At Olympia London, the festival, which is run by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), is taking place from Tuesday 2 to Saturday 6 August, showcasing almost 1,000 different cask ales, craft beers, real ciders, perries and wines.
Now in its 45th year, GBBF will feature live beer served from across the nation as it returns to the capital.
There are more than 350 breweries represented on the CAMRA bars as well as new brewers and the unveiling of a new ‘gin and fizz bar’, that will feature over 30 brewery gins.
Competition change
However, the annual Champion Beer of Britain competition will not be taking place due to the impact of Covid on the regional heats, meaning a winner will not be crowned until 2023.
But, there has been a new homebrew competition launched for this year’s festival, which will be judged and announced at 4pm on the centre stage on the trade day (Tuesday 2 August) of the event.
The winner will have the opportunity to commercially brew their beer with Brewhouse & Kitchen while runner ups will be awarded a variety of prizes such as a year’s worth of beer and VIP tickets to next year’s festival.
Furthermore, the Michael Jackson award will also be presented to the best beer on the Bieres Sans Frontiers bar.
Entertainment provided
Also on the trade day, the Thank Brew beer, a special edition that was created to support Thank You Day and the Big Jubilee Lunch across the Jubilee bank holiday weekend, will be celebrated.
In addition, there will also be music and entertainment throughout the festival week with St Austell’s Tribute Ale – a festival partner – bringing a sea shanty band from Cornwall.
A DJ will also be handing out headphones for a silent disco on Wednesday evening and music bands ranging from an AC/DC hard rock band to a string quartet will be performing across the few days.
