Cyber Beer Fest Review

Last night was fun! With my 12 beers at the ready I was all set to go on the Youtube Channel at 6pm, but no video stream. 5 minutes later, though, it got started. I think they needed a sound technician! In places it was a bit of a car-crash with sound breaking up or disappearing, especially at the start, wrong volume levels and dodgy skype connections at times to people they tried to interview live. The concept was great, but the execution was a bit chaotic. Never mind. It added to the fun. [Update: I've included the post-event email from the organisers with links to all the videos and other content at the end]

We went through the 12 beers in turn and, with each one, had a recorded video from the brewery it came from, which were all very interesting.

In between we had pub quiz questions, someone from Pubtrotters Pubcast telling us about pub games we can do remotely, interviews with some of the Beer52 community members at home with their beers (some of the later ones were getting a little sozzled by the time we got to them) and some comedian slots.

Meanwhile there was a comment channel with a constant stream of comments from participants, almost too fast to follow. I've no idea why, but the "shoe on the head meme" was taken up by all and sundry resulting in the presenter having to put a shoe on his head.

After my 3rd beer I stopped trying to keep up and, in the end, still had 6 left to try. It's not there yet, but we were promised a recording of the video stream so we could revisit the brewer videos for the remaining beers as we try them.

Here are a few pics...

With my tasting glass and Beer Guide in front of the screen in the study.

The SALT brewery video, with the comments stream flashing by.

One of the quiz questions was presented by the queen from a toilet. Yes there was a bit of lavatorial humour at times.

The Whiplash brewery is very impressive.

The best of the comedians was Jay Lafferty, with an excellent exploration of lockdown with a 5-month old baby.

I was less impressed by Liam Withnail, but I was trying to juggle watching the video stream and cooking for/feeding the family at the time.

Interview with someone joining the Cyberfest from home.

The brewery video from Siren brewery, showing admirable social distancing skills.

The chat had lots of good comments about their Grand Designs Imperial Red Ale. I look forward to trying it soon, but at 8.2% it is one to have on its own!

So the verdict? A few too many highly hopped pale ales. It was a shame the People Like Us Oats of Disobedience stout didn't get included as planned. Some of it didn't work too well, like a couple of the Skype interviews, but overall it was a good try. I enjoyed the quiz rounds, but, most of all, drinking a beer along with a video from the brewery talking about it.

But give me an old fashioned CAMRA beer festival over this anytime.

Update: This is what I got sent a couple of days later...

Hello Cyberfest Drinkers! Thank you so much for joining us for The World’s First Online Beer Festival! We did it! We pulled this crazy show together in just three weeks and despite the occasional technical difficulties (God bless Skype!), we have been overwhelmed with all your positive messages and support. More than 20,000 of you tuned in over the past two nights, we trended on twitter and the comments section kept us laughing into the small hours. You can watch the show again anytime: Friday, Saturday. If you want a souvenir to commemorate this experience, it’s your last chance to grab an Official Cyberfest 2020 T-Shirt! They will be worth something one day... We’re glad it was so well received - keep your eyes peeled for Cyberfest 2! More beer, more celebrities, more shoes on heads. Be sure to rate tonight’s beers on Untappd. Thank you to the breweries for their incredible beers and videos: Salt Beer Factory * Brewgooder Wild Beer Co. Buxton * Verdant Boundary Mikkeller Gipsy Hill * Northern Monk Siren The Garden Brewery * Whiplash To-OL *New Beers Available in Our Online Shop Here Comedians: @jojosutherland @jayjaylaffs @seymourmace @liamwithnail @RobinGrainger Special thanks to our producer Pavel, video editor Zsolt, Melissa Cole (her books on Amazon), Pubtrotters Podcast, Captain Beany, Chris O’Dowd, Donald Trump, Robert E Kelly (explicit), The Queen, Siobhan Hewison, Roberto Carlos, Phil Hall and his flatmate Haleigh, John Challis and everyone else involved in creating this. Most importantly, thank you to the NHS, key workers, breweries and couriers for helping us to get these awesome beers out to you. Finally - massive thanks and socially distant hugs to our legendary hosts, the wordsmith himself Richard Croasdale (his book on Amazon) and spoken word extraordinaire Douglas Garry. If you enjoyed their witty banter, you'll love their podcast 'One for the Road' on iTunes and Spotify. Over and out, Beer52 Cyberfest Beer52, Howe Street, Edinburgh EH3 6TG. ©Beer52, All rights reserved.