Birmingham’s Great British Beer Festival Winter to debut ‘Discovery Zone’

Festival-goers can learn more about their favourite drink with comparative tastings, meet the brewer events and more

For more information contact press@camra.org.uk 

The Great British Beer Festival Winter, taking place at Birmingham’s New Bingley Hall from 4-8 February, will play host to CAMRA’s Discovery Zone, aimed at empowering visitors to make more informed decisions at the bar.

Volunteers have organised daily comparative beer tastings of cask versus keg at the festival, which will be led by exciting and innovative local brewers. They will also showcase high-quality brewing ingredients to help drinkers calibrate their senses.

Breweries involved include Fixed Wheel Brewery, Salopian Brewery, Rock’n’Roll Brewhouse, Hobsons & Pint365 as well as Fownes Brewing Co. Festival-goers can also learn all about foraging in brewing by sitting down with Rock & Roll Brewhouse on Thursday 6 February. Please find a full schedule of events below.

Visitors can also learn about the art of homebrewing on the stand, with a number of local homebrewers on hand to talk about their hobby and show off some of the equipment used in homebrewing.

Now in its second year, CAMRA’s Learning and Discovery programme brings informal beer and cider education directly to festival-goers.

Alex Metcalfe, CAMRA Learning & Discovery Manager, said: “After overwhelmingly positive feedback last year, we are excited to debut the Discovery Zone at Birmingham’s Great British Beer Festival Winter. It is fantastic that we’ve been able to involve some of the innovative local and regional brewers to share their expertise with festival attendees.

“We hope everybody who visits the festival comes away knowing a little bit more about their favourite drink. As always, thank you to the festival organisers and our dedicated volunteers who put so much work into this event, and without whom this wouldn’t be possible!”

Mark Parkes, GBBF Winter Festival Organiser said: “Creating great real ale and cider is both a fine art and an exact science, but it is still something that anyone can turn their hand to. Some of the best breweries in the West Midlands started off as homebrew projects, so we’re excited to bring this craft to the Great British Beer Festival Winter as part of our learning experience, and hopefully inspire some budding brewers-to-be to have a go themselves!”

Notes to Editors:

The Great British Beer Festival Winter will take place from 4-8 February 2020 at the New Bingley Hall in Birmingham. You can find out more at https://winter.gbbf.org.uk/

The festival opening times are:

Tuesday 4th February – 13:00 – 22:30 (CAMRA members and trade only before 17:00 – press invited, please contact press@camra.org.uk to attend)

Wednesday 5th February – 11:00 – 22:30

Thursday 6th February – 11:00 – 22:30

Friday 7th February – 11:00 – 22:30

Saturday 8th February – 11:00 – 19:00

Discover Zone schedule:

Tuesday 4th February – 13:00 – 19:00*: Fixed Wheel Brewery Black Heath Stout 5% on Cask & KeyKeg

Wednesday 5th February – 11:00 – 18:00* Salopian Paper Planes Session 4.6% NEIPA on Cask and Keykeg

Thursday 6th February – 11:00 – 18:00* Rock & Roll Brewhouse- Bramble On: 4.1% Varietal pale ale made with Bramling Cross hops on cask and Saison of the Witch a Rhubarb Saison in bottles

Friday 7th February – 11:00 – 18:00* Hobsons & Pint365 EasyCask Town Crier 4.5% golden ale in EasyCask & polypin

Saturday 8th February – 11:00 – 18:00* Fownes Brewing Co. – Frost Hammer 4.6% ABV Crushing West Coast IPA in cask and Keykeg

• All times subject to brewery availability and limited stocks of beer.

About CAMRA 

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, is a not-for-profit consumer group with more than 191,000 members that has been operating since 1971. Our vision is to have quality real ale and thriving pubs in every community.