More ciders and perries than ever before are available to drinkers visiting CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival.
The festival is again dedicating two bars to cider and perry as the demand for both traditional drinks continues to grow within the beer festival community.
This year one of the cider bars, B1, is named after the current National Cider Pub of The Year, the Robin Hood & Little John in Nottingham. The pub was judged worthy of the highest accolade the Campaign for Real Ale has for cider, after turning a failing nightclub into a haven for cider and perry lovers.
There are 108 different ciders and perries featured at the festival this year with 35 new cider producers being introduced to GBBF and brand new ciders and perries available at the Great British Beer festival for the first time.
The second bar, B20, is named after the previous National Cider Pub of the Year winner – the Castle Inn, Dorset. This is a picturesque pub with a giant chess set, board games and extensive outside seating, just up the road from Lulworth Cove.
Over the past four years the festival has featured real ciders and perries from more than 315 different producers. This represents a substantial proportion of the producers in the UK, creating an unrivalled showcase.
A survey carried out by YouGov found that 60 per cent of the people surveyed drink cider on a night out in pub, and that 41 per cent of people knew the difference between “real” cider and other ciders.