Can a rise in smaller beer festivals save cask ale?

While we are seeing some big name beer festivals being cancelled or postponed this year – the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival for one – what we are witnessing is a rise in the popularity of smaller, independent festivals, particularly here in East Anglia.

From the ever-popular City of Ale events in Norwich to the revived Ipswich Beer Festival, the drinker’s desire for cask prevails. Of course, many guests continue to be allured to hoppy IPAs and the craftier kinds of creations, but stood next to those at the pumps are barrels of cask ale which continue to run dry.

I recognise that may not be the case nationwide. But if it was, the future of our beloved cask beer industry could be in for a real resurgence.

Different flavours

And the reason why comes behind what I said earlier – in how craft products appear in the same line-up as the “trendier” beers. It gives punters the chance to try cask ale – perhaps even for the first time – without the need to buy an entire pint, and instead explore the different flavours on offer.

I’m sure many reading this will know the magic I’m talking about when you come across a new ale which really tingles your taste buds. That might be because an interesting name has caught your eye or you’ve struck up a conversation with someone passionate about their craft. The chance for more people to experience that feeling remains strong.

Beer festivals are a fantastic way for a brewery of any size to get their product out to new audiences. The emphasis there being on new audiences – in that it isn’t just your standard cask ale lover who you have the potential to win over with your beer. They can also entice landlords to introduce new lines behind their bar and realise the wonders of cask.

I’m pleased to say that’s certainly been the case of late with us here at Woodforde’s. While we are very much well known in Norfolk, and our core products like the multi-award-winning Wherry are renowned further afield than East Anglia, the new beer festivals popping up in the region are giving us an opportunity to reach new customers.

Chance to survive

This year we are sponsoring the glasses at Ipswich Beer Festival, attending Peterborough Beer Festival and even going as far afield as London and St Albans. Our rise in popularity has even seen us operate a bar at the Suffolk Show – something that simply wouldn’t have been possible were it not for the recent opportunities to put our beer in the hands of new customers. And I’m very pleased to say our own ale trail will return this September to bring even more people to Norfolk.

I very much understand the big, national beer festivals are becoming hugely expensive to organise and run, as sad is it is to see – but that doesn’t mean the great British tradition of beer festivals has died. Far from it.

Instead brewers should be looking towards the smaller, regional or local festivals – which I truly hope are going to thrive.

To brewers who may have previously overlooked them – I say, reconsider. The cask ale industry needs a lot of love to survive, and these festivals may well be our best chance of finding it.