We are in the middle of summer, and as every year, it comes with a good number of festivals dedicated to craft and/or independent beer. Some events focus exclusively on this theme, while others treat it more tangentially, but in all of them, we find a common denominator: continuous annual growth in the number of both visitors and exhibitors, and a consolidation of the enormous quality of the craft beers offered by the national sector.
At Cervezas Althaia, we love participating in these festivals for a good number of reasons, but probably the most important one is that we enjoy them as much as the first day. Grateful to be part of a sector where camaraderie prevails and collaborations are common, this atmosphere is transmitted and felt at every celebration, making consumers and customers feel at home. Today, we want to tell you why we like these events so much and what you can find if you've never attended one.
What can we find at a beer fair?
In contrast to the market model established by large commercial brands, with a focus on profits and little respect for the brewing process, beer festivals bring consumers and producers closer together. It's a time when customers and enthusiasts can try new references, or revisit beers they already know, doing so alongside the master brewer and exchanging impressions as if it were a book author.
Another aspect to highlight is the wide variety of different beers that can be found in a relatively small space. This is a rare opportunity, as specialized establishments cannot have so many different taps.
How are they organized?
These are family-friendly fairs where each brewery has its own space from which it serves its own beer, at its own stand. Fairs like these include Mareena, La Fira del Poblenou, or La Fira de Mediona, among others.
There are also other types of festivals, where the organizers purchase barrels from participating breweries and have staff to serve during the event, as is the case with the Barcelona Beer Festival. This second type emphasizes networking within the sector, with a more professional approach, and the free time is used to organize talks and conferences.
What kind of public attends?
The great thing about these fairs is that we find various types of profiles, and this is one of the best ways to create beer culture and attract new enthusiasts. On the one hand, we find the more experienced consumers, who almost already know beforehand what they want to try when visiting a festival, but we also find more and more people every day who have just discovered craft beer and decide to go and discover and try new references and proposals. The profile is very heterogeneous, and increasingly with women participating as attendees and brewers. The craft market is a modern market that works daily for parity.
Increase in the number of fairs
Every self-respecting city must have a beer festival, just as it must have a music festival. Demand is growing daily. It is offered as another cultural activity within towns and cities. And it is also a beautiful way to support local businesses and enrich personal and commercial relationships.
The beginnings of craft beer in Spain are clearly in the north of the peninsula: the Basque Country, Navarre, and Catalonia have almost from the beginning championed this type of beer and consequently this type of event. Catalonia is undoubtedly one of the regions where most events of this type can be found.
But we find a surge of new proposals in Madrid with festivals like BeerMad. There are also established festivals like Milanito in Valladolid, where we will participate at the end of August, and where this year they are also looking to promote the role of women in the brewing sector.
Are there awards related to these festivals?
Some of these festivals take the opportunity to include beer competitions. For example, the Barcelona Beer Challenge is held within the framework of the Barcelona Beer Festival. It is international in scope and considered the most important festival in Southern Europe. A total of 218 breweries from all over the world participated this year (22 countries), totaling 1,112 beers.
La Fira de Poblenou, for example, held the 5th National Beer Championship this year, and Althaia won a gold with Cap Negret, our Oatmeal Stout with Nitro. And in Madrid, within BeerMad, the Madrid Brew Competition was held, where they were looking for the best IPA in Spain, and Althaia won the Gold Medal with American IPA.
Although industrial breweries have also been participating in these types of competitions in recent years, in the craft sector we prefer that they stay out of the festivals and thus maintain the independent and artisan profile that makes them so special. Attempts by large breweries to participate in these types of festivals create confusion for the consumer, taking advantage of the ambiguity of current legislation. But we hope that there will be changes in this regard in the near future and that we will have the support of festival promoters to achieve this.
Don't want to miss any festivals this year? Check this link to find out all the dates!