This September, Cheltenham will become the first town (as opposed to city) in the UK to hold a dedicated ‘Beer Week’. Cheltenham Beer Week (CBW) will be a collection of events held across a ten-day period from 16th – 25th September with the purpose of celebrating beer, the booming brewing industry and the pub culture of our great town.
All events held will aim to promote the following core values:
* The advancement of the growing Cheltenham beer scene
* The celebration, discovery and exploration of good beer in whatever format (cask, keg, bottle can)
* The promotion of sensible drinking of beer for enjoyment and conviviality
The event is free of all ties or affiliation with any group other than of course Beer Drinkers. CBW aims to encourage involvement from individuals and businesses who are interested in working with or learning more about the local beer scene, and to help develop a strong communal spirit that will secure and elevate Cheltenham’s position as a beer destination.
CBW is being co-ordinated by Leigh Norwood, owner of specialist beer retailer Favourite Beers, together with a group of local brewers, publicans and beer drinkers. The intention is to get all types of venues in and around Cheltenham to join in the venture and contribute to the official programme of CBW themed events. We already have 17 venues signed up including pubs, clubs, bars, shops and restaurants. Events already being planned are mini-beer festivals, meet the brewer evenings, tap takeovers, brewery tours, tutored tasting sessions, beer walks, beer and food matching and much more. The local breweries will be working together to create at least one collaborative brew to be served during the week.
All venues who serve beer (in whatever format) in and around the town are invited to apply to participate in CBW. In order to ensure that the event is engaging, balanced and focused the co-ordinators have established a set of criteria for inclusion in the week. These are:
* In order to put together a strong programme we will need commitment from venues to host at least two events during CBW – one of which must be held midweek (Monday-Thursday).
* All events must be unique for the venue (i.e. venues cannot include normal weekly events as part of beer week unless they are specifically enhanced to fit in with the core values – e.g. a weekly pub quiz could be run to be about beer!).
* All events must fit in with the three core principles of beer week.
* Each venue must pay a £50 up-front fee to be involved with Beer Week in order to cover costs.
See http://www.cheltbeerweek.co.uk/ for more details.