Merton Winter Beer Festival will be held at Merton Village Hall, Merton, Nr Bicester, Oxon, OX25 2NL on Friday 23rd & Saturday 24th February.
Much like last year there are fewer breweries overall, this is because we have decided to concentrate on breweries who we have really enjoyed beers from in the last 12-18 months.
Beer List
Cask (or Key keg where indicated)
Shiny Brewery - New World 3.70% - Derbyshire
Torrside Brewery - Small Beer 3.80% - Derbyshire
Animal Brewing - Hop Cat IPA 3.90% - Bucks
Jolly Sailor Brewery - Jolly Stout 4.00% - N.Yorks
Torrside Brewery - Lost Monarch 4.50% - Derbyshire
Torrside Brewery - Viennese 4.50% - Derbyshire
Shiny Brewery - Affinity 4.60% - Derbyshire
Animal Brewing - Vulture 4.60% - Bucks
Hopcraft - Jumping Somebody Else’s Bandwagon 5.00% - Wales
Hopcraft - Dits De Sang 5.00% - Wales
Farmagedon - India Pale Ale 5.50% - Wales
Waen Brewery - Chilli Plum Porter 6.0% - Wales
Moor Beer Company - Rey of Light 8.00% - Bristol - Key keg
XT Brewery - Imperial Stout Brandy Cask 8.60% - Bucks
XT Brewery - Imperial Stout Sherry Cask 8.60% - Bucks
Torrside Brewery Monsters: American Barleywine 2017 9.00% - Derbyshire
Tempest Brewing Co - Mexicake 11.00% - Scotland - Key keg
Ciders/Perries
Gwatkin Cider Co Ltd Red Diesel 4.00% - Herefordshire
Gwatkin Cider Co Ltd Stoke Red 7.50% - Herefordshire
Gwatkin Cider Co Ltd Squeal Pig Perry 4.50% - Herefordshire
Gwatkin Cider Co Ltd Yarlington Mill Cider 7.50% - Herefordshire
Bottles/Cans
Pizza - Port Ponto 4.50% - California
The Kernel - India Pale Ale (Citra & Galaxy) 6.90% - London
Weird Beard - Holy Hoppin’ Hell DIPA 9.50% - London
Siren - Fred in London 9.50% - Berkshire
De Molen - Cher & Choco 10.00% - Netherlands
Thanks for pointing out the little pen to edit, interestingly it doesn’t show at all on this web browser, however if you hover over it a grey square shows and I can now see that I can edit it.
As Glen mentions it is best to get a taxi from Bicester Town station (I still refuse to call it Bicester village) or Bicester North, depending on where you are coming from. Those travelling from London via London Marylebone will have the choice of both stations, those travelling from the midlands or north will just have Bicester North unless they are coming in via a change at Oxford. However Bicester Town is a good bit closer and may shave a couple of quid off the taxi fare, however on the flip side Bicester North has the added benefit of having a taxi office on the station platform that London trains arrive at, if there are no taxis queued up outside.
What time are you open on Saturday Fin?
Can’t promise anything as I have the Beermerchants launch on Friday and that may get messy so I might not be in best condition on Saturday
For anyone who hasn’t been. Go. It’s a brilliant festival.
We’ll be open at the 11am Ian, but if you turn up before you know full well you will get a beer my friend.
We have were hoping to go to the Beer Merchants event to spend our moolah that we’d done via the the Crowdfunding thing, bit gutted it clashed with Merton.
Not available this time around, but I will try to get down there next year if possible. I still enjoy ‘Real Ale’ festivals even if I am drinking cans/bottles and keg brews more often than cask these days.
As per every year I have been to this festival, it was brilliant.
From the very warm welcome from Fin and Loz,
to the sausage sandwich,
to sitting at the bar chatting with Glen about which is the best county in England (I think we all agreed that Kent was the best),
to the serving staff behind the bar otherwise known as Fin and Loz’s parents,
to the fantastic beer choices (over 20 new rates for me including some big adventurous beasts),
to the comfy seats on the train back to Marylebone where I am pretty sure I snored and dribbled,
to the final sprint in dark rush hour traffic on my bicycle to St Pancras it was a fantastic day.
Thanks to everyone who made Saturday such a great experience.
I have just looked at the beer list again and like Ian, I would have had plenty of new rates. In fact the only beer I have drank before was the Pizza Port Ponto from California.
Because of my daughter’s 18th birthday party, I missed my customary Saturday visit to this gem of a festival this year. Fortunately, the Friday evening session proved a memorable substitute. Sadly, this meant no customary banter with Ian, Glen and Fin’s Dad, but the dynamic duo hosts made Rian and me as welcome as ever. The atmosphere was buzzing and we met some great new fellow beer lovers. Huge thanks again to Loz and Fin for hosting and organising this perfectly proportioned annual beer bonanza. As usual, the beer/cider list was well chosen and perfectly conditioned. It’s such a shame more Ratebeerians don’t make the journey, as Bicester has an excellent train service and Merton is only a short ride away by bike or taxi. But the fest is mainly about locals and local causes. The absence of tables full of beers tickers, heads down in spread sheets, shared glasses and Panda bottles helps make this the most sociable beer event I’ve ever attended. I’m already looking forward to next year.