Hello, and welcome back to the Eternal Hoptimists,
It would be fair to say that St Johns Hotel is one of the most consistently good pubs in Hull and licensee Adrian Martin runs a very fine establishment. The pub is held in such high regard that it has won numerous local awards, is a regular in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide and has on more than one occasion been runner up in the national Marston’s Community Pub of The Year awards.
Clearly the pub is respected by all who visit, and this is backed up by the fact that Adie was approached by Marston’s to host a beer festival over the May bank holiday weekend and St John’s Hotel was the first Marston’s pub in the country to host a festival since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Festival
Adie heavily promoted the festival via various social media platforms and highlighted the fifteen beers on offer which were being served in the beer garden via a pop-up bar with investment by Marston’s who bought the pub a new cooler system for the bar along with cooling jackets for the beers. Adie said that this was a very positive sign and would enable him to hold more festival in the future and we have heard whispers that another may well be in the offing for the August bank holiday.
For anyone who has never visited the pub the beer garden is spacious yet private enough to be a perfect place for a pop-up bar and would enable visitors to enjoy both the outdoor bar with it’s fifteen beers plus the friendly and welcome interior with its excellently well-kept range of Marston’s beers.
Sadly, Adie had said that three of the breweries had failed to deliver leaving the outdoor bar with a dozen on offer which were from various breweries including Acorn, Black Sheep, Helmsley, Bradfield, Brew York, Great Newsome. Ossett, Rooster’s and Salamander and a real variety of styles and strengths to suit all palates. All beers were priced at £4 pint.
The Eternal Hoptimists arrive
Well, we say The Eternal Hoptimists arrive, three quarters of them to be precise as Sam was busy at work in Leeds an could not make the journey over to join our intrepid trio. By the time that Mark left work and arrived at the pub he could see the number of ticks on the tasting notes from John & Peter suggesting that they had arrived earlier and clearly were enjoying themselves (drinking halves of course).
Over the course of the remainder of the afternoon our party managed to sample between them all twelve beers which were served in fabulous condition as you would expect from Adie and the pub. This straight away allayed any possible fears of the beers being too warm on a hot afternoon in a beer garden, that new cooler must have been a godsend!
As the afternoon began to draw to a close, before John headed home and Mark & Peter went to a few more pubs the trio chose between all the beers on offer to create their top three pics of the festival!
The Top 3
1: Acorn Gorlovka (6% stout).
This is a truly iconic stout with a deep malt base, slightly hoppy edge and a strong, yet rich flavour profile with the malts and liquorice dominating. At 6% this is incredibly easy drinking with a lovely mouthfeel and is very moreish.
2: Rooster’s Baby Faced Assassin (6.1% IPA).
Another strong beer that is deceptively drinkable. This has a lasting bitterness from the citra hops that give off strong tropical flavours. On a hot afternoon, this one went down very well indeed and at least two of our party enjoyed more than one half.
3: Ossett Excelsius (5.2% Strong pale).
This is an incredibly solid beer and is a three-time SIBA national champion. It is such a consistent beer and is still to this date one of the best beers on offer from the brewery. Smooth, fruity, full bodied with a refreshing citrus hop bitterness, what more could you ask for?
Despite these being the top three of the festival, the trio had quite a few of the other beers on show as well and we would be remiss not to at least give them an honourable mention!
The Runners Up
Helmsley Yorkshire Legend (3.8% Yorkshire Bitter)
A classic chestnut pint, full of caramel, malty sweetness and with a cheeky fruity finish, very nice session and easy drinker.
Salamander Brewing Co Stubbee (4.8% Porter)
Classic dark porter, with hints of chocolate and coffee through the nose. Nice malted backdrop to the sweet assist of chocolate in the taste, a little thin but we wont hold that against it, not a bad drop!
Osset Brewery Excelceus – (5.2% Premium Bitter)
Crystal clear & golden in colour, gives off a strong hoppy and fruity scent which ties into its taste, which is of a strong American & Cascade hop with a playful fruity undertone, definitely a summer drinker, very drinkable at 5.2%.
So overall how was it?..
For the first Marston’s festival in over three years this one was pretty good! Whilst the beers on offer were perhaps a little safe for a festival, one must applaud Adie Martin for what he did with what he has to work with, being tied to the Marston’s portfolio and how well he set up the bar and n particular how well the beers were kept.
It is safe to say that John, Peter & Mark had a great afternoon and will no doubt be looking forward to the next festival. If in August, we suggest that you pop along too.
The|Eternal|Hoptimitsts 