GBBF - who's going?

[Richard English]

From 01 to 05 August the world's finest beer festival takes place in London. At Earl's Court this year (having outgown Olympia) there will be over 500 cask-conditioned beers, and a similar number of specialised bottled beers, so there's something for everyone.

Oh, pardon me, there won't be anything from Dudweiser, Swiller, Curse or any of the other chemical factories - so those seeking a thumping headache need no attend.

But I will be there on the Friday and will start my tour at the Young's bar - who will be able to join me?

[surfadelic23]

Lucky you! I'd love to check out this event.
I will be missing the GBBF but will be over for the Norwich Festival in October! I'm counting the days and wearing out my copy of the good pub guide!
There's always next year, I hope!
Rick
Ps. Do you know off hand when Young's is closing their brewery tap? Any chance it will still be open in later October?

[Richard English]

I've not heard about Young's plans. Why not email them and check it out. And if they have stopped their tours, well, there's always Fuller's.

[surfadelic23]

Good idea, will do.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Richard English
who will be able to join me?

Who will be able to pay for my plane ticket?

As I sup a wonderful Bitter and Twisted at my desk with my lunch, I am quite jealous.

[surfadelic23]

Hell, I'm jealous you're drinking a bitter and twisted for LUNCH!
I'm having freakin Gatorade!

[Richard English]

Originally posted by HogieWan
Who will be able to pay for my plane ticket?

As I sup a wonderful Bitter and Twisted at my desk with my lunch, I am quite jealous. Well, although oil prices have increased. air travel is still as cheap as it has ever been. Mind you, at this time of year (peak season) it's probably still around $1000 return.

[MeridianFC]

It will have to wait another year for me I'm afraid. I am hoping that our esteemed members who attend will give us reports and maybe a photo or two if able.

[chazwicke]

Due to my seemingly never ending illness, I'll not make it this year either although I'm curious as to the new diggs at Earls Court. I'll be enviously thinking of you Richard during those early days of August. I sure enjoyed the last GBBF I attended.

[HogieWan]

Is the GBBF always early August? I celebrate my 1st anniversary this year (on the 6th), but maybe if I tell the wife that I want to take her to England for an anniversary in coming years, I can sneak this in!

[Richard English]

It's always around the same time, but there's at least one beer festival every week in England, although not so big. I was at the Ardingly vintage vehicle show the weekend before last and that was very good. About 80 ales and a dozen ciders. Plus two lagers, Budweiser (the real one) and an English lager whose name I can't recall.

I'll try to take a few pictures at the GBBF for you all.

[hops99]

From 01 to 05 August the world's finest beer festival takes place in London.

Just a tad jingoistic, eh?

I'd think that the folks who organize, and attend, the GABF here in the U.S. might disagree. With nearly 2,000 beers to sample from over 350 breweries...

Not to mention the many regional beer festivals that take place around the country almost every weekend of the year. Heck, my LOCAL festival in Michigan this weekend features 35 breweries and over 200 of their terrific beers to sample. My favorite REGIONAL festival in Wisconsin next month features over 500 great beers from 100 Midwesetern craft brewers, and on and on.

Still, I'm sure the GBBF is a wonderful event, one of the World's best, and one that I'd like to attend myself in the coming years. But, I'll take the amazing diversity of beers and beer festivals from the greatest brewing nation on the planet here in the States any day.

[Richard English]

I realise that the USA has progressed greatly in the past 25 years, from having fewer than 50 different beers (all rubbish) to having hundreds.

But I was not aware that the GABF had such a huge range; certainly the reports I have read did not give me that impression.

CAMRA do claim that the GBBF is "The biggest pub in the world" but maybe they are speaking of cask-conditioned beers. Are there over 500 of these at the GABF? Or are you including "tap" beers (none at the GBBF) and bottled beers as well?

[hops99]

Here's a link to peruse:


http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/gabf06.html

[hops99]

I realise that the USA has progressed greatly in the past 25 years, from having fewer than 50 different beers (all rubbish) to having hundreds.

Hundreds? Try tens of thousands. There are currently about 1,300 craft breweries throughout the U.S., most of which will brew at least 10 different beers in a year.

[Richard English]

I did see a figure of 10,000 once for the numbers of different US beers, which, quite frankly, is only as it should be in a country the size of the USA. That it's taken so long is a sad reflection on the power of the mega-brewers.

I couldn't actually see a cask-conditioned beer category in the GABF link so couldn't judge how many of these there were were. GBBF doesn't have anywhere near so many categories of beer - it is very much dedicated to cask-conditioned beers, although there are also probably 500 imports and other styles.

Are there any non-US breweries at GABF? Again I didn't spot any, though I only scrolled quickly through. I did see that there were a few mega-swill companies though.

[surfadelic23]

While there may very well be 10k beers in the USA, only an exponentially small portion of them are anything one would want to drink.
I'd rather have less beer that was actually good but I may be crazy:D

Richard, I took your advice and contacted the brewery tap for Youngs. Their response:

hi Rick as far as we no its the 30th September. but you may want to check in again a bit closer to the time sorry
cheers Georgie

Looks like I may be outta luck...

[Richard English]

Ah well, maybe you'll just have to go to Fuller's instead!

[chazwicke]

I've been to different festivals in both the UK and the USA and I have my favorites in both places. The CAMRA festivals seem to be a little more well run. But we have some great fests here too. Most festivals in the USA will have a few cask ales but they usually go quickly. The SPBW festival each fall in Baltimore is all cask ales and is a fine festival. I'm much looking forward to this years fest there in November. The Marriott is right around the corner.;) The GBBF is by far my favorite festival that I have ever attended as real ale is my preferred drink.

[sean_0]

I'm going! Can't wait. Flying from Ireland on the Friday, so I'll be there Friday and Saturday.

[Richard English]

If you want to meet up I'll probably be at the Young's bar from about 1215 on the Friday. I will certainly have my som with me (see the pictures of Ardingly last year) plus at least one other companion.

I look like my avator!

[hops99]

I'd guess that the GBBF likely sports the largest number of cask conditioned ales of all the world's beer festivals, and if that's your passion, it would be nirvana for cask lovers. If you're looking for the best OVERALL selection of craft beers to sample at a festival, the GABF has no equal, plain and simple.


While there may very well be 10k beers in the USA, only an exponentially small portion of them are anything one would want to drink.

Huh? We're talking 10k CRAFT beers made in America; that number doesn't include swill. So, how many of the 10k CRAFT beers have you actually tried yourself? Sorry, but my BS meter is going haywire....

[surfadelic23]

"Sorry, but my BS meter is going haywire"....

Maybe you should get it checked? ;)

OH OH OH... Like the Kinison avatar!

Of the 10K? I dunno maybe 10-15%? I've been into this scene for around 10-12 yrs or so and I get to travel to different regions SoCal, NE, SE, Midwest a lot and I always make it a point to hit as many regionals as I can.
I also have been lucky to have good package stores where guys would do everything they could to get good and unusual selections...

Richard,
Thanks for the tip on Fullers... Booked my tour today!

[MikShau]

Sorry for hijacking the thread from England to Wisconson, but I saw
My favorite REGIONAL festival in Wisconsin next month features over 500 great beers from 100 Midwesetern craft brewers, and on and on.

As I will be in Wisconsin next month, any details?

[Richard English]

Originally posted by surfadelic23
"Sorry, but my BS meter is going haywire"....

Maybe you should get it checked? ;)

OH OH OH... Like the Kinison avatar!

Of the 10K? I dunno maybe 10-15%? I've been into this scene for around 10-12 yrs or so and I get to travel to different regions SoCal, NE, SE, Midwest a lot and I always make it a point to hit as many regionals as I can.
I also have been lucky to have good package stores where guys would do everything they could to get good and unusual selections...

Richard,
Thanks for the tip on Fullers... Booked my tour today!

Excellent. You'll find the folks at Fuller's are really easy to get on with. When actually are you over?

[hops99]

Of the 10K? I dunno maybe 10-15%?

Case closed. My point is that when you state "an exponentially small portion of the 10k are beers that anyone would want to drink" is silly, especially when you've actually only tried an exponentionally small amount yourself.

I have also been into craft beer since the early 90's, and I've visited about 125 brewpubs/breweries over the years, from San Francisco to Maine, and many points in between. I've been to many beer festivals over the years as well. My best guess is that I've still only tried about 25% of the craft beers that are available nationwide as we speak. Based on my experience, there are certainly some brews that are well below average, but that number is maybe 20% of the beers that I've tried. Head out to the GABF this September - you won't be disappointed.


As I will be in Wisconsin next month, any details?

Incredible festival, probably my favorite. About 100 breweries from around the Great Lakes, including some of the best breweries in the world (Bell's, Three Floyds, Great Lakes, New Glarus, Capital, Founders, just to name a few). The number of tickets is limited to 5,000 though - and it's already sold out (it sells out in one day). You'll need to find tickets on ebay or some other source. The date of the fest is Saturday, August 12th in Madison at Olin-Turville Park.

[hops99]

If you're a beer festival fan, check out the calendar function at BA (the best that I've found on the web):

http://beeradvocate.com/events/calendar

For example, there are 8 or 9 different beer festivals around the U.S. this weekend alone, and even a couple in the U.K.

[surfadelic23]

Richard,
I will be over in late October. We are hitting the CAMRA festival in Norwich, hopefully catching an EPL match, and some rugby (a certain euro-macro (He#$%ken) sponsors a cup that starts competition October 20th), plus taking my wife to some of the attractions around London... Wanna grab a pint?


Hops99,
Thanks for setting me straight hops. Your beer-fu is strong and from sea to shining sea to boot! OH OH OHHHHH!
XOXO,
Surfadelic23
Ps. Hope my tone is friendly, some things get lost in text that would be laughed at if we were drinking in your local...

[Richard English]

A pint sounds good to me; several pints sounds even better ;-)

Let me know your London dates and where you're staying and I'm sure we can meet up.

I live in Partridge Green, about 90 minutes from central London so I can get in readily enough.

I have been lucky enough to meet several of this board's members, both in London and elsewhere, and would be pleased to increase that number.

[wortchillergoal]

GBBF or GABF, makes no difference as both must be fanatastic. I have not made either and will not this year but one of my goals is to attend both at some time.

Surfadelic, what part of Fl are you in. I am going to be in St. Augustine the first week of Aug. If you are close. perhaps we could ahve our own festival.

[steveh]

Richard (and everyone else, for that matter), any thoughts on this line of thinking? Sounds like the GBBF might not be bringing in any new Real Ale drinkers: http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002967.php

S.

[MeridianFC]

I saw that too.

My first thought with these kind of festivals was that the breweries were partially motivated by marketing, but I also thought that they did for social/camraderie reasons. Obviously with any festival of this size (or the GABF for that matter) your branding time is going to be minimal. The best drinker on his day is only going to be able to sample a portion of what's on offer, not to mention what's available there (or at the GABF) is not always available in the region the drinker is from.

[chazwicke]

Several brewers run their own stands but most just supply the beer that is poured by volunteers. The brewers who do set up their own bar / stands give away a lot of swag.

[Richard English]

Festival venues are expensive and organisations who run events have to try to make them cost effective in spite of the high overhead costs. There are many ways in which they can obtain income, one of them being the sale of stand space and, clearly, if the income from stands and concessions is substantial, this can help reduce the cost of admission tickets.

Every years there are a number of brewers' stands at GBBF and this is not a constant; that 3 brewers have chosen this year not to take stands means very little. All companies have to look at how best to spend their promotional budgets and there are pros and cons of every way. In truth, Adnams, Batemens and Woodforde's decisions mean very little in the overall running of the event and the article is a fairly typical piece of journalists' hype. You'll note that the contrary news - that giving details of the new participants this year - has not appeared.

"Bad news is good news but good news isn't news at all".

[onlooker]

The article also states

"Woodforde's decided with withdraw despite picking up a bronze medal in the Champion Beer of Britain awards last year with its Woodforde's Wherry Bitter."

as if not having a stand means they arnt participating in the event at all. Ofcourse just because they dont have thier own stand doesnt mean they arnt in the running for Champion Beer of Britain which is open to any cask ale in the UK.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Primary : Chilka IPA , Berhampore Best Bitter
Secondary : Merchant of the Devil Imperial Stout, Prototype IPA , O-Street Bitter, Berhampore Best Bitter
On the Handpump : Berhampore Best Bitter
Up Next: Peoples Coffee Stout, Berhampore Best Bitter

[MeridianFC]

FWIW my pal, the inappropriately nicknamed Cider Joe, will be at the GBBF with the Fenland Brewery crew. Give him a "how do" if you happen to be there.

http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11783

[newportstorm]

Don't expect much in the way of US cask beer this year.

http://www.ratebeer.com/Forums/Topic-50855.htm

Enjoy the DFH and whatever else makes it in time.

[chazwicke]

I'd be going for the British casks although I did drink some Schlenkerla from a wooden keg at the last GBBF I attended.



Speaking of DFH, I was at the Milton brewery last Friday afternoon and sampled the Zwannend'ale. A nice bock made with some rye and honey and clocking in at 8%ABV. It was rather sweet at first but mellowed into a nice beer that I wanted more of. I only had the one sample as I was short on time and was there picking up a sixtel of 60 Minute for my beach kegerator.

[newportstorm]

Originally posted by chazwicke
Speaking of DFH, I was at the Milton brewery last Friday afternoon and sampled the Zwannend'ale. A nice bock made with some rye and honey and clocking in at 8%ABV. It was rather sweet at first but mellowed into a nice beer that I wanted more of. I only had the one sample as I was short on time and was there picking up a sixtel of 60 Minute for my beach kegerator.

Nice beer. Not your typical bock, but what do you expect from DFH? A friend bought several 750s on his last trip down and was nice enough to give me one.

Cheers!

[chazwicke]

I had the sample on draft at their tasting room and I wanted more. I'll look for it in the stores bottled.

[newportstorm]

Originally posted by chazwicke
I had the sample on draft at their tasting room and I wanted more. I'll look for it in the stores bottled.

They had plenty at the brewery for sale when my buddy went down. He's chatted with Sam at events in the past and has visited more than once (from RI), so Sam was nice enough to offer him the bottles at employee cost - $5/ea. Very nice price.

Cheers!

[chazwicke]

Yeah I was under the impression that it was a one time only special draft for the nearby town of Lewes. The woman who poured mentioned it was a commemorative beer but not that it was also bottled. Lewes is an interesting little town and I visit it occasionally. Had I known Zwannend'ale was bottled I would have probably bought some there. I have chatted with Sam on several occasions too. He is a nice guy. Highly animated. DFH has their new warehouse completed and I had to drive around there to pick up the sixtel. It was filled with case upon case and pallet upon pallet of beer. pretty amazing to see that kind of quantity of DFH products.

[MeridianFC]

Just found out a good friend of mine from Londinium is away to the festival.

I'm not jealous.

No, not me.

K.

[Richard English]

Don't call me on Friday - I shall be there!

[MeridianFC]

Let's hear the gory details. Spare nothing. I can take it.

<sniff>

[Richard English]

Well, it was excellent as usual. Bigger than last year and now at Earl's Court instead of Olympia. More beers than last year; more space than last year; more brewery bars than last year; more food than last year.

These days I don't even bother to try to keep a count of what I've had - although I always start with a pint of Young's. This year I stuck to English cask-conditioned ales although I did buy some fruit lambics to take home and also tried some meads on the English wine stand.

I tried to find some US beers but all they had were around a dozen tap beers (plus many bottles, of course). I had heard that the US cask-conditioned beers had been delayed in shipping, but they just be a rumour.

Sadly, if there were any drinkers from this board there, I didn't meet them.

[chazwicke]

So you liked Earls Court as a venue better? More brewery bars? I'm even more envious now.

[Richard English]

It's bigger, but not necessarily better judged simply as a venue. Olympia is a lighter and more airy venue but its smaller size is a restriction.

There are some more photographs on the CAMRA site now, including one of the enlarged Young's bar and seating area, plus a general shot of the brewery bars area. Go here http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=207771

[dancinwillie]

Originally posted by hops99


Incredible festival, probably my favorite. About 100 breweries from around the Great Lakes, including some of the best breweries in the world (Bell's, Three Floyds, Great Lakes, New Glarus, Capital, Founders, just to name a few). The number of tickets is limited to 5,000 though - and it's already sold out (it sells out in one day). You'll need to find tickets on ebay or some other source. The date of the fest is Saturday, August 12th in Madison at Olin-Turville Park.

I wish I wouldn't have been hungover, and forgot to get my tickets. I've lived here 3 years, and can't seem to get my act together, and get down there. I live about 2 miles from the park.
Anyway, I wanted to add to your list of wonderful Great Lakes region breweries. Central Waters, Tyranena, Lake Louie, Sprecher are a few more. Also Great Dane Brewpub makes some outstanding beers, and I although I haven't sampled anything from Ale Asylum, I hear good things.

[stronk]

I was there on the first day (Wednesday, I think) for an unfortunately short time. The bus was diverted for a half-hour goose-chase and I only had an hour and a half before closing time when I got there. Still, I managed to get in about 6 halves (and tried some mead as well, to boot; same stand as Richard, I suppose).

I liked it at Earls Court, personally. It didn't seem to be more than marginally bigger in beer terms (apart from the imports section, of which more later), but the space in the venue was used much more effectively and the festival was actually enjoyable to walk around for once. Bar games were also more prominent.

As for the imports bar, for the first time ever I stayed well away from it. It may just have been me, but I'm sure the prices have sky-rocketed over the past couple of years. There are some really sub-par beers being sold for ludicrously large prices (£4 a pint; good beers were even more expensive). I rather fancied something from Sierra Nevada, but I was a little shaken by the £3.50-4 I was expected to part with in exchange for 330ml.

Nevertheless, the cask beer was as good as ever, with a particularly strong showing from both the milds and strong ales this year (as far as I could tell). Perhaps this has something to do with the winter beers festival that happened this year (Hog's Back were serving their winter ale, which they told me was awarded at the winter festival). Actually, I meant to add that it was great that the smaller brewers aren't being put off having brewery stalls if they have good and highly-commended beer.

Oh, and hi again. Switzerland has much more efficient telecom companies than the UK.

[Richard English]

Wednesady awas day 2, in fact. And I agree; the import prices were higher this year. I bought some fruit Lambics to take home and they were £3 each (usually on;y around £1.80 in the supermarket).

And what's so wonderful about Swiss Telecom? My telephones all seem to ring when someone calls and allow me to call out whenever I need to. And if they go wrong (which hasn't happened for many year)a friendly man comes out the same day and fixes them. What more does one get from the Swiss? An Alpenhorn blast intsead of a bell, maybe? Does a cuckoo come out on a spring whenever anyone calls? Is the engineer dressed in lederhosen?

Please do share your insights with us!

[onlooker]

High import prices ?, high petrololiam prices perhaps?

Swiss Telecom over English ? sounds like German talk to me.

[chazwicke]

I would have concentrated on the British cask beers. Although I might have been tempted to try the Schlenkerla if they had it there on draft.

[newportstorm]

We experience the same price increases here in the US on British imports. I really enjoy St. Peter's Cream Stout (and others like Hambleton Nightmare) but have to think whether a bottle of it is worth $4+ to me when a six pack of fresh, local Stout is only a couple $$ more.

Cheers!

[onlooker]

I will always pay the $$ for an import I rate or one I havent tried. I only feel ripped off if its oxidised and light struck when I taste it.

[Richard English]

I think the point that was being made is that the prices for imports were higher at the GBBF than the prices for similar imports on the high street. This contrasts with the situation as regards cask-conditioned ales which were sold at pub prices.

[stronk]

The Swiss are better than the English only when it comes to getting broadband connections set up. I've been a month without internet in the UK (despite having ordered it roughly 5 weeks ago) and was without it for only a few days after ordering here in Switzerland. And it wasn't just the broadband company's fault, it was as much BT's as well.

And what Richard said about the imports being more expensive than on the high street at the GBBF is exactly what I was getting at. When I have to pay to get into the festival and then pay a 100% premium on imported beers, I'm not happy.

[Richard English]

When I ordered my Broadband I asked for a particular date and it was in and running that very morning.

Of course, it does depend on the copper wire connections and the exchange equipment. Not all areas have the right equipment in the UK and if it's not there then you won't get Broadband until it's installed.

It's always dangerous to generalise on the basis of just one experience. It's rather like the lager drinker who says that "all bitters are rubbish" on the basis of just one experience of a sub-standard pint, or the train traveller who condemns an entire network on that basis of experiencing one delayed train.

[stronk]

Well, it wasn't just one experience. I have been through 6 ISPs in the UK and 2 of the two they have around here. Service in the UK wasn't universally bad, but it was much worse than service from both Swiss ISPs. I think it has a lot to do with BT owning all the lines in the UK: they really don't need to give good service to the other telecoms companies because there is no alternative for them. This gets passed on to the customer.

[Richard English]

Well, I had line with both NTL and BT at my last address and BT were better. NTL gave more problems and their customer service was rubbish. If I needed to call BT I got through immediately and didn't have to pay anything - not even the phone call. My ISP is Pinnacle and they, too, are fine.

It is characteristic of the English to knock everything that we do whereas, in truth, we do most things well and many things superbly (like brewing beer).

I know of no other country that denigrates itself as do the English and it is a shame. The only thing I would say in defence of the attitude is that it does prevent our becoming complacent. Try to suggest to a Frenchman that something French is inferior to a foreign item and you'll have a major row on your hands.