Reflections on Plymouth Beer Festival 2015, Cracks, Cooling and Chris Farlowe!

Saturday Night entertainment at Plymouth

A well established Beer Festival, Plymouth was once again a bastion of cask ale for the folk of South Devon. However, for all the PR, positive talk, fine beer and good fun that was had, there was perhaps the odd crack starting to appear in one of the South West's premier beer events.

Regretfully, some old stalwarts of the organising team have either sadly passed away or are unable to continue for other reasons. However, fresh willing people have picked up the mantle and although they don't yet have the knowledge that comes from years of running such an event, new blood brings new ideas so is not a bad thing. Hopefully it will be good in the long run as the new organisers get their teeth into the event and start to bring their own ideas to fruition. The latter is what Plymouth really needs so good luck to them for next year.

 So, here are my thoughts on the 2015 event.

Firstly, held at Plymouth Pavilions, this is a superb venue but it is a large cavernous area that can lack atmosphere and soul. It needs a bit of window dressing to make it look good for a beer festival and in 2015 this was a little thin on the ground. The Pavilions has a lot going for it as a venue, not least because it is in central Plymouth and easy to get to for most, so I'd like to see the event continue here. It just needs a large splash of beer related colour and paraphernalia to help it along the way!

Secondly, and I'm sorry to repeat an old bug bear, the beer quality here could be improved with some proper cooling equipment. CAMRA rely on overnight air conditioning to bring down the temperature, but come Saturday afternoon many of the beers are at less than perfect temperature and certainly not show-cased at their best. It's easy to lay the blame for this at CAMRA's door but I think the responsibility lies as much with the brewers and wholesalers who sell CAMRA the beer.

In my view they should ensure their beers are always served at their optimum temperature and supply the correct equipment to do this. This is potentially a huge investment but some of the larger brewers could do this. Not supplying cooling is a short term saving, BUT, potentially much longer term pain is being done as consumers try the beer, have a disappointing experience and then don't choose cask ale in a pub. The long term losers are the brewers, pub operators and wholesalers, not CAMRA or Plymouth Beer Festival!

Thirdly, more pre-event advertising needs to take place for the festival. CAMRA need to whet the appetite of the Plymouth public. I'm not sure how much that really happened for 2015 and as a result numbers were down on the previous year. Its easy to say this and we should remember CAMRA is a voluntary organisation and their members try their level best, but they don't always have the time or the skills to make this happen, so it's a difficult challenge to overcome.

Finally, and perhaps this is most contentious, apart from the quiet session the event would really benefit from some more entertainment/music. Perhaps its a good opportunity to let some fresh untried local bands to have a go. So long as their sound is controlled and they are not too loud, they could attract a whole new audience to the event.

To finish it would not be complete without commenting on how good the music choice on Saturday night was. Some old stagers of the 1960's, the music was foot tapping, good quality and some great old favourites. Not least the star of the show was Chris Farlowe, he of Handbags and Gladrags fame. Still a wonderful voice sir, you were a highlight of an entertaining evening.

Reflections on GBBF 2015 - its not just about the Beer!

St Austell Brewery bar team

It would be remiss of me not to write about the hugely popular GBBF (Great British Beer Festival) in London. I've attended the event for the last three years now as part of the St Austell Brewery bar team and 2015 was equally as good as previous years.

It never ceases to amaze me of the organisation that goes into producing any large beer festival but GBBF is something different. It's not perfect, it has its flaws, but its run by an enthusiastic group of volunteers who without fail manage to put on a festival to be proud of and one that showcases some of the best beers available. Congratulations CAMRA and all its willing volunteers for making this happen.

However, it's also true that Beer Festivals should be fun as well as giving people the chance to try some great beers. Working on my bar it was clearly apparent, that fuelled by some fine Cornish ales and equally great mix of music, customers where having fun.

The "m" word (music) is one that other beer festivals often over look. Music and beer go hand in hand as much as beer and football, so I think its only right that more festival organisers should take their entertainment offering as well as the beer a bit more seriously. On the St Austell bar we had a resident DJ who played a mix of tracks appropriate for the time of day and customer age groups - that's really important as who wants to hear heavy rock early on a Wednesday!

At other regional beer festivals CAMRA tend to book bands to play in the evening sessions and the remaining times are quiet. Although I respect the need for a quiet session I think its time CAMRA started to add to the atmosphere of their events with more background or regular music slots. It does not need to be a band blasting your ear drums, a DJ mix of 60's, 70's or 80's classic tracks are great for raising the atmosphere and getting the feet tapping . Also, one thing that CAMRA and real ale needs to do is to appeal to younger people so the introduction of more music would surely help with this.

Dare I add there might also be a place for a sports screen at some festivals. If there is a good match on the TV then why not employ a large screen for this to be shown. If this attracts more people, or keeps people at the event, costs permitting its worth considering.

So for me, although GBBF 2015 was a very enjoyable and successful event, the popularity of the St Austell bar with its music made me aware that's "its not just about the beer"!