UK: 300,000 pints to be pulled at Great British Beer Festival

It’s expected more than 300,000 pints will be pulled at the Great British Beer Fesitval in London this week, Local London released August 01.About 47,000 drinkers will transform Earls Court into one of the world's biggest pubs over the next five days. More than 450 of the UK's finest ales will be available to taste.

For the first time visitors to the Festival, organised by the Campaign for Real Ale, will be able to sample the beers using third of pint glasses.

CAMRA spokesman Iain Loe said it would help people drink more responsibly and were the traditional measure.

"Third of pints are a legal and traditional measure that has been forgotten in recent years. There has even been talk from the Government of scrapping the measure altogether," he said.

"However CAMRA feels that the third of a pint has a future role to play for people enjoying real ale at the Festival. A smaller measure means that people can sample a wider variety of beers and ciders without consuming as much in volume."

CAMRA said it was not calling for third of pints to be introduced in all pubs, but would like to see them phased in at pubs serving quality ales.

CAMRA will also launch a new tasting system which they say will redefine descriptions of beer.

"In an effort to demystify the sometimes over-complicated language often used to describe beer, CAMRA, in partnership with 14 real ale breweries from across Britain, has developed a generic tasting system which could become the industry standard - similar to what has helped grow the wine market in recent years," the spokesman said.

"Cyclops simplifies the descriptions of beer in a graphic and easily understandable style to encourage drinkers to try different beers informing them about the look, taste, and smell as well as indicating its sweetness and bitterness of different beers."

This year also expects to see the millionth visitor since the event started 29 years ago.

The festival runs from August 01 to August 05 at Earls Court

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