Retro

I've just been flicking through my 1990 copy of the Great British Beer Festival brochure (held in Brighton that year).

How times have changed, for example, all the beers show original gravity as opposed to alcohol %. (I believe you just take the last two digits and put a decimal place in the middle so Pedigree would be a 4.3% beer, although I'm happy to be put right on this).

As I'm  little bit of a stato I marked which beers I'd sampled, here is the full run-down, its no wonder looking at the gravity of these beers that I feel asleep on the beach that afternoon (don't forget that in those days the festival closed at 3 and re-opened at 5 as was the pub laws at that time).

Marstons: Pedrog (as in a half of Pedigree (1043) and a haf of Owd Rodger (1080)
Ballards: Wassail (1060)
Biddenden Perry
Nethergate: Old Growler (1055)
Hop Back: Summer Lightning (1050)
Lloyds: VIP (1048)
Belhaven: Strong Ale (1070)
and lastly
Clarks: Hammerhead (1056)

I'll have to have a look to see how many of these breweries still exist.
In answer to my own question.
Marstons: Yep http://www.marstons.co.uk/
Ballards: Wassail (1060). Yep and still doing Wassail. http://www.ballardsbrewery.org.uk/page13.html
Biddenden Perry: Yep  http://www.biddendenvineyards.com/
Nethergate: Old Growler (1055) Yep still around http://www.nethergate.co.uk/
Hop Back: Summer Lightning (1050) Yep http://www.hopback.co.uk/
Lloyds: VIP (1048), don't think so
Belhaven: Strong Ale (1070) Yep http://www.belhaven.co.uk/ though acquired by Greene King in 2005
and lastly
Clarks: Hammerhead (1056) not sure but they could be http://www.hbclark.co.uk/ though don't see Hammerhead anywhere.

Pleased and a little surprised to see that