Now, I am the first to admit that my previous entry was a little poor, but I am soooooo far behind on stuff that I am just rushing to catch up. The festival this entry is on actually took place in June! A quick sneak preview of what is still to be added to the Sprightly Dugong includes road trips around Norway and Sweden, a motorbike tour of Northern Ireland, a cycling tour from Loughborough to Edinburgh and the Fringe Festival, a weekend in the Peak district, my first (and second) balloon flights, and, of course, my move to Loughborough to live with Gemma.
Gemma was very excited about me moving in. Note the was...oh how things change when you live together.
All that said, be prepared to be blown away by the following entry: A full description of the 2015 Oadby Sausage and Cider Festival (and a comparison with the Leicestershire Sausage and Cider Festival)!
Your esteemed cider critics: Phillip and Gemma
Fortunately the Oadby fesitival was a sunny day. Gemma and I made the most of it by trying as many ciders as possible and then writing our own descriptions to go along with those in the provided literature. As you will see below most of the ciders were really good. I should probably warn readers about some unsociable language in the upcoming descriptions; the drunker we got the more crass we became!
Baiky loved this idea and decided to take on the role of editor.
Dabinett (Medium 7%)Their description: Made from apples grown in Leicestershire's Wellend Valley.
Phillip Says: Good - everything a cider should be: apples and alcoholic. Beautiful red-yellow (also known as orange - ed.) colour. But who would call a cider orange?
Black Rat Perry (Medium Sweet 7.5%)
Their description: A fruity pear cider - dangerously drinkable. Go steady - this is a rocket.
Gemma Says: Cider with a bit of a twitch.
Mango (Sweet 4%)
Their description: An aromatic sweet cider blended with exotic mango to create a tantalising tropical flavour.
Phillip says: Sweet - fucking sweet. Sweet in both meanings; taste and awesome. Also, it tastes of mangoes (this was the first cider of the day, was the language really necessary? - Ed.)
Wilkins Farmhouse Cider (Dry 6%)
Their description: Jamie Oliver, Jerry Hall, Johnny Rotten - the world flocks to Roger Wilkin's amazing cider farmhouse in Mudgley, Somerset.We've brought his cider to you!
Gemma says: There is a fly in my cider. (Hmmm, not particulaly descriptive... Ed.)
Tasty, tasty cider...with added protein.
Janet's Jungle Juice (Medium 6%)Their description: A medium cider with fabulous appley twang. Apple crumble in a glass!
Phillip says: If an apple could sweat in a jungle this is what it would smell like. Tastes like liquid apple BO, and, much like BO, I got used to it with time.
Devon Blush (Medium Sweet 4.5%)
Their description: Devon cider mixed with the juice of freshly picked blackberries - summer in a glass.
Gemma says: Pretty colour, glad for the blackcurrent flavour to set aside from other ciders; very drinkable. (I assume she meant blackberry flavour - Ed.)
Rutland Cider (Medium 6%)
Their description: Made with apples grown in Rutland, a light easy drinking cider with biscuity, earthy finish.
Phillip says: Aroma - piss, looks like piss. Light, refreshing, and pleasantly drinkable.
Ed. says: Good thing its not warm...
Now we had many more ciders and more descriptions but the festival was more than just ciders! In the mid-afternoon Glynn, a mate from work, wandered by looking for a spare table, so I invited him, and his partner Candice to join us. At first they were a bit weirded out by the presence of a stuffed toy with two grown adults, but they soon grew accustomed to Baiky's presence.
Gemma, Glynn, Baiky, Candice and me. Don't let the photo fool you, we are quite, quite drunk.
All in all, it was an awesome day and kudos to the organisers. They had fun activities in a playing area for kids, the live entertainment was a really good mixture of covers and new talent, and the range of sausages and ciders was HUGE!!!! We had such a good time that Gemma and I bought tickets and camped overnight at the Leicetershire Sausage and Cider festival a few weeks later. Our thought process was - if the Oadby festivalwas awesome, then surely a bigger one for all of Leicesterhsire will be even more awesome. So we invited Gemma's sister, Harriet, and Harriet's partner, Stu, and away we went.
Gemma, Harriet, and Stu at the Leicestershire Sausage and Cider Festival.
Unfortunately, the Leicestershire festival was all types of disappointing. The selection of ciders was tiny compared to the Oadby festival and the sausage range consisted of three sausages. Additionally, when we arrived at lunchtime on Saturday, the line for the bar was immense. While this queue disappeared after a couple of hours, it was quite a disappointment after waiting in traffic for ages to enter the parking lot and then long wait to get into the event. The live entertainment was mostly cover bands, but the sound was not particularly good and it was a struggle to hear the music.
My photo of the Queen cover band.
Overall, the Oadby Sausage and Cider festival stands as a shining beacon of festivals that all others should try and emulate. Of course, I really hope that not many other people cotton on to this or I might find myself fighting the crowds in Oadby too!
