York Beer Festival 2009 / Pivo

We dropped in on York's 2009 Beer Festival yesterday, to start what turned out to be lovely afternoon's drinking. This was the first time the festival had been held at Kanvesmire, near the race course, and it was a suitably pleasant setting, with large, airy marquees set up, and a plenty of outdoor setaing. The Hog Roast guys (I'm not sure If i could do a beer festival without these guys now!) were doing a roaring trade, and we settled in with handfuls of fresh pork scratchings to some serious sampling. Brass Monkey's Brass Monkey Bitter proved to be as solid as you'd expect, with a pleasant roastiness to it, and Summer Wine's Helios more than held up on the pale and hoppy front. Leeds' Monsoon IPA was good too - lots of trademark Leeds Grapefruitiness up front, slowly fading to reveal a biscuity body; Stewart's Copper Cascade proved to be a decent, malty Scottish red but was a little lacking in hop character for me. However, the beer of the festival turned out to be American - Stone's Levitation Ale, which - quite honestly -blew the majority of the English brews we tried out of the water - with it's sheer depth of flavour. A sweet, dark beer, with masses of coffee/toffee notes in the body and a tight, creamy head, Levitation really is a wonderful beer - and a sensible abv, too. I know I should be singing the praises of English beers, but in this case, I just can't. Taste rules.
With that epiphany ringing in our ears, we headed off into York to check out Pivo, a bar that I've had on the list since ...A swift one recommended it a while back. It's hidden away in the smallest building in York (or so it seems), but what it may lack in sitting space it makes up for in choice - again, Stone's Levitation was on offer (must be a York thing) as well as York's Wicked Wheat (heavy on the spices), SNPA and Meantime's Elderflower Maibock. Pivo stocks a decent range of beer and looks like a decent addition to York's more traditional Pubs and Alehouses. Check it out.
Pivo, 6 Patrick Pool,
York,
YO1 8BB
01904 635464