Collabageddon

My Wife was visiting a friend in Winchester yesterday so I took the opportunity to spend a pleasant hour and a half in the Nags Head pub on Russell Street in Reading while I waited to meet her from her train. The reason I made the trip was to partake in the annual "Collabageddon" shindig, run this year by Andy Parker of Elusive Brewing who are based just down the road from me in Finchampstead, Berkshire. The idea of the festival is for around a dozen breweries up and down the country to collaborate by pairing up and producing a number of new and interesting beers that are then launched at a bunch of venues from Edinburgh down to Plymouth and from Barry across to Norwich, yesterday was the day and the Nags Head was the Reading venue for it! 

I kicked off with a lager from Devon based Utopian who had collaborated with Sheffield base Abbeydale to produce a Pilsner that had been hopped using NZ Nelson Sauvin hops, it was delicious, a glorious mash up of cream crackers, brioche and white grape flavours. Next I tried the Llanberis Trail, a light 3.8% West Coast pale ale, again good, dark and crystal clear, malty with a satisfying bitterness, next up was a dark beer from Baker's Dozen in Rutland and Merakai of Sussex called "This Time Next Year" (a reference to Only Fools and Horses) and was a Millionaire's Shortbread Stout (obvs!) it was also good, definite caramel, creamy and smooth, just needed a little more body for me. The last one (I had to dash to the station at this point) was from Polly's in Wales teaming up with Tartarus of Leeds with a Passionfruit and Coconut IPA called "Pwyll" (apparently a character from Welsh mythology) , I wasn't sure about this one, quite confected with a rather odd flavour, definitely fruity but the coconut didn't quite jell with the rest of it, my least favourite of the session but still a decent fruited IPA. Overall a pleasant little outing of beer sampling and all that's left to do now is work out how I can get to try the rest!