The Lincolnshire Poacher is a bit of a gem on Mansfield Road and always has a wide selection of beers, so it was good news then to hear them announce a winter beer festival with 25 beers on gravity, on top of the 8 or so well kept beers they usually have on the bar(s).

I’ll admit despite being a good beer list I thought this festival would be a complete rip-off, I was wrong and all beers where £2.80 a pint which is fairly reasonable, if you thought that was still too pricey you could of course just stick to the 5%+ beers, but that’s a little extreme. It’s worth making note of the fact that Nottingham Beer Festival winner Kipling was amongst these beers, and unsurprisingly was shifting very well.

For once the Poacher main bar was not the focus of attention.

As expected the festival beers where well kept and as always the staff where very polite, however as I have previously touched upon in an article some of the none festival beer pricing on the bar was daft, Fullers London Porter at £3.40 a pint must have been rolled up from London by Mr Fuller himself, of course nobody is forcing you to buy it.

(unless you went into the back garden where Mr Fuller was hanging around with a lead pipe threatening people : disclaimer for idiots and the PC lot, that is of course a joke.)

Beers from the 25 where being replaced as and when needed, this board changed repeatedly on the Friday night, and already had been doing so judging by the chalk smudges.

Space was at a premium with the snug area playing temporary home to all the extra beer so it was a little tight at times, this didn’t seem to bother anyone as people made do with propping up against walls, hey support is support right? Best beer then, for me at this festival I’d give it to Ossett – Vivian May 4.1%.

A great beer festival and hopefully this won’t be the last, judging by the volume of beer being shifted I doubt very much it will.