Eating my way around the Cambridge Beer Festival (part 1)

The Cambridge Beer Festival is an institution. Forty-one years old this year, it's the longest-running CAMRA festival, and the second or third largest, depending on how you count. It is also fantastic fun, which is why since 2007 I've been taking a week off to volunteer at it every year.Volunteering has a number of benefits, not least getting to try a heck of a lot of beer for relatively little money. But one of the nicer perks is getting fed a couple of times a day, from a pretty decent range of food concessions.This year, Adam, a fellow foodie and member of the cellar crew, challenged me to eat at and review them all.Here goes.(there are beer recommendations at the bottom)

The Beer Festival Cheese Counter

Let's get this out of the way: the beer festival is worth the entry price for the cheese alone.For as long as I've been coming the cheese stand has served up an astounding selection of British cheeses with huge hunks of tasty bread, and a selection of cold cuts, pickles, sausages, and pork pies that could make a grown man weep. The cheese selection rotates quickly, so you can't necessarily guarantee what you'll get, but at any given time there's a balanced offering. You can pretty much always get something soft, something goaty, something crumbly, and something blue.For lunch on Tuesday, I had: a piece of Celtic Promise, a very delicate smoked soft cow's cheese; a creamy, crumbly, gentle blue cheese not unlike a far less salty Danish Blue; a British (I think Somerset) brie far better than any I'd tried before, with gently crumbly core, just a little ripe scent, and oozy mature edges like rich fresh cream. I may have got a little excited about that. Oh, and shallots pickled in cider vinegar. They were basically perfect.I then nipped back on Wednesday for an ash-wrapped goats' cheese, some Hereford Hop, and one of their amazing pork pies. These things are so good. The pastry texture is spot on, yielding and rich. There's just a little succulent jelly, and the pork is a good balance of fine-minced and chunks.Go there. Have cheese. Have pie.

Pizza Yule Love

When someone at one of the festival organising meetings said we'd found a concession that would set up a wood-fired pizza oven I was skeptical. For starters, I didn't even know that was a thing. I should not have been skeptical. It is absolutely a thing.These guys are turning out quality fresh pizza with an interesting selection of toppings, in a field, really quite fast. How cool is that?Mine was a Herman ze German, a neat combo of pork, ham, kaesewurst (German sausage with cheese), and sauerkraut on a simple tomato and cheese base. It's a flavour pairing that works, with the sauerkraut offsetting the meat and cheese. The tomato sauce is a good basic base layer, and the crust is thin and crisp. They've also got an interesting-sounding spicy Mexican affair, a blue cheese pizza, and one with duck and hoi-sin sauce.There was perhaps a little much charring on the edge of mine, but I have no idea how you avoid that when you're, you know, production-lining fresh pizza in a field.I really hope these guys come back next year.

Jethro's Pie Stand (Pieminister)

Another new offering this year, Jethro - landlord at the Cambridge Blue - has set up a pie stand. The Blue is a long-time friend/sponsor/supporter of the festival, and a clear contender for the best ale pub in town. And you can feel the "but..." coming, can't you? But: I've never liked the food there. I might write about that later, but it's not the point today. The point today is PIE.Jethro know what he's doing, and what he's doing is serving hungry people Pieminister pies with peas and gravy. This is exactly that. It's a hot pie with gravy. It's tasty, and it's a welcome addition to the festival.I had the "Moo pie" - classic beef and ale, and it did what it said on the menu. The venison and lentil one sounds worth trying, as does the vegetarian option. My tip here would be to go early - it gets busy, and there can be a lag while things heat up.

The Curry and Kebab King

Sometimes you just have to have a kebab. Monday was one of those times, and the festival stalwart curry/kebab van will happily oblige. The kebabs and generic fare aren't that great, but the chicken balti is pretty tasty.These guys are lovely. They're also a huge staff favourite - in part be down to the "Stewards Special", an ominously huge stack of everything they sell that's spicy, topped off with donner kebab meat.Yeah. If I can scratch together the fortitude, I'll review one later in the week.Wish me luck.

Not yet reviewed

So far, I've not managed to get to everything. Still to come are:

• Vegetaria(falafel and mezze - always fantastic)
• Traditional Fish 'n' Chips
•  Daisy's Diner

...but what about the beer?

 Oh, yeah, that.Well, we've got two hundred or so this year, and after a few days working cellar, they're all kind of starting to blur. But that doesn't mean there aren't some fantastic things this year.There are, and you should try:

• Hop Studio - ObsidianDark and hoppy, a bit toasty, but not too strong or rich.
• Moor - Old Freddie walkerDark, malty, vinous, choclatey and fucking amazing.
• Late Knights - Hairy Dog Black IPASocks-knock-offing dark IPA
• Opa Hay's - MaibockUnusual. Strong, a little sweet, gold-ish Maibock
• Buxton - Axe EdgeLight and hoppy with bags of flavour. Like a gentled-down US IPA.
• Grain - Blonde AshMy favourite wheat beer. Which is a good thing, as I got sprayed with a gallon of it last night when a tap blew.
• Highland - The DukeLike the Axe Edge, but sweeter and stronger. Hoppy and fun.
• Liverpool Organic - 25 Carat GoldIt's light and golden, which is what every fucker asks for. But it's actually good.