GBBF - 2-6 August 2011

[Swift Pint]

Less than a month now to the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival:

http://gbbf.camra.org.uk/home

Anyone else going?

I've got the Thursday and Firday booked off work for some all day sessions, but will also try and make it down on the Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

:

 

[richc]

I should be there with quite a lot of people on the Thursday. I've cunningly planned a visit to my parents in London so they can look after the kids while I go drinking....

 

[jamesb]

i'll be around tuesday until sunday, but not necessarily in the gbbf itself.

 

[Crastney]

some uni friends and I are going on thursday afternoon/evening - I'll be wearing a big Russian fur hat, probably drinking cider, or gold/pale ales.

 

[Swift Pint]

Cool cool!!!

I'm really excited now!!
I'll be going for a few tomorrow evening, then all day Thurs & Friday. May squeeze in a few more Saturday.... if I manage to get out of bed that is.

I'll be sporting a v. tall tophat on Thursday, so should be fairly visible. Will also be tweeting increasingly non-sensical beer related tweets throughout, @string158 for those that are on twitter.

Rock and roll on 5pm tomorrow... :drink:

 

[WelshPaul]

I'll be going with a good-sized bunch of people on Thursday. I'd have preferred to go on Saturday but one of my friends advised that a lot of the microbreweries tend to be sold out by then so it looks like Friday morning in work is not going to be fun!

 

[Runwell-Steve]

According to the esteemed judges the finest beer at the festival and hence champion Beer of Britain is Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde Mild.

Nothing against it, it's a nice beer, but if thats the best on offer I'm not sure I can be bothered.

 

[Tony]

Christ, I'm heading along on the Thursday too .. going to be crowded. Don't drink all the ale folks. Starting with breakfast in Leicester Square with my brother then heading there for 12. What were camra thinking not catering for those of us who like to start drinking with sun-up?


You're bound to spot me, I'll be the one with a beard and wearing sandals.

 

[richc]

I'll be sporting a v. tall tophat on Thursday, so should be fairly visible.

Oh yes, hat day..... goes to rummage in the loft for a while.....I'll be the one in a floppy gold and blue medieval hat thing.

 

[dennisking]

According to the esteemed judges the finest beer at the festival and hence champion Beer of Britain is Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde Mild.

Nothing against it, it's a nice beer, but if thats the best on offer I'm not sure I can be bothered.

I wonder if these are the same judges who gave the same gong to Green king IPA a few years back. :wha:

 

[oz11]

ahh... that'll be the 2004, strange indeed, but GK IPA was only second best beer in Britain that year, to Kelham Island Pale Rider.

 

[unclepumble]

According to the esteemed judges the finest beer at the festival and hence champion Beer of Britain is Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde Mild.

Nothing against it, it's a nice beer, but if thats the best on offer I'm not sure I can be bothered.

I wonder if these are the same judges who gave the same gong to Green king IPA a few years back. :wha:

I think amount of sponsorship at said festival by the placing brewery, has a fair part to play in the decision on the finest beer, from what I was lead to believe.

UP

 

[oz11]

Having judged on the CBOB a few years ago I can say that the beers we were given to taste were in identical glasses with no labels or indication of the beer or the brewery. I only have experience of that one year but I would be surprised if the beers are judged any differently from year to year.

 

[Swift Pint]

Yeah, I had thought that the judging was done "blind".

Who is the judging panel made up of? CAMRA seems to be having a big push to promote milds at the moment, might that have had an impact on the style of beer that won? :wha:

WP - I would agree that going on Thursday will be better than Sat. I remember from last year that quite a few smaller breweries had run out. I spent a lot of time around the US beers and most of these had gone by saturday...

 

[Swift Pint]

oh man, is it beerfest O'clock yet?? Today is killing me!

:drink:

 

[oz11]

Who is the judging panel made up of? CAMRA seems to be having a big push to promote milds at the moment, might that have had an impact on the style of beer that won? :wha:

I got onto the judging panel by way of winning a prize draw held by CAMRA. I believe there were 8 of us sat around the table: Another draw winner, Roger Protz and Jeff Evans (both beer writers), the head beer buyer from Marks and Spencer, and .. um... a couple of others. It was a blind tasting and we each scored the beers in categories (appearance, aroma, taste and finish if i remember rightly) which were then totalled once the beers had all been tasted to arrive at the top 3. I'm not incorruptible by any stretch of the imagination, but sadly no bribes or incentives were offered.

 

[Che Banana]

Possibly the ales that are judged are a different beast to those in pubs up and down the land then?

 

[oz11]

I've heard that as a theory, i.e. the brewer knows which batch is destined for the GBBF tastings and so puts a little more "effort" (or some hops in GK IPA's case? :whistle: ) into it.

 

[dennisking]

I've heard that as a theory, i.e. the brewer knows which batch is destined for the GBBF tastings and so puts a little more "effort" (or some hops in GK IPA's case? :whistle: ) into it.

Think that idea was mentioned at the time, I can't see good honest brewers like GK stooping that low. :whistle:

 

[oz11]

Must have taken them ages to remember where the hops were stored....a dusty corner not disturbed for years.