Hello!!
So when an email from the PR Goddess herself about a craft beer festival popped up in my inbox I knew it was going to be a good day! North Hop was coming to Aberdeen! North Hop was created to raise the awareness and love of craft beer among other things such as gin (yes, there was lot's of gin). I was allowed a cheeky plus one so Sam happily came along with me but we didn't really know what to expect but it's safe to say we weren't disappointed.
When we walked in with our North Hop glass we were taken aback by the size of it. There were long tables in the middle of the AECC surrounded by barrels of hay and around all that was a huge stage, stalls and stalls of different beer, gin, wine and cocktail stalls. There was even a Photo Booth, temporary tattoos by Rebel Tattoo and even a little camper van that was selling crème brulée!
Once we had a walk round we settle on trying some Thistly Cross Elderflower cider and I wasn't a massive fan of cider but I can honestly say now after trying the Thistly Cross ciders I am a big fan - especially of their Real Strawberry Cider!!
Later on we tried some Brewdog beer which was definitely different, I went for a blackberry beer which wasn't my favourite but Sam helped me drink it! There was also a Mango beer by DryGate which seemed to be quite popular.
A few others were Eden Mill, 10 Dollar Shake and solid liquids that were offering two bars specialising in gin and rum.
Brew Dog had a really big truck at one side of the arena and there was such chilled vibe. You could get your beer, relax on a bean bag and listen to the love music or watch the live art that was being created just at the side of the truck.
I obviously don't recommend drinking on an empty stomach but all the street food vendors had taken care of that for us! There was so much selection from the Bay Chipper all the way from Stonehaven (their fryers broke down just after the second session on the Saturday and they had to get someone up all the way from Glasgow to fix it but thankfully they were up and running again by the end of the night). There was Real-Food that was selling amazing sausage rolls, my friends from Cue Barbecue were there making incredible burgers. There was nachos and tacos - basically everything that you could want you could get.
If you still had room after all that which I definitely did there were deserts!! Crème Brûlèe made in a camper van, delicious popcorn by poporopo (I picked up some Gin and Tonic caramel popcorn which was incredible). I also have to mention by favourite food of the night which came from Stew 'n' Drews!! These men have some seriously good ice cream! We got to sample their whisky ice cream, Elvis juice and jet black heart which was made with some Brewdog beer then Drew asked us if we liked to try new things, we said yes and he handed Sam and I a spoon each with some ice cream on it. Guess what? The weirdest thing happened, the Ice cream went from cold to hot!! It was green apple flavoured which was the cold and then wasabi which made it taste hot, that was one of the weirdest things I had tasted but it was great. I settled on the Humbug and Blondie Brownie - they were great!
It was such a great night spent with friends and plenty of beer, cider, gin and glorious food! The live music was spot on and even Alice in Wonderland made an appearance (a hen on her hen night). It's their second year in Aberdeen and I certainly don't think it will be their last! Absolutely great job by all! Thank you to the North Hop crew for inviting me along - it was a blast!
