The Fynest Festival on Earth

I thought with Beer Cast Rich not being able to make Fynefest I was in with a chance to cover the festival in my own way without looking second rate but sadly for me Rich has managed to write a better piece (with I'm sure no spelling mistakes) without being there, than I could manage in a thousand years.

 

But having set my mind to covering this FYNE festival it seemed silly of me not to put the effort in.

 

This Years Trip started way back in 2012 when I had to cancel our planned trip to Fyne fest, I'm my ever present Beer/Family balance.

But having to Sacrifice 2012 Fynefest and hearing the great reports, I resolved to fit it into my 2013 Beer calendar.

 

On arrival at the field we were left to set-up our pitch in a nice big flat open field only a short hop from the Stage, bar and food stalls. Then checking in we swapped out tickets for our wrist bands and were handed a couple of bottle of water(given that we had forgotten to bring water this was superb and a nice touch) and wandered off to find the bar. The Bar was set up in a HUGE marquee with the Bar at one end and the Stage at the other. Which worked very well on the whole but at time the music was too loud and this made conversation tricky. Now this wouldn’t have been a problem if it had been sunny but giving the Typical Scottish weather we had there wasn’t really anywhere to retreat to.

 

 Just outside the marque was six or seven food stalls offering a decent variety, with Venison burgers, all sorts of smelly fish(im not a fish fan), haggis, stew, veggie curry and even a few nice and sticky pudding (that pleased my kids no end). Behind the food were more than enough toilets, and well maintained they were as well(which if you’ve seen bad festival toilets full above the rim!!! you really appreciate well maintained toilet facilities)

 

But back to the reason I was there. The Beer. It appeared that there was some cooled cellar  for the Cask beer, but however it was managed it was some of the Best quality festival ale I've had, there were a few beers that I didn’t enjoy but not a single beer was served in poor condition. The beer I drank most of should come as no surprise to anyone was the De Molen Rasputin (well it ticks all my boxes), the Beer that most surprised me was Marble Earl Grey IPA, I hadn't really thought much of this when I tried it from the Bottle, but on Cask it was stunning and it may have been my most drunk beer if any had lasted to the Saturday. The Beer that no one but me seemed to like was again De Molen this time De Molen Raad & Daad which was a strange balsamic vinegar toned Barrel aged sour that had a fair bite in back of throat. Now I couldn’t drink much of it but I did really enjoy what I had. The Fynest beer of the weekend was the Bell Rock in Hop which just failed to make my top10 IPA list sitting 11th equal. But the Best Beer of the weekend VERY SADLY wasn’t on tap, it was a bottle of Home Brew. But not just any home Brew, I just happened to visit the Brewery at the right time when Jake Griffin from Fyne had opened a Bottle of home brew Zombier, that he had coco-nutted to the Max,  im a little hazy though he did kindly tell me what he had done and I remember whole coconuts at one stage, coconut milk some other point and I think even some creamed coconut at yet another. This was Superb, But given what he had to do, I cant see him ever being allowed or even able to do it on the Real kit. Which is a shame.

 

Music wise there was nobody I didn’t like but only one really stood out for me, and I've no idea of their name but they were on First on the Friday night, and I really wouldn’t mind a CD for a better listen.

 

Theres really only 1 change I would like to see to the festival and that’s the option to be able to park beside your tent. There was a field between the car park and the main Arena that seemed perfect for this, and being used to doing this at the Cropredy festival, we really missed the convenience of having everything to hand. Travelling with a family always seems to involve too much stuff and Having to drag the MASSIVELY heave tent back to the car in a hung over state is not one im Keen to Repeat.

 

 

But all told the only thing that wasn’t Fyne about the festival was the weather.

 

 

PS. Lookout for a MEGA collaboration brew coming out in the next few month, There were at least Seven Top UK brewers involved in this beer. So my simple maths this beer should be seven times as good as most beers and Three and a half times better than normal collaboration brews. I for one cant wait.