Beer Festival Roundup 2023 - Part 1
We are getting to the end of beer festival season here in the UK, with only a few major festivals left to host beer geeks, newcomers and brewers alike. To kick off the Love Beer Learning Blog once again, I thought I’d do a little round up of the beer festivals I’ve been to in 2023. I’ve been all over the UK this year, and even got the chance to visit a couple of European festivals. Through this two part post, I thought I would share my experiences and let you decide if you should try to visit any of these beer festivals next year.
The blog will be in two parts, covering the first half of the year in part one, then the second half will be concluded in October, when the last festival closes its doors for the season. I’m going to look at the same elements for each festival, keeping the format light, but informative so you can make some decisions about where you would like to visit in the future - let’s get started!
Indie Beer Feast
Indie Beer Feast had the most beautiufl chalice glasses! Here I’m drinking Cirro 22 from Crossover Blendery
Venue - Indie Beer Feast took place on Friday 3rd - Saturday 4th March at Trafalgar Warehouse, Sheffield. It's a lovely, open space allowing the breweries to exhibit themselves and plenty of seating for festival goers. There is also a small side room that is used for tastings and talks, making for an intimate experience.
I always think that people are sleeping on how great the Sheffield beer scene is. With breweries like Abbeydale, St Mars of the Desert, Triple Point, Heist and Lost Industry and bars like The Shakespeare, Hop Hideout and The Rutland Arms, there is plenty of beer adventuring to do. The venue is walking distance from The Rutland, and if you want to take home some beery delights, you can also visit Beer Central in The Moor Market.
Indie Beer Feast happens at the beginning of Sheffield Beer Week. I haven’t managed to visit the whole week (yet!) but it is a great kick-off for the beer scene in Sheffield.
This is a pay as you go festival after entry. Entry price includes a glass; almost all festivals I went to this year included a glass with the entry ticket. Breweries had their own card machines, as did food vendors and the merchandise stall.
Vibe - This is a super chill festival. Jules Grey (organiser of Indie Beer Feast and owner of Hop Hideout) curates a festival that is welcoming to everyone, with a great range of breweries. As well as the breweries themselves, Hop Hideout has a stand with some tasty offerings, including some special beers just for the festival. This is small but mighty festival!
Beer Selection - 16 breweries were represented at Indie Beer Feast, from all over the UK:
Abbeydale Brewery
Attic Brew Co
Beer Ink Brew Co
Crossover Blendery
Heist Brew Co
The Kernel
Little Earth Project
McColl's Brewery
Neptune Brewery
Redwillow Brewery
Rock Leopard Brew Co
Rivington Brewing Co
Saint Mars of the Desert
Sureshot
Triple Point Brewing
Wild Card Brewery
I think there was a great range of beer styles available to festivals goers. From local pale ales to sour delights, dark to light beers and sessionable to big barrel aged beers. Some breweries also bought special bottle pours to share as well.
Bold winter lager from Attic Brew Co
Beers I enjoyed at the festival include Bold by Attic Brew Co - a winter lager, Vatted Porter from The Kernel, and Cirro 2022 from Crossover Blendery (among many more!)
Other Activities - As well as trying all the beers, there was also a selection of talks and tastings at the festival throughout the sessions. These were hosted by Pete Brown and Adrian Tierney Jones, who kept the chat on track and fielded questions. Breweries included The Kernel, Neptune, SureShot, McColls, Attic, St Mars of the Desert, Abbeydale and an appearance from The Coven project. There was something for everyone covered by the talk topics and festival goers got to try tasting samples. Great discussions took place in these talks and extended the knowledge of those that attended; modern cask was discussed, hop products and how suppliers are supporting breweries in these difficult times and how recipes are developed by brewers.
Les from Neptune Brewery talking modern cask beer.
Outside of the festival there were also some fringe events at breweries and at Hop Hideout. I was able to attend the Abbeydale Funk Dungeon tasting at Hop Hideout and try some special beers from them. My favourite was the Cellar Master’s reserve - a gose brewed with Lapsang Souchong tea, giving it a light smoke element!
Experience - I absolutely loved this festival! There was an opportunity to chat to the breweries and I got to connect with friends old and new. There weren’t any breweries I was unfamiliar with, but it did mean that I had the chance to try new things from breweries I know I enjoy. The talks were very informative and having locations nearby, like the Rutland, Beer Central and Hop Hideout, allowed for the adventure to continue outside of the festival.
I highly recommend Indie Beer Feast if you can get to it next year. It’s a small festival, but very well put together. The breweries bring their A game and the crowd that attend are inclusive and welcoming.
Getting to meet up with friends is the best part of beer festivals!
Birrasana
Venue - Birrasana was my first ever international festival! Taking place in Lloret De Mar in Spain over the April bank holiday weekend, this was the 10th year of the festival. It takes place in a car park (bear with me!) right by the beach. It is set up under large tents, with the breweries in wooden cubbies, either side of the main walkthrough. There is also an area for food trucks out the back and a covered seating area with plenty of space for festival goers to sit and relax. This is almost an outdoor festival, which means it can be affected by the elements. While I was there we had bright sunshine and heavy rain, but luckily the covered areas were big enough for everyone to be protected.
Castell d’en Plaja in Lloret de Mar
Being by the sea is a real draw of this festival. You can nip out of the festival and take a short swim or do some sunbathing before coming back to enjoy the beer selection. There are also points of local interest nearby (with lots of instagrammable moments!) as well as local restaurants and bars to enjoy.
This festival used tokens after entry. You could buy more at several points through the festival, that took cash and card. Some breweries were also selling merchandise and takeaway beers, but also had to take tokens for these, which can mean you end up with odd tokens left.
Vibe - This festival is really set up for families, it’s also very dog friendly. I saw all sorts of people and groups at the festival, including a hen party; totally comfortable to be roaming around trying the beers. I loved how inclusive and accessible the festival was!
Beer Selection - I recognised hardly any of the breweries at the festival, so it was a great opportunity to try some new, European beer! There were more than 25 breweries at Birrasana including:
Gro Brewers
Caravelle Brewery
Kabliku
Nos Craft Beer
Mager Cervesa Artesana
Green Gold Brewing
Vetra
Maresme Brewery
Fabbrica Birra Perugia
Wylie Brewery
Cervezas La Virgen
Brasserie le Detour
Cervezas Domus
ZooBrew
Algarve Rock
La Pirata Brewing
CTretze Pirineus
DouGall’s
3 Monos Craft Beer
Engorile
Mala Gissona
Montseny
Cervesa Marina
Lloret Craft Beer
Vadia
Drunken Bros
Gecan
Moska
The stand out breweries for me were Vetra, Mager, Green Gold and Kabliku. These are from Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Estonia respectively, so you can see the span of European beer that was on offer.
Vetra Black, a delicious black lager from Italy
Mager create mixed fermentation beers and I was blown away by their beers. The only problem is, you then can’t get it back home! Vetra make very drinkable beers - their Black, and it’s variation with coffee, were the beers I went back to over and over again throughout the festival. Green Gold and Kabliku had really interesting flavour combinations, which made them stand out from the other breweries.
Other Activities - As I said, this is a very family friendly festival; this includes the entertainment. Magicians and clowns tumbled by the food trucks and kept the kids happy while the parents got to try the excellent selection of beers. There was also a range of bands playing throughout the sessions, that really got the crowd going. The space did allow for people that wanted a quieter spot to move away from the entertainment if needed.
Experience - I was apprehensive about this festival, just because I hadn’t experienced a festival outside of the UK before and I didn’t really know many of the breweries. This feeling was totally unfounded! I had the chance to explore beers and breweries that I may not have done at other venues, I may have picked something I recognised instead. I managed to chat to some of the breweries and enjoyed learning their stories and where their ideas for beers came from.
I would definitely recommend this festival, especially if you haven’t been to a European festival before. It is very relaxed and inclusive. The setting is beautiful and gives you the opportunity to take some breaks on the beach between beers. You could book a little beach break and include this festival in your plans very easily.
Paris Grand Finale
Schwarzbier from Brasserie de la Mule
Venue - Paris Grand Finale is the finale festival of Paris Beer Week. I was able to attend some events at Paris Beer Week, before visiting the festival at Ground Control - a communal space with shops, bars and food vendors. The breweries are set up on one side of Ground Control, with food vendors and other bars on the other. There is also a huge outside space that allows festival goers to enjoy some time outside with their beers. We were lucky to be there during a super sunny time, so it was glorious to spend time outside while drinking great craft beer.
This festival works on a prepaid card system. You add your ‘tokens’ to the card and can top it up if needed at booths around the festival.
Vibe - I was glad this was my second European beer festival. The French beer scene is behind other craft beer communities, but is getting there. It was definitely exciting to try lots of different French craft beer, but I could feel that there was still that sense that beer is very decidedly masculine. There were women there as consumers, and this got better throughout the day, but at points I got the side eye from some groups of men and was accosted by one trying to play a silly game that was obviously poking fun at women at the festival. There were female brewers and business owners there, so I know these attitudes will begin to change, as we are seeing in our own beer scene, but it felt quite regressive compared to the festivals I’ve been to in the UK.
Beer Selection - As it is the finale of Paris Beer Week, of course there were lots of French breweries in attendance, as well as some Portuguese breweries and a selection of other European breweries. 60 breweries were in attendance including:
1989
3ienchs
Archipelago
BAPBAP
Barona Brewing Co
Brewery /bwar/
Brasserie de la Goutte d’Or
Butterfly Effect Brewery
Georgette Brewery
Brasserie La Debaume
Brasserie Sauvage
Brasserie Tete Haute
Toussaint Brewery
Cambier
Cantillon
Croux de Chavaux Brewery
Brasserie Elixkir
Fauve Craft Beer
FMTG
Ice Breaker Brewing
L’apaisee
L’instant
La Bouledogue
La Guinche
Brasserie de la Mule
Belleville Beers
Lupum
Luzia
Madam Lindinha Lucas
Mashrooms
Micro Brasserie Balthazar
Nano Brewery SPO
O’Clock Brewing
Oskare
Outer Range Brewing Co
Outland
Parisis
Little Crown
Protokoll
Sacrilege
Second degree
Soquee Brewing
Spore
We Are Brewers
Arpus Brewing Co
Brasserie D’Orville
Brasserie De L’etre
Brasserie du Grand Paris
Nemeto Brewery
Osseus Brewery
Ovata Brewery
VIF Brewery
Chubby Brewing
Crazy Hops
Daddy Brew
La Malpolon
Mappiness
Odile T’en Brasse
Paname Brewing Co
Stand out breweries for me were Ovata (who had an absolutely banging saison), Paname (with a broad range of beers to choose from) and Mappiness who brought along a traditional beer from Ethiopia. Tella is fermented with local grains from Ethiopia and looks like chalky water (see the photo below!). It was served out of a cask and tasted like fermented wort. I could taste where beer came from in this beer - it was a real experience!
Tella by Mappiness - a traditional Ethiopian fermented beverage.
Other Activities - If you think about going to this festival, you should definitely take in some of Paris Beer Week as well. Breweries around the city have tap takeovers and showcase their best offerings. I really enjoyed the Brasserie de la Mule tap takeover at BAPBAP, where I tried a Helles on cask. Fauve also had a sour beer tap takeover with beers from all over the world! Additionally, you are in Paris! So obviously you need to do some sightseeing while there!
Helles on cask from Brasserie de la Mule at the BAPBAP taproom.
Experience - Overall, I would say I enjoyed Paris Beer Week more than the festival itself. During beer week you can roam around the different beer bars of Paris, experience French beer culture and attend interesting events, all while enjoying Paris itself. Grande Finale showcased a lot of good beer, and I wouldn’t have missed trying the Tella, but overall I was more excited about visiting the beer bars and soaking up the culture, than being at the festival itself. Whether that has to do with my personal experience as a woman at the festival and getting that out-of-place feeling that I haven’t had in the UK in some time, it up to your interpretation. My personal recommendation would be to spend time in Paris during Paris Beer Week and attend the festival as an added bonus if you wish.
Bristol Craft Beer Festival
Barrel-aged Extra Special by Good Chemistry.
Venue - This is the first of three We Are Beer festivals around the UK this year, and possibly my favourite one. Located at Lloyd’s Amphitheatre, Harbourside in Bristol, the breweries are showcased in a series of marquees around the space, with plenty of seating in front of a stage. The only problem with this is the heat. Taking place at the beginning of June we had scorching weather with hardly any breeze, so under canvas it became quite warm! Luckily there was plenty of beer and water to keep us all hydrated.
Bristol has an amazing beer scene and some great bars were only a 10 minute walk away. You could easily visit Small Bar, The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer (affectionately known as The Volley) and King Street Brewhouse on King Street (which I did!), and The Apple, a barge set up as a cider bar, is at the end of the road.
Drinking New Bristol’s passion fruit & peach ice cream sour at The Volley
The We Are Beer festivals are an ‘all in’ festival. The entry ticket price is higher than other festivals, however you then don’t need to pay for any beers (other drinks, food and merchandise could be paid for by card). As this was an ‘all in’ festival, the pours were taster size, rather than a full measure. This allows you to try lots of different beers, and there is always a wide selection to choose from.
Vibe - There is a definite pattern to how the We Are Beer festivals fill up over the two days of sessions. Friday is usually the most chilled session, with real beer geeks who want to get the first pours of what is available. Saturday day session is always very full and a little bit manic for both brewers and festival goers. Saturday evening session has a bit more of a party vibe but seems less chaotic than the day session. On Saturday evening you may well see beers run out - but that’s what happens when beers are popular over a few days of a beer festival - I don’t think you can come to the last session of a multi-session festival and expect everything to be available for the whole thing. I always enjoy the Friday session best as it seems to be the people that are most interested in beer and are there to taste it, rather than to just get very drunk.
A nice range of people come to the We Are Beer festivals. The organising team have worked hard to make the festival inclusive, writing a code of conduct which is adhered to, and putting up rainbow flags as a sign that everyone is welcome. Check out the episode of A Woman’s Brew where we talk to Tom from the We Are Beer team about their involvement with the Brave Noise initiative.
Beer Selection - Over the three We Are Beer festivals you will see repeats of the same breweries. But they also try to include local breweries in each location. Breweries at Bristol included:
Abyss
Alpha Delta
Amundsen
Anspach & Hobday
Arbor Ales
Beak
Beyond Belief Brewing
Braybrooke
Bristol Beer Factory
Brixton
Burning Sky
Chouffe
Dark Revolution
Deya
Double Barrelled
Dugges
Exhale
Glasshouse
Green Duck
Haacht
Hackney Church
Hepworth
Holy Goat
Hop The Pond
Jubel
The Kernel
Left Handed Giant
Little Monster
Lost & Grounded
Mikkeller
Moonwake
New Bristol Brewery
Phantom Brew Co
Pressure Drop
Pretty Decent
Round Corner
Signature Brew
Siren
Sullivans Brewery
SureShot
Talking Tides
Three Legs
Timothy Taylors
Track
Turning Point
Two Flints
Unbarred
Utopian
Verdant
Wiper & True
Yonder
Good Chemistry
Stannery
Blunt Rock
Black Flag
This selection covered all of your bases - every style of beer was represented and even some more traditional breweries were mixed in with your well-known craft. There was a wide range of sizes of brewery - note that some of these breweries didn’t have their own bars, but sent beer to be dispensed on a main We Are Beer bar. As the We Are Beer festivals have got bigger, I have found that you see less and less brewing staff and more taproom & events staff, or volunteers, pouring the beer. If you don’t want to talk to the brewers about their beer, then this isn’t a problem for you. But sometimes it’s nice to talk to the people that create the beer to find out a little bit more about it. This is also a sign of the times within the craft beer industry however; brewers don’t always have the time to attend events when they need to be brewing the beer we want to drink!
A Malibomb - Tropi pineapple gose with a shot of Malibu from Exhale.
I tried a whole host of beers while at this festival and couldn’t pick a favourite. The beer I kept going back to was TeeVee Party, a traditional gose from Lost & Grounded. Death Matter Custard from Turning Point and Barrel Aged ESB from Good Chemistry brought all the flavours and Exhale brought the fun by creating Malibombs - a pour of their Tropi pineapple gose with a shot of Malibu coconut rum in it! Breweries bring out their best for the We Are Bees festivals, so they can stand out from the huge lineup.
Other Activities - As stated above, Bristol has an amazing beer scene. You can make a beer adventure of the trip by visiting any number of Bristol breweries including Lost & Grounded, Left Handed Giant, New Bristol, Wiper & True and Good Chemistry’s bars The Kings Head and The Good Measure.
There are also fringe events around the festival with tap takeovers, pub quizzes and showcases. I enjoyed Pretty Decent’s rice lager at their tap takeover at the King Street Brewhouse. Good Chemistry had several great events with their regular She Drinks Beer women’s meetup taking place the week of the festival alongside a cask showcase and a Mills bottleshare taking place at the cozy Kings Head. Check out our podcast episode with Kelly from Good Chemistry to hear more about them here.
During the festival there were also free talks and tastings, hosted by the Craft Beer Channel’s Johnny Garrett. There was music on the main stage and a great range of food to keep everyone going.
Experience - I really enjoyed Bristol Craft Beer Festival. I got to meet up with several people I knew and hang out drinking beer from some exceptional breweries. Bristol is just a great city to visit and has it’s own buzz, which is infectious. If you decide to give this festival a try next year, I highly recommend taking in the beer scene around the city while you are there, and maybe check out the Banksy trail as well!
Sudsfest
Pick n Mix from Attic Brew Co in my Sudsfest glass.
Venue - Sudsfest was a collaboration between Attic Brew Co and Season Markets in Birmingham. Held at The Bond in Digbeth, I made a spontaneous visit as I was in Birmingham with my Dad to go to a concert the next day. This is another small but mighty festival. Breweries were sapced around one room with space outside and in another room to the side for festival goers to sit and stand while enjoying the wares. There was a choice of two food trucks and non alcoholic options, which was great for my Dad who doesn’t really drink but was happy to be dragged along by me!
At this festival it was pay as you go, with each vendor having their own card machine. I had a little trouble with one bar as my card wanted my pin (it had realised I was spending money) and their machine wouldn’t accept it. They let me take the already poured beer and asked me to come back later. After visiting another vendor and inputting my pin into their machine I went back and paid the first bar. Always be classy folks!
Vibe - Sudsfest was a one day mini festival and was super chill. Everyone was there for great beer, chats and hanging out. It wasn’t crazy busy, but there were enough people there to create a good atmosphere. As I am seeing at a lot of the UK festivals, there was a good cross section of people all enjoying themselves together.
Beer Selection - Alongside Attic’s own beers, they invited a variety of UK breweries to attend the festival, including:
Crossover Blendery
Bathams Ales
North Brew Co
Nothing Bound Brewing
Queer Brewing
Left Handed Giant
Low Tide
Track
Northern Monk
Verdant
Burning Soul
New Bristol Brewery
Glasshouse
Deya
I started out with a Pick n Mix sour from Attic themselves, which was just delicious. Burning Soul had cask offerings and Crossover Blendery brought their usual A game. I had a taste of a friend’s One Up One Down collab from Northern Monk and Dogfish Head. It had a beautiful sage herbaceous note to it. Unfortunately, it had sold out when I went to get my own!
Cask stout from Burning Soul.
Other Activities - This was a simple festival, come along with your mates and drink some class beers. However, as we were in Birmingham, we had to visit some other beery places. After the festival, we wandered to Kilder and shared a few beers there. We finished off in Tilt, pulling some local beers from the fridges, in the form of Scoop by New Inventions.
Scoop from New Inventions, drank in Tilt, Birmingham.
Experience - This was an impromptu visit that didn’t disappoint. The vibe was relaxed but fun and the people on the bars were happy to chat about what was available. I need to go back to Birmingham for a proper visit another time though as there are still several places I want to visit, including Attic’s Barrel Store.
I love a small festival, they are usually a lot less crowded and stressful than the larger, regular festivals and you can find some real beer gems at them. Keep an eye on your local and favourite breweries to see if they are hosting small festivals of their own.
I’ll stop there and continue with part 2 in October, after the festival season is over. Keep an eye on the blog for my thoughts on the rest of the We Are Beer festivals, Peakender and IndyMan once it has happened. You can also give me a follow over on Instagram to see my beery adventures in real time.
Which festivals did you attend this year so far? Would you recommend them?
