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From 28 October to 8 November, 59 different beers will be on sale throughout the beer festival to give customers a chance to explore what’s on the hand pulls and try something different to their usual tipple.
The changing selection of festival ales will be pouring for £5 a pint or less, and aims to bring together award-winning favourites, autumn specials and an exclusive brew created for the occasion.
Market Taverns Cask Ale Festival pubs
- The Market Porter, SE1
- The Cleveland Arms, W2
- The Carpenters Arms, W1
- The Lady Ottoline, WC1
- The Perseverance, WC1
- The Sporting Page, SW10
- Lots Road, SW10
- The Crown & Anchor, W4
- The Prince of Wales, SW15
- The Spencer Arms, SW15
- The Arab Boy, SW15
Festival cask ales are £5 a pint, except at the Spencer Arms, where pints are £4.50 and beer availability varies between pubs and throughout the festival.
Leading the line is Market Pale Ale, a 4% ABV beer brewed exclusively for Market Taverns by Sambrook’s Brewery, that is claimed to have citrus, pine and tropical hop notes.
Twickenham Brewery’s Naked Ladies, a former CAMRA Champion Beer of London, that takes its name from the water-nymph statues in York House Gardens will also be available along with Brockley Brewery’s Harcourt Red, Jiddler’s Tipple’s Swifty Session IPA and London Tipple IPA, which is a limited-edition collaboration with Fuller’s.
Importance of festival
As darker beers come into more prominence, Big Smoke’s Dark Wave and Village Brewery’s Devil’s Horse are two to look out for while Small Beer’s 2.3% ABV IPA and 2.5% ABV Pale show how much character can come at a lower strength.
Other London brewers getting in on the act include Anspach & Hobday, Belleville Brewing Company, Village Brewery, Howling Hops and Redemption Brewing, alongside Wolfpack Howler Stout supplied by Great British Drinks Company.
Market Taverns – which operates 14 pubs across London – iterated the importance of the timing of the beer festival.
It said research from the Society of Independent Brewers & Associates (SIBA) found eight out of 10 beer drinkers believe it is important for pubs to offer beers from small breweries alongside global brands. Yet independent breweries say they are unable to sell their beers into around 62% of pubs in their local markets.
Cask remains hugely important to those smaller producers, accounting for 58% of the beer produced by independent breweries while 31% of beer consumers say they would be encouraged to try cask if it had been brewed locally.
Extraordinary brewing scene
Market Taverns CEO Miles Slade said: “We’re proudly independent ourselves so backing brilliant independent London brewers feels like exactly what we should be doing.
“London has an extraordinary brewing scene and there are some fantastic beers being produced on our doorstep. Giving those brewers more space on our bars encourages customers to try something new and with pints at £5 or less, there’s every reason to give one a go.”
Selected pubs will also host ‘Meet the Brewer’ evenings, brewery takeovers and tastings that will be communicated through the social channels of each pub taking part.
Slade added: “You can’t recreate a beautifully kept pint pulled through a hand pump at home – that’s something worth coming to the pub for. You don’t need to know your hops from your malt. Come in, ask what’s on and see what you like. Every festival pint helps support an independent brewer and an independent pub.”
