Pouring the perfect pint, wherever they may be

Sep 28 2007 by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post

Pouring the perfect pint, wherever they may be

THE fantasy of having a beer festival which falls off the back of a lorry to instantly furnish your own private party has become a reality, thanks to two Merseyside entrepreneurs.

Wirral-based David Arthur and Nick Mullen have formed The Beer Festival Company, which endeavours to not only come up with the real ale, but everything except the kitchen sink needed to serve it with.

Their “have beer, will travel” motto means they will arrive at the appointed destination and set up a full-sized festival scenario, thanks to their state-of-the-art dispensing equipment.

These include compact stillages or racks with built-in chillers to hold the barrels at the right temperature, mobile bars with traditional hand pumps, and all the plumbing and piping to dispense the beer with.

“It arrives on the wagon and just folds out – it’s as simple as that,” said Mr Arthur, who already runs the cellarmandirect.com website order company which delivers cask- conditioned beer of breweries from all over the country straight to the doorstep.

He added: “Cask beer needs careful handling which even in the settled pub environment can present challenges. We sometimes have to prepare it in a field.

“But we still have to deliver on our promise that the beer will be in great condition and served perfectly.

“That’s a promise that we have to make to both drinkers and brewers because, let’s not forget, the brewers are passionate and proud of their products and want it serving right – even if it is in a field.”

The company’s latest commission came this week in Aigburth serving up a mammoth four-day beer festival to celebrate the Liverpool County Cricket Club’s 200th birthday, which ends on Saturday.

For this, they have set up eight stillages, each holding 15 firkins of beer, which each hold nine gallons.

Each stillage has a bar containing five hand pumps. In total, there are 120 firkins containing 85 different beers from 60 breweries nationwide, all of which they hope to have sold by last orders on Saturday night.

Mick Mullen said: “I’ve been a bitter drinker all my adult life and I believe, if it is served properly, beer has something for everyone.

“Beer festivals are a good way to have fun, find out a bit more about out national drink and raise some funds for good causes, too.”

mikechapple