My First Time

Confessions of a beer festival volunteer  

  

For years I'd been thinking about volunteering at the Norwich Beer Festival but always found a reason not too.  However, when I saw a CAMRA email asking for volunteers at the Winter Ale Festival I thought….why not!

As I was responding to the email, entering the dates and times I would be available, I was thinking; “Do I really want to do this?”  Even after I had clicked send, I thought - they won't pick me - I have no experience.  So you can imagine my surprise when I received a reply informing me of the shifts I had been selected for. 

My first session was on Tuesday, this was a session for CAMRA members only.  As I was walking to St Andrews Hall the nerves started to kick in. On arrival at the staff entrance,  I was greeted with a smile and escorted to the staffing area.  There sat the lovely Jane Edrupt who gave me a badge, pointed me towards the t-shirt, and most importantly of all,  gave me my beer glass for the evening.  Boy was I desperate for a drink! 

On arrival at the St Andrews bar, I listened to the bar manager who told me what to do.  I then made my way to an area of the bar to start my shift.  The other staff who were working on the night were very friendly and helpful.  I got to work.  In between serving we chatted about volunteering and my colleagues discussed the beers they’d had tasted.  It wasn't until that moment I realised I had not yet sampled any beer - disaster.  This was soon rectified by my first tipple; Electric Milk Stout.  What a lovely beer - dark, creamy, smooth and tasty.  My next beer was Thornbridge Vanilla Stout, this was a whopping 6 4% but it certainly didn't taste like other 6.4% beers I had sampled in the past.  My third ale was Harvey's XXXX, another outstanding beer.  Before I knew it, it was 10.30pm and my shift was nearly over.  A clean down of the bar area and cooling of the barrels and I would be off.  It had been fun and I was actually looking forward to my next shift. 

So many beers....

On the Wednesday I returned keen and eager to get stuck in. When I arrived I was informed that the turnout during the the day had been low and that it was still not busy.  As I was walking to the bar, I was surprised by the low turnout and wondered why it was so quiet. This time round I was more outgoing during my shift, and began to chat to the customers.  I asked about their favourite beers, why they had come to the festival, and why they thought it was so poorly attended, at least in comparism with the annual October festival which is always jam-ppacked.  Throughout my conversations it became apparent that many people assumed a Winter Ale fest would only feature porters and stouts, and even a lot of real ale drinkers don’t dark beers.  In actual fact, the event had the usual vast array of different beer types from all over the country, it’s just that there were more beers of the darker variety than you’d expect at a traditional festival.

So for all of you who have ever thought about volunteering, stop thinking about it and do it. I met and worked with a nice bunch of people and sampled some excellent beers.  Roll on October so I can once again serve all you wonderful beer drinkers!

Cheers

The Beer Bird

(first published in Norfolk Nips May 2017)