Do you drink Real Ale?

[TheAleRoom]

Hi all, just wondering if I can get your assistance on something close to every festival-goers heart - booze!

If anyone on here drinks ale or cider can you post and let me know what you would recommend?

Cheers!

Edited April 24, 2012 by TheAleRoom

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Get some 'Old Sneaky Bastard Trying to Advertise' in.

[kaosmark2]

Are you looking at selling any at festivals? Or setting up any discounts related to festival goers etc?

[TheAleRoom]

Yep, I've been speaking to some small festivals. I think this kind of thing is under-represented at festivals and there could be a good market for it (although I'm unlikely to sell much speckled hen at R&L or Global Gathering!).

As for the ad thing Yoghurt: I take your point. I've edited the link out as I do genuinely want people's opinions on what's good and what's not and I'm struggling. I ask the question on twitter but I just get hardcore beer enthusiasts replying - which is fine, but I'd still like a broader view of what people are drinking. If anyone has an issue with this post I'll happily take it down, I just thought this would be a good forum for people who like a drink ;-)

Edited April 24, 2012 by TheAleRoom

[kaosmark2]

You'd be surprised at the demand for ale at the bigger festivals. If people find ale tents they tend to stick around them and stay there. Supposedly at the fan forums there's always lots of comments about wanting more.

Would you be selling ales on tap or in bottles?

ATP's indoor festivals often have ale, the last one I went to had a selection by the Exmoor Ales brewery which were pretty nice. Nothing hugely special but still nice.

My main advice if you're looking to get a good idea is just to go to local ale festivals, taste stuff by the microbreweries, speak to local pub owners about what's popular. Have you been in touch with CAMRA at all?

The band Elbow have recently released their own ale called 'Build a Rocket Boys' like their last album. I don't know how good it is but that might be worth looking into. You might be able to speak to them about working with them to sell that at festivals they play. Transmissions from Jodrell Bank certainly seems like it's up for weird fun links like that. They might already have arrangements sorted, but I don't see like they'll be any harm in asking.

[TheAleRoom]

At the moment it's just bottles but I'd almost certainly have to do tap if I got involved with any music events. I have to say, I've never been to ATP and somehow didn't picture it being the type of event that would stock ale so that is interesting in itself.

I think out of the 'major' festivals I've been to I've only ever had a proper pint of ale at Latitude and it wasn't up to much.

I've spoken to quite a few breweries who are all really helpful . It's good to get the views of people who drink it though as that tends to be less biased and more of a reflection of what is good (or not).

What interests me the most is that it is becoming something that more and more people are getting into and it's shedding the stereotypical 'old man in a tank top' image of old and becoming something that's a lot more accepted.

Thanks for your comments, I'll look into the Elbow thing as well. If anything happens with it i'll owe you a couple of beers! :-)

You'd be surprised at the demand for ale at the bigger festivals. If people find ale tents they tend to stick around them and stay there. Supposedly at the fan forums there's always lots of comments about wanting more.

Would you be selling ales on tap or in bottles?

ATP's indoor festivals often have ale, the last one I went to had a selection by the Exmoor Ales brewery which were pretty nice. Nothing hugely special but still nice.

My main advice if you're looking to get a good idea is just to go to local ale festivals, taste stuff by the microbreweries, speak to local pub owners about what's popular. Have you been in touch with CAMRA at all?

The band Elbow have recently released their own ale called 'Build a Rocket Boys' like their last album. I don't know how good it is but that might be worth looking into. You might be able to speak to them about working with them to sell that at festivals they play. Transmissions from Jodrell Bank certainly seems like it's up for weird fun links like that. They might already have arrangements sorted, but I don't see like they'll be any harm in asking.

[TheAleRoom]

Glasto's got a real ale tent?! I haven't been for a few years - is that recent or have I been missing out? What beers do they serve? (sorry for all the questions, just gutted I never found it when I went!)

Glastonbury has a really good real ale tent... Its the centre point for me

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Apologies TheAleRoom

It was a cheap gag and I didn't realise your true intentions.

I can't really help out because I'd drink piss off a thistle at a festival if I thought it had some alcohol in it. Then again maybe that does help - given that there's so much to do and see at festivals are people going to be so hooked on real ale that they wont just get the nearest alcohol drink they find OK that's right next to them at the time.

Obviously if you go to a beer festival then that is the sole area of entertainment (apart from your mate pissing down his legs kind of thing). That's not the case at a music festival or an even more widespread one like Glasto.

Not sure if any of the above makes sense. I'm a little jaded.

[kaosmark2]

At the moment it's just bottles but I'd almost certainly have to do tap if I got involved with any music events. I have to say, I've never been to ATP and somehow didn't picture it being the type of event that would stock ale so that is interesting in itself.

I think out of the 'major' festivals I've been to I've only ever had a proper pint of ale at Latitude and it wasn't up to much.

I've spoken to quite a few breweries who are all really helpful . It's good to get the views of people who drink it though as that tends to be less biased and more of a reflection of what is good (or not).

What interests me the most is that it is becoming something that more and more people are getting into and it's shedding the stereotypical 'old man in a tank top' image of old and becoming something that's a lot more accepted.

Thanks for your comments, I'll look into the Elbow thing as well. If anything happens with it i'll owe you a couple of beers! :-)

[kaosmark2]

Apologies TheAleRoom

It was a cheap gag and I didn't realise your true intentions.

I can't really help out because I'd drink piss off a thistle at a festival if I thought it had some alcohol in it. Then again maybe that does help - given that there's so much to do and see at festivals are people going to be so hooked on real ale that they wont just get the nearest alcohol drink they find OK that's right next to them at the time.

Obviously if you go to a beer festival then that is the sole area of entertainment (apart from your mate pissing down his legs kind of thing). That's not the case at a music festival or an even more widespread one like Glasto.

Not sure if any of the above makes sense. I'm a little jaded.

[TheAleRoom]

No need for apologies at all, I should have posted minus the link and probably anonymously as well.

I see your point re 'drinking piss off a thistle'( ) as I've certainly been at that point myself at Glasto - in the nineties when I first started going (old geezer alert!) I recall often downing the cheapest and strongest thing I could get my hands on as it was a weekend of carnage. As the thirtysomething I now am now the experience is a bit calmer for me and I often end up wishing I could get hold of something that wasn't Tuborg or Bud.

TBH, I think I would have a tough job selling proper beer at many of the big festivals due to the reasons you described in your post. The one's I'm more looking to get involved with are the smaller folky, family festivals. Time will tell...

Apologies TheAleRoom

It was a cheap gag and I didn't realise your true intentions.

I can't really help out because I'd drink piss off a thistle at a festival if I thought it had some alcohol in it. Then again maybe that does help - given that there's so much to do and see at festivals are people going to be so hooked on real ale that they wont just get the nearest alcohol drink they find OK that's right next to them at the time.

Obviously if you go to a beer festival then that is the sole area of entertainment (apart from your mate pissing down his legs kind of thing). That's not the case at a music festival or an even more widespread one like Glasto.

Not sure if any of the above makes sense. I'm a little jaded.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Tuborg is the devil's piss.

[Mullin]

The Robinsons (Elbow Beer) is a cracking pint, would highly recommend it to anyone. By far the best brew that Robinsons have produced (from what I've tried by them any how)

Personally, I'd find out where the local camra branch is for the festivals location, their website should list local breweries and you can get in touch with them that way, see if they'd be happy to supply. Wigan is my local, and the local breweries are http://wigancamra.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=999&Itemid=981

You can get something called a 'bright' cask. Tap and vent the barrel and they're good to serve within an hour, however they do need to be somewhere 'safe' where they won't be knocked / banged around (ever!), oh and they'll have to be kept cool (contents around 12-14c) somehow. The vast majority of cask ales don't come like this and need between 3-4 days to settle and 'drop bright' (again, no disturbance, ever)

My time at glasto, besides the ale tents, there was also a tent dedicated to St Austell Brewery (they're Cornish, so makes sense) and do some amazing beers... so seeing a tent just serving their ale was impressive!!

To tonyblair above, you won't get lagers as 'real ale', as real ale is real ale. You can however, get 'cask conditioned lagers'. None of this fizzy, mass produced sh*t. A good example (and an exceptionally good pint of this was from Oakleaf Brewery - I Can't Believe It's Not Bitter http://www.yourround.co.uk/Brewer/Gosport/Oakleaf-Brewing-Company/PO12-1AJ.aspx).

A big no no in my eyes (Secret Garden Party had this last year), is having ale in what I presume to be a 'polypin', in a unbranded brown cardboard box. Questions to those on the bar asking what the ale was that was being served were met with a 'I don't know'. It was cloudy, drank half of it and ended up passing on any more ale that weekend as they had the same boxes at most of the bars.

[kaosmark2]

The Robinsons (Elbow Beer) is a cracking pint, would highly recommend it to anyone. By far the best brew that Robinsons have produced (from what I've tried by them any how)

Personally, I'd find out where the local camra branch is for the festivals location, their website should list local breweries and you can get in touch with them that way, see if they'd be happy to supply. Wigan is my local, and the local breweries are http://wigancamra.or...=999&Itemid=981

You can get something called a 'bright' cask. Tap and vent the barrel and they're good to serve within an hour, however they do need to be somewhere 'safe' where they won't be knocked / banged around (ever!), oh and they'll have to be kept cool (contents around 12-14c) somehow. The vast majority of cask ales don't come like this and need between 3-4 days to settle and 'drop bright' (again, no disturbance, ever)

My time at glasto, besides the ale tents, there was also a tent dedicated to St Austell Brewery (they're Cornish, so makes sense) and do some amazing beers... so seeing a tent just serving their ale was impressive!!

To tonyblair above, you won't get lagers as 'real ale', as real ale is real ale. You can however, get 'cask conditioned lagers'. None of this fizzy, mass produced sh*t. A good example (and an exceptionally good pint of this was from Oakleaf Brewery - I Can't Believe It's Not Bitter http://www.yourround...y/PO12-1AJ.aspx).

A big no no in my eyes (Secret Garden Party had this last year), is having ale in what I presume to be a 'polypin', in a unbranded brown cardboard box. Questions to those on the bar asking what the ale was that was being served were met with a 'I don't know'. It was cloudy, drank half of it and ended up passing on any more ale that weekend as they had the same boxes at most of the bars.

[russycarps]

Another real ale fan here.

It's pointless just listing my favourite ales, but I would say contacting the local breweries near to the festival would be the way to go. However, dont most of the smaller festivals already do this? I recall Solfest had a link up with a local brewery for example. I have a feeling you might have missed the boat on this one...I'm sure if there was a massive demand to saturate festivals with real ale the big breweries would have tapped into that demand.

There is a huge real ale thread on the glastonbury forum of efestivals. It might be worth having alook at that (it might be a few pages in now)

As for the image of real ale, all the "cool" kids in east london with those awful ironic hair cuts and skinny jeans drink it so it's not just the domain of beardy old men anymore.

Edited April 25, 2012 by russycarps

[pink_triangle]

I think there is a market for real ale and the market is increasing. If you provide good quality beer I think you could do well. My friend is a brewer and with his family opened a pub serving guest ales in an area which people said was not traditional real ale country. After only being open for 3 years this year his pub was announced as CAMRA biritsh pub of the year. I think this shows that the demand is there, if you can provide a good product/service.

As someone who has bought real ale online its the smaller breweries I often struggle to locate, the supermarket sell the bigger beers so cheaply that Im not sure if there is money to be made. My favourtie are Copper Dragon, JHB, Weetwood and Harveiston.

Have you considered selling at farmers markets, I used to go to help my friend and it was a great way of getting your name known and repeat business.

I have used internet sites in the past to look for real ale and it tends to be the smaller breweries I struggle to locate

[eFestivals]

I'm sure if there was a massive demand to saturate festivals with real ale the big breweries would have tapped into that demand.

there's the demand. What there isn't is the profits at the same rate.

I reckon that the breweries have sussed out that if there's only lager available they don't sell any less than if they have a mix of lager and ale - after all, most people at fests want to drink, and they'll drink what's available if their preferred choice isn't available.

And because of the added overheads of selling ale - arriving early enough to settle, taking space on the barrel racks, and unsold tapped kegs are wasted - it's an easy choice for them to try and push lager at people.

Even the fests that do make big efforts to be serving ale tend to plan things so that the ale runs out sometime on Sunday, rather than risk them being left with half-used kegs that they'd have to bin.

[kaosmark2]

there's the demand. What there isn't is the profits at the same rate.

I reckon that the breweries have sussed out that if there's only lager available they don't sell any less than if they have a mix of lager and ale - after all, most people at fests want to drink, and they'll drink what's available if their preferred choice isn't available.

And because of the added overheads of selling ale - arriving early enough to settle, taking space on the barrel racks, and unsold tapped kegs are wasted - it's an easy choice for them to try and push lager at people.

Even the fests that do make big efforts to be serving ale tend to plan things so that the ale runs out sometime on Sunday, rather than risk them being left with half-used kegs that they'd have to bin.

[Spliffman]

Bands and beers go hand in hand for me. If a festival has no real beer on, it automatically loses points. To me it's just as important as the line up.

But all the festivals which I go to seem to have a good sellection of ale for my drinking entertainment.

Glastonbury, Bearded Theory, Beautiful Days, Accoustic festival, Cropredy all have the 2 key ingreediants that I require, and I return year after year for this reason.

In fact if a festival doesn't have real ale on, I don't go.

P.S. Bright beer will last a couple of days once tapped and vented. Which is fine for most festivals.