Review: Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Festival, 29th-31st October

caroliner
By caroliner Last edited 182 months ago

Last Updated 31 October 2009

Review: Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Festival, 29th-31st October

NX4A2762resize.jpg Set in the appropriately spooky location of the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, this Halloween-themed Beer festival features a spine-tinglingly good selection of real ales from all corners of the UK. Hosted by bar/restaurant Le Gothique, the festival concentrates on dark and winter ales, although there is also a good range of lighter beer as well as a token cider. Although sampling the full selection was a task for greater men than we, Londonist did particularly enjoy the fragrant 'Honey Blonde' from Downton in Wiltshire, as well as the delicious 'Salem Porter' from Bateman's in Lincolnshire: a smooth blend of chocolate and aniseed flavours with a golden hint of caramel streaking through it. Befitting the spirit of the occasion, every ale sports an appropriately macabre name, with 'Last Porter Call' from the Titanic brewery probably winning the prize for best or worst effort, depending on how many pints you've had.

Despite seeing a few gentle giants slain by copious amounts of barley wine (coming in at 10% the 'Thomas Sykes' beer was a bit too acidic for our palette but evidently appreciated by more than a few) Londonist enjoyed the friendly atmosphere that so often occurs when you stick a lot of people passionate about beer into one room, or, in this case, into an eerie 19th century gothic courtyard. The festival continues until tonight, and, although pre-booking is no longer an option, tickets are still available on the door if you don't mind a short wait. Given that a reasonably priced BBQ selection and live music will be on offer during the evening it's definitely worth investigating, and we're sure there are worse places in London that you could lose your head this Halloween...

The Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Festival takes place at Le Gothique, SW18 3SX, from 1pm today.