As we properly come into summer, there are a number of CAMRA beer festivals to be enjoyed, all featuring a great range of cask beers and ciders. In London, it kicks off with the Kingston Beer Festival (12 to 14 June) at the Kingston Workmen’s Club & Institute, 25 Old London Road KT2 6ND. The festival is now in its 24th year. For further information see the beer festival page at https://kandl.camra.org.uk/viewnode.php?id=246125.
July (9 to 12) sees Ealing Beer Festival, the largest cask beer festival in London. Once again it is being held in Walpole Park, Mattock Lane, W5 5EQ (Wednesday to Friday 12 to 10.30 and Saturday 12 to 8pm). The admission package (£8 CAMRA members and £10 non-CAMRA members) includes a souvenir cup (non-refundable) and a souvenir program. Discounted admission (£5) is available to all after 8.30 when purchased on the door. Being a tented festival, with plenty of space for picnics, it offers a great place for families to have a day out. It is also dog friendly.
For directions, go to the What Three Words website https://w3w.co/puzzle.shut.monks. Transport links: Ealing Broadway (TfL Central, District and Elizabeth lines), South Ealing (TfL Piccadilly Line) plus local and trunk bus routes SL8, 207, N207, 483, N83, 65, N65, E2, E7, E8, E11 and N11. For more information go to ebf.camra.org.uk.
On Thursday, the festival will be hosting London’s only cask beer competition, the London Cask Beer Awards. With beers selected from members’ votes and by CAMRA’s London Tasting Panel, you can be sure of tasting some of the best cask beer that the capital has to offer. The 2024 winner was Anspach & Hobday’s The IPA, which later that year was runner up in CAMRA’s National Champion Beer of Britain competition.
For most of the past three decades, August has seen CAMRA’s flagship event, the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) being held in west London. This year however sees it move to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham (5 to 9 August). The NEC is right next door to Birmingham International Station and, with the right train, it is just an 80 minute (or less) journey from Euston so that day trips are easy.
The GBBF will be hosting a number of competition finals on the morning of the trade day (Tuesday 5). These include CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain, the Champion Bottled Beer of Britain (the only bottled conditioned beer competition in the UK) and CAMRA’s Home Brew competition. Entries to the latter are now open. If you brew excellent home brew, why not enter? For details go to https://gbbfhomebrew.brewingcompetitions.com/.
As well as the usual cask beer, cider, perries and imported beers, the GBBF is hosting a no/low alcohol bar for the first time. This is a reflection of the staggering growth in this market over the last few years. An estimated 86% of pubs now stock at least one no/low alcohol beer and growth is projected to continue at 5% year on year. If this is all new to you and you’d like to try a few of the better ones, join me for a tasting on the Friday lunchtime. A list of the other tastings and more details on the festival can be found at https://greatbritishbeerfestival.co.uk/beer-tastings.
Finally, CAMRA’s Watford Beer Festival is scheduled to take place towards the end of August. This friendly, festival is held not far from Watford Junction or a longer walk from Watford tube station. Details are yet to be confirmed and will appear on their website https://watford.camra.org.uk/.
If this has wetted your whistle, you can also find details of London beer festivals on the regional website (www.london.camra.org.uk). There are also adverts for most London festivals in this magazine. If you have wider horizons, visit CAMRA’s national events website and search for beer festivals (https://camra.org.uk/events). Don’t forget: if you support beer festivals organized by CAMRA, you can be certain that you are supporting independent brewers.
Christine Cryne