The Battersea Beer Festival, organised by CAMRA, ran at the Battersea Arts Centre from 1990 to 2015 when a major fire took place at the building. It has been restored now but the Festival did not return. As the former Battersea Town Hall it was the organising centre for the 1926 General Strike.
The April 1990 issue of the London Drinker carries the outcome of the votes for the beer of the festival.
Over the last 15 years or so there has been an explosion in the number of breweries in the UK- now around 1,700 and at least some of the classic beers from earlier periods have either changed or disappeared with takeovers and mergers. The perpetual quest to make sure that Bass continues to be brewed and can be found in at least some pubs underlines the point.
Interestingly all but one of the winning beers at that 1990 festival continue to be brewed and be available. The one exception is Orange Porter. Orange was a brewpub in Belgravia. As far I can check the pub continues but brewing ceased a while back
Also of interest is the presence of Hop Back’s Summer Lightning a 5% pale. It remains a decent beer although to modern tastes it may not seem as hoppy as all that! In 1990 it was one of those beers that reminded drinkers that as well as malt beer also contained hops.
Much as it can be argued that in at least some current beers the balance between malt and hops leans towards the latter 35 years ago the reverse was often true.
Its also worth pondering that while it could be found at CAMRA festivals and was a Great British Beer Festival Award winner, before the rise of independent bars (the Beer Orders had only just allowed guest beers at this point) the place you were most likely to find Hop Back on the bar was Wetherspoons
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