Plymouth Beer Festival 2014

Having fun at Plymouth Beer Festival

Another fine event, Plymouth Beer Festival did not disappoint for 2014. Perhaps the largest beer festival in the South West south of Bristol, the festival claimed 150 different beers plus ciders and foreign beers on top for consumers to enjoy.

A highlight for me of this years event was the quality of the local brews. The St Austell Brewery beers as ever were exceptional, aided by a remote cooling system. The latter is a major benefit and the St Austell beers stood out. If only CAMRA could afford to cool all of their beers. One of their objectives is to promote the sales of cask ales and beer festivals are ideal opportunities to show case cask ales. Much effort goes into pubs serving cask ales in perfect condition, however its sad to say that's not always the case at beer festivals.

It's great to try lots of different beers, but for some the beer festival experience might be their first in tasting cask ales. Such a shame then that CAMRA might be serving it's beers at less than perfect temperature. At Plymouth they are fortunate that they can turn the venue air conditioning down overnight and this certainly helps keep the beers within touching distance of the correct temperature. However we've all seen in the past at other festivals no cooling or even wet bar towels draped across casks to try and aid cooling!

My view is that CAMRA could do worse than invest in some cooling equipment for its major regional beer festivals. The festivals are there to showcase the ales where they deserve to be seen at their best, both for the pride of the brewer and the enjoyment of the consumer. Having used remote coolers, saddles and jackets myself its not entirely straight forward to the novice, so CAMRA would have to have an expert on hand to aid the installs and comply with health and safety rules.

Another problem would be the cost involved, remote coolers are not cheap and they don't like being moved around a great deal.  Alternatives are ice jackets but using lots of these in one go is not practical - there are only so many you can fit in your freezer. However I do think the issue of serving cask ales at their best in your premier events is something CAMRA need to think about and funds permitting, that might mean a major investment in cooling equipment and training.

Having highlighted a potential issue, its great to report the festival at Plymouth was its usual huge success. Keep up the good work and I am already looking forward to 2015.