Ten Years At Aston

The 2005 Birmingham Beer Festival will be the tenth that has been held at Aston Students Guild. Having been involved in every one of them, I find it interesting to look back at the history of the event.

In 1994, Birmingham CAMRA had just succeeding in running the extremely successful Birmingham Beer Festival at the Roundhouse. Admittedly, we had help from members of other branches, but the venue had placed many challenges in front of the organisers and their experience had been greatly enhanced by this. However, it was always going to a one-off event, so the Branch again lacked a venue for future festivals.

In 1995, Aston Students Guild was considered a possibility. The idea of a fully indoor event was a novelty to us – The Roundhouse had been a derelict collection of sheds and neglected buildings and it later became the well-known music venue, the Fiddle & Bone. Prior to this, the branch had held a beer festival in a marquee in the yard of Aston Manor Brewery.

Luxuries abound were available at Aston Students Guild – Electric sockets, decent lighting and flushing toilets. Surely, this was going to be a breeze. Fine, until you realise that you have to get 2½ tonnes of scaffolding up two flights of stairs and back down again a week later. Luckily, there was lift for the beer and plenty of volunteers.

Food has been provided every year by Festival Foods Service, formerly known as Melbourne Catering. We have tried other types of food provision over the years and believe that their Bratwürst and French Crêpes are the best compliment to real ale and cider. The only thing we thought would add to the experience is a few bags of crisps and scratchings.

Entertainment over the years has varied somewhat. The first festivals featured entertainment on Friday and Saturday evenings, provided by rock & blues bands such as Sack The Drummer, Blythe Power and Indigo Blues Band. Later, these were mixed with traditional jazz from Martinique and Tierra Buena. The latter of these had been in the music business for about 30 years and were, by their own admission, ‘getting on a bit’. However, they had a good following and enjoyed being involved, especially when a local ‘comedian’ tried to do a turn of blue jokes in the interval and went down like the proverbial lead balloon.

Around this time, we had explored the possibility of light entertainment on Thursday evening in the form of Walsall Barber Shop Quartet. Later, this was replaced by Mick ‘The Tick’ Baker and friends, playing skiffle on tea chest and conch shell to the strains of Mick’s vocals. Meanwhile, Friday night had become the night for Rock ‘n Roll. A local band, Back In Time, had been playing a few charity gigs and were approached to play on a bigger stage. They were a little unsure at first, especially standing on stage looking out at a packed hall of seemingly uninterested drinkers. However, they soon warmed to the event and were the first band at the festival to get people dancing.

Last year, acts from the Chaos Acoustic Club, which meets at the Old Moseley Arms, Balsall Heath, appeared for the first time. The format was 4 acts of 30 minutes each and this format will be used at this year’s event.

Last year’s festival was the first to sell out completely, but we had run close a couple of years previously. We hope to have enough beer to last the duration this time around.

Over the years, the festival has gained a reputation for good quality ales, especially new beers for the many visitors (tickers, scratchers, call them what you will) who trawl the country for previously untried ales. We hope to continue our search for new breweries and beers, so that both the tickers and casual visitors can continue to explore the wide range of British Real Ale, cider & perry. We hope that you have enjoyed the festival over the years and have gained a wide appreciation of what is on offer from Britains many small breweries and also from abroad. If you are a first-time visitor, then we hope to see you again next year.

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Last modified: 03/11/07