All ‘ale the champions of beer festival

10:20am Friday 1st September 2006

In pubs across the land, drinkers will have toasted the Bank Holiday weekend with a nice pint of beer or five. But how many can say that they sampled tasty brews made with nettles or coriander during their celebrations?

At the Red Lion pub on Linkfield Road in Isleworth, these uniquely-flavoured beers sat alongside dozens of others collected for the Champions Beer Festival, a weekend-long celebration of real ales, beers and ciders which more than 3,000 people were expected to attend.

So last Thursday, before the festival kicked off, this reporter headed down to the Red Lion to find out more about the amazing concoctions on offer. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.

Phil Brewin, the appropriately-named landlord of the Red Lion and real ale lover, welcomed me in. To get me off the mark, he handed over a half pint of Brewers Gold from the Crouch Vale brewery in Chelmsford. This pale, refreshing beer was named Supreme Champion Beer of Britain at the last two Great British Beer Festivals, organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

What better place to start my education?

First things first, what is meant by the term "real ale"? Mr Brewin explained that ales are made using fermented malt without hops while run-of-the-mill beers use hops. But the term real ale itself was coined by CAMRA as a way of describing "beer brewed from traditional ingredients", served without the use of extra carbon dioxide. Thus real ales are much less bubbly than big brand beers.

Mr Brewin, who used to run a theatre, decided to make the Red Lion famous for its real ale after taking over in 1996.

"There aren't that many beer festivals on in pubs so we are quite original," he says. "We are very tucked away and the location of the pub used to mean that only the residents of the street knew about it."

Now, visitors come from all over the country. "Most people who come in here say this is a real traditional pub, a great British boozer," Mr Brewin says. "It's not a plastic pub."

Members of the Richmond and Hounslow branch of CAMRA certainly seem to love the Red Lion. They voted it their favourite local boozer for 2004 and 2005, and many members were present at the preview evening.

Brian Kirton, chairman of the local branch, which boasts around 600 members, said: "It is a very well known real ale pub and to be doing festivals encourages people to try real ales so in that respect it's very important."

Real ale is on the up across the country. CAMRA now has around 82,000 members nationally and their Great British Beer Festival, held at the Earl's Court exhibition halls last month, welcomed more than 66,000 drinkers through its doors.

Meanwhile, the 2006 Good Pub Guide, nicknamed "the Bible" by ale enthusiasts, lists more than 2,500 different British beers, many of them created by some of the 1,648 independent breweries in the UK. Locally, these include the Fullers brewery in Chiswick and Twickenham Fine Ales.

And, Mr Brewin adds, "all of the beers in the Champions Festival are not even on that list because they are all new". Then there are also special and seasonal brews that would not be included in the Bible.

Sixteen of the beers which won medals at Earl's Court were on offer at the Red Lion last weekend (hence the Champions festival title), no small feat considering that some of them come from small breweries hundreds of miles away.

Others available included the coriander beer (described as "gorgeous" by Mr Kirton) and Stinger beer. This brew was made using organic nettles grown in Dorset by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and River Cottage. Apparently the refreshing drink leaves a slight tingle in the necks of those imbibing it, but it was sadly off the menu last Thursday.

Having drained my half of Brewers Gold, Mr Brewin recommended something completely different - a sample of Oscar Wilde, a dark, reddish mild with a biscuity aroma, according to the tasting notes given out at the event describing what to expect from each drink. The Wilde was indeed a world away from that of the Brewers Gold being a great deal smoother with a slight aftertaste of chocolate.

Despite the increasing popularity of real ales and growth of their organisation, CAMRA members admit that there is still a certain stereotypical view that most drinkers have of people who join an organisation due to their sheer love of ale. "You've got to have a gut and a beard," John Austin, CAMRA's Twickenham representative chuckled.

"It also helps if you drive trains or are a signalman. And apart from that, you've got to be called Brian."

Members also tend to "wear sandals without socks, wear big woolly jumpers and thick glasses," joked Brian Pipe, a member of CAMRA's West Middlesexbranch and one of three Brians at the event. But he quickly added "there are now a lot of people who don't conform to that stereotype."

CAMRA is a fun organisation to be part of, Brian Kirton said. They vote pubs into the Good Pub Guide, choose a pub of the year and have weekly social events at pubs across Richmond and Hounslow.

"Our membership has grown every year so far," he says. "More pubs are doing beer festivals and there is a CAMRA festival somewhere just about every weekend."

The Great British Beer Festival itself sounds like a real knees-up. Organisers ran out of beer and had to do three reorders of cider to keep all the punters happy, according to Mr Kirton.

But what is so special about real ales? Mr Kirton thinks the attraction lies in the amount of choice available. "I always say there is a beer out there for everyone. You've just got to keep trying. You have got milds, bitters, best bitters, strong ales, porters, old ales and stouts. You can have three or four beers that will all look the same but taste very different. That is the skill of the brewer."

Landlord Phil Brewin added: "We are used to hearing wine drinkers talking about the different tastes and strengths, and it's exactly the same with beer. People come to this pub and it's like looking at the wines on a good menu at a restaurant.

"There is also a fun element in naming the ales and beers. There is a brewery just outside Oxford which makes a beer called the Dogs Bollocks.

"I think people should experience them, particularly young people. It takes no skill whatsoever to produce a keg of beer because they are always the same as people get used to it. It is much easier for publicans not to have real ales because they take a lot of care and attention."

Some of the names of those on show at the Red Lion were indeed quite interesting. There's Wish Ewe were Here (a mild golden bitter), Hopping Hare(made using Super Styrian hops) and the scary-sounding Nightmare (an extra stout porter).

With all the talk about beers and ales, it can be easy to overlook the ciders (made from apples) and perrys (made from pears) that are also promoted by CAMRA.

Cider lover Simon Stevenson, another CAMRA member, said: "Considering the amount of fruit which just drops off the trees and rots, it is a great shame that more cider is not made."

Mr Stevenson helped patrons of the Red Lion create their very own cider last year. Many different varieties of apples, collected by regulars, were pressed last autumn to make the drink. Six months later, all those who contributed fruit got a share of the spoils and the rest was sold with the money going to charity.

But Mr Stevenson is in two minds about the recent rise in the popularity of ciders, led by the Irish brand Magners which has begun to appear in a huge number of pubs.

"Magners is crap. It's not real cider. It is fizzy, sweet, nasty stuff. However, it is increasing the popularity of cider. The most important thing I think is to save the orchards. Magners is saving orchards."

Could real ales be the next type of drink to enjoy a resurgence in interest amongst young people? Mr Brewin thought so. "Ten to 15 years ago, students would have been drinking real ales because it was the thing to do. Now it's alcopops and lagers. That will happen again. They usually drink stuff that their parents wouldn't approve of."

The eighth Twickenham Beer and Cider Festival, organised by CAMRA, takes place at York House in Twickenham on October 19 to 21. Admission will be £1.50 or 50p for CAMRA members.

For more information about the local branch of CAMRA, visit camra.org.uk/richmond