Barcelona Beer Festival 2017 - Activities

La Farga, a spacious and well-equipped venue for BBF 2017

5 days left! The sixth edition of the Barcelona Beer Festival is very close, and the whole organisation team is very busy with the late details to ensure that everything goes well again. The change of location adds an extra layer of difficulty, as it requires us to change the mental comfort of knowing the terrain beforehand and adapt to a new space: La Farga del Hospitalet. It is undoubtedly an ideal venue for the BBF thanks to the many additional facilities that we can offer to our public, specially an increase on capacity and the comfort associated with a place that was designed for large events –e.g. toilets, air-conditioning.

But today there is something else to talk about. Less than a week away from hearing the bell tirelessly ringing whenever a new keg is tapped, it is high time for me to present the Parallel Activities Grid of the 2017 Barcelona Beer Festival here in the English version of the blog.

"In 2017 the activities offer grows, with three different rooms for an even more varied and transversal offering"

One of the big new things that we present this year, which is directly associated with the change of venue, is that we have up to three different rooms for the development of activities. We can also add to these rooms an additional Meet the Brewer stand, which together with the one we already had for three years allows a wider and more organised offering. Parallel Activities, just like the entire Festival, are also on the grow.

Without further delay, we present below the different parallel activities we have planned for this year, divided according to the space where they will take place. Just below these lines you can find the cheatsheet with the schedules for all the offering, in an image format so that everyone can download it and comfortably carry it on a mobile device.

Goldings Room

Picture: Barcelona Beer Festival (Jordi Bertrán Hermosilla)

The Goldings Room is mainly focused on tasting activities. In 2016 the tastings offer had a magnificent reception, so this year we wanted to provide a specific space for this type of activities, with a wide range of options and speakers.

To begin with, and to especially welcome the new audience that we expect with our change of location, we have up to three different introductory courses: Degustació El Gremi, special for the restaurant and food guild of l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Degustació de Cervesa -Tasting Beer- #1 and Degustació de Cervesa -Tasting Beer- #2. The last two will be directed by one of pioneers of our local beer scene, Pablo Vijande, with whom assistants will explore the brewing process, ingredients and different styles of beer.

Then there’s the Live-Tasting sessions, during which you can taste different products with their creators in a reduced space of time, while making use of social networks to share impressions. These sessions include the presentation of the BBF Pack 2017, with each of the participating brewers; Ölhops Hop Cream, to taste some beer floats after lunch with Ölhops, Tyris, Edge and Fourpure; Chouffe and O'Hara's tasting, with Chris Bauweraerts and Tim Garde; and a rotatory tasting with Cervebel and Crusat, with representatives of Harviestoun, Jopen, Viven and Baladin. And, on Sunday, a true highlight with the American Brewers Association and some of its brewers.

Other tasting activities include The Right Glass, in which beer will be sampled in different glasses to evaluate the results, with Libbey / Royal Leerdam, DeltaGrup and Derek Walsh, creator of AnDer 1.0 glass. In Isolation of Brewers Yeast from Danish Bees, Claus Christensen will tell us his experience isolating brewer's yeast to use it in his Munkebo beers, and naturally we will taste the result. In Seda Líquida - Sake, Antoni Campins will tell us everything about this drink of oriental origin, from his experience of making it in his small cellar in the Pyrenees. And, for the forth time, David Moya from 4 Pedres brings us his indispensable Maridatge Sensorial -Sensory Matching-, pairing beer with electronic music!

Also note that the Goldings will host the BBF Round Table, a point of discussion and debate within the Festival, focused this year on the concentration of the brewing industry, featuring different actors who can make quality contributions from their position and experience.

Maris Otter Room

Kjetil Jikiun returns to the BBF five years later (image taken from the 2012 official video, made by Dani Ruiz).

The Maris Otter Room, for its part, is basically focused on learning and explanation activities. With notable speakers, it is an ideal space to bring a notebook and pencil, but do not forget the glass because there is also beer!

On Friday we have up to three different options: presentation of the book The Beer Monopoly plus a debate with its author Ernst Faltermeier, to better understand the movements of large brewers to gain control of the global market; Chouffe Masterclass, with one of the founders, Chris Bauweraerts, who will talk about yeast, Belgian beer and his long experience in the industry; and Stone Hits Europe, with Thomas Tyrell, the brewmaster of Stone Berlin, and Zippo Parzick, who will tell us more about the landing of the renowned American brewery in Europe.

There is more on Saturday, with a new lecture by El Racó d'en Cesc, who in their sixth year in the BBF will explain us how to introduce beer in cooking, and how to pair it with food; then at the Brewers Association Masterclass we have the ambassador of the association, Sylvia Kopp, who will introduce us to the organization, its history and some numbers before a nice tasting of American beer. In Beer Your Senses in Leuven we will get to know this fantastic beer tourism destination thanks to VisitLeuven, Hof ten Dormaal and the Leuven Innovation Bierfestival, while assistants will enjoy some local Flemish delights; and, closing the second day, we receive once again the great Kjetil Jikiun, who will tell us in Craft Beer in Greece about his experience in Crete and how his new project Σολο -Solo Beer goes.

On the last day of Festival, we have the presentation Dando la Lata, part of Crusat’s campaign to promote the virtues of this packaging for quality beer, with the presence of Miguel Aballe of the Association of Cans for Drinks; in Cafè i Cervesa! coffee lovers will have a good time with Nomad Coffee and Garage Beer Co, which will talk about coffee, the roasting process and the use of this ingredient in beer. As an ending, in Petrus Sour Beers we will discover the different ways to produce sour beer, and assistants will be able to play with three different references of the Belgian brand to make their own ideal mixture of Flemish Sour.

Additionally, the distributor Crusat also prepares a specific training session for their customers at the Maris Otter. Learning and explanation, that is.

Auditorium

Picture: Barcelona Beer Festival

This year we still have an auditorium, although its function will be much more appropriate to the attributes of the space, without having to reconvert it into a multipurpose room. Thus, on Friday it will host the Opening of the Festival at 10am, followed by the Professional Lectures, with a wide time slot during which there will be up to 11 different presentations for accredited professionals. It is important to emphasise that this year the usual networking sessions have their own space throughout the weekend, which can be prepared through appointments on the Festival’s Intranet.

Saturday begins with the Conference of the Spanish Association of Beer and Malt Technicians (AETCM), who prepare three lectures aimed mainly at professional brewers, on topics such as hops in Spain, the figure of the beer sommelier and beer styles.

And finally, this time on Saturday, the Auditorium will stage at 18h the Awards Ceremony of the second edition of the Barcelona Beer Challenge, which promises strong emotions given the huge participation numbers at this year’s contest.

Main Room

Picture: Barcelona Beer Festival

If the wide range of beers and other novelties are not enough, the main room of the BBF will not only have more tables and chairs for the public's comfort, but also music and entertainment throughout Saturday and Sunday. From 12 a.m., we will have a complete programme thanks, again, to our mates at Say It Loud, complemented at noon with family activities of magic and clowns.

Also, on Saturday and Sunday mornings, you can play games of the Drunk Joker card game, in a reserved space with tables.

BBF Meet the Brewer -MTB-

Picture: Barcelona Beer Festival

With a more than consolidated Meet the Brewer parallel offering, in 2017 we doubled our bet by enabling two different MTB stands that allow us to offer more suitable schedules plus a renewed and attractive offer of international brewers, who on a rotating basis will have their own space to share moments and exchange impressions with our attendees.

This year, the following brewers will join us on Friday: Piccolo Birrificio Clandestino (Italy), Espiga - BBF Aigua (Catalunya), with a worthwhile local solidary initiative, Birrificio Italiano (Italy), Yeastie Boys (New Zealand), Oedipus (Netherlands) and Baxbier (Netherlands).

On Saturday we have Ilkley (England), Berentsens (Norway), Solo Beer (Greece), Anspach and Hobday (England), Tanker (Estonia), Brlo (Germany), Monyo (Hungary), Dupont (Belgium), Brewdog (Scotland), Baladin (Italy), Jopen (Netherlands) and Petrus (Belgium). Starting at 9pm, do not miss the Barcelona Beer Challenge party end with a special Meet the Brewer session with the winner of the second edition of the contest.

Closing the Festival, there will be Stu Mostów (Poland), Kingpin (Poland), Zulogaarden - Ortuño's Army (Catalonia), a solidary initiative for the benefit of a local beer mate, l’Agrivoise (France), Ouroboros (France), Nomade (France), Munkebo (Denmark), Free Lions (Italy), Brewage (Austria), Brauhaus Gusswerk (Austria) and Cloudwater (England).

In addition, we have several fixed collaboration stands with the Brewers Association, the festival Bières et Saveurs de Chambly, the local brewing guild GECAN, the Moscow Beer Fest, Fermento Sardo, Stone Berlin, Pilsner Urquell, Founders, Moritz and Lagunitas.

Tickets

Picture: Barcelona Beer Festival

Once again, admission prices have decreased. The average is significantly below the one from the previous year, with a range of prices that goes from 1€ in up to three activities, 2€ in two, 3€ for the vast majority and, for two specific activities, 10€. But beyond the nominal price, we are convinced that each of the programmed activities has a greater value than the cost of admission, which in itself is very small thanks to the synergies enabled by having three well-equipped rooms in the frame of a huge Festival such as the BBF.

Please find below the link in which you can check schedules, descriptions and prices of each of the public activities, and make your reservations:

It is not necessary to register for the Drunk Joker activity, since it is freely accessible during its time slot. The other activities that appear on the schedule, but are not listed for the sale of tickets, are accessible under invitation by the promoters of those -i.e. El Gremi, AETCM and Crusat- or restricted to participants in the case of the Barcelona Beer Challenge awards ceremony. Also, the links to register for the professional lectures will be sent individually by email to all accredited professionals.

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Picture: Barcelona Beer Festival

And that was about everything you need to know about the Parallel Activities of the Barcelona Beer Festival 2017. We hope you find them interesting and enjoy them as much as the 500 plus beers that will be flowing from our taps during the weekend of March 24th to 26th 2017, in La Farga de l'Hospitalet

Salut i birra!


Transparency disclaimer: I work as a manager of the Barcelona Beer Festival, and I am part of the Steering Committee of the Barcelona Beer Challenge.