VIP beer reception is cancelled at Olympia

By MA Reporter A VIP reception to showcase the quality of cask beer at this year's Great British Beer Festival has been cancelled due to concerns over the price of the proposed venue.

Beer Seller, which was sponsoring the trade session, had intended to serve quality cask beer to VIP guests at a reception on the first day, but pulled the event ­ because of "a lack of co-operation" from organisers over storage space and a high price for the room.

"Due to the logistics of the room and hiring costs, it was proving extremely difficult to organise," said Liz Guilmant, Beer Seller brand manager.

"Cask beer needs 48 hours to settle and we were being charged for the storage facilities ­ it was not appropriate for us to absorb those costs."

Marc Holmes, operations manager at Camra, said that ultimately it was a question of price.

"When Camra hires Olympia, it hires all the main halls.

A vast number of the smaller rooms are sub-contracted to a company called X-est, who quoted a price to Beer Seller of £1,000 for a three-day hire ­ a figure which understandably it baulked at."

One of the rules that Camra operates is that all beer sold at the festival is under its control.

"We said to Beer Seller that to keep costs down, we would rack the beer up in our own stillage, and bring it to the Beer Seller reception in jugs.

They would have provided the beer, but it would have been looked after by one of our bar managers.

"This would have meant that Beer Seller would have only had to pay for the room for one day."

Despite sorting this option, Beer Seller was adamant that it wanted to actually serve cask beer from the room ­ a situation which was ultimately untenable.

Paul Nunny, director of Cask Marque, said: "It is disappointing from the trade's point of view that this event has been cancelled, as the British Beer Festival is an ideal showcase for cask beer.