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6th ANNUAL HEACHAM
BEER FESTIVAL |
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As I write this, the
morning after the weekend before, Mark is laying down in a darkened room
so it has fallen upon me to write this article so here goes. We'll start with the beer. I'm thrilled to say that Heacham Gold was the first barrel to go, outselling Abbeydale Absolution 2-1. We had a varied selection from Matins at 3.5% to Black Mass at 6.66% - as the name suggests a very dark heavy beer that sold surprisingly well considering how hot and humid the weather was.
The Saxon ciders we had on were a roaring success with Greensleeves and Purple Haze both at 7.2% - selling out by Saturday. Their replacements, 7th Heaven and Autumn Breeze sold equally as well. The surprise big seller was Koppaburg bottled Swedish cider which comes in a range of fruit flavours, the most popular being the mixed fruit at 7% - a little dangerous as it has a taste akin to Ribena, a true alco-pop for grown ups! |
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We even catered for lager louts. We had two cask lagers, one a 4.9% and the other 5.1 % and everyone who tried a pint was pleasantly surprised - and the bonus is without the bubbles and chemicals, you can drink more!
As for the food - please don't mention burgers, sausages, kebabs or duck wraps to Stuart as the mere utterance of the words may send him into a frenzy! The barbeque was flat out all weekend which was no mean feat considering the scorching weather. |
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The entertainment was well received too. As usual, the festival was started on Thursday evening by village boys Kuda who played an acoustic set here for the first time - very different from their usual style but every bit as good. Friday saw the return of The Hillbilly Cats and their '50s rock and roll renditions soon had the whole marquee dancing and jiving. Duncan and the lads are from Dersingham so they're local too - and crowd pleasers the same as Kuda. On Saturday the entertainment came from further afield. The Nightflies are a London band with a hard rocking R&B riff and they certainly played a very tight and professional set for us. They tour the country and if you ever get the chance you should give them a listen - their CD was launched at the weekend too.
Rounding off a varied entertainment programme the Killamarsh Colliery Band was the perfect swansong. The 25 piece band played both traditional and modern - even some Queen - so there really was something for everyone. They were a great bunch of people too, several real ale drinkers amongst them. |
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So the 6th Fox Festival was another cracking success. A huge thank you to all our staff and friends who were press-ganged - sorry volunteered - for work. Thanks also to customers local and otherwise for an enjoyable - and most importantly profitable! - weekend, we couldn't have done it without you. Thanks go as well to John Oakes and his team of builders who kept disruption to an absolute minimum during our busiest weekend of the year. The extension is on schedule and looking good and the much needed space will be a godsend. The hard work still carries on for us though. We have two new beers being launched at Peterborough Beer Festival - Plummers Gold and Heacham Double Kriek - both brewed with locally grown plums and cherries so look out for them should you find yourself over at Peterborough.
And did I hear that a tornado hit the coast on Saturday? Well I can confirm there were several whirlwinds running around the Fox & Hounds all weekend - and now that I’m out of the eye of the storm its my turn to lay down in a darkened room .....
Marie Bristow - Landlady, Mother, Accountant, Pot Washer & Burger Flipper (at last, promotion!) |
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Note from HOL - many thanks to Doreen for this pic
of the Sunday lunchtime 25 piece band. |
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