A night at the Indie Beer Can Festival

One of the definite perks of working in PR is the variety of things you work on and the interesting places you get to see and visit. That’s definitely the case with the Indie Beer Can Festival, hosted earlier this month, by the Can Makers and the Society of Independent Brewers. The Festival saw the UK’s leading indie brewers gather together to champion the latest trend in craft beer: cans!

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In the last year the market has grown from four brands in can to over 100 since the last inaugural Festival was held in 2014. Held in Hoxton Arches, London, Tom was gutted to have missed out on this invitation!

The Festival itself marks the end of the competition launched last October with independent brewers in the UK invited to submit their beers, regardless of pack format, to be canned for the first time. From over 130 entrants, 36 semi-finalists were selected before 13 were chosen as finalists.

Indie Beer Can Festival

The 13 Finalists were exhibited on the night with plenty of tasters (I snuck a few home for Tom to give his expert opinion on!) before the winners were announced. And Little Jack Horners provided the perfect accompaniment – excellent (British Pork – see #turnyournoseup) sausage and feta/spinach rolls.

Indie Beer Can Festival

Category winners included Brotherhood Lager by William Bros. Brewing Co for Best Lager; and Fireweisse by Firebird Brewing Co. for Best ‘Other’ beer. But Uprising Treason by Windsor and Eton Brewery swept the board with Best Ale, Best ‘New to Can’ and the ultimate accolade Best in Show.  (If it’s any conciliation prize – Tom’s favourite was the Blonde Bird by Greyhound Brewery. )

Indie Beer Can Festival

Uprising Treason was described as ‘having a flavour that provides a punchbowl of fruits set against a sweet caramel and crusty bread structure. Its taste finishes with a juicy lingering bitterness.’ The judging team praised the beer’s balance of flavours and felt it would appeal to both ale and lager drinkers. They said ‘its gorgeous aromatics translated perfectly onto the palate.’

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Canned beer is shown to preserve the quality of the beer, but the indie beer movement is also synonymous with design. This year the Festival introduced a new ‘Best Design’ category won by Steam Lager by Redwell Brewery.

Indie Beer Can Festival

To complete our beer-fuelled evening we stopped by ‘The Bike Shed’ in Shoreditch for a bite to eat. It’s a great place to tuck in to a mixture of British and American favourites (we both opted for the Shed Burgers) whilst surrounded by motor bike paraphernalia. But this was a true bikers jaunt , with helmets lined up on racks and engine growls pulling into the courtyard out back. Thursdays feature live music and the Rockabilly band performing was an excellent sound track.

Indie Beer Can Festival

 

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7 Comments

  1. May 25, 2016 / 8:53 pm

    FUN!! I love the beverage and appetizer festivals. This looks like everyone is having a great time, and I had no idea there were so many indie beers available in cans! Wow.

  2. May 26, 2016 / 9:32 am

    I tried Beer once and didn’t like the taste, a few years later I had another sip and still didn’t like it, so although I am not a beer drinker, I think a festival like this could be so much fun! Never knew Beer came in all these kinds of flavours.

  3. May 26, 2016 / 9:48 am

    this is cool! We also have beer festivals here in PH, and hopefully they will also tackle about variety beer cans.. these looks good on the wall!

  4. May 26, 2016 / 5:59 pm

    This is so cool! And you photos make so justice to the ambiance of the festival! I’ve never been to such event, but you seemed to enjoy it!

    http://tomboychronicle.com/

  5. May 27, 2016 / 4:53 pm

    Looks like a cool event. I love seeing the different can designs!

  6. May 27, 2016 / 9:54 pm

    I love all kinds of food festival and this one looks like so much fun! Seems like you had a great time. The weather has started getting better here and I have been seeing a lot of invites to these festivals and parties, cannot wait 🙂
    xx, Kusum | http://www.sveeteskapes.com

  7. May 29, 2016 / 3:37 pm

    I couldn’t stand the taste of beer years back, then something clicked and now more often than not I’d choose a beer over any other alcoholic drink. This festival looks fun and so great to get all the local brewers involved!

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