The Surrey Oaks - Events

August Bank Holiday Beer Festival 2009 - 28^th August to 31^st August

Once again we were right about the weather! We had no rain and although a couple of the evenings were cool(ish), we ended with a picture perfect summer Bank Holiday Monday, very sunny and warm!

This clearly made people very thirsty as this time we had an amazing 42 beers (see final list below). All but two of these were drunk dry and these remaining two beers were then sold at just £1.50 a pint in the pub.

Thanks to everyone who voted for our 'Beer of the Festival'. We have now counted all the votes and the result is as follows:

POSITION	BREWERY	BEER	FROM	ABV (%)
1st	Dark Star	American Pale Ale	Ansty, West Sussex	4.6%
2nd	Pictish	Alchemist	Rochdale, Gtr Manchester	4.3%
3rd	Oakleaf	India Pale Ale	Gosport, Hampshire	5.5%

The most popular cider/perry was Thatchers Cheddar Valley Dry.

The winner, drawn out of the hat, for the two bottles of wine (for simply handing in marks for beers/ciders/perries) was... Steve and Julia. Congratulations!

Click on the images below for the Final Beer List, the Food Menu and the beer Tasting Notes. Where better PDF documents are available, these can be downloaded by clicking on the PDF links below.

Note: The Tasting Notes have been kindly provided George Davis.

	Beer Tasting Notes Surrey Oaks Beer Festival August 2009
Beer Festival - Beer List	Beer Festival - Beer Tasting Notes	Beer Festival - Food Menu
Click here for the better PDF version	Click Link above or here for the PDF version	Click here for the better PDF version

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open PDF files and if you've not already got it, you can download it here.

The entertainment was a great success again with the Buckland Shag Morris Men performing on Friday evening to be followed on Saturday evening by a great Rhythm and Blues band, the Café Racers. Things were completed with a mammoth set from the Frog Island Jazz Band (Jazz) on Monday afternoon.

Click on the images below for the Official Poster (very cleverly designed by Dan Proctor), the Buckland Shag Morris Men Poster and the Café Racers poster.

Beer Festival - Poster	Beer Festival - Buckland Shag (entertainment - Traditional Morris)	Beer Festival - Café Racers (Rhythm and Blues band)
(Click Image)	(Click Image)	(Click Image)

As ever, here are a few pictures from the festival. Just click on the Thumbnail to see a larger version.

Morris Men (whacking the sticks!)	Monday Garden (Taken from behind the Jazz Band)	Physics (my favourite subject!)	Doing Jazz (Relaxed Style!)	Monday Garden (Full and happy!)

So that's it, the festival came and went so quickly, when's the next one? May 2010, don't miss it! If you are interested in seeing what our previous Bank Holiday beer festivals have been like, you can of course click on the links below:

May (2009), August (2008), May (2008), August (2007), May (2007), August (2006), May (2006), August (2005), May (2005), August (2004), May (2004), August (2003).

You don't have to wait till May 2010 to taste great beer though, the Surrey Oaks always has a great choice of real ales, three of which change with every barrel (almost a mini-beer festival!). For details please check our Real Ales section on this website (it's updated regularly). You can also checkout our Twitter page for the latest info.

As is traditional here, we must now thank the Landlord, Ken for working so hard, assisted by his son Dan and a tired Gabby in the kitchen. Massive planning goes into these beer festivals and we are very lucky to have so many people working so hard to ensure they happen and are fun for everyone. So let's say it once again... Thank you Ken and all your staff for making this a really fabulous Beer Festival!.

Last updated: 6^th Sep 2009