Birmingham Beer Festival 2006

The 2006 Birmingham Beer Festival was the eleventh to be held at Aston Students Guild and took place from Thursday 14th - Saturday 16th September. Attendance was slightly higher overall on the previous year and the Festival was featured on BBC's Midlands Today.

The theme for the event was the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of Britain's greatest engineers, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. A number of beers had names connected with the theme and there were a variety of 'Festival Specials', created in honour of the great man. There was also a beer brewed by Birmingham CAMRA members at the Tunnel Brewery in Ansley Village, Warwickshire. This was part of an 'open source' project, where a recipe is modified and passed on for improvement.

On Thursday afternoon, the regional launch of the 2007 edition of CAMRA's best-selling book, The Good Beer Guide, took place with the BBC cameras present. Mark Haslam, a spokesman for CAMRA, lamented about the lack of a brewery in Birmingham and called on any would-be brewers to take up the challenge. Bob Hockenhull of Midlands Today reported on the wide range of ales on offer, including those from Orkney, Isle Of Man and Cornwall. Later, the TV crew moved to the Wellington in Bennetts Hill, for a word with licencee, Nigel Barker. See report...

Friday night saw huge crowds of thirsty drinkers flock to the festival. A new act took to the stage, Trillian, a rock covers band and they entertained the crowds with some great tunes.

Food was again provided by Festival foods service, who have attended every festival held at Aston. The German Bratwürsts and French Crêpes went down well, as ever.

Bottled beers again came from a variety of countries and featured a wide range of styles. This year's featured beers came from the USA, but there were examples from Belgium, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia and The Netherlands. There was also a bottle-conditioned version of the Tunnel 'Progress', brewed by Branch members.

Extra supplies of beer and cider saw the festival last out till Saturday night, which turned out to be fairly quiet. The staff were glad of some respite, after such a hectic couple of days and the remaining beers gracefully bowed out as the evening concluded.

©  Richard Reynolds 2006

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Last modified: 03/11/07