Shall We Begin? An Ale Of A Time.

So, The Waiting Room is officially a year old! Now obviously to mark this momentous occasion a good old fashioned birthday bash was in order, and of course no good party is complete without some liquid refreshment for both the tireless staff producing some seriously tasty food and a killer soundtrack to the 3 days of merriment and our wonderful supporters and customers who came out in droves to celebrate with us.

When it comes to The Waiting Room we do like a bit of ‘local’ and the guys and gal’s at CAMRA LocALe are all about local! ‘An initiative that promotes pubs stocking locally-brewed real ale’ CAMRA supports both local breweries and pubs to help both sides of the industry to prosper along with safeguarding and expanding the consumers choice in pubs as to what they drink and where its from.

Firstly I must confess as a well known spirits lover with a penchant for gin I have never been to a beer festival or in fact spent much time perusing ales at my local. I was however in very good hands and right in the midst of a very friendly (and forgiving) crowd.

 

 

An initial shaky start full of preconceived notions of your bog standard pint were quickly pushed aside for a truly enlightening (if somewhat boozy evening) learning the ins and out’s of these diverse and exciting drinks.

After being talked through taste testing by some really knowledgeable and genuine bar goers and CAMRA members I soon realized that Woodbine Racer (Dominion/Pitfield brewery, Epping), Drizzle (Colchester Brewery) and Mud (Mersea Island Brewery) were by far the best beer I have ever had the pleasure to taste! On a more personal note however it was the warm atmosphere and genuine passion people had for this amazing range of products available on our doorstep that really rubbed off on me.

A huge thank you to everyone that helped me on Saturday night, I was truly welcomed, and left my shift feeling much wiser and a little worse for wear (in the best possible way).

Information on finding a locALe Pub can be found here.

I believe The Waiting room is all about ‘making’ a space driven by the surrounding community, no mean feat when considering the diverse population of Colchester but with the killer combination of local produce, local talent and a truly inclusive, friendly crowd, this event, to me really epitomized what its all about.