.  Billed as a “Beer Exhibition,” rather than a beer festival, the event which soon became known as the Great British Beer Festival, took place at the then recently vacated old flower market in London's Covent Garden, in September 1975. The event was an unqualified success and, as well as encouraging individual CAMRA branches to run their own beer festivals, Covent Garden was directly responsible for subsequent national ones.

It was the event which everyone remembers, and  I count myself fortunate to have been there; even if it was only for one session. On that sole visit I was like a kid in a sweet shop, with all these beers available for me to try. Thanks to CAMRA's first Good Beer Guide I’d read about some of them, and now was my opportunity to try a few.

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There's not a lot I can report about Covent Garden, apart from the old flower stalls being used as make-shift stillages, and the drains and gulleys in the concrete floor. In addition, quite a lot of the beers were dispensed from wooden casks.

The session I attended was on Friday afternoon, and quite a few of the customers were office workers, still in their suits, who had popped out for a crafty lunchtime pint. My friends and I returned the following evening, but with the queue stretching right round the block showing no sign of moving, we adjourned to the nearby Marquess of Anglesea.

The first Great British Beer Festival took place in 1977, at Alexandra Palace in north London. I remember going to the festival and climbing up the hill to Ally Pally, after getting off the train at the nearby station, but don't remember that much about the event itself. I'm fairly certain I attended a couple of other subsequent festivals at Alexandra Palace, but I was definitely there for the 1980 festival, which was held under canvas, in tents, after Ally Pally burned down.

I also went to the majority of the events held at the Brighton Metropole. This venue hosted the festival during the  mid 1980's, which was handy for those of us living in West Kent. There would normally be a half dozen or so of us travelling down to Brighton by train, taking the  line from Tonbridge to Redhill and then changing onto the mainline.  We combined a day at the seaside with some serious beer sampling, and in the days before all day drinking was allowed, the compulsory closed period during the afternoon, provided the opportunity for fish & chips on the seafront followed by some fooling around on the dodgems.  

It was sometimes quite an effort to get back in the swing again, when returning for the evening session. It was especially hard for the branch member who made a point of starting off with the strongest beers available, and pints of them as well, but we were much younger back then, and drinking a skinful had far less of an effect on me than it would now. They were good days and thinking about them  brings back fond memories.

There was no festival in 1984, as Bingley Hall in Birmingham,  the venue due to hold the event, burned to the ground. Coming just four years after Alexandra Palace suffered a similar fate the fire prompted comments about the “curse of CAMRA.”

At the beginning of the 1980's, and also at the end of the decade,  the Great British Beer Festival was held at the Queen's Hall in Leeds, but given the distances involved and the fact I wasn't that committed to the event, I never attended any of the festivals held in Leeds or the ones which took place in Birmingham.

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The festival returned to London in 1991, when the event was held at the Dockland's Arena. This was a short-lived concert, sports and exhibition centre on the Isle of Dogs. The venue was totally unsuitable for an event like GBBF, and I remember my friends and I coming away feeling very disappointed. From memory the Arena was in financial trouble, and there were problems regarding the food and other concessions, so I was not really surprised to learn that the venue was demolished for housing in 2006, after an existence of just 17 years.

The following year, the festival moved to Olympia which in many ways, seemed the ideal venue, although  perhaps not as far as the beer was concerned. In those days, Olympia lacked air-conditioning so the whole structure, which basically resembles an enormous greenhouse, used to heat up like a hothouse, as soon as the sun put in an appearance. Despite the best efforts of the “cellar staff” the temperature of the beer was often far from ideal.

The installation of a  decent air-conditioning system, finally solved the problem, and with the temperature under control Olympia became the ideal venue for GBBF. Bright, airy and now super-cool as well, it was a pleasure just walking around, seeing what was on offer and deciding which beers to sample next.

Several year later though, the event moved to nearby Earls Court, whilst refurbishment work was carried out at Olympia.  Earls Court was the worst venue ever, as far as I was concerned, as it was like drinking in a underground carpark. There were no windows, and therefore no natural light, and the combination of concrete and artificial lighting, meant one left the festival with aching feet and an equally aching head, regardless of how much or how little beer one had supped. After just two visits, I refused to attend subsequent festivals, as I detested Earls Court that much.

In 2012, after six years at that "other place", the Great British Beer Festival returned to Olympia, where it remains to this day. It was good to see the festival back at this iconic venue, even though in recent years, I've had mixed feelings about the event.

As stated at the beginning of this article, I'll be writing a separate post about how my feelings about beer festivals have changed over the years, but I'm pleased to have been able to witness the Great British Beer Festival change from something just cobbled together in an abandonned old flower market, to the slick, professional and highly polished event it is today.

GBBF 2018 - a view from afar

Just before I went on holiday, I promised to report back on last month's Great British Beer Festival, particularly from the viewpoint of three of my work colleagues, who were attending the event for the first time. They are all at least 30 years younger than me, so I was keen to hear what they thought of the event.

Before reporting their views and comments, it's worth reflecting that CAMRA definitely seem to have upped their game. For a start, this year's advertising definitely seemed designed to appeal to a younger audience. I commented on this at the time, as I thought it boded well for a festival which had definitely become staid and rather stale, and although my colleagues had nothing to compare it against, writer and critic Benjamin Nunn, who writes the entertaining Ben Viveur blog, was full of praise for the event.

He reported that this year's GBBF was a massive improvement and went on to say that anyone who didn't manage to get along, "missed out on something seriously good." More importantly, Ben reckoned that CAMRA got the beer right this time, with a far greater selection of fruit beers, herb beers, tea beers, coffee beers, sours, saisons, alongside the standard milds and bitters and golden ales.

I can verify this, after flicking through the festival programme my colleagues brought back for me. Leaving the foreign beers aside, the range and sheer variety certainly looked impressive, and light years away from the plethora of bland and rather boring golden ales which made up the bulk of the offerings two years ago (the last time I attended GBBF).

I was also really impressed by the many different food offerings at this year's festival, which were a long way from the pies, hot dogs and bread and cheese of yesteryear (not that there's anything wrong with pies!).

Somewhat surprisingly my colleagues stuck with the pies, and beer-wise they went mainly with the hoppy pale ales. But as itinerant lager drinkers (not all the time), this was a good entry point into the world of cask-conditioned ale. Being committed sportsmen, they also had fun participating in the pub games that are on offer at GBBF. they even picked up a couple of prizes.

All three had a good time, and really enjoyed their first time at GBBF. They claim to have drank more than five pints (well two of them did) and then called in at our local Spoons on the way home, for something to eat. 

So with the festival succeeding in attracting a younger crowd, and providing some much more interesting beers, were there any drawbacks? Well, according to Ben, some of the issues that came up last year, such as the pricing and the entertainment, were still present; although having seen the programme I would disagree with the latter claim.  And from what I have read, GBBF seems to have improved in leaps and bounds from what I experienced two years ago.

Will I go next year? I don't know yet as there are many conflicting demands on my time, and plenty of places I want to visit and experience, but as someone who had become rather cynical about the whole festival scene, I am very encouraged by what I have read and heard. So who knows, if the circumstances are right, you might even see me at Olympia next year.

Post Conference Excursion - Part Two - Scott's Addition, Richmond

Following our tour of Stone Brewing’s impressive and mega-size brewery, we re-boarded our coach and set off for the area of Richmond, known as, Scott’s Addition. This 152 acre area of land was once a bustling industrial area, but is now the city’s fastest growing neighbourhood. Today it is best known for its impressive collection of breweries, cideries and distilleries. is now home to five breweries—including the most recent, Väsen Brewing.

The day was arranged by Visit Richmond VA – the tourist authority responsible for promoting the former Confederate capital to the outside world. The organisation looked after us extremely well, having conveyed us by coach from the conference hotel, close to Washington Dulles Airport, to the Omni Hotel, which would be our overnight  base in Richmond.

Unfortunately the one thing which was outside VRVA’s  control was the weather; although to be fair they were aware of the distinct possibility of thunderstorms on that Sunday afternoon. The plan was our coach would drop us off in the Scott’s Addition neighbourhood at Väsen Brewing Co. There were four other breweries within easy walking distance, plus two more a short taxi ride away. At 6.45pm the coach would pick us up again, outside Väsen in order to transport us to the final venue of the evening.

So far, so good, but almost on cue, the first of several thunderstorms hit just as we were getting off the coach. I was with a group who decided that it would be better for us to head for The Veil Brewing Co’s premises first, in order so as not to swamp Väsen with a sudden influx of people. Veil was only a couple of blocks away, but the heavens opened whilst we were on our way and we had to sprint the last couple of hundred yards.

We had been told to wear our conference badges, as these would ensure that any beers we ordered would go on the Richmond Region Tourism tab, but despite the possibility of almost limitless beer, I decided to take things a little easy. The Veil Brewing Co. are a relative newcomer on the Richmond scene, but have quickly established a reputation for brewing some excellent beers.

Their taproom is characterised by dark walls and minimalist décor, with a large stuffed and very fierce-looking grizzly bear standing in one corner. The brewery’s tap list is constantly rotating, but the notes I took at the time showed I enjoyed a 6.0% IPA called Catnap, plus a nice and well-hopped 4.5% Pilsner, called Child Support.

Looking out through the window, we noticed the rain coming down as hard as ever, and with no signs of it abating, we were debating what to do next. Fortunately one of the team from Visit Richmond was in the bar with us, and she had the foresight to call the coach and ask the driver to come and collect us.

With this accomplished, we had the choice of a few beers at Väsen or some at nearby Ardent Craft Ales. As it was still raining heavily, most of us opted for Väsen, especially as that would be where the coach would be departing from. Väsen Brewing, are one of the newest breweries in Scott’s Addition. In Swedish, the word väsen is a reference to one’s inner essence, or spirit animal, and the taproom, has a real Scandinavian feel to it.

My first beer, the 7.6% Norse Pale Ale, fitted well with this theme, but the other two had more in common with the beers of the Low  Countries. Figue Rustique Saison 7.3%, a reddish-gold saison, conditioned on fig purée and Sugarbear Quad, a dark, Belgian abbey-style Quadrupel beer, dominated by dark chocolate and vanilla flavours, was a good beer to finish on, but given its strength of 12.1% ABV, it was a good job I shared this beer with another member of our group.

After a chat with one of the barmaids, a couple of us were allowed behind the scenes to see the brewery’s barrel-aging facility. There were several racks of wooden casks, all filled with maturing beer, indicating that a lot of both beer and money is being tied up here. The same applies to the Väsen Brewing site as a whole.

After  Väsen, it was back on the bus and off to our last port of call. This was a multi-brewery reception and tasting at The Answer and Mekong Restaurant. These two establishments are owned by An Bui, a Vietnamese former chef, who developed a passion for craft beer  whilst working at his family-owned restaurant, Mekong.

Founded in 1995, Mekong flourished into an award-winning spot for beer enthusiasts because of its wide variety of rare and international beers and expansive food menu. In September 2014, Bui took things a step further by opening The Answer Brewpub, his very own craft brewery, sited behind the restaurant. Featuring 56 taps, 2 bars, and a stage area for live music, The Answer is a welcome addition to the local beer scene in Richmond.

I must admit I was feeling rather “beered-out” by this time. I’ve looked through all the paperwork and leaflets which I brought back with me, and have been unable to find any notes or lists of beers from The Answer, so can only assume that I stopped recording my consumption by that stage.

The food though was a different matter, as an extensive and very welcome Vietnamese buffet had been laid on for us. The photos show just how much food had been made available to us, but what they don’t convey is just how good it all tasted. The chicken Spring Rolls, rank amongst the finest I have eaten whilst  the string beans with noodles  and the sweet and sour fried pork were also of the highest quality.

Before leaving, we nipped round to the Mekong Restaurant, at he front of the complex. It was packed out with diners, all enjoying the excellent food, but there were quite a few beers on tap as well. Again I have no record of what or how much beer I drunk, but I’m certain it was pretty minimal. I was well aware that I had a train to catch, back to Washington, the following morning and the last thing I wanted was to either miss it, or to be travelling with a hangover.

I shared a Lyft taxi back to the hotel with a couple of fellow beer writers. The coach was no longer available, so Visit Richmond had given us all some credit to use with this “on-demand” , app-based, taxi service, which operates in much the same way as Uber. I was glad not to be travelling on my own, as the journey back seemed to take quite a long time, and took us onto the local freeway. I didn’t recall travelling that route on the outward journey, but eventually we reached central Richmond and our comfortable and well-appointed hotel.

So a special thank-you to Owen and Charles for letting me share the ride back with you, and a huge thank-you to Erin and Meghan at Visit Richmond for organising such an excellent tour of some of Richmond’s finest breweries.

Amtrak across the USA. Part Two - Washington D.C. - Chicago

So after a brief interlude it's back on the train again, as we travel on the second and much longer section of my journey on Amtrak. This time we'll be travelling all the way from Washington D.C. to Chicago; a journey of around 17 hours.

After making the relatively short journey from Richmond VA, I boarded the impressive double-deck Amtrak Superliner at Washington, and the previous article ended with my train pulling out of Washington's Union station. We were already 20 minutes behind schedule as we rolled through the capital's suburbs, and after a hot and humid afternoon, it was not surprising that we ran into a couple of  really heavy thunderstorms.

As I sat in my comfortable compartment, watching the changing scenery outside, I felt a real sense of excitement to be travelling on the legendary train known as the Capitol Limited. The following morning the train would be pulling into  Chicago's main station, also called Union, but that would be tomorrow and for the time being, I wanted to enjoy the now.

I described my "roomette" compartment in the previous article, but what I didn't mention was it was on the lower deck of the train. So not wanting to see things from track level, I decided to head up to the dining car.

I found out where this was from a woman I'd met in the queue, whilst waiting to board the train. Her name was Jamie and she turned out to be quite a seasoned traveller on Amtrak, so when she chanced to pass by my compartment, I decided to join her upstairs for dinner.

I was busy chatting and nearly missed the train pulling into the historic settlement of Harper's Ferry. I mentioned this town before, and the part it played at the start of the American Civil War, but it wasn't until we crossed the River Potomac, at a point just upstream from where it is joined by Shenandoah River, that I realised we were there.

This point also marks the state boundaries between Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. There would be a further four such boundaries before reaching Chicago, but before then I had dinner on my mind.

I sort of knew what to expect, as a friend had warned me that Amtrak have recently abandoned their traditional "silver service" dining on certain routes. So passengers no longer sit down to a freshly prepared, three-course meal, but are instead "treated" to airline-style, pre-prepared dishes.

The bonus was I didn't have to wait long for my meal as, after showing my ticket to the dining car manager, my food arrived pretty quick. The rib beef with dumpling, vegetables and gravy, served in its own plastic dish, was quite palatable and there was dessert to follow.

I sat there chatting with my new-found companion, and also with several other occupants of the dining car. With windows on both sides, and its prominent top-deck position, it was just the place to sit and admire the passing scenery.

The scenery was certainly spectacular, as our train made its way along the course of the Potomac Valley, with the hills slowly becoming steeper and more prominent. These views were certainly the most spectacular of the whole journey, as by sunrise the following morning, we were passing through the comparatively un-interesting flatlands of  northern Ohio and Indiana. During the hours of darkness, we had travelled through Pennsylvania, but I slept right through all that, including the train stopping to change crews in Pittsburgh.

I didn't turn in straight away as, along with a number of fellow passengers, Jamie and I were roped in by the dining car manager, to play a panel type game, called "Family Feuds." The manager told us that she and one of the stewards, arranged this game on most evenings, once food service had finished for the evening. It helped pass the time before they turned in for the night, and was a good way for people to get to know each other.

We were sufficient in number to make up four teams of four, and as we started playing I realised that "Family Feuds" was the same as our TV game "Family Fortunes." It was good fun, playing along and although we were a real mixed bunch of travellers, this was a good way to get to know each other. The team I was in came second, with the winners receiving a bottle of wine to share between them.

I had already decided to have a booze-free day, following the excesses of the previous three days, so wasn't bothered about missing out on the wine. I'd even forgone the earlier "Happy Hour". With the conversation turning to drink,  Jamie told me that her favourite tipple was Stella Artois; a beer I didn't know was available in the States. I didn't mention that Stella is sometimes known as "wife-beater" back in the UK.

When I got back downstairs, I gave the attendant a call and he made up my bed. It was all very ingenious the way the two opposing seats slid together. The mattress, complete with ready fitted sheet and blanket, was then retrieved from the upper bunk. After a quick trip along to the toilet and washroom, I undressed and slid into my cosy and surprisingly comfortable bed. I latched the door shut, and was soon slipping into a restful sleep, lulled by the rocking of the train.

I mentioned latching the door closed, and whilst this provides security whilst the roomette is occupied, the compartments cannot be locked from the outside, whilst they are unoccupied. This does mean it is a wise precaution to take valuables, such as laptops etc, with you when leaving the compartment.

As mentioned earlier, I slept really well; the motion of the train helping to rock me gently off to sleep. I did wake a few times in the early hours, mainly to try and get some idea of where we were when the train drew to a halt. Some of these stops were due to having to give way to freight trains; more on that subject later.

I made it up to the dining car at around 7am, and found that breakfast was being served. It was a healthy option of sliced melon and other fruit, with a yoghurt to go with it. Personally I would have preferred something more solid, but I told myself the fruit and yoghurt would do me good; but not as good as the unlimited coffee, which was available from urns strategically situated in each coach.

I bumped into Jamie on my way back down to my compartment. She had overslept and consequently missed breakfast. With several hours to go before reaching Chicago, I put the time to good use and bashed out a few draft posts on the laptop, whilst keeping an eye on the changing scenery from time to time. The attendant gave out announcements on the tannoy every time we stopped, mainly to inform us that the delays were due to heavy freight traffic.

We ended up running two and a half hours behind schedule, so I was pleased I'd changed my original plan, which was to travel by Greyhound Bus from Chicago to my sister's place, close to Cleveland. I'd initially thought that a couple of hours would be ample to make the connection, but a conversation with a friend, prior to my trip, had persuaded me other wise. Instead I'd booked a flight from Chicago to Cleveland, with a late afternoon departure.

As the train neared Chicago, we passed through what can only be described as the mid-west "rust-belt." With blast furnaces standing empty and silent, and massive gantries rusting away, this was an eerie landscape, but it wasn't long before I could make out the windy city's towering skyscrapers in the distance, glistening away on the horizon.

Eventually we pulled into Union Station, which was journey's end. Alighting from the train I made my way to "baggage reclaim" where, just like at an airport, I waited for my suitcase to appear. I then made my way out to Chicago O'Hare Airport by means of the CTA mass transport system.

My flight to Cleveland took just over an hour, but due to hazy conditions I saw little of our course over lakes Michigan or Erie, which was disappointing. My brother-in-law picked me up from the airport, and 30 minutes later we were pulling onto the drive of the picturesque, weatherboard house, he shares with my sister.

I spent six very pleasant and enjoyable days there, and after the travelling I'd undertaken, it was nice just to chill out and relax with the American members of my family.

We visited our fair share of bars and brew-pubs of course, but my brother-in-law and I also got plenty of walking in.

I will be writing about some of these later, but for now I will just say that the beer scene in northern Ohio, is every bit as good as what I experienced in Virginia, earlier in my trip.