Cask Marque to sponsor trade session at GBBF

By Gary Lloyd

- Last updated on GMT

Return of a favourite event: Cask Marque is sponsoring the Great British Beer festival’s trade session
Return of a favourite event: Cask Marque is sponsoring the Great British Beer festival’s trade session

Related tags Beer Cask ale Craft beer Cider Technology Branding + marketing

Beer quality watchdog Cask Marque has announced it is sponsoring the trade session of the upcoming Great British Beer Festival (GBBF).

The GBBF, which will take place at Olympia, west London, runs from Tuesday 2 August to Saturday 6 August​ with the trade session taking place between midday and 5pm on the first day.

Cask Marque founder Paul Nunny said: “It is two years since the festival was last held and it is the biggest beer festival in the UK. It will be great to have the whole of the industry under one roof celebrating cask ale. Beer festivals are also a great way of attracting new drinkers to the sector, especially the 18 to 35-year-old age group.”

Attracting app users

Cask Marque will create an ale trail around the stands and offer, through the CaskFinder app, consumer prizes. The business’s aim is to attract its 10,000 CaskFinder app Ale Trailers to attend and encourage more cask ale drinkers to sign up to the app. The app is used 60,000 times a month to find Cask Marque pubs. 

Festival organiser Catherine Tonry said: “We are so delighted we’re able to open our doors to the public and trade again after two years of lockdowns and closures, and we’re determined to make this year a fantastic experience. We warmly welcome Cask Marque’s support and would like to invite all cask ale trailers to head down to an unmissable event of fantastic brews from both sides of the Atlantic.” 

Free tickets to the event sponsored by Cask Marque can be downloaded from https://tckty.camra.org.uk/e/60/great-british-beer-festival-trade-day​.

Evolution of festival

The most recent revival of the GBBF in 2019 was praised by beer author Pete Brown​ after the festival had been accused of being unable to change from its formulaic style by going through with its promise to expand of beer dispense methods by including kegged beers and tackling the sexist and offensive pump clips from yesteryear.

Not-for-profit organisation Cask Marque was formed in 1998 to promote beer quality in pubs through an accreditation scheme. It has 10,000 pubs as members and achieved this through its 50-plus assessors making 22,000 site visits a year.

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