Memories of the Great British Beer Festival.

Proper Job Ambassadors at GBBF 2018 enjoying the day in front of the St Austell bar.

In previous years whilst working for St Austell Brewery at the end of July I'd be busy preparing for the CAMRA run Great British Beer Festival or GBBF as it is known. St Austell always had a large bar at the festival and it was a highlight of the summer for 50,000+ real ale drinkers taking place during the first week of August at Olympia, London. My role was to manage our bar from its design and set up, through to working the event and the final take down at the end of the week. I could not have achieved this without two very able colleagues in Len and Steve who both went above and beyond in ensuring the bar was always the best in show.

Of course COVID has changed all of that. GBBF has not happened for the last two years and I no longer work in marketing for St Austell Brewery. GBBF was hard work and maligned by many (including some St Austell sales staff), but I have very positive memories of the festival and to my surprise, do really miss it.

The St Austell Brewery bar was unique, we would normally showcase eight or nine beers, from our ever popular flagship brands like Tribute and Proper Job, to some of the seasonal and speciality brews such as Liquid Sunshine and Big Job. In the final year CAMRA finally relented and we were able to serve lager in the fabulous Korev and two keg beers, which was a big step forward as at last we had some beers that appealed to younger drinkers. Steve was invaluable in this with his beer dispense skills and I was always confident that St Austell beers would be served in the supreme condition that our Head Brewer Roger Ryman would expect,

However it was not just the beers that made our bar different from the rest as we always had our own resident DJ in Len, who would deliver constant play lists of music ranging from 60's trend setting foot tappers, sing along favourites to heavy rock as the time of the day and mood of the bar demanded, all accompanied by flashing disco lights! Beer and music go together like carrots and peas and I must admit I really did look forward to the great tracks Len would unearth during the long days behind the bar, although there are only so any times you can hear Tom Jones Delilah! We quickly established our bar as the party bar and situated close to the festivals entrance and exits we were always busy.

Our Head Brewer, the late Roger Ryman always loved GBBF. I recall we would get the odd beer short listed each year for Champion Beer and he would make special efforts in choosing the best brew of the selected beer to go up and be judged. I know he would have been thrilled if St Austell could have won the Champion Beer of Britain accolade but sadly that never happened. However we did win the Champion Bottled Beer with Admirals Ale, Proper Job and Big Job over the years, so not a bad effort!

Talking of Big Job, at 7.2% abv this beer was responsible for ruining many a drinkers day at the event. Customers would rush over to our bar on entering the festival and ask for a pint of Big Job. We'd ask, are you sure and politely suggest a half pint might be a better starter, but many would resist and go the full pint. Well good luck with that we'd wish them and an hour later you would see them, worse for wear, like a racehorse that's gone off too quickly in a race, now floundering to stay the course!

At this point I must also mention the role played by the CAMRA organisers, not least because they were all volunteers. Primarily an older generation of people, they were all very passionate about cask beer and although I certainly did not always agree with their rules on how beer should be served, I had the utmost respect for their efforts. GBBF was in the process of changing and they were trying hard to appeal to a younger market and embrace the craft beers, which surely was a must if the festival was to survive. 

CAMRA members in front of our bar in 2019, note the steel barrels which acted as tables and kept people drinking at the bar, superb branding as well.

From a marketing viewpoint at St Austell I always saw the value of working with CAMRA and showcasing our beers at their festivals, they attracted large numbers of people who were interested in beer who were opinion formers in their own right. Building beer brands is not down to one or two actions, it needs a joined up plan that encompasses many things and I always made sure we had a presence at many of these events. In particular the CAMRA festivals allowed brewers to build their own bar and create a brand look. I've found craft beer festivals to be different in this respect in that all brewers attending are expected to fit within a framework and all look the same. Thus you became part of the overall noise of the event and it's often difficult to stand out, making brand building much harder.

St Austell made great efforts for the trade day session, which opened the show on the Tuesday afternoon. They held a pre-event drinks reception at a local pub for licensees and trade customers. This was always excellent and gave a great opportunity for networking and much business was cemented. Some colleagues saw this is as the be all and end all of the event but for me, GBBF was more an opportunity to showcase our brands and touch many of the 50,000 members of the public who came to enjoy the event. During my long career in beer marketing I came to realise that at the end of the day, its the consumer who finally drinks your beer, rather than the licensee who puts in on the bar, that ultimately determines the success or failure of a brand.

So, good luck to GBBF for whatever the future holds, I'd like to think it reappears as a major festival rather than an online or pub event that its limited too in 2021. However for now, I'm happy just to raise a glass and say, thanks for the memories, I had a blast.

St Austell Brewery bar in 2015, left to right, Len, myself (Marc), Phillipa (colleague from marketing) and Steve.