Wetherspoon festival target is 2.6m pints

l Representatives of the Stone Brewing Company, of California, and Yo-Ho Brewing, of Japan, with their respective beers at the national launch of the Wetherspoon Spring Beer Festival

March 28, 2008: JD Wetherspoon has launched its most ambitious national beer festival yet, hoping to set another record for the most pints sold during such an event.

The pub chain's Spring Festival kicked off yesterday and runs until April 14. The 50 cask-conditioned beers on offer at its pubs will include five from overseas, as well as award-winning ales, fruit and wheat beers, and those brewed exclusively for the festival.

Among the more unusual beers are Stone's California Double IPA (7%), from the USA, and Yo-Ho Tokyo Black (5%), from Japan.

The Californian beer is a true representation of the classic India Pale Ale style, bursting with fresh, zesty hops — namely American Centennial, American Simcoe and English Target. The malts are Maris and Crystal. The brew for Wetherspoons took place at Shepherd Neame, in Kent, but this was no contract brew, with the Stone's team having a firm role in the process.

Around 400 barrels were produced in what is, according to Stone' chief executive Greg Koch, most definitely a one-off and not a foot in the door of the UK cask market.

He was at the national launch of the festival, at the Cross Keys, in the City of London, with his head brewer Mitch Steele. The two of them also brought some bottled examples of the extreme beers, which also proved enormously popular.

Another special guest at the launch was Toshi Ishii, Yo-Ho Brewery's head brewmaster and chief operating officer, who was showcasing Tokyo Black, a porter-style brew made using American hops and chocolate and black malts for a deep, complex beer with good underlying bitterness.

This brew was made in the UK at Marston's again, again under Toshi's expert eye.

Surprisingly, Yo-Ho is at the centre of a brewing revolution in Japan. There are now more than 250 microbreweries and brewpubs across the country.

During its last beer festival, in the autumn, Wetherspoons sold 2.2 million pints of beer throughout its 670 pubs.

"We think it's the biggest beer festival in the world," said the firm's commercial manager, Jonathan Yates at the launch. "We are aiming for 2.6 million pints this time."

4 See also: Wetherspoon Beer Festival preview