A Real Ale Festival in a pub can be a bit of a hit or miss affair, ranging from large events with 50+ ales on offer, to the smallest where the landlord offers a couple of beers that differ from his normal selection.

Quality varies as well. Real Ale is not an easy drink to store and serve and many a good beer is ruined by inexperienced landlords, especially those who normally sell gas filled bitters and lagers.

However, the JD Wetherspoons Real Ale Festival, which finished last Sunday, is fast becoming a must do event for many Real Ale Fans Fifty beers were on offer through the 18 days of the festival, some brewed especially for the festival. Though only about six beers were available at any one time in any one pub, beers on offer did vary from pub to pub so there was an incentive to visit more than one!

Two thirds of the beers on offer were UK brews, including Ringwood Brewery’s latest offering, Filly Drift (4.7% ABV) which is brewed using fairtrade sugar. I was fortunate enough to track this one down and can highly recommend it. It has a full flavour, and this autumnal, easy drinking, beer is great at this time of year.

A reasonably local beer is Old Navy Custom (4.5% ABV) from the Hampshire based Oaskleaf Brewery. This is an old ale is brewed especially for this event and promises a balanced bitterness and a fruity, spicy finish.

Others worthy of note are:- The speciality brew Banana Bread Beer (4.5% ABV) from the Wells & Young’s brewery in Bedfordshire. Normally only sold in bottles, and available from many of the large supermarket chains in our area, the subtle aftertaste of banana is rather pleasant.

Another recommendation is Dragon Hall Bitter (4.4% ABV) from the multi-award winning Woodforde Brewery in Norfolk. Woodforde’s beers aren’t normally available in our area, but when they are I recommend seeking them out.

All in all, a very good selection of beers was on offer and I’m looking forwards to next year’s festival already.

Winterfest XIII Beer Festival Talking of festivals, the Salisbury and South Wilts branch of CAMRA has announced that tickets for their Winterfest XIII Festival are now on sale. Twenty two seasonal ales (plus a cider) will be available and the event is held in the centre of Salisbury on 29/30 January 2010. Direct buses run from Bournemouth to Salisbury, so you can leave the car at home. For more details see their website at www.salisburycamra.org.uk I hope to both pre-view the beers at this event and then review this festival in future editions on this column.

In the mean-time if you come across any real ales you think are worth of comment, feel free to use the comments form below. Your feedback is always welcome.