I stuck to 2 paddles, 8 beers and unfortunately had quite a few that I wasn’t that keen on, which is a little disconcerting considering the prices they charge, I did have a couple of really good ones as well though. The Oyster Stout was particularly good.
Managed to bag 16 in BrewDog Nottingham today - the first and probably only opportunity due to the Nottingham Beer Festival. Coupled with half a dozen Spoons festival breakfast beers, eight at the Neon Raptor taproom (including some fairly high abv specimens) and another half dozen at Beerheadz in Grantham due to a semi-enforced train change it probably wasn’t the relaxing festival wind-down day I could have done with.
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I only got to 8 new ones in Seven Dials so 24 Collab beers plus 2 Enefeld Beers in the St. P Spoons so 26 new beers in a day drinking by myself was good going.
Did the 10 that made it abroad, and headed out today for 4 more Scottish. Though only got 3
Top 3 so far, fallen, stewart and signature
Oddly couldn’t get a handle on the oyster stout tasted of a Wierd kids breakfast cereal
I’ve managed to get to 41 out of 49 of the Collabs so far after another double digit session yesterday with the Wingman.
of the 8 I need … York/Turning Point; Angel/Two Tribes; Clerkenwell/Yeastie Boys; Castlegate/6DN; Norwich/Burnt Mill; Stirling/Fallen, Brussels/No Science and Sodermalm/Orebro … 5 are showing on tap in the London bars with 2 bars carrying 3 winners for me …
If I have time later I might try and sign off with 3 more to make 44 and 5 missed … happy with that as my original target was 30 as I didn’t expect so many different ones at Sheps Bush yesterday.
I’m on 44. Need the Sodermalm one and 4 others.
Good effort with T-Bois, Mr Frog and Osprey got me there! Out and about on Saturday to try and scoop the remnants
Probably managed 25. Not bad given i was away for it
I tried 8 at Nottingham then 16 on holiday in Scotland. So 24 in all. More then I expected.
got 18 at Sheffield over 3 days - keeping an eye on their untapped as the manager quoted they got 28 in total
managed 10 in Nottingham, so 28 total so far with hopefully a few more to come.
Still missing 5 non-UK ones so hoping they’re among the Sheffield remnants
Perhaps left this a little late in the week as the chance for 3 new ones at one location seem long gone …
I did however pick up the Fallen / Stirling and the No Science / Brussles at Soho after work last night taking my total to 43.
There were at least 3 more of my missing 6 dotted about London also.
Not sure if I’ll get anymore … depends what else is about London tonight but I’ll take 43.
Impressive numbers by you (and others). Great stuff.
But what did you and others think of this year’s fest?
I’m a London based low volume solo rater. I managed 17 Collabfest beers spread over 3 visits to 2 different bars in a 6 day period – that is a good return by my standards but about what I expected as the beers were only available for a limited time.
49 beers over a 4 day period was never a possibility for me and does not appear to be a particularly easy ask even for RateBeer mega-raters like yourself. Presumably it would be virtually impossible for any RateBeerian who doesn’t live in or near a city with multiple BrewDog bars.
The fact that I only had 17 of the beers means I missed the other 32 which may have been the best 32 beers in the Fest. I’ll never know. But I did get the excellent Amager and the decent Yeastie Boys beers.
I liked the increased inclusion of the European bars and brewers and the fact that many of the UK brewers were new to me although not new to raters who have rated substantially higher beer numbers.
However, I did wonder about overall quality and impact. I have only been aware of Collabfest since 2016 and I have no recollection of how many beers there were that year. Brewers in 2016 included Cloudwater, Siren, Fierce Beer, Weird Beard, Fixed Wheel, Craft Devil, Brew York, Fallen, Brighton Bier, Wiper & True all of whose beers scored highly on RateBeer. Yes, a number of those brewers were there again this year but I doubt many will score so highly.
2017’s stand out beer was Fierce Beer / BrewDog Aberdeen Very Big Moose. That probably set the bar so high that Collabfest will never equal or surpass it.
It is fun. I enjoy the variety of beers but inevitably some are a bit left-field.
So, what is your view.
John.
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I’ll try to do some average score stats once I’ve done my backlog John … but as you say … not sure the overall will be as good as previous years.
That said it’s a good time for brewers to release the weird and maybe not so wonderful!
It’s a fun fest and 49 is a lot and probably needs a team of raters. … and London for the selection.
I had family commitments Friday through Sunday so 43 is way more than I expected but I wouldn’t have hit that without the assistance of @WingmanWillis
There are still collabfest beers doing the rounds in the smoke … some bars have as many as 8 or 9 on tap still, perhaps no surprise given the amount this year.
I picked up Collabfest '18 #44 for myself yesterday, the Oerebro Black Oyster stout which was very good.
I think there are still 2 of my last 5 on tap in London but unless these survive into next week I imagine I’m signing off at 5 down.
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Kraft beer-with-shit-added rarely excites. A couple of non-sour dark brews (Black Iris, Cloak and Dagger) were pretty decent. Dead End Brew’s wit was a pleasant surprise.
I’m on 45 out of 49. Scooped in one other with @Theydon_Bois yesterday. Could’ve had the full set I think if I’d have tried a little harder. Good scooping in Shepherds Bush though, had the majority there with @mR_fr0g.
Good fun, maybe no out and out superstar like last year but then there wasn’t an absolute dog either like Cheesy Wotsit sour from Weird Beard.
Yes. I do generally prefer beery beers rather than fruit smoothies, herbal concoctions, etc masquerading as beer. Some days I think there is a case for renaming the RB site RateFruit.
Both last year and this, I figured that the European newcomers to Collabfest were more likely to produce beery beers rather than the left-field, off-the-wall alternatives. So I went for their beers when I saw them.
My top score of 3.6 went to the Amager, Orebro Brygghus, Birrificio Pontini, Hyllie and Yeastie Boys. I scored Oppigards Bryggeri, Fat Lizard and Cloak+Dagger as 3.5. So, I suppose that strategy worked for me.
John
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