1.
Beer festival
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A beer festival is an event at which a variety of beers are available for purchase. There may be a theme, for instance beers from a particular area, frick beer British beer festivals focus on draught real ale, although bottled beers and ciders are often included. There is also an emphasis on variety as well as volume, festivals can be organised by the Campaign for Real Ale, pubs, brewers, social and sporting societies or charities. CAMRA festivals are run by volunteers under the direction of local branches, pub festivals use professional bar staff and there is usually no entry fee. Larger British beer festivals are held in large indoor venues. Casks of ale from different brewers, numbering in the hundreds, are placed on stillage behind rows of trestle tables, staff serve beer directly from the cask and take payment in the form of cash or tokens purchased at the entrance. Cooling is achieved using wet sacking or blankets for evaporative cooling or though refrigerated cooling saddles, glasses are distributed at the entrance to the venue, usually for a small deposit although often included in the entrance fee, often bearing a design specific to the festival. A beer list is available, often indicating where in the venue the different casks will be situated. Food is usually available, and entertainments and games such as live music, medium-sized festival are typically held in meeting halls or marquees. These include festivals organised by local CAMRA branches, or by clubs and they may be themed, emphasising beers from a certain region or in a particular style, for instance the National Winter Ales festival. If a pub is well-provided with handpumps, it can put on a festival by rotating guest beers rapidly through them. Alternatively a temporary stillage may be set up inside the bar, pub-based festivals usually last a weekend. The pubco Wetherspoons holds simultaneous festivals twice-yearly in all the hundreds of branch in its chain and it claims its festivals are Britains largest. The number of different beers that can be provided in a pub festival ranges from about 15 to about 100, in all British festivals the beer is sold in quantities of half or full pints. From 2006 the GBBF additionally served beer in nips, for the benefit of those who wish to sample many beers without consuming excessive amounts of alcohol, Beer festivals are held across the United Kingdom. Notable ones include, The Great British Beer Festival held annually in August in London is the largest beer festival in the UK organised by the Campaign for Real Ale. The GBBF, founded in 1977, was attended by over 66,000 people in 2006 when 350,000 pints of ale were consumed over the five days. The Peterborough Beer Festival is the biggest outdoor CAMRA real ale festival in the UK and is the second largest beer festival in the UK behind the Great British Beer Festival
2.
Campaign for Real Ale
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The Campaign for Real Ale is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, real cider and the traditional British pub. With over 185,000 members, it is now the largest single-issue consumer group in the UK, the original name was the Campaign for the Revitalisation of Ale. On 31 March 2016, founder Michael Hardman returned to chair a Revitalisation Project Steering Group, the aim of the Revitalisation Project is to review the organisations purpose. CAMRAs stated aims are to, Protect and improve consumer rights, promote quality, choice and value for money. Support the public house as a focus of community life, Campaign for greater appreciation of traditional beers, ciders and perries as part of our national heritage and culture. Seek improvements in all licensed premises and throughout the brewing industry, cAMRAs campaigns include promoting small brewing and pub businesses, reforming licensing laws, reducing tax on beer, and stopping continued consolidation among local British brewers. It also makes an effort to promote less common varieties of beer, including stout, porter, CAMRA does not support the promotion and sale of keg based craft beer in the UK. CAMRAs Internal Policy document states that real ale can only be served without the use of additional carbonation, in 2009, CAMRA announced that it had reached the 100,000 members mark and subsequently went on to pass the 150,000 members mark in 2013. Member benefits include a newspaper, Whats Brewing and a quarterly BEER magazine. In recent times CAMRA has obtained benefits for its members from some commercial organisations and it is governed by a voluntary unpaid national executive, elected by the membership. The local branches are grouped into 16 regions across the UK, the current National Chairman is Colin Valentine, who took over from Paula Waters in February 2010. Tim Page, who succeeded Mike Benner, has been Chief Executive since November 2014, CAMRA members receive a monthly newspaper called Whats Brewing and a quarterly colour magazine called Beer. It also runs the Great British Beer Festival, a event held in London at which a large selection of cask ales. It also maintains a National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors to help bring greater recognition and protection to Britains most historic pubs, in 2013 CAMRA launched public access to a national pub database website called Whatpub. com which is maintained by CAMRA members through the branches structure. CAMRA supports and promotes many beer and cider festivals around the country each year, which are organised by local CAMRA branches around the UK. Generally, each festival charges a fee which varies depending upon the area. A festival programme is also provided, listing the drinks available for tasting and providing a brief description of each beverage. Members often get discounted or free entrance to CAMRA festivals, the Campaign also organises the annual Great British Beer Festival in August
3.
Cask ale
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Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer is unfiltered and unpasteurised beer which is conditioned and served from a cask without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure. Cask ale is also referred to as real ale in the United Kingdom. The Histories of Herodotus, written in 424 BC, refers to casks of palm-wood filled with wine being moved by boat to Babylon, stout wooden barrels held together with an iron hoop were developed by the north European Celts during the Iron Age for storing goods. Over the centuries other methods have developed for preserving and storing beer but this method is still used. Bottled beers were commonplace by the 17th century for the well off who wished to drink outside of public inns, but while the middle and upper classes could indulge themselves with such expensive luxuries, the ordinary folk continued to drink their beer served direct from the cask. But as beer developed and became paler and lower in alcohol, so it more difficult to keep it fresh tasting in the cask. By the late 19th century commercial refrigeration and Louis Pasteurs flash heating method of sterilisation prolonged the life of beer, in Britains cooler climate these methods did not catch on at this time. Not all beer in mainland Europe is pasteurised, there are plenty of examples of unfiltered, unpasteurised beers, but these will commonly be served from a container under pressure. Traditionally draught beer came from barrels, also called casks. An additional benefit of the switch to metal casks was that staling from oxygen in the air could be reduced, subsequently, in the early 1960s a form of metal cask, known as a keg, was introduced which allowed for more efficient cleaning and filling in the brewery. Also kegs have a concave bottom whilst the barrel or cask design allows sediment to be retained in the cask. Lastly, kegs have straight sides unlike the traditional barrel or cask shape, by the early 1970s most beer in Britain was keg beer, filtered, pasteurised and artificially carbonated, and most British brewers used carbon dioxide for dispensing keg beers. This led to beers containing more dissolved gas in the glass than the traditional ale, by contrast, in Ireland, where stout was dominant, the use of a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen for dispensing prevented the beer from becoming over-carbonated. In 1971 the Campaign for Real Ale was founded in Britain to save what they came to term real ale, the heart of the definition is the maturation requirements. If the beer is unfiltered, unpasteurised and still active on the yeast, it is a real ale, it is irrelevant whether the container is a cask or a bottle. This is beer which is regarded as Real Ale. It is obtained by decanting, or re-racking, Real Ale from one cask to another, the ale in the first cask/container will have already been fined, taking the majority of the yeast to the bottom of the cask. Ale should only be re-racked immediately before delivery to the point of service, cask ale usually has finings added which drag the yeast to the bottom, when the finings have cleared the beer it is said to have dropped bright and the beer will look clear rather than cloudy
4.
Stout
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Stout is a dark beer made using roasted malt or roasted barley, hops, water and yeast. Stouts were traditionally the generic term for the strongest or stoutest porters, typically 7% or 8%, produced by a brewery. There are a number of variations including Baltic porter, milk stout, and imperial stout, the most common variation is dry stout, exemplified by Guinness Draught, the worlds best selling stout. The first known use of the stout for beer was in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript. The name porter was first used in 1721 to describe a dark beer that had been made with roasted malts. Because of the popularity of porters, brewers made them in a variety of strengths. Porter originated in London, England in the early 1720s, within a few decades, porter breweries in London had grown beyond any previously known scale. Large volumes were exported to Ireland, where by 1776 it was being brewed by Arthur Guinness at his St. Jamess Gate Brewery, in the 19th century, the beer gained its customary black colour through the use of black patent malt, and became stronger in flavour. Originally, the adjective stout meant proud or brave, but later, after the 14th century, the first known use of the word stout for beer was in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript, the sense being that a stout beer was a strong beer. Stout still meant only strong and it could be related to any kind of beer, as long as it was strong, in the UK it was possible to find stout pale ale, for example. Later, stout was eventually to be associated only with porter, because of the huge popularity of porters, brewers made them in a variety of strengths. The beers with higher gravities were called Stout Porters, there is still division and debate on whether stouts should be a separate style from porter. Usually the only deciding factor is strength, with beer writers such as Michael Jackson writing about stouts and porters in the 1970s, there has been a moderate interest in the global speciality beer market. In the mid 1980s a survey by What’s Brewing found just 29 brewers in the UK and Channel Islands still making stout, milk stout is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Because lactose cannot be fermented by beer yeast, it adds sweetness, body, milk stout was claimed to be nutritious, and was given to nursing mothers, along with other stouts, such as Guinness. The classic surviving example of milk stout is Mackesons, for which the original brewers claimed that each pint contains the energising carbohydrates of 10 ounces of pure dairy milk. With milk or sweet stout becoming the dominant stout in the UK in the early 20th century, it was mainly in Ireland that the non-sweet or standard stout was being made. As standard stout has a dryer taste than the English and American sweet stouts, though still sometimes termed Irish or dry stout, particularly if made in Ireland, this is the standard stout sold and would normally just be termed stout
5.
Beer in Belgium
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Beer in Belgium varies from pale lager to lambic beer and Flemish red. There are approximately 180 breweries in the country, ranging from international giants to microbreweries, on average, Belgians drink 84 litres of beer each year, down from around 200 each year in 1900. Most beers are bought or served in bottles, rather than cans, using the correct glass is considered to improve its flavor. Brewing in Belgium dates back at least to the age of the first crusades in the 12th century, under the Catholic Churchs permission, local French and Flemish abbeys brewed and distributed beer as a fund raising method. The relatively low-alcohol beer of that time was preferred as an option to available drinking water. What are now traditional, artisanal brewing methods evolved, under abbey supervision, the Trappist monasteries that now brew beer in Belgium were occupied in the late 18th century primarily by monks fleeing the French Revolution. However, the first Trappist brewery in Belgium did not start operation until 10 December 1836 and that beer was exclusively for the monks and is described as dark and sweet. The first recorded sale of beer was on 1 June 1861, in the 16th and 17th century, a beer termed crabbelaer was the most popular beer in Ghent, at the peak of its popularity, more than 50 different breweries produced more than 6 million liters a year. Other kinds of beer brewed in Ghent were klein bier, dubbel bier, clauwaert, dubbele clauwaert, the brewing of Trappist beers takes place in Trappist monasteries. Only eleven monasteries currently meet these qualifications, six of which are in Belgium, Trappist beer is a controlled term of origin, it tells where the beers come from, it is not the name of a beer style. Beyond saying they are mostly top-fermented, the Trappist beers have very little in common stylistically, the current Belgian Trappist producers are, Achel, sells Blonde, Brune, Extra Blonde, Extra Brune. Chimay sells Red Label, White Label and Blue Label, orval sells a unique dry hopped 6. 2% amber beer. Rochefort sells three dark beers,6, Westmalle sells Dubbel and Tripel, Westvleteren sells Green Cap or Blonde, Blue Cap and Yellow Cap. In addition to the above, a beer is sometimes brewed for consumption by the Brothers or sold on site. The designation abbey beers originally applied to any monastic or monastic-style beer, after introduction of an official Trappist beer designation by the International Trappist Association in 1997, it came to mean products similar in style or presentation to monastic beers. In other words, an Abbey beer may be, produced by a non-Trappist monastery — e. g. Monastic orders other than the Trappists can be and are included in this arrangement, what connoiseurs now recognize as Trappist breweries began operations in 1838. Several French monasteries, however, maintained working breweries for 500+ years before the French Revolution disrupted religious life across the northern French province of Wallonia, commercial Abbey beers first appeared during Belgiums World War I recovery. Although Abbey beers do not conform to rigid brewing styles, most tend to include the most recognizable and distinctive Trappist styles of brune, strong pale ale or tripel, as of 2011 eighteen certified Abbey beers existed, Abbaye de Cambron, brewed in Silly by Brasserie de Silly
6.
Beer in Germany
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Beer is a major part of German culture. In 2012, Germany ranked third in terms of beer consumption, behind the Czech Republic. The Reinheitsgebot, sometimes called the German Beer Purity Law or the Bavarian Purity Law in English, was a regulation concerning the production of beer in Germany. In the original text, the ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley, and hops. After its discovery, yeast became the fourth legal ingredient, for top-fermenting beers, the use of sugar is also permitted. There is a dispute as to where the Reinheitsgebot originated, thuringians point to a document which states the ingredients of beer as water, hops, and barley only, and was written in 1434 in Weißensee. It was discovered in the medieval Runneburg near Erfurt in 1999, before its official repeal in 1987, it was the oldest food-quality regulation in the world. Weizenbier and Weißbier are the standard German names for wheat beer – Weizen is German for wheat, weizenbock is the name for a strong beer or bock made with wheat. Roggenbier – a fairly dark beer made with rye, somewhat grainy flavour similar to bread,4. 5-6% ABV, berliner Weisse – a pale, very sour, wheat beer brewed in Berlin. The beer is served with raspberry or woodruff flavoured syrup. Leipziger Gose – an amber, mildly sour, wheat beer with an addition of salt, Hefeweizen – an unfiltered wheat beer. Kristallweizen – a filtered wheat beer, characterized by a clear appearance as opposed to the cloudy look of a typical Hefeweizen. Kottbusser – an heirloom style originating in the city of Cottbus, typically containing oats, honey and molasses in addition to wheat, export — a pale lager brewed around Dortmund that is fuller, maltier and less hoppy than Pilsner. Germanys most popular style in the 1950s and 1960s, it is now becoming increasingly rare. Helles — a malty pale lager from Bavaria of 11-12° Plato,4. 5-5% ABV Kölsch — pale, light-bodied, top-fermented, beer which, maibock — a pale, strong lager brewed in the Spring. Märzen — medium body, malty lagers that come in pale, amber, the type of beer traditionally served at the Munich Oktoberfest. Pilsener — a pale lager with a body and a more prominent hop character. By far the most popular style, with two thirds of the market
