Thirst order of day at Great British Beer Festival

THE doors to the biggest pub in the world have swung open as bartenders at the 30th Great British Beer Festival poured the first of 340,000 pints.

Bubbling along ... visitors to the Great British Beer Festival sample some ales / supplied

THE doors to the biggest pub in the world swung open overnight as bartenders at the 30th Great British Beer Festival poured the first of 340,000 pints from across the globe.

The annual five-day bash, which raises a toast to finely-crafted ales - and hurls bland, fizzy lager straight out with the slops - promises to be the biggest festival yet.

Organisers hope to top last year's record attendance of 66,000 and have ordered in an extra 43,200 pints to quench the thirst of beer enthusiasts.

More than 700 different real ales, ciders and foreign beers, the world's widest range, are on offer at the Earls Court exhibition centre in west London.

Britain's answer to the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest showcase for ales from small microbreweries, long-established family brewers and some of the world's best known brands.

Among the more unusually-named British beers on offer are Tabatha the Knackered, Atomic Bomb, Riggwelter, Dozey Dawg, Bitter and Twisted, Beserker Export, Whapweasel, Blond Witch and Old Stoatwobbler.

And brews from South Africa, Japan, Thailand, Australia, Brazil, France, Jamaica, Mexico and Sri Lanka were also being served up.

The event is organised by CAMRA, Britain's Campaign for Real Ale - beer brewed using traditional ingredients and left to mature in the cask from which it is served in the pub.

"This festival is all about bringing people in so they can find out how good real ale is,'' CAMRA chief executive Mike Benner said.

"The great thing about real ale is that you couldn't possibly get such complex flavours from a processed beer.

"We've got more beer than ever before and we've got our first organic bar selling organic and vegetarian beers.

"There's such enormous diversity in styles there's something everyone can enjoy.''

CAMRA is urging brewers and pubs to get more women into real ale after its research found about 80 per cent of women had never tried the drink in a pub.

"When is the last time you saw any press or television advert for beer which is meant to attract women?'' said spokeswoman Paula Waters.

"At best they are inoffensively aimed at men and at worst they are downright patronising to women.''

But young women and bearded beer fest veterans alike were tasting their way around the cavernous hall as a bagpipe band blasted out a wheezing welcome.

Besides cruising the beer stands, drinkers slowly supped their pints in the astroturf beer gardens and browsed the bookshops which had guides on drinking one's way around everywhere from Sheffield to Prague.

Others played pub games such as table football or tucked into some traditional pub grub, while trade insiders snapped up items to decorate their pubs.

Beer experts were on hand to guide drinkers on tutored tasting sessions through the myriad of weird and wonderful pints.

Hobson's Mild was named the Champion Beer of Britain 2007 after blind tasting tests by judges.

"Complex layers of taste come from roasted malts and predominate and give lots of flavour,'' said the tasting notes.

The event runs until Saturday, and given that sing-songs had broken out just hours in, a good time seemed set to be had by all.