Preview: Bristol Beer Week 2017

Bristol Beer Week 2017 is so packed full of events this year from tap takeovers to collaborations, tastings to beer dinners, that it can’t even fit within the requisite seven days.

On Friday, proceedings kick off the day before the official start of the festival with a pre-party at the Hillgrove pub in Kingsdown hosted by St Werburgh’s brewery Wiper & True, whose brewers will be serving up a Tobacco Porter especially for this event as a nod to Bristol’s industrial heritage.

“Bristol Beer Week celebrates the wonderful people at the core of the Bristol beer scene, home to some of the country’s most lauded small breweries and independent establishments,” says Bristol Beer Week founder and organiser Stephen Powell.

Highlights across the course of the week are too many to mention all by name, but include:

• new Stokes Croft brewery Croft Ales taking over five keg lines of the Beer Emporium
• a quiz at Lost & Grounded with beer writer Adrian Tierney-Jones
• a photography exhibition at the Christmas Steps Gallery featuring the work of Nicci Peet
• a five-course paired beer dinner at Small Bar with food by Plumed Serpent
• a dinner at Box-E paired with beer from Lost & Grounded
• and an evening of coffee and beer at Little Victories.

This is all alongside a week of beery events in both the Royal Navy Volunteer on King Street and Nettle & Rye in Clifton Village, and a week-long French beer festival at the Hare on North Street.

For more information about all of this year’s events, visit www.bristolbeerweek.com/calendar

Here is the full calendar:

Friday, October 13

Bristol Beer Week pre-opening party, The Hillgrove
Wiper & True are one of the most prominent supporters of Bristol Beer Week, so it makes sense for them to kick off the week with a massive party at the Hilly.

Saturday, October 14 – Saturday, October 21

A week of beery events, Royal Navy Volunteer
As avid supporters of Bristol Beer Week from the off and one of the festival’s hub venues, it’s no surprise that the Volley are putting on a week-long programme of events to entertain the beery masses of King Street

French beer festival, The Hare
The Hare are presenting something a little different for BBWers, a week-long festival of French beers. This should be a really interesting event for those who associate French beer with Kronenberg or Belgium.

A week of beery events, Nettle & Rye
As the sister venue of The Volley and the best beer pub in Clifton, it’s no surprise that the Nettle are following The Volley’s lead and putting on a week long programme of amazing beery events.

Croft Ales, Belgian and Scandinavian takeover; Beer Emporium
Beer Emporium return as an official BBW17 venue to host a number of events throughout the week, including Bristol new boys Croft Ales, renowned Danish breweries To-Øl and Lervig and the annual ‘Bermuda Triangle’ spectacular.

Best of Bristol and Collabfest, BrewDog
As one of the original ‘craft beer’ bars in Bristol, BrewDog has always played a big part in Bristol Beer Week, and this year they return as one of our hub venues.

Beer paired menu and flights, Gloucester Road Ale House
This pub highlights the Wickwar brewery’s ethos of taking historical, somewhat run down pubs and transforming them into great places to drink good beer.

Saturday, October 14

Bristol Beer Week opening party, Moor Beer Co
Moor are kicking of Bristol Beer Week with a bang at the Moor taproom and putting on a massive party, re-releasing JJJ IPA and Envy and putting on a big old party for their friend Tomi.

‘Quiz up in a brewery’ with Adrian Tierney-Jones, Lost & Grounded
Combining neatly with the other opening events on the first day of Bristol Beer Week, is the opportunity to ‘quiz I up’ with Lost & Grounded.

Book launch, Waterstone’s
The opening day of Bristol Beer Week sees an interesting book launch from locals Tim Webb, Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey.

Sunday, October 15

Post-roast Sunday session, Fierce & Noble
Fierce & Noble are brand new to the Bristol brewing scene, but if you’ve walked past their brewery, you certainly won’t have missed it.

Sour fest 2017, Small Bar
In keeping with Small Bar’s position as Bristol’s number one advocates of mouth-puckering beer, Bristol Beer Week sees the return of the annual ‘Sour Fest’; a celebration of the wildest, funkiest beers that may just require an emergency serving of antacid.

Sunday funday pub quiz, Green Man
The Green Man is very much a Bristol Beer Week official and local venue, and event organisers are really pleased to have them involved this year.

Monday, October 16 – Sunday, October 22

Exhibition and information hub, Christmas Steps Gallery
Freelance photographer Nicci Peet has teamed up with the organisers of Bristol Beer Week to curate a visual story of seven of Bristol’s best independent breweries.

Monday, October 16

West By Three tap takeover and meet the brewer, Crofters Rights
Crofters Rights host a tap takeover and meet the brewer with West By Three, a brewery based just outside of Swansea.

Tuesday, October 17 – Wednesday, October 18

Brewer for the day, Wiper & True
Wiper & True now run a unique annual event for Bristol Beer Week which gives members of the public the opportunity to be actively involved in the brewing process.

Think While You Drink, Eldon House
Following the success of last year’s Think While You Drink, Good Chemistry are excited to bring a bit of science back to Bristol Beer Week, this time in the lovely surroundings of Clifton’s Eldon House.

Tuesday, October 17

Supper club with The Plumed Serpent, Small Bar
Small Bar celebrate the new residency of Mexican maestros Plumed Serpent with a five-course paired beer dinner.

Wickwar tasting, meet the brewer & beer paired menu, Jersey Lily
The Jersey Liley has been a stalwart of Whiteladies Road for several decades, but it wasn’t until 2014 that it was transformed into a real beer drinkers pub by Wickwar.

Brewing up a business, Wild Beer
Bristol Beer Week provides a great opportunity to sit down with company director Richard Owen and beer supremo Andy Gibson to get a real feel for how the company has developed and what the future holds.

Wednesday, October 18

New Bristol tap takeover, Royal Navy Volunteer
Along with the usual range of top class UK beers and top notch modern pub food, on Wednesday it’s time for BBW hub venue to host a BBW featured brewery

One-off beer dinner, Wellbourne
Wellborne is a recent addition to Bristol’s ‘new wave’ restaurant scene, focussing on high-end cooking in a more relaxed environment, so a pairing with Wiper & True will be something to get really excited about.

Wickwar tasting and meet the brewer, Punchbowl
The Punchbowl, in particular, highlights Wickwar’s ethos of taking historical, somewhat run down pubs and transforming them into great places to drink good beer.

Thursday, October 19

Beer dinner, Box-E
What happens when Lost & Grounded, one of the country’s most exciting breweries, teams up with a new Bristol restaurant lauded by the likes of Jay Rayner? The answer is one of the most exciting events to take place over the last five Bristol Beer Weeks.

Tiny Rebel tap takeover, King Street Brewhouse
Newport’s finest take over the taps at the King Street Brewhouse. With six keg and six cask lines, expect some of your old favourites along with a few treats mixed in!

Brett Brett 2017 launch, Wild Beer Co.
Wild Beer are celebrating the release of the 2017 version of Brett Brett with a coordinated launch across 12 bars, including Wild Beer at Wapping Wharf for Bristol Beer Week.

Coffee and beer, Little Victories
Good Chemistry have teamed up with two of Bristol’s finest coffee shops, with Full Court Press and Little Victories both putting their coffee knowledge and skill to work to create two unique coffee beers.

Craft beer dinner, The Spicery
The Spicery is a subscription service based on Feeder Road, producing a vast array of interesting spices.

Friday, October 20

Verdant tap takeover, Small Bar
Small Bar has decided to celebrate its second year as a Bristol Beer Week hub venue by inviting one of the UK’s breweries of choice to take over their taps.

Verdant collaboration brew day, Left Handed Giant
Left Handed Giant love a collaboration and, as the Verdant guys are down for a tap takeover at Small Bar on Friday evening, they’re certainly not going to miss this opportunity.

Moor and Lost & Grounded takeover, Old Butcher’s
As well as showcasing featured breweries throughout the week, The Old Butcher’s are having a big old party with Moor and Lost & Grounded on the penultimate day of Bristol Beer Week, which is sure to be a raucous affair.

Friday, October 20 – Sunday, October 22

Local beer festival, Drapers Arms
Vince Croker, owner and brewer at Ashley Down Brewery, has always been a great supporter of Bristol Beer Week.

Beermuda Triangle closing party, King Street
For yet another year, the King Street triumvirate team up to put on a massive beer festival under the guise of the ‘Bermuda Triangle’. The Volley, Small Bar and Beer Emporium all get together to prove that choice is a not just a word, it’s real.

Saturday, October 21

Bristol Beer Week closing tour, Bristol Brewery Tours
UK Brewery Tours are great supporters of both Bristol Beer Week and the Bristol Beer industry as a whole.

Bristol Beer Week closing party, New Bristol Brewery
New Bristol Brewery will be closing Bristol Beer Week at their awesome refitted brewery and tap room. They will also be helped out by Bath-based (but Bristol regulars) Electric Bear.

Main photo by Simon Galloway

Read more: Bristol’s burgeoning taste for beer