"We see through a cask, darkly": GBBF 2025
This quote popped into my head after returning from the Cathedral of Cask itself, the Walsingham of any loyal CAMRA-man. The Great British Beer Festival, which had taken up residence at the Birmingham NEC. The quote is a slight adaptation of something that St Paul said to the Corinthians - the spirit of it is that we do not see everything clearly now and should therefore reserve judgement until more wisdom is revealed to us. Which, in the hard contested world of beer, is apt.
Anyway, my third GBBF (not counting the one time in Docklands when I was young and clueless). In previous years I went with a bit of a sense of irony. After the first one I woke up the following morning, found my brand new CAMRA membership card in my pocket and thought "what happened there?". The first couple of times I majored on the guest craft bars and the Belgian / American offerings. And it was great, although I did end up slightly wrecked. New readers start here.
https://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/gbbf-2023-surreal-ale-dirty-abbots-and-long-spoons , https://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/camra-chameleon
But this time I resolved as an experiment to get a bit more into the spirit of it. Over the past year I have been lucky in finding excellent cask ales to drink. I have enjoyed sessions with friends in SW London that were based around Big Smoke Cosmic Dawn and Windsor & Eton Windsor Knot. My local Sambrooks taproom in Wandsworth does a mean pint of Junction premium bitter. When at The Oval I have started gravitating to the real ale bar in the Long Room for a pint of Mondo's Little Victories or the Park Brewery's Treebox. (Not to mention the London Pride and Landlord that you can find around London).
My friends have started teasing me that my beard is really not long enough for me to go down the cask route. (I should explain that my beard is only two years old, and is probably still more of a "craft beard" than a proper CAMRA style). So they smile when I opt for the cask... but, having tried it, they usually end up there too. I have not given up on other beer styles. But, as Benjamin Franklin allegedly first said, "a place for everything and everything in its place".
So let's talk GBBF. Starting with one of the elephants in the room, which is the demographic. I saw a Bluesky post saying “see you at GBBF - I’ll be the middle aged white guy in the beer themed T shirt”. The friendly volunteer who swapped my token for a glass greeted me as “young man”, which isn’t something I hear often nowadays. And yes it is still a bit like this… not having a go - simply to say that if it is CAMRA’s objective to broaden the member base, this is an ongoing challenge.
I had initially been planning to attend just for the Friday, but then an amazing opportunity hove into view - there were tickets left for Pete Brown's "This Beer Tastes Like Sound: a Multisensory Tasting Adventure". It was Pete who first inspired me to read and write about beer after I picked up a copy of one of his books from a charity shop. Instead of trying to provide a blow by blow account of the talk and tasting, i will just say this - do look up when Pete is giving a talk, and then buy a ticket. And buy his book. You won’t regret it.
So I ended up spreading my time over two days - Thursday evening and the first three hours of the Friday session. I would heartily recommend the two day approach if you can do it, in terms of pacing yourself. There were just so many possibilities there which had to be sampled. It also gave me the quiet of the final hour of Thursday evening when I could sip a couple of fine beers and contemplate the universe in all of its mysteries. While observing the oddity of CAMRA members engaged in a silent disco near the stage.
Let’s get down to business - here is a list of what I drank over the two days. CBOB refers to the Champion Beer of Britain competition, which was as always judged on the first day of the festival.
Thursday
Afternoon
Tilquin (Belgium) - clementine lambic
Cairngorm (Aviemore) - Wildcat. CBOB winner Premium Bitter category
Thornbridge (Derbyshire) - The Union IPA
Pete’s tasting:
Fyne Ales (Cairndow, Scotland) Jarl Blonde Ale
Orval (Belgium) Trappist
Siren Craft (Reading) Broken Dream Breakfast Stout. CBOB winner Speciality / Differently flavoured category
Elusive (Reading) Oregon Trail. CBOB Winner IPA category.
Evening:
Tintagel (Cornwall) - Caliburn Old Ale. CBOB winner Brown / Red / Old Ales category
Grain (Norfolk) - Slate. CBOB winner Strong Stouts and Porters category
Friday
Allendale (Northumberland) - Adder lager. CBOB winner Speciality / Differently Produced category
Butford Organics (Herefordshire) - Browns Apple Cider
Church End (Nuneaton) Fallen Angel pale - CBOB Bronze Medal
Elusive (Reading) Level Up red ale
Siren Craft (Reading) Passionfruit Orange and Guava Sour
Sarah Hughes (Sedgley, West Midlands) Snowflake Winter Ale - CBOB Silver Medal
3 Fonteinen (Belgium) old plum lambic
Coolhead (Finland) x Finback (New York) Whale in the Garden DIPA
Looking back at all of that puts a smile on my face and also gives me a bit of a psychosomatic headache. I think the saving grace of it is that I stayed away from the Imperial Stouts and Quadrupels. Not through any great restraint, but because the De Struise Quadrupel had run out by the time I was camped at the international bar.
Majoring on the CBOB winners proved to be a good call. These were beers that were worth taking time over and savouring. In most cases, there was something subtle that gradually came through as you sipped it and breathed it in. For example, on Fallen Angel the contrast between the bitterness and the honey did indeed emerge as you let your senses go to work. So thanks to the judges for helping me further my education.
Beyond that, I ticked off my classic GBBF list.
Toasting the memory of my Grandad (who worked at Bulmers) in Herefordshire cider.
Then the Thornbridge and Siren Craft bars, which are always unmissable. I had read about Thornbridge’s rescue of the Burton Union system so was determined to try the Union IPA and it was indeed quite an experience. (More on Thornbridge here https://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/jai-pur-you-are-my-fantasy )
I was intrigued and delighted also to see the Reading craft powerhouses of Siren and their neighbours Elusive storming the hallowed portals to win awards, not to mention Manchester’s Track. All of these have made real ale offerings as part of their diverse portfolio, and I hope it is encouraging more people to be ecumenical in their taste.
Having already been served some Oregon Trail by Pete, I then saw another Elusive offering at the Chemical Fizz for Heathens Who Know No Better Bar (ok, it was actually called the Keg Bar. And actually isn’t it quite refreshing that there was one of those?). This was Level Up Red Ale, and it was the best red ale I have tasted by a mile, with the perfect balance of sweet and sour. “This malty and hoppy wonder will draw you in and hug you like a blanket on a cold evening”, says the Elusive website, and I would not argue. (More on Siren and Elusive here https://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/the-siren-call-of-reading )
Even over two days, I had neither time nor capacity to taste everything that would have been great to taste, so I had to prioritise ruthlessly, leaving out some great beers on the grounds that I already knew them.
Track’s award winning cask Sonoma pale (more on Track and others here https://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/manchester-we-strive-for-perfection-and-if-we-fail-we-might-have-to-settle-for-excellence )
Harvey’s Old Ale (more here https://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/sussex-wunt-be-druv ).
Budvar, which always gives me flashbacks to backpacking around Czechoslovakia in 1990 (more here https://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/someone-s-always-playing-corporation-games ).
British beer festival this may be, but you would be a fool to come here and miss out on the international talent. I went for the DIPA for the rare opportunity to try anything associated with Finback, and I was not disappointed. Customer service award goes to the guy on the Belgian bar who set an example to the other bar staff (many of whom were a bit shy) in terms of making eye contact, being welcoming and making suggestions. It was through this guy that I found out about next May’s Teur de Gueuze and I have just booked my accommodation in Halle! Picture shows the wonderful 3 Fonteinen Plum Lambic.
I only observed two bars doing a poor trade. The no/low alcohol bar. And the Greene King bar. Greene King’s sponsorship of GBBF apparently has an air of masochism about it - they do not seem to be popular with the membership at all.
Now to what the French would call “les petits bemol” and a UK corporation would call the Even Better Ifs. Eagle eyed readers may have noticed that I drank the CBOB Bronze and Silver medalists but not The CBOB itself - Penzance Mild. Reader, I tried. Really. It was the first bar I headed to when I arrived on the Thursday afternoon. I popped back at various points on the Friday and was eventually told that it still wasn’t ready and was not going to be ready by the time I left. I am not suggesting they should have served The CBOB in anything other than good condition. But heavens what a wasted opportunity that it wasn’t prepared so as to be available throughout. The chance to showcase a champion cask beer - and the endangered species that is a Mild, to boot- and it was (at least partly) lost.
I also can’t not mention the recent blog by Kimberley (“craftbeerpinup”) describing how for her visiting as a lone woman GBBF was an obstacle course with hostile fire. The blokes who would open with “a pretty girl like you shouldn’t be drinking alone” and, crucially, refuse to recognise any signal, however obvious, that their company was not welcome. (And who respond to articles which talk about this with a snort of “well excuse me for being friendly”). I won’t go into some cod diagnosis of what this says about blokes / beer drinkers / CAMRA. I guess I just wanted to acknowledge it, add my voice to those who say that no this is not ok, and offer allyship if I ever get the chance to help in a more concrete way in future.
Anyway, I have supped my fill for now. Except that it’s my birthday next week… damn