A Saturday morning in late November saw 5 intrepid branch members (Ian, Pandy, Norman, Raymond & Roy) venture on a day-trip to the Northern Ireland Beer Festival in Belfast – the £10 return air fares from Liverpool was just too good an opportunity to miss !!!

The plane touched down on-time (12:00) at Belfast City Airport. Upon purchasing an all-day bus ticket for £2.50 we set-off on the 10 minute journey to the city centre. Being the last day of the beer festival, there was some doubts over the choice of beers that may be remaining so it was decided to go straight to the beer festival leaving any Belfast pub visiting until later. A quick change of buses at City Hall saw us reach our final destination (the King’s Hall) less than an hour after touching down.

From the outside, the Kings Hall is an impressive building despite being dubiously painted in pink and blue. A large CAMRA banner suggested we were in the right place. Following directions, we were steered around the rather grand Kings Hall to the less austere Balmoral Hall, which is probably best described as an aircraft hangar. However, this provided a good functional venue for a beer festival. As CAMRA members, we received vouchers for a free pint and a souvenir glass in the admission price of £4. All pints were priced at £2.30 and operated on a voucher system with any unused vouchers transferred back in cash.

First ‘beer’ impressions were very impressive as we were greeted by a row of 50 gleaming handpumps serving a wide range of ales and porters with varying degrees of strength. The handpumps were backed up by scores of other beers being available on gravity. Our previous concerns were unfounded as we had a choice of around 100 beers – just enough for one day !!

Ian & Pandy had volunteered to work at the festival whilst Raymond, Norman & Roy got stuck into the serious beer sampling. All beers tried (too many to mention) were in good condition and served at the right temperature.

It transpired to be a truly ‘celtic’ experience with beers from no fewer than 17 Scottish breweries featuring, including :- Arran, Atlas, Belhaven, Cairngorm, Caledonian, Fyne Ales, Harviestoun, Heather Ales, Houston, Inveralmond, Kelburn, Orkney, Prestonpans, Stewart, Strathaven, Valhalla, Williams,. Bushys and Okells from the Isle of Man also made an appearance whilst Irish interest was maintained locally by Whitewater, Hilden and College Green and by Porterhouse from Dublin.

Festival beers of note included the Whitewater Clotworthy Dobbin – a multi-award winning beer which has been rated in the Top 50 beers in the world. Williams Roisin Tayberry was Norman’s favourite tipple. College Green Headless Dog and Hilden Molly Malone porter were also commended. The strongest beer sampled was Burton Bridge Thomas Sykes weighing-in at a hefty 10.0%.

Rather than sampling the festival’s ‘greasy spoon’ van, lunch was taken at the GBG-listed King’s Head, which directly faces the Kings Hall. Excellent food was supported by two handpumps serving Whitewater’s Belfast Ale and Mill Ale.

It seemed a pity just to visit one pub, so we left the festival allowing time to sample a couple of city centre hostelries. As we already had plenty of good beer, we went for culture and chose to visit Kelly’s Cellars and the Crown Liquor Saloon - both of which are CAMRA heritage pubs.

A pint of Guinness went down well with the traditional Irish music in the lively Kelly’s Cellars. Despite being packed to the rafters, the splendour of the Crown Bar was obvious and supported by a good pint of ‘house ale’ from Whitewater.

A 2 minute walk from the Crown took us to the bus station for the speedy journey back to the airport. The return flight landed ahead of schedule in Liverpool at 9.35 – just 90 minutes after leaving the Crown and in plenty of time for last orders !! 
 
Cheers, or Slainte as they say in Ireland !!