BEERS AND BREWERIES
Nottingham's annual CAMRA beer festival has a long established reputation for offering customers the biggest possible selection of quality cask ales. Last years' festival offered a staggering choice of 925 different casks of real ale which we confidently believe was the widest wide range of real ales ever seen in the UK and almost certainly the entire world!
As you might expect from the branch that pioneered CAMRA's LocAle scheme we showcased 
beer from our local breweries and it is likely that over 25% of all beer consumed came from breweries located within 20 miles of the festival. We also sourced beers from all over the country and in 2010 we featured beers from an amazing 303 different UK breweries. The 2011 beer list is now available to view online in pdf format.
As is our custom, we offered beers from the newest breweries and the latest beers from established breweries. Last year’s beer list shows the vast array of brews available but does not, currently, include any additional beers that were held on site in reserve in case of exceptionally high demand.
So, there were plenty of surprises in store for visitors, staff and organisers alike - only one man knew for sure .......... and he's not telling ....... but he has promised to relent and when the finalised list is available it will feature on this page.
SIBA
The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) represents the interests of the growing numbers of independent brewing companies in the UK. Beer and ale have been traditional and wholesome beverages for well over 2,000 years, and many styles are indigenous and unique to the British Isles. SIBA members seek to preserve these traditional styles and their traditional methods of production, whilst at the same time demonstrating the skill of their craft through creativity, invention and innovation.
To celebrate their achievements SIBA organises an annual competition to find their beer of the year. In 2011 we were proud to have been asked to host the SIBA Midlands Region heat of this competition that would select the champion beers of the Midlands. The beers are judged in eight categories in a blind tasting by panels comprising of both experts and beer lovers. This took place on Thursday afternoon with the results announced early Thursday evening.
Visitors to the Beer Festival were able to taste the brews and decide for themselves which they thought were the best, the beers were marked as “SIBA” in the programme. Winners of the Midlands competition will go forward to the national finals in February 2012.
Image(s) on this page information details and credits : Adobe logo courtesy of www.adobe.com. SIBA logo from the SIBA web-site. The Nottingham Brewery Stand image is from a private collection and the image featuring a world record breaking number of casks finds its way to this web-page courtesty of www.worldrecordsacademy.org.