Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Alex Metcalfe - Information and Education Manager

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Contents

What is the purpose of this document? Why is this happening?

Who is this document for?

p

2

Festival, approach and message

p

3

The space, site plan and photos (also see Appendix 1, pg16)

p

3 - 4

Branding

p 5 - 6

Marketing, communications and social media

p

7

Learning and discovery programme review - what worked well and what

could be improved

p

7 - 10

General observations: 10

- Exposure 10

- Volunteers 11

- Diversity & Inclusion 11 - 12

- Sourcing beer, ingredients, materials and resources p p

12 - 13

Where do we go from here?

13

- Resources and logistics

13 - 14

- Budgets

14

- Experts 14

- Potential activities p p

15

Appendix 1 Photos

17

Appendix 2 Information, Education and Training & Events: business planning

aims and objectives for 2019/2020

20

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

What is the purpose of this document?

This report provides a review of the first pilot learning and discovery space at a large CAMRA

festival. The report covers what happened, the ideas behind it, what worked well, what could

have been done better. Recommendations are provided for scaling it to other festivals and for

supporting volunteers to deliver such activities in the future. The report is not exhaustive and is

meant to stimulate discussion on further educational activities at other festivals. This is the first of

a potential series of reports on future pilots pending feedback on how useful this report proves to

be.

Why is this happening?

CAMRA’s revitalisation process resulted in an amendment to our Articles of Association:

• Article 2 d) to play a leading role in the provision of information, education and training to

all those with an interest in beer, cider and perry of any type

Article 2 d) is the main driver and key performance indicator for the campaign’s information,

education and training activity. It is necessarily broad, cross functional and requiring collaboration

across CAMRA HQ business units, committees and throughout the regional branch networks. It

determines that CAMRA works to improve, re-frame and develop CAMRA activity that provides

information and education on beer, cider, perry and pubs and develop or facilitate training that

specifically relates to article 2 d) and not training at CAMRA in its wider sense.

Who is this document for?

Anyone invested in supporting the delivery of learning opportunities to festival attendees e.g.:

• NE Members

• Regional Directors

• Beer Festival Organisers

• Beer Festival Bar Managers

• Beer Festival Membership Manager

• Beer Festival Volunteer Manager

• Beer festival / branch social media and press/publicity officers.

• Branch magazine editors

Events – Information Education & Training (IET) Business Planning Objectives

The pilot learning and discovery area at MBCF was the first milestone in fulfillment of IET

business planning aims and objectives for 2019/2020 relating to HQ Events team led and

supported activities. The pilot was co-developed with the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

(MBCF) working party, the Head of Events and her team. See the appendix for more details of

the specific business planning aims and objectives.

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Manchester Beer and Cider Festival (MBCF)

MBCF was identified as an ideal festival with which to partner with to develop the first festival

learning and discovery space. This was due to MBCF being a larger festival offering a diverse

range of beer styles, brewers, and methods of dispense. Manchester was also attractive due to

potential exposure of our new educational stance to a wide-ranging demographic.

The Information and Education manager approached the Regional Director and key festival

organisers directly to discuss the concept of the learning space. Face to face and email

discussions clarified the approach in concert with the Head of Events and reassured the festival

working party of the scope and message of the intended activities. The Learning and Discovery

(L&D) programme at MBCF reflected ideas and themes discussed and developed with the

festival organisers, CAMRA members, members of the trade and HQ staff. These ideas were

also discussed with the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and outlined within the IET business

plan for 2019.

The approach - Informal learning | technically accurate | unbiased information

The intent of the pilot L&D space was to recognise the value of ad-hoc and informal learning

opportunities by programming activities that festival goers could approach and engage with at

their leisure, beginning and ending their participation whenever they felt like it. The hope was that

such informal learning opportunities would attract a wider variety of people with a diverse range

of learning styles than a purely formal (sit down, ticketed) offer might. It is intended that informal

learning activities complement the formal learning events currently programmed at festivals by

acting as a conduit to those events. Achieving this by increasing awareness of the formal

learning opportunities at festivals, developing people’s confidence, tasting and drinking skills in

proximity to promotional materials and festival programmes.

The message

The message communicated to all participants at MBCF was that this was the first of many

CAMRA educational activities seeking to help people learn more about beer, cider and perry at

festivals and within the branch network. We are providing technically accurate and unbiased

information so people, wherever they are on their drinker’s journey, can feel more confident

navigating their favourite drinks.

The space: 3m x 3m (ish)

It was hoped that the space might have been open, allowing people to enter. The practicalities of

positioning a six-foot bar and ensuring compliance with MBCF festival health and safety policy

meant that a continuation of the neighbouring bar front was essential. This would probably be a

consideration at any festival. However, the way the area was set out was more appropriate given

the small space available (about 3m x 3m) and avoided people feeling trapped or hemmed in,

particularly as the space in front of the area got busy, often 2-3 people deep, which could be

claustrophobic for some. If, at future events, the L&D space is afforded a larger area or

positioned differently it could provide space for people to enter and mill about. Careful planning

and clear communication with(in) the festival working party could help open up the bar line to be

more inviting without people feeling that a major commitment is required to join in.

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

The space at MBCF was fronted by the six-foot bar and CAMRA branded crates. The bar was

branded with a black CAMRA table cloth. Dispense methods on the bar were a single CAMRA

branded hand pump and a Lindr unit. Beneath the bar was a small cooling unit and saddle cooler

for the cask, the cask itself, a waste sack for tasting cups and a slops bin. The keg was hidden

between the L&D area and the neighbouring bar behind a pop-up banner.

Beer tasting activities were advertised via mini blackboards sat on the bar whilst the crates were

topped with a display of hops and malts in glass jars sat in baskets. Participants were invited to

handle, smell and/or taste the brewing ingredients in addition to reading/taking promotional and

education materials donated by the British Association of Hop Growers, the Maltsters Association

of Great Britain and Charles Faram Hop Merchants. Being positioned next to a bar and next to

the entrance worked well. There was plenty of room and a natural flow of people in front of the

space. This position made it feel like a normal part of the festival activity rather than set apart.

Site plan of Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Branding

As mentioned, the hand pump and bar were CAMRA branded. In addition, the space was framed

by a large 3m wide fabric backdrop featuring the below design (proofed and amended by Nick

Boley for technical accuracy). It isn’t meant to represent all beer brewing processes rather an

example of a modern brewing process featuring a wooden cask as a nod to traditional

conditioning and dispense. The logo and fonts all comply with current branding guidelines.

The infographic representation of the brewing process was created by CAMRA’s design partner

Mulberry. This infographic met the design requirements provided by the Information and

Education manager and agreed with TAG which will be reflected in further, entry level resources

due to be developed for the new CAMRA website, publications, and further materials for

distribution at festivals etc. This style is very contemporary and a format that those from the

millennial and below generations are accustomed to using to communicate and access concepts

and ideas.

The L&D section of the printed MBCF programme also adhered to current corporate branding

and was developed by a/the Deputy Organiser at MBCF.

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Branding: Why Learning and Discovery?

At first glance these words might seem a bit fluffy or even infantile when placed in the context of

a beer festival. However, campaigning organisations often choose to carefully avoid the use of

any words that may have negative connotations when communicating to an external audience

about their educational activities. A brief rationale follows:

• The L & D space did not have a set name before the programme for MBCF had to go to

print at which time ‘education zone’ was being used.

• In the future it would be useful to avoid words like education or teaching when

programming informal learning activities at festivals and communicating them to an

external audience. Some words can act as powerful barriers to participation. Not

everyone had a great time at school and they probably don’t want to be reminded of it at a

beer festival.

• Learning and Discovery is the title of the educational area of the new CAMRA website (in

development) and this is reflected in the title wording of the backdrop design. Learning

and discovery are positive words that reflect our ethos of self-directed learning where

people can dip in and out of activities as they wish. It all adds up to something that

appears joined up and well thought out, even if people don’t realise that’s what they

appreciate about it.

• CAMRA takes a regular bashing from certain quarters, for holding various stances about

those things we care about the most: traditional brewing techniques, ingredients and

processes, heritage, conditioning and dispense. If we assume a posturing, know-it-all

stance whilst trying to help people learn about beer (cider and perry), the wider audience

we need to engage will be turned off and won’t want to listen to the core messages we

need to get across; to promote why we think cask is fantastic, to ensure a thriving future

for cask. Learning and discovery suggests that we are learning alongside people rather

than preaching at them.

• Framing fun, hands on, informal learning activities under Learning and Discovery where

cask is placed alongside other methods of dispense, demonstrates our openness and

confidence about our stance on cask. If we signal that we are happy and relaxed to

discuss and experience cask with people then they in turn are more likely to be happy

and relaxed when learning about it with us. This is an ideal state in which to take onboard

information and wander off pro-CAMRA and pro-joining up. Especially if a membership

stand is placed next door!

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Marketing & communications

MBCF communications and marketing volunteers were engaged as the L&D space was

developed ensuring that the itinerary for the space was included in the official programme and

therefore reached exposure via any social media posts or web pages featuring the programme.

Preparation time ran from mid-November to late January. Time was therefore lost to the

Christmas break. Further lead-in time for awareness raising by the HQ Communications team

and festival Communications volunteers would have been preferable.

Despite the time constraints the CAMRA HQ Communications team developed a comprehensive

communications plan for the L&D space including: regular social media content throughout the

event, a press release and local radio coverage. Festival Volunteers developed a very smart

looking full-page programme design

Social media

Positive posts, featuring photos of happy smiling people from a range of genders, ages and

backgrounds, smelling, tasting and chatting at your L&D space are social media marketing gold.

Factoring this into planning an L&D space is going to be essential in drawing people in day after

day. This has to be keyed into official (Volunteer & HQ) festival comm’s. If there is a trade day at

your festival then ad-hoc photo op’s tagging popular and prominent twitter/facebook/instagram

using members of the trade (e.g. brewers) would be useful in spreading the word. This is more

easily facilitated if you have members of the trade staffing the stall during your L&D programme.

It worked a treat at MBCF with Beatnikz Republic Brewing Co. who retweeted social media

coverage as did other attending brewers. The HQ Communications team are there to support you

particularly if you are underconfident about this or lacking a communications officer.

Programme:

23rd - The listening session for trade and members / brewing ingredients

What worked well?

Professional and home brewers, maltsters, bloggers, scientists, pub owners, (individual and

small chain), bar staff and members all responded very positively to the education area for the

following reasons (from observations and verbal responses):

• Being asked to recommend activities for helping people to learn more about beer.

• 21 anonymous feedback forms were completed all of which provided constructive or

positive responses and recommendations

• The simple fact that CAMRA was trying to help people learn about beer and doing it in an

unbiased manner

• That CAMRA was helping people learning about the provenance of beer through

interaction with brewing ingredients.

• Free samples.

• Trades people and boffins engaging with CAMRA members and young people in front of

the stand stimulated knowledge sharing, networking and made it more of an attractive

proposition.

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

What didn’t work well? What Could be better?

There were no specifically negative or unproductive developments during the trade/member day.

• The brewing and beer world is very much invested in the twitterverse. A concerted effort,

working with HQ and Festival Communications teams to engage with that when

promoting trade day events at festivals further ahead of time would probably attract more

attention.

• With professional and home brewers, maltsters etc on hand there is nowhere to hide

regarding the quality of ingredients being presented to the festival going public.

Emphasising this to partners donating or supplying brewing ingredients could ensure the

best experience for festival goers. At MBCF brewers and maltsters identified which

samples could have been fresher and even offered to help supply them in the future.

24th - The brewer guided cask and keg tasting / brewing ingredients

What worked well?

• Beatnikz Republic Brewing Co. supplied a cask and keg of their Kentucky Riot Stout.

• Brewer James Hardwick from Beatnikz Republic staffed the area all day from 12:00 -

18:45 (an extra 45 mins than programmed due to demand)

• Compostable tasting cups were laid out on two trays on the bar, one tray for each

dispense method. Participants were invited to take one cup from each tray and to taste

both. Due to a high turnover the samples were not stood for more than a few minutes at a

time. We tried to keep dispensing as fast as possible to try and get the temperature to

equal out between cask and keg. This wasn’t easy due to fast turnover.

• Over 1000 people participated in the dual dispense tasting over this and succeeding

days.

• Small samples. People couldn’t finish too much beer alongside their one or two full pints

in their possession. This lengthened the sampling activity over three days rather than the

one day featured in the programme. This should probably become the norm due to how

much it drew people in.

• We reassured people that they weren’t expected to recite Shakespearean level tasting

notes (unless they were able to) but simply to explore the flavours, mouth feel and

differences they were experiencing between the two samples. Only after they had done

this did we confirm which was cask and which was keg. We repeatedly stated that we

campaign on the superiority of cask and yet acknowledge that it is down to personal taste,

that we love cask but were trying to help people make their own mind up about it. This

approach surprised and impressed a lot of people, warmed their attitude to CAMRA, cask

beer and in several cases their membership status.

• There was an incredible diversity in people’s palettes and their ability to discern a wide

range of flavours and physical characteristics in the tasting samples. This stimulated

conversation and engagement between festival goers

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

• The interactive brewing ingredients display very much complemented the brewer guided

tasting as it enabled the brewer to move from the pump to malts and hops and to talk

about those ingredients which contributed to the flavour profile of the beer.

• Having someone, a brewer, with genuine, first-hand knowledge of beer who was not ‘of or

from CAMRA’ reinforced the building of trust with participants and our credence as simply

trying to help people learn.

• The attitude, very much shared between the brewer, CAMRA staff and volunteers behind

the L&D bar was to support people to feel more confident about themselves and to go

beyond guessing which was which method of dispense. We encouraged people to build

their vocabulary, even a little, drawing out each tasting until they had tried to answer

some of the following kinds of questions: What flavours are you tasting? Why is it

different? Why do you prefer what you prefer? etc

Very, very rough approximations from observation:

• About 75% of participants could identify which dispense method was used for each

sample. Self-professed seasoned cask drinkers did not always guess correctly.

• About 70% of people preferred cask with 30% preferring keg.

• Most people, even though they had a preference, identified that they would drink and

enjoy their non-preferred method of dispense at particular times of year depending on the

season or social setting. That means that many keg drinkers did enjoy cask which, to

some extent, reinforces the value of engaging them.

• These sorts of statistics could be recorded more rigorously, providing there is enough

staffing capacity at future festivals.

What could be improved?

• Despite having 15 hops varieties and 6 malts available to smell, touch and taste it

genuinely felt that, particularly with the hops, if we could have presented more varieties it

would have been of greater educational value. It was inevitable that people would

highlight that we didn’t have various varieties however, the same names kept popping up

and it would be worth doing a social media poll to identify those varieties people feel it

would be best to include. The selection presented at MBCF was not chosen with such

rigour.

• As we were tasting a dark beer (stout) a fair few people who preferred lighter styles were

not able to participate. If feasible the tasting could be done in parallel between two

contrasting styles, light and dark to offer a choice. Or on alternating days.

• There were several suggestions from bar staff at the festival to add another dispense to

mix it up e.g. steel/ally cask/keg/wood cask or keykeg etc.

• The samples could have been cooled to more of an equal temperature. This will no doubt

be of greater importance as these activities expand and there is increasing compliance

with the 2017 CAMRA AGM motion regarding a 14c temperature threshold when

monitoring cooling.

• A bin in front of the area so participants can dispose of their own tasting cups. Volunteers

could therefore avoid handling them for health and hygiene reasons.

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

25th/26th - Brewing ingredients / Dr Julian South from the MAGB / Campaigns and Books

team members attending

What worked well?

• Continuing the cask and keg tasting, (without the brewer) beyond the one day it was

initially programmed for. It really helped maintain high levels of interest through-out.

• Continuing to support people learning about hops, malts and brewing

• Providing the Campaigns team with an opportunity to raise awareness about the Save

Our Pubs Campaign through face to face engagement and distributing leaflets.

• The Trading and Books team were able to use the L & D area as a base, providing a

reference copy of the GBG and coordinating a book signing event with and author at the

CAMRA shop stand.

What could be improved?

• Not programming in more experts to be on hand such as another brewer

• Unfortunately, Dr Julian South fell ill with flu and couldn’t attend. He is better now and

eager to develop working together with CAMRA.

• Not intentionally programming more beer tastings. We had beer and ran the tastings but it

wasn’t advertised in the programme.

• STAFFING: Not having volunteers to staff the stand. There just happened to be several

of us on days 1 and 2 (brewer, HQ staff and the odd volunteer pitching in ad-hoc).

However, after that the pace was exhausting. Pulling samples, tidying the stand,

engaging people and talking constantly for 6 plus hours is too much for one or even two

people. If the people staffing the stall aren’t well rested and happy to be there then the

experience for festival goers might suffer. It is recommended that there be at least 3-4

trained volunteers on hand per day of a festival to staff a L & D area. This is in addition to

any experts staffing the stall. This would provide cover for breaks. That number could be

flexible for smaller festivals depending on attendance numbers.

General observations

Exposure

Participants included people from: Spain, Italy, Romania, Germany, France, the USA, and Canada.

Although it varies depending on the day, attendees represented members of the trade, brewers,

maltsters, hop merchants, season drinkers, novice drinkers and home brewers. Information about

CAMRA’s work with the European Beer Consumers Union (EBCU) could be useful at larger events

as it was often hard to explain what the EBCU is due to language barriers. Does the EBCU produce

multi-lingual leaflets? https://www.ebcu.org/

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Volunteers

There was immense support in the form of pre-festival coordination from the MBCF team, setting up

and ad-hoc staffing (covering quick beaks etc). However, their volunteer force is focused on existing

roles and this will be the case for most festivals. There wasn’t the capacity to spare and training

hadn’t been developed yet. An L& D volunteer role profile is being drafted with the Volunteer

Support Manager, the NE Director for Volunteering and the National Young Members Coordinator. It

is intended that there will be a training session for anyone volunteering at the Cambridge pilot.

Prospective L&D volunteer attributes should include:

• Sociable and engaging

• Diversity aware

• Presentable

• Genuinely interested in helping people learn informally (not looking for a soapbox)

• Able to learn, retain and pass on key CAMRA L&D messages whilst adapting the

approach to their own personality, knowledge and skills.

• Comfortable engaging with people from all walks of life

• Able to recognise people’s level of knowledge and awareness and tailor their approach.

• Confident to demonstrate and talk through ingredients, tastings, brewing and fermenting

processes at an entry level (and above depending on the volunteer) informing people in a

technically accurate and unbiased manner.

• Comfortable being in the throng of the festival and signposting people to the L&D space

• Etc

Ideally, we should endeavour to engage people from a range of communities, backgrounds and

orientations to become L&D volunteers, particularly via the Young Members network. A range of

opinion and research suggested that millennials and young people generally look for meaningful

participation within membership organisations. Supporting others to learn in a fun and fulfilling

manner, as part of a national campaign, embodies the notion of meaningful participation.

https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/marketers-learn-participation-brands/1422885

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/marketing-events-to-millennials-ds00/

Diversity & inclusion

Engaging women at MBCF

At MBCF there were several instances where women, approaching the L&D area with men, were

quieter and hung back a little whilst the men seemed at ease being at the fore of interactions about

beer. This appeared to be a practised reflex to that specific social situation. Every time these women

were acknowledged and engaged in the L&D activities this led to positive interactions and learning

experiences with CAMRA. Everyone is different, not everyone will want to engage verbally, from any

gender. Trying to engage them, respectfully, is what counts rather than not doing it at all.

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

On the other hand, there were many women, in single sex or mixed groups who demonstrated

varying degrees of knowledge, confidence and awareness about beer. There were many younger

women working in the trade who were; brewing and selling, blogging about and researching beer.

They demonstrated knowledge and confidence about their trade(s). Wouldn’t it be fantastic if more

of them joined CAMRA? The L&D area at MBCF and our informal approach seemed to really appeal

to them over the course of the festival.

MBCF provided on-site guidance on what and what is not acceptable in terms of behaviour and

about removing barriers to inclusivity.

General Inclusivity

• There were no obvious barriers to participation for people of colour at the MBCF L&D area.

Every day at MBCF saw British and tourist people of colour, of a range of ethnicities, enjoy

the learning opportunities available.

• There is no appropriate or discernible way of identifying people’s sexual orientation in such a

situation. It is therefore difficult to measure engagement and it is as yet unclear what barriers

may be presented by L&D activities to inclusive participation.

• If there are disabled or LBGTQI voices or voices of colour within CAMRA who have thoughts

or contributions to make about inclusivity they should be acknowledged and invited to

influence the development of L&D activities.

In the future, as part of any L&D Volunteer training it should be advised that:

• We employ the same approach and vocabulary with all participants

• If there is a group with a small number of women in it, right down to a couple, why not engage

them in the L&D activities at the earliest opportunity.

• Encourage everyone to vocalise their thoughts and opinions, experiences and tasting

responses. All in a professional manner, adhering to festival volunteer behaviour guidelines

and equality policies e.g. https://mancbeerfest.uk/equality-policy/

• There may be a tendency for female participants to not expect this approach from CAMRA

and it’s vital that we exceed such potentially low expectations by providing reassurance,

through how we engage them, that this is their space too! We are happy to learn from them.

Welcome! Join CAMRA!!

Sourcing beer, ingredients, materials and resources

As stated, the hops, malts and printed materials were donated via negotiation between the

Information and Education manager, the British Hop Association, the Maltsters Association of Great

Britain and Charles Faram Hop Merchants. There was only a small amount of printed materials put

out on the stall and, despite the large attendance at the area over the festival much of the materials

remained at the end. This might indicate that mountains of printed material to become weighed

down by (and perhaps soon to be dumped in a bin) aren’t the way to go.

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Rather, a limited amount of printed materials should be made available with the focus being on

engagement, interaction and hands on activities reinforced by reusable backdrops, posters and pop-

up banners depicting educational information and/or repeating slideshows or captioned videos

playing on screens at the stands.

Where do we go from here?

Resources and logistics

• There is currently only one backdrop and one set of resources (stand, brewing ingredients

etc), currently destined for the second pilot at Cambridge Beer Festival: 20 - 25th of May

2019.

• Any dispense and cooling can be handled by local expertise within the festival working party.

• More backdrops and pop-ups will be designed which should enable more than one festival to

run Learning and Discovery areas at the same time.

• The emphasis has so far has been on beer. However, the Information and Education

Manager will be working with the TAG and APPLE etc to develop resources relevant to cider

and perry.

• Beer ingredients for touch, smell and taste activities need to be in the best possible

condition. They can’t be reused indefinitely. Repeated reuse might also present a health and

hygiene hazard. Provision should be made locally for festival goers to be able to get a hop or

some grains of malt in their hands without contaminating the whole container.

• The Information and Education Manager will seek favourable terms from ingredients

suppliers to make up packs for tasting and smelling. Preferably on a fairly regular basis.

• The resources and stand materials, not including the 6-foot bar at MBCF (a local resource)

are on one pallet in the St Albans warehouse. Depending on the size of the festival, future L

& D stand packs, not including bars (yet...), could be 1-3 pallets in size in need of picking

and transporting via the Warehouse team. These would be shrink wrapped back up and sent

back to the warehouse complete after use.

• Printed materials and display graphics to feature on pop-ups and banners will be developed

in collaboration with industry experts, and approved by the Technical Advisory Group. These

will be made available centrally in the medium to long term. They should be stored centrally

for ease of access by other festivals.

• The Cambridge pilot needs to be completed and reviewed. There are several festivals

already expressing an interest in incorporating an L & D space into their programme and site

plans for 2019. The limitations on this are that there is only one Information and Education

Manager with a range of projects in development requiring time and effort and we are still

only one pilot in. So much interest is a great position to be in and the Information and

Education manager will do anything he can to support festivals to host their own Learning

and Discovery spaces in 2019/2020. Email: alex.metcalfe@camra.org.uk to start things off.

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

• Alternative provision: certain organisations and business such as breweries and hop

merchants etc may have the expertise, resources and capacity to help put on a L & D space

at a festival. Some might be inclined to do so free or at low cost. Agreements, branding and

the communication of technical information should be coordinated with the Information and

Education Manager to facilitate consistency and ensure CAMRA’s commitments to education

and campaigning stances are prioritised.

• Not all festivals have the same resources to draw on in terms of cooling and dispense. We

need to explore the feasibility for the centrally stored and distributed L&D space resources

(pallets) to support the highest quality and most consistent methods of dispense and cooling

and blind tastings.

Budget

• At MBCF, the beer ingredients, tasting materials, printed materials, beer etc were paid for via

the limited IET budget. There isn’t enough money in the budget to do all of this for every

festival in perpetuity beyond several pilots. That wouldn’t be financially sustainable and there

are lots of other exciting things in the business plan that will demand resources in the short

term.

• Any festivals wishing to start hosting their own Learning and Development spaces should

start to explore including some budgetary allocation for it.

• Sponsorship could be explored locally to help fund the space. Such opportunities for larger

festivals will be coordinated with working party’s if and when appropriate.

• The beer used for free samples and tastings at MBCF was paid for from the IET budget. This

kind of expense would need to be absorbed by festival budgets in the medium term.

Clarification and approval might be sought from the National Executive or festival business

plan assessors. Whichever is more appropriate.

• Brewers who come to staff the area, to run tastings and other activities may see it as a quid-

pro-quo exchange of beer and expertise for promotional opportunities and public exposure.

Many people at MBCF wanted a pint of the Kentucky Riot on tasting. It is worth, respectfully

approaching brewers via BLO’s and festival working party members to see if they would be

up for making such an exchange. Brewers are either going to be open to or offended by such

a proposition so it’s worth approaching with caution and zero sense of entitlement.

Experts

• Volunteers staffing the L&D area are not expected to be experts. Although some might be

very knowledgeable.

• Programming expert and trusted voices within the drinks, hop/malts, brewing, hospitality

trade sectors is essential for L&D activities at festivals. It takes the pressure off the

volunteers and very much engenders faith in CAMRA’s credence and our sincerity in

committing to help people learn about beer, cider and perry.

•

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

• It is expected that there will be local and regional knowledge about which brewers etc might

be good at this.

• There will be support from the Information and Education Manager to reach experts at a

national level if those contacts don’t exist locally.

There is an Information Technology (IT) and IET project in development which hopes to

develop an expert’s database for people organising branch and festival events. It’s only

embryonic at this stage but, if realised, it could help connect branch members wishing to put

events on in local venues and new audiences wishing to learn about beer with CAMRA. I

could make it easier for festivals to develop a L&D programme.

Potential activities – Suggested by members of TAG, CAMRA HQ, Festival organisers

Volunteers and brewers

• A blind, cask positive, brewery guided, comparative tasting using beer drawn using different

dispense methods (e.g. Steel Cask, Wood Cask, Cask with cask breather, Keg, Key Keg) the

aim being to illustrate why CAMRA & the brewery champion cask.

• A brief walk through of beer styles using typical representations of styles (CBOB entries?)

• Brief beer condition walk-through led by brewers/cellaring guru(s) etc to take the same beer

presented well-kept and poorly. Between properly conditioned cask and “tired” cask

• What to look out for as a consumer. How to give feedback constructively and respectively.

What are your rights?

• Hop & Malt varieties sensory display

• Live brewing, cider pressing, coopering, cask cellaring and stillage demonstrations.

• Hosting podcasters. There are many knowledgeable and inspiring beer podcasters and

bloggers spreading the good word about real ale. Inviting one to a festival Learning and

Discovery space could help reach all kinds of demographics whilst helping people to learn

more about beer beyond the boundaries of a festival.

• A CAMRA branded gazebo unit that can be positioned anywhere.

• Business card/wallet size information cards, depicting positive and negative flavours, similar

to those developed by Cask Marque.

• Cask and keg tasting guidance that highlights: higher hopping rates for brews intended for

colder keg dispense (to allow hop flavours to cut through) and the more subtle hopping in the

cask version expected to be served warmer. This would be the opposite to presenting cask

and keg versions of the same beer cooled to a similar temperature and having people guess.

This would help people to understand that some beers are deliberately brewed and cooled

differently

• See overleaf for more potential activities...

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Tastings where differences might be pronounced:

• Between sparkled and unsparkled cask (former something that festivals generally can’t offer

over the public bars)

• Between handpump and gravity dispense,

• Between a keg conditioned and brewery conditioned version of the same beer

• Between “bright” and cask conditioned beer

• Between kegs served at say 4 degrees and 8 degrees (not possible with a Lindr but

achievable with a flash cooler fitted with two different lengths of cooling coil).

• People like to touch and feel so maybe have brewing/cider making paraphernalia there too - there are loads of tools and gadgets - modern and historical which could be used, people could even try to guess what they are. You could even link this to a comp or promotion to capture data for follow up at the event.

• Guess the X and win a prize (sponsored by a brewer - crate of beer, brewery tour etc.). Or use the imagery for social media to promote the event, today's mystery object is X want to find out what X is?

• Come on down to the Y festival to find out more at the CAMRA L&D.

o Feature a brewing hero, find out more about X o Highlight on a local brewery, find out more about Y

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Appendix 1

Photos

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Photos

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Photos

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

Appendix 2 – Information Education and Training - Events aims and objectives for informal

learning

CAMRA’s Syllabus Concept

In response to CAMRA’s article 2d of CAMRA’s articles of association CAMRA’s Information,

Education and Training programme will provide personal and professional learning pathways for

members and the general public to develop one or more of CAMRA’s member attributes (MA’s)

Learning and Discovery spaces at festivals exist to help members and non-members gain one or

more of the following attributes via informal activities.

• MA2.1: An understanding: of the ingredients and processes behind the production of

beer, cider and perry from field to glass

• MA2.2: An awareness: of how such processes develop the unique features and

characteristics that distinguish real ales, ciders and perries from seemingly similar

products.

• MA2.3: Confidence: In their ability to discern the condition of beers, ciders and perries

served in on-trade establishments and to demand a higher calibre of brewing, cellaring

and dispensing.

• MA2.4: Literacy:

o in the historic, social and economic importance of pubs, beers, ciders and perries.

o in the regulatory challenges and drivers for CAMRA campaigns

• MA2.5: Advocacy: for pubs, producers and sellers of real ales, ciders and perries and for

CAMRA, its campaigns, aims and objectives

• MA2.6: Accreditation: In established and respected industry training (at levels), building

credence and well-founded authority within the membership via:

o internally provided training supporting MA’s 2.1 - 2.3

o facilitating access to third party training

• MA2.7: Empowered: to act to the best of their abilities as educational ambassadors within

CAMRA volunteer roles

Aim

3.7 To develop and maintain a programme that informs and educates members and the wider

public through targeted activities within established CAMRA festivals

Objective

7. To develop a suite of replicable informal learning opportunities at CAMRA festivals that

educates and informs members and the wider public through targeted content and activities

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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival

7.1 Deliver a learning area at festivals providing consumers the opportunity to upskill their

knowledge base via a range of ad-hoc (not sit down) informal activities they can join,

leave and learn from at their own pace and that illustrate the value and credence of core

CAMRA definitions and campaign stances.

Milestones

• Develop pilot learning area brief and measures of success ✓/ongoing

• Identify festival(s) to pilot learning area (or elements of it) at and confirm agreement with

them ✓

• Consult Industry stakeholders to identify which elements they could deliver ✓

• Confirm participating stakeholder: industry bodies, brewers etc ✓

• Consult with festival working party/organisers and agree which elements are feasible and

appropriate for pilot (and future) festivals. ✓

• Sign off by internal stakeholders ✓

• Develop and deliver training for education area volunteers – ongoing

• Coordinate and deliver pilot(s) at a whilst gathering feedback – ✓/ongoing

• Evaluate and respond to feedback - ongoing