The themes for October’s beer festivals in London cover: Halloween, Oktoberfest, Americana, rugby and the North-South divide. As always, let us know in the comments if we’ve missed anything notable.
2-3 October: Route CBC
Craft Beer Co’s unlimited-thimbles-of-beer-for-quite-a-lot-of-cash extravaganza, the London Beer Carnival, has been cancelled. By way of compensation to beer drinkers who were looking forward to knocking back lots of tiny measures of beer over a fixed five hour period, organisers have elected to hold an American-themed beer festival at Craft Beer Co’s Clapham branch this Friday and Saturday instead. Unlike the cancelled event, Route CBC takes the revolutionary approach of letting beer drinkers into the pub for free, only requiring them to pay for the beer that they actually order. A rather impressive list of 50 or so beers from seven American craft brewers is promised.
8-11 October: The Gun Oktoberfest Beer Festival
It’s a few days late for Oktoberfest (the majority of which actually takes place in September), but Isle of Dogs gastropub The Gun’s celebration of German beer and sausages at the end of next week should provide enough general merriment to keep even the most pedantic beer nerd happy. Hope for good weather as the festival takes place on the pub’s terrace, overlooking the Thames and the marvels of Greenwich Peninsula.
15-17 October: The Snooty Fox North vs South Brewery Showdown
The latest beer festival at Canonbury’s Snooty Fox intends to compare beers made by independent brewers from the north and south of the country. We don’t know which brewers will feature, but the pub’s lengthy track record of organising fine beery events gives us confidence that the ales will be up to scratch. Our advice: drag some friends along, grab a sofa and settle in for a while, enjoying the pub’s food offerings and vinyl jukebox.
22-24 October: Twickenham Beer & Cider Festival
A beer festival in Twickenham during the Rugby World Cup? What could possibly go wrong? Publicity for this CAMRA-organised festival (PDF) does make visual reference to the sport, but otherwise seeks to focus on the beer and logistics of the event. An admission fee of £3 (with reductions for CAMRA members), plus a refundable deposit of £3 for a festival glass, will give you access to “around 70 draught beers plus ciders and perries”. The event promises to be family-friendly until 6.30pm, after which who knows what might happen.
28-31 October: Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Festival
Always a welcome sight in the annual beer-drinking calendar, the Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Festival returns to the visually impressive Le Gothique building at the end of the month. For some reason the organisers have decided to name this year’s instalment ‘The WhichCraft Festival’, but don’t let that bother you — 125 beers from cask and keg, a good selection of ciders and a vaguely picturesque setting is what you need to know here. Tickets for the Thursday, Friday or Saturday cost £4 (or £3 for CAMRA members) — you can pay on the door, but it’s recommended to register online beforehand. Alternatively, you can pay £30 online (or £35 on the door) for the preview night on the Wednesday, with all draught beer included in the ticket price.
If you’re a lover of beer or pubs, check out our ever-expanding database of the best pubs in London.
Main photo by Kangan Arora from the Londonist Flickr pool.
