[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":532},["ShallowReactive",2],{"post-2026-10-11-nottingham-robin-hood-beer-cider-festival-2026":3},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"published":10,"summary":11,"draft":6,"categories":12,"image":13,"tags":14,"llmWarning":35,"body":36,"_type":526,"_id":527,"_source":528,"_file":529,"_stem":530,"_extension":531},"/posts/2026-10-11-nottingham-robin-hood-beer-cider-festival-2026","posts",false,"","Nottingham Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival 2026: Three Hats, One Festival","This is the 38th beer festival I've worked at, and I've decided to write this one up on the train home after helping take it down. Why this one? Let me explain.","2026-10-11T22:00:00-00:00","My 38th beer festival: cider and perry judging, a week on the Learn & Discover bar, a student society collaboration beer, and a Castle Rock pub crawl to finish.",[],"/Nottingham-Robin-Hood-Beer-Cider-Festival-2026.jpg",[15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34],"CAMRA","Beer Festivals","Nottingham","Robin Hood Beer Festival","Cider","Perry","Cider Judging","Learn & Discover","Discover Bar","Real Ale","Cask Beer","Imperial Stout","Student Beer Societies","Young Members","YMAG","Castle Rock","Pub Crawl","Belgian Beer","Bar Billiards","UK Pubs",true,{"type":37,"children":38,"toc":509},"root",[39,46,53,58,89,99,118,124,129,143,157,182,188,193,216,230,236,241,246,253,284,298,304,309,315,329,334,340,353,359,373,386,392,449,463,468,473,478],{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":42,"children":43},"element","p",{},[44],{"type":45,"value":9},"text",{"type":40,"tag":47,"props":48,"children":50},"h2",{"id":49},"three-hats-at-one-festival",[51],{"type":45,"value":52},"Three Hats at One Festival",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":54,"children":55},{},[56],{"type":45,"value":57},"I worked this festival wearing three hats.",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":59,"children":60},{},[61,67,69,78,80,87],{"type":40,"tag":62,"props":63,"children":64},"strong",{},[65],{"type":45,"value":66},"Cider judge.",{"type":45,"value":68}," I was invited by Amy Chandler, who I bumped into while working my previous festival, the ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":71,"children":75},"a",{"href":72,"rel":73},"https://seanomahoney.com/timeline/2026-08-28-peterborough-beer-fest",[74],"nofollow",[76],{"type":45,"value":77},"Peterborough Beer & Cider Festival (my 37th)",{"type":45,"value":79},". Thanks to my role as North West Cider & Perry Coordinator, she asked me to help judge the East Midlands Cider Competition. I bumped into her again at the Ross & Wye Cider Festival the following week, which was part of a three-week stretch of camping weekends without sleeping in my own bed. The third weekend being the ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":81,"children":84},{"href":82,"rel":83},"https://tordivide.co.uk/resources/pgo2026reflections",[74],[85],{"type":45,"value":86},"Peak Gravel Overnighter",{"type":45,"value":88},".",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":90,"children":91},{},[92,97],{"type":40,"tag":62,"props":93,"children":94},{},[95],{"type":45,"value":96},"Learn & Discover team.",{"type":45,"value":98}," This is the main reason I signed up for Nottingham, and why I was in Peterborough the month before. I'm a core member of the Learn & Discover team, best known for running the \"Discover Bar\", which is also affectionately referred to as the \"Early Learning Centre\".",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":100,"children":101},{},[102,107,109,116],{"type":40,"tag":62,"props":103,"children":104},{},[105],{"type":45,"value":106},"National Young Members Coordinator.",{"type":45,"value":108}," My newest role, and one that ties into a lot of what I do. Next month I'm running the ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":110,"children":113},{"href":111,"rel":112},"https://camra.org.uk/event/young-members-forum-84213",[74],[114],{"type":45,"value":115},"Young Members Advisory Group (YMAG) Autumn Forum 2026",{"type":45,"value":117},", the first YMAG Forum meeting in over a year.",{"type":40,"tag":47,"props":119,"children":121},{"id":120},"wednesday-cider-perry-judging",[122],{"type":45,"value":123},"Wednesday: Cider & Perry Judging",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":125,"children":126},{},[127],{"type":45,"value":128},"I arrived in Nottingham on the Wednesday slightly late, thanks to delays on platform 13 at Manchester Piccadilly, as is nearly always the case. This time I believe it was down to a delayed airport train ahead of us. I was meant to arrive at 11:30, but it was closer to 11:50, followed by a 20-ish minute walk up to the festival from the station.",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":130,"children":131},{},[132,134,141],{"type":45,"value":133},"When I was less than five minutes away, ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":135,"children":138},{"href":136,"rel":137},"https://www.instagram.com/jackabuss/",[74],[139],{"type":45,"value":140},"Jack Toye",{"type":45,"value":142}," rang to ask where I was, as cider judging was about to start. Luckily I made it in decent time, although I was the last to arrive before we kicked things off.",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":144,"children":145},{},[146,148,155],{"type":45,"value":147},"I sat at a table of six, with Jack beside me and, next to him, Alex Dale, better known as the \"",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":149,"children":152},{"href":150,"rel":151},"https://www.youtube.com/@thegreatbritishpubcrawl",[74],[153],{"type":45,"value":154},"Great British Pub Crawl",{"type":45,"value":156},"\", who has recently joined the CAMRA National Executive. For context, we scored each drink from 0 to 4 on aroma, taste, aftertaste and personal enjoyment.",{"type":40,"tag":158,"props":159,"children":160},"ul",{},[161,172],{"type":40,"tag":162,"props":163,"children":164},"li",{},[165,170],{"type":40,"tag":62,"props":166,"children":167},{},[168],{"type":45,"value":169},"Bottled Cider (13 entries):",{"type":45,"value":171}," We found two extremely bad ones. I found one amazing, which the rest of the group also rated highly, and three just below that which were still very good.",{"type":40,"tag":162,"props":173,"children":174},{},[175,180],{"type":40,"tag":62,"props":176,"children":177},{},[178],{"type":45,"value":179},"Draught Perry (6 entries):",{"type":45,"value":181}," After a short break, we moved on to perry. One honestly tasted like water (I still need to find out which one that was), while for me three others were equally good, each with a different spread of scores.",{"type":40,"tag":47,"props":183,"children":185},{"id":184},"wednesday-trade-day-at-the-discover-bar",[186],{"type":45,"value":187},"Wednesday: Trade Day at the Discover Bar",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":189,"children":190},{},[191],{"type":45,"value":192},"We wrapped up judging within about two hours and were done by 14:00. As everyone was dispersing, and many already had bars to get to, I headed to my bar earlier than expected.",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":194,"children":195},{},[196,198,205,207,214],{"type":45,"value":197},"At the Discover Bar we had ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":199,"children":202},{"href":200,"rel":201},"https://untappd.com/b/shipstone-s-beer-co-original/828478",[74],[203],{"type":45,"value":204},"Original Bitter",{"type":45,"value":206}," by ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":208,"children":211},{"href":209,"rel":210},"https://www.shipstones.com/",[74],[212],{"type":45,"value":213},"Shipstones Brewery",{"type":45,"value":215}," on both cask and nitro, with customers voting for their favourite. Nitro came out on top by a small margin.",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":217,"children":218},{},[219,221,228],{"type":45,"value":220},"Being trade day, it was fairly quiet and closed at 19:00. I was catching a train back to Manchester at around 19:45, so I left just after the public were ushered out. Before then, I worked my way through a few spectacular imperial stouts and barley wines from the likes of Bang the Elephant, Black Iris and Magpie Brewery. The standout was ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":222,"children":225},{"href":223,"rel":224},"https://untappd.com/b/bang-the-elephant-brewing-co-lumiere-2026/6758309",[74],[226],{"type":45,"value":227},"Lumiere",{"type":45,"value":229},", a 13% ABV imperial stout from Bang the Elephant, and I'm glad it was one of my last before heading for the train.",{"type":40,"tag":47,"props":231,"children":233},{"id":232},"saturday-back-in-nottingham",[234],{"type":45,"value":235},"Saturday: Back in Nottingham",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":237,"children":238},{},[239],{"type":45,"value":240},"My next festival day was Saturday. For the first time, the train from Manchester to Nottingham actually arrived on time. However, I believe an earlier train to Sheffield had been cancelled, so there were roughly double the expected passengers. I ended up pressed into the gap between carriages all the way to Sheffield, where I could finally sit down.",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":242,"children":243},{},[244],{"type":45,"value":245},"I arrived on time at 11:30 and slowly made my way to my Airbnb in the Meadows. Over time I've learnt this is considered a \"rough\" area, although to me it doesn't feel too different from parts of Salford, where I live.",{"type":40,"tag":247,"props":248,"children":250},"h3",{"id":249},"a-student-collaboration-beer",[251],{"type":45,"value":252},"A Student Collaboration Beer",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":254,"children":255},{},[256,258,265,267,274,276,283],{"type":45,"value":257},"On the Saturday we had the ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":259,"children":262},{"href":260,"rel":261},"https://su.nottingham.ac.uk/activities/view/real-ale",[74],[263],{"type":45,"value":264},"University of Nottingham's Real Ale Society",{"type":45,"value":266}," pouring their collaboration beer with ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":268,"children":271},{"href":269,"rel":270},"https://lentonlane.co.uk/",[74],[272],{"type":45,"value":273},"Lenton Lane Brewery",{"type":45,"value":275},", ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":277,"children":280},{"href":278,"rel":279},"https://untappd.com/b/lenton-lane-brewery-blanc-moonlight/7215131",[74],[281],{"type":45,"value":282},"Blanc Moonlight",{"type":45,"value":88},{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":285,"children":286},{},[287,289,296],{"type":45,"value":288},"It's effectively the same recipe as Lenton Lane's ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":290,"children":293},{"href":291,"rel":292},"https://untappd.com/b/lenton-lane-brewery-pale-moonlight/3419873",[74],[294],{"type":45,"value":295},"Pale Moonlight",{"type":45,"value":297},", with one key change. Pale Moonlight uses Mandarina Bavaria, a German hop released in 2012 that gives a slight spiciness at the front of the mouth. The society swapped this for Nelson Sauvin, a New Zealand hop, used as a dry hop. The result came out at 4.3% ABV, compared with 3.8% for Pale Moonlight.",{"type":40,"tag":247,"props":299,"children":301},{"id":300},"after-hours",[302],{"type":45,"value":303},"After Hours",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":305,"children":306},{},[307],{"type":45,"value":308},"The rest of the day went well, and I certainly enjoyed the evening after we closed to the public at 22:30. It becomes a bit of a blur after that, but I do remember a good group of us drinking at the cider bar and the KeyKeg bar, which were right next to each other. By the end, only four of us were still standing at 4am, and I remember a pleasant conversation with (I believe) the Sales Manager from Shipstones.",{"type":40,"tag":47,"props":310,"children":312},{"id":311},"sunday-take-down",[313],{"type":45,"value":314},"Sunday: Take-Down",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":316,"children":317},{},[318,320,327],{"type":45,"value":319},"Take-down went well. ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":321,"children":324},{"href":322,"rel":323},"https://beernouveau.co.uk/",[74],[325],{"type":45,"value":326},"Steve Dunkley (Mr Beer Nouveau)",{"type":45,"value":328},", who set up Learn & Discover, unfortunately had to head off early after the cold Saturday evening left his joints seized up, so I messaged him on WhatsApp several times, mostly to check values.",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":330,"children":331},{},[332],{"type":45,"value":333},"Not long after I arrived (I was out quite late, after all), lunch was put out on our Learn & Discover bar, so we slowed down for about half an hour to eat. Fortunately the leftover food stayed in our area, so I packed a pot of pasta, which I ate on the train home not long ago.",{"type":40,"tag":47,"props":335,"children":337},{"id":336},"spending-my-castle-rock-tokens",[338],{"type":45,"value":339},"Spending My Castle Rock Tokens",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":341,"children":342},{},[343,345,351],{"type":45,"value":344},"As a thank you, I was given four pint tokens redeemable at ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":346,"children":349},{"href":347,"rel":348},"https://www.castlerockbrewery.co.uk/",[74],[350],{"type":45,"value":30},{"type":45,"value":352}," pubs.",{"type":40,"tag":247,"props":354,"children":356},{"id":355},"the-embankment",[357],{"type":45,"value":358},"The Embankment",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":360,"children":361},{},[362,364,371],{"type":45,"value":363},"After leaving the festival, I very slowly walked to the closest pub where I could redeem them, the ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":365,"children":368},{"href":366,"rel":367},"https://www.castlerockbrewery.co.uk/pubs/embankment/",[74],[369],{"type":45,"value":370},"Embankment",{"type":45,"value":372},". My feet were hurting like hell: after we closed the Discover Bar on Saturday, I sat down and only then realised I'd been on my feet for nine hours straight.",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":374,"children":375},{},[376,378,385],{"type":45,"value":377},"There I had two beers: a smooth Extra Special Bitter, followed by an interesting teacake-inspired stout from Castle Rock called ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":379,"children":382},{"href":380,"rel":381},"https://untappd.com/b/castle-rock-brewery-fit-to-fly/6869080",[74],[383],{"type":45,"value":384},"Fit to Fly",{"type":45,"value":88},{"type":40,"tag":247,"props":387,"children":389},{"id":388},"the-barley-twist",[390],{"type":45,"value":391},"The Barley Twist",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":393,"children":394},{},[395,397,404,406,413,415,422,423,430,432,439,441,448],{"type":45,"value":396},"Next I headed towards and past the station to the ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":398,"children":401},{"href":399,"rel":400},"https://www.castlerockbrewery.co.uk/pubs/barley-twist/",[74],[402],{"type":45,"value":403},"Barley Twist",{"type":45,"value":405},". I spotted ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":407,"children":410},{"href":408,"rel":409},"https://untappd.com/b/atom-layer-theory-black-forest-gateaux-edition/6515470",[74],[411],{"type":45,"value":412},"Black Forest Gateaux",{"type":45,"value":414}," from Atom on the bar and got a free schooner with my tokens. Only after ordering did I notice ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":416,"children":419},{"href":417,"rel":418},"https://untappd.com/b/brass-castle-brewery-very-bad-kitty/6835398",[74],[420],{"type":45,"value":421},"Very Bad Kitty",{"type":45,"value":206},{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":424,"children":427},{"href":425,"rel":426},"https://www.brasscastle.co.uk/",[74],[428],{"type":45,"value":429},"Brass Castle",{"type":45,"value":431},", a souped-up version of their original ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":433,"children":436},{"href":434,"rel":435},"https://untappd.com/b/brass-castle-brewery-bad-kitty/78942",[74],[437],{"type":45,"value":438},"Bad Kitty",{"type":45,"value":440},". I first had Bad Kitty at the start of 2019, shortly after discovering Untappd, and went on to drink plenty of it at the first beer festival I ever worked, ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":442,"children":445},{"href":443,"rel":444},"https://seanomahoney.com/timeline/2020-01-22-manchester-beer-fest",[74],[446],{"type":45,"value":447},"CAMRA's Manchester Beer & Cider Festival",{"type":45,"value":88},{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":450,"children":451},{},[452,454,461],{"type":45,"value":453},"Between drinks, a fella walked in and ordered a Guinness. I suggested he try the Black Forest Gateaux instead: it's a smooth, light stout, and as long as he liked cherries it should go down well. That started a two-plus hour conversation, during which he did eventually have a half. We then asked the bartender where to head next, and he recommended ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":455,"children":458},{"href":456,"rel":457},"https://www.castlerockbrewery.co.uk/pubs/newshouse/",[74],[459],{"type":45,"value":460},"The Newshouse",{"type":45,"value":462}," around the corner.",{"type":40,"tag":247,"props":464,"children":466},{"id":465},"the-newshouse",[467],{"type":45,"value":460},{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":469,"children":470},{},[471],{"type":45,"value":472},"At first The Newshouse seemed quiet and a little dull. However, they had 30% off their bottle selection, plenty of Belgian bottles, and a bar billiards table, a game I'd never seen in a pub before, never mind played.",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":474,"children":475},{},[476],{"type":45,"value":477},"I have two left hands when it comes to pool, so I didn't have high hopes. In the end I didn't do too badly and, by some sheer miracle, scored a decent amount. Not that it mattered much: the bartender playing with us scored 210 points in his first turn before heading back behind the bar to serve new customers.",{"type":40,"tag":41,"props":479,"children":480},{},[481,483,490,491,498,500,507],{"type":45,"value":482},"I finished with bottles of ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":484,"children":487},{"href":485,"rel":486},"https://untappd.com/b/bieres-de-chimay-chimay-grande-reserve-blue-2023/5246172",[74],[488],{"type":45,"value":489},"Chimay Grande Réserve (Blue) (2023)",{"type":45,"value":275},{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":492,"children":495},{"href":493,"rel":494},"https://untappd.com/b/brouwerij-der-trappisten-van-westmalle-westmalle-trappist-extra/31175",[74],[496],{"type":45,"value":497},"Westmalle Trappist Extra",{"type":45,"value":499}," and ",{"type":40,"tag":70,"props":501,"children":504},{"href":502,"rel":503},"https://untappd.com/b/brouwerij-de-halve-maan-brugse-zot-dubbel/4714",[74],[505],{"type":45,"value":506},"Brugse Zot Dubbel",{"type":45,"value":508},", before slowly heading back to the station for the 19:45 train home.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":510,"depth":510,"links":511},2,[512,513,514,515,520,521],{"id":49,"depth":510,"text":52},{"id":120,"depth":510,"text":123},{"id":184,"depth":510,"text":187},{"id":232,"depth":510,"text":235,"children":516},[517,519],{"id":249,"depth":518,"text":252},3,{"id":300,"depth":518,"text":303},{"id":311,"depth":510,"text":314},{"id":336,"depth":510,"text":339,"children":522},[523,524,525],{"id":355,"depth":518,"text":358},{"id":388,"depth":518,"text":391},{"id":465,"depth":518,"text":460},"markdown","content:posts:2026-10-11-nottingham-robin-hood-beer-cider-festival-2026.md","content","posts/2026-10-11-nottingham-robin-hood-beer-cider-festival-2026.md","posts/2026-10-11-nottingham-robin-hood-beer-cider-festival-2026","md",1791834557348]