2024 – The Taylor Swift Beer Trail

Posted on January 28, 2024 by The Bent and Bongs Beer Bash Blogger

Q: What has Taylor Swift got to do with the Bent and Bongs Beer Bash?

A: Absolutely nothing!

But as possibly the biggest event of 2023 and 2024 we thought it might be fun to figure out a Taylor Swift beer trail. It’s meant to be fun. These aren’t all going to be the best beers in the festival. If you want to try something a bit different, have a few chuckles, give your taste buds a different experience, or just just learn a few more facts and figures about this quite amazing woman, why not follow along the Swifties beer trail.

S-W-I-F-T-I-E-S. That’s eight letters. That’s eight beers. A half of each surely can’t hurt that much. What could possibly go wrong?

S-wifties

S is for Sticking It To The Man.

This has to be one of the most amazing stories of the music industry. Taylor released her first six albums through the Big Machine Records label. In 2019 an American entrepreneur and music industry A&R guy, Scooter Braun, bought BMR. Taylor Swift was not happy about this as she had been trying to buy her own back catalogue herself.

To say that Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun did not get on well would be the understatement of the decade. A bit like calling the sun pretty warm, or Timmy Taylors Landlord quite popular.

Things got worse in 2020 when Scooter Braun sold the rights to Taylor’s first six albums to venture capitalists knowing all along that Taylor herself wanted to buy them.

There is a saying: don’t get mad, get even. She seems to have done better than that. Taylor re-recorded her original albums. Yep, the same songs and same music, just a new recording. Which songs do fans stream? Taylor’s new vrsions. Which albums do fans buy? Taylor’s new versions. That $300m paid by the venture capitalists is diminishing in value all the time yet it’s still hard to feel any pity for them.

Your first choice of beer depends on whether this story leaves you with a sour taste for the cold hard world of venture capitalism? Or maybe instead the sweet taste of victory? Head to Craft Corner for either Hammerton – City of Cake (5.5%) or Rivington – Lucid Dreaming Magic Wonder (6.3%) for sweet or sour respectively.

s-W-ifties

W is for Wall; the Berlin Wall.

The Berlin wall came down in 1989 which coincidentally is the year that Taylor Swift was born. If you ever wondered where the inspiration for the title of her album 1989 came from, it’s easy enough to join the dots.

Berlin no longer has a wall but it does have an Edinburger Strasse where you find the wonderful little microbrewery Schneeeule Berlin which brews Schneeeule Marlene (3.5%), a rather lovely Berliner Weisse. Find it in the middle of the Foreign Bar.

If instead you are feeling like something a bit different and a bit fruity, and hey who isn’t?, head to Craft Corner to try the Rivington – Light Come Shining – v3 Raspberry (3.9%). A different twist on the more classic Berliner Weisse style.

sw-I-fties

I is for International. Best International Female Solo Artist. The first ever BRIT award that Taylor Swift won, in 2015.

An international award needs an international beer. Stroll over to the Foreign Bar for the beer that has travelled the furthest to be here for you; all the way from Estonia. The most international beer in the roller rink one might say.

Forests have a deep influence on Estonian culture, so much so that the brewers Põhjala brew a series of beers in celebration, the Forest Series. Põhjala Kuusk (6%) is one of these beers. It is a zesty IPA brewed with American hops and the tips of Estonian spruce trees. Expect some lovely citrus tastes to begin with settling to a more lovely piney sprucy flavour. Delish.

swi-F-ties

F is for Five. Five billion dollars. Economists estimate that The Era’s Tour added five billion dollars to the US economy in 2023. That was the difference between the US economy staying in the green and avoiding slipping into recession. One woman, single-handedly, kept the US economy out of recession. Respect!

F is also for Fyne Ales, and their flagship beer, Jarl (3.8%). Jarl is an all-time Bent and Bongs favourite and it’s easy to see why when you taste its beautiful delicate citrussy bittery lovliness.

swif-T-ies

T is for Trees; or more specifically Christmas Trees. Taylor grew up on a Christmas Tree farm in Pennsylvania; in her own words: in a gingerbread house, deep within the yummy gummy gumdrop forest. It adds a whole new meaning to her song Christmas Tree Farm huh?

We don’t have a Christmas tree farm, or even a Christmas tree, but we do have a Christmas beer, De Ranke Pere Noel (7%). It’s a seasonal Christmas beer, only available in the middle of winter, and it’s one of the finest beers you will find in the festival. Even better is that you get it here on draught. Head to the Belgium end of the Foreign Bar and hope there is some left. Fear not if there is none left as we have three, yes three, Christmas specials on the bar this year. The other two are Gouden Carolus Christmas/Noel (10.5%) and Straffe Hendrik Xmas Blend (11%). Remember when we told you that these aren’t going to be the best beers in the festival? We lied. These three are not just some of the finest beers in the festival, they are three of the finest beers in the world. These are strong beers. Sip them slowly and enjoy every moment.

swift-I-es

I is for Inspiration? Inspiration is everywhere.

Taylor’s grandmother was an opera singer; an inspirational figure in Taylor’s life of music.

Taylor’s birth year of 1989 was the inspiration for her album of the same name.

The Scooter Braun story was the inspiration for her song Karma.

Karma can be a bitch or Karma can be wonderful. Karma can also come from Wigan. You didn’t see that one coming did you? That’s Karma that is! Towards the end of the Cask Bar you find Wily Fox – Karma Citra (4.3%). This is a multi-award winner. Sound familiar? A quadruple hit of citra hops makes this hipster heaven. Or should that be hopster heaven?

swifti-E-s

E? It had to be Ed Sheeran, no? Ed is one of Taylor Swift’s great friends and has appeared with her live more than once. Heck that’s a lot of singer songwriter on one stage.

Head over to the Cask Bar for some Exmoor Gold (4.5%). It comes up from Taunton and is a Bent and Bongs all time favourite beer. Plus, as luck would have it, Exmoor Gold is also the Pantone colour reference for the colour of Ed Sheeran’s hair.

swiftie-S

S is for Strawberry, Fruli Strawberry (4.1%). Allegedly this is Travis Kelce’s favourite beer, along with half of the offensive unit of the Kansas City Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes attributes the 2023 Superbowl LVII win to the half time team talk plus a couple of swift scoops of Fruli. Travis got Taylor drinking it on one of their early dates and she hasn’t looked back since. It might be a fruit beer but if it’s good enough for Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and half the Chiefs it’s certainly good enough for you. Head to the fruit beer end of the Foreign bar, next to the gin, and finish off your Swifties beer trail with a refreshing gulp of Fruli.

Have a Great Night

All of these Taylor Swift facts are 100% true. Except the ones that aren’t. Our hope is that you had a chuckle and maybe tried a new beer or two or three. If any of this raised a smile on a cold, winter, February night that’s the best we can hope for.

For 2024 we also have Gentleman George’s recommendations where Gentleman George talks about some of the best beers in the whole festival. Check it out for more I for Inspiration.

Remember to drink responsibly, have a great night, and a great tomorrow.

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2024 – Gentleman George Recommends

Posted on January 27, 2024 by The Bent and Bongs Beer Bash Blogger

For 2024 we are graced that Gentleman George takes over the prestigious mantle of the Bent and Bongs Beer Svengali. Gentleman George has been studying the beers to find you a selection of some of, nay the, best beers of the festival.

If you want to try the ultimate in tasty beer, this is the place to be.

Note that some of these beers are strong ones. Think of them as the Arnie Schwarzenegger of beers. Drink them too quickly and you will be back. Flat on your back. Being carried out on a stretcher is not a good look so treat the stronger beers with respect. Sip them slowly and enjoy every bit.

For 2024 Gentleman George recommends …

Cask Beers (Cask Bar)

Wigan Brewhouse – Mad Monk (7.1%)

A dark and serious Russian Imperial Stout. Lots of liquorice and oak flavours with some smoke. Won’t last long.

Frothblowers – Hornswoggle (5%)

Extra pale, malt in large enough quantities to induce an alcoholic euphoria are combined with floral hops to produce a deceptively easily drinkable 5 percenter.

Strange Times – Mad King Sweeney (4.6%)

Inspired by the turbulent life of Buile Suibhne, this Irish Red Ale brewed with Rye and Oats. It is smooth and balanced enough to calm the Mad King himself.

Stewarts – Cauld Reekie (6.2%)

A full-bodied strong stout with an abundance of roasted malt flavours, liquorice and molasses and a hint of sweetness.

Mallinsons – Blanc Jester (3.8%)

A new beer from Mallinsons, dual hopped, late hopping with Jester gives aromas of grape and soft fruits. Hallertau hops gives great bitterness with notes of tart gooseberries.

Rivington – Beach House (3.8%)

A deliciously hazy pale ale, brewed with a killer hop combo of Motueka, Mosaic and Simco, Delicious.

Craft Beers (Craft Corner)

Hammerton – City of Cake (5.5%)

A deep and rich milk stout, balancing roast coffee and chocolate notes with sweetness and caramel aromas. This is fudge brownie in a glass.

Runaway – Winter Saison (6.3%)

Classic Belgian style Saison with a seasonal UK twist. Dry and fruity, yeast and malt led, with a hint of citrus and hedgerow fruits from the classic British hops. Vegan friendly.

Belgium and Foreign Beers (Foreign Bar)

Straffe Hendrik Xmas Blend (11%)

Possibly one of the finest beers in the world. This beer starts out life as the Straffe Hendrik Quad, a beer that has graced this very beer festival more than once. The master brewers at the De Halve Maan brewery hold back a little bit of this quad which is then gentle aged in barrels stored in the brewery’s medieval cellars.

The brewers then finish the job by selecting the perfect blend of barrel aged quads. The result is something very special. Deep, dark, and luxurious.

Sold in halves only because of the strength. Sip it slowly and enjoy every last taste.

Cherry Chouffe Rouge (8%)

A lot of incredible beers come out of the doors of Moortgat and this is no exception.

This is a cherry flavoured beer, but not in the way of a typical fruit beer. Most fruit beers start their lives as a lambic or a wit to give them that typical zingy taste. Cherry Chouffe is different. It starts out as an ever so slightly sour strong Belgian ale. To this the brewers add heaps of natural cherry juice and the result is quite delicious. The background deep flavours of a strong Belgium ale with the sweet and sour notes of the cherries. If you enjoyed the original Liefmans Kriek (the 6% one) it’s likely you’ll like this.

The bad news. It contains cherries but sadly you can’t count it as part of your five-a-day.

Lervig Hoppy Holiday Haze (4.7%)

Another fantastic beer coming out of Stavanger. Brewed only at Christmas this is a hazy New England style pale ale that is packed full of flavour. This year Lervig are using Loral Cryo and Sabro hops for maximum citrus with a tropical punch. Very drinkable and totally refreshing.

Have a Great Night

These are some of the best beers in the whole beer festival. Some of them are also the strongest. We said it to begin with and we’ll say it again to end. Treat these stronger beers with respect. Drink them slowly. Enjoy the taste. And enjoy a great night out.

For 2024, and for a bit of fun, we also have the Taylor Swift beer trail. The Taylor Swift Eras tour seems to be the biggest good news story of 2023 and 2024 so why not have a bit of fun with a once-only-in-the-history-of-the-festival Taylor Swift beer trail.

Remember to drink responsibly, have a great night, and a great tomorrow.

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2024 Sponsorship

Posted on November 17, 2023 by The Bent and Bongs Beer Bash Blogger

If you are here just for the 2024 sponsorship form you can skip everything that follows and get the 2024 sponsorship form here.

If you are new to sponsoring the festival or you are one of our regulars wanting to see what’s available and what’s new this year … read on …

What’s Changed for 2024

The quick summary is nothing really. 2023 was a popular event, all our sponsors had a great time, so why change something that’s working well?

Summary of What’s Available for 2024

Here’s a summary of what’s available for 2024.

Standard Barrel Sponsor£145. Includes 10 admission tickets, admission to the Thursday sponsors’ hour, your name on a barrel, included in the programme and linked from our website.
Priority Entry Barrel Sponsor£165. This includes everything in a standard barrel sponsor with two of the tickets converted to priority entry tickets.
Bar Sponsor£250. This includes everything in a standard barrel sponsor plus your name on a banner over a bar. Yes, we can upgrade this to include priority entry tickets.
Entertainment Sponsor£300. Includes everything in a standard barrel sponsor plus your name on a banner over the stage. Yes, we can upgrade this to include priority entry tickets.
Tokens Sponsor£300. Includes everything in a standard barrel sponsor plus your name and company logo on the tokens plus a banner over the tokens desk. Yes, we can upgrade this to include priority entry tickets.
Glass Sponsor£600. This is the big one. Includes a barrel sponsors package plus 10 more priority entry tickets plus your company logo on the festival glasses. We can bespoke the tickets and priority entry tickets in this package to suit you.

What’s With the Tickets, Priority Entry Tickets, Sponsor’s Only Session, and Beer Tokens? How Does All This Work?

Tickets

Every package includes a number of admission tickets. Each ticket admits one person to any session of the festival as long as there is no queue. This is important so we’ll say it again. These standard admission tickets do not bypass the queue.

Priority Entry Tickets

Each priority entry ticket admits one person to any session of the festival. It also bypasses the queue. That’s right, we’ll say it again. A priority entry ticket bypasses the queue. You turn up and walk straight in.

Priority entry tickets are the only way to bypass any queue we have.

The Sponsors’ Hour (Thursday 5pm – 6pm)

On Thursday (and only on Thursday) we open the festival an hour early for sponsors only. For 2024 the public get to come in at 6pm. Sponsors are welcome from 5pm.

This is a really cool and chilled session. You get to be the first people to see the festival. You get first dibs on all the tables and chairs. Every beer is available. You feel a bit special knowing you are doing something that’s limited to the chosen few.

If you want to entertain some clients, take your team out to say Thanks for working hard (and convince them to work harder next year), or do a bit of networking, this is the session for you.

Free Beer Tokens

When you walk into the sponsors’ hour on Thursday (5pm – 6pm) with a sponsors ticket we will give you a free £10 token sheet. That’s cool huh? Free beer! These tokens are yours to spend through the whole of Thursday night. The only restriction on them is that just like Cinderella’s carriage, they turn into a pumpkin at midnight.

If you come with a raging thirst or want to drink some of the more expensive beers fear not, we’ve got your back. The token desk will be open from 5pm to top up your token supply.

I’m Not A Business. Can I Still Sponsor With My Friends?

We get asked this a lot. Of course you can. The packages are the same. The tickets and tokens work the same. You’re welcome to join everyone at the Thursday sponsors’ hour. Instead of a business name you can put a personal message on a barrel or a banner.

We’ve had people sponsor a barrel to celebrate a birthday, remember a loved one, or just because they have a bunch of friends and want into the 5pm – 6pm Sponsors’ Hour on Thursday.

We’ve thought about doing something smaller than the standard barrel sponsor for a group of friends. So far we don’t have anything official but if you get in touch and ask we can almost certainly work something out with you.

Here’s the details for what’s available …

Standard Barrel Sponsor

This is the package that most of our sponsors go for.  It includes:
– 10 tickets for general admission at any session
– These tickets are the only way you can get in to the early hour, 5pm-6pm on Thursday, for sponsors only
– £10 of beer tokens for everyone attending the 5pm-6pm Thursday sponsors’ session
– Your name over a barrel
– Your name and details in the festival programme and linked from our website

The price for this package is £145.

If you are totting all this up in your head, yes, you are right. Ten people’s admission, plus £10 each of beer tokens at the Thursday sponsor’s session and you can see how good value this is.

It’s better still if you are sponsoring as a business. Tick YES on the form and we will send you a receipt to take the cost through your accounts and save a bit of tax. Book it as client entertaining or team building. Remember – the team that drinks together thinks together.

Priority Entry Barrel Sponsor (Includes 2x Priority Entry Tickets)

This is exactly the same as the Standard Barrel Sponsor but we convert two of the free tickets to priority entry. These will bypass any queue we have up to 7:30pm.

The price for this is £165.

Bar Sponsor

This includes everything in the standard barrel sponsor’s package plus we hang a banner over one of the bars with your business name and logo.

We can bespoke this package a little for you. If you need more tickets than the 10 included or you want to convert some of them to priority entry, get in touch and we can discuss it.

The price to be a bar sponsor is £250.

Entertainment Sponsor

This is just like the Bar Sponsor package except we hang the banner with your company name and logo over the stage.

The package also includes 10x admission tickets, your name in the festival programme and a link from our website.

The price for this is £300. It’s a more prominent position than the bars.

As per the bar sponsors we can bespoke this package a little for you if you want to do something different. Get in touch and we can talk through the options.

Tokens Sponsor

This is pretty cool. Like the bar and entertainment sponsors we hang a banner with your company name and logo over the token desk. We also print your details onto the tokens. Yes, each and every sheet of tokens.

The package includes all the benefits of a barrel sponsor; 10x admission tickets, your name in the festival programme and a link from our website.

If you are interested in this get in touch as soon as possible as we need to check that the tokens haven’t already gone to print.

The price for this is £300.

Just like the bar and entertainment packages we can bespoke the tickets included for you.

Glass Sponsor

This is the big one and it’s pretty awesome.

We print your company logo on the festival glasses. And yeah, that’s so cool.

We include the usual 10x admission tickets and then we amp this up by adding an extra 10x priority entry tickets. Woohooo!

This takes some organising with your artwork for the glasses so you need to be talking to us as early as possible if you want to take this up.

Advertising in the Festival Programme

We offer advertising space in the festival programme.  Anything from a quarter page up to a full page including the back and inside covers.  It’s an affordable way to reach people; most of whom are local, most of whom enjoy a few beers, a night out with friends, something good to eat, and a bit of entertainment. Put a coupon in there. Make them an offer they can’t refuse.

We’re going to be up front about this. Advertising with us is not likely to make you enough money to buy a superyacht and park it in Monaco for the F1. There, we’ve said it! We do get between 3,000 to 4,000 people (mostly local) visiting the festival over the three days. Put a coupon in the programme. Make them an offer they can’t refuse. If you are a local business it surely can’t hurt to try this.

If you are interested send us an email to advertising@bentnbongs.com and we’ll send you the rate card for programme adverts.

What Are You Waiting For?

If you have read this far you are interested, right? Or you are trying to find a better way of getting to sleep.

If it’s the former and you want to sponsor the 2024 festival, download the 2024 sponsors form, fill in the details, and send it back to us to the address shown on the form.

If you like to do everything electronically you can email a scan back to sponsors@bentnbongs.com, send an electronic payment, and we’ll organise it all from there.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, To All Our Sponsors

We say this all the time and we can never say it enough. Thank You so much to all you wonderful people for supporting the festival.  We couldn’t run this event without you, and for that, and on behalf of the charities we support, we are eternally grateful.

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