One of the British beer highlights of the year. Try to go on the Trade Day if possible because everything is a little less crazy. Range of regional British beer is huge and the American and Belgian bars always have some nice surprises. Only downside is that everything has to be cask so some of the American cask versions of beers can be hit and miss. However, I thought this year they did superbly. Food shops are also great here. I’ve not had a better pie, maybe other than at Craft Beer Co and the pork scratchings are awesome. Only downside is that the stalwart volunteers who run it can get a bit tipsy and so the service can be slow at times.

Don’t think I’ve missed a GBBF since ’02 so have visited a mix of Olympia and Earls Court. Really enjoyed 2012 back at Olympia, much more airy and a grand old building. Shame that the US bar had shrunk this year as it is patently obvious how popular it is! None the less a great selection of UK and overseas beers every year and always good to sample European beers on cask that you wouldn’t normally drink via this dispense method! I typically go on the Wednesday it tends to get busier by the Thursday (silly hat day) and have always avoided the Friday for fear of office parties wandering cluelessly around the venue (which is much more evident on a Thurs compared to Weds!) Hoping it’s still at Olympia in ’13.

The 2012 GBBF is back at Olympia, which has been considerably expanded since the festival outgrew it a few years back. It’s a far niced venue than Earls Court - it has natural light and a lot less ambient noise, for a start, and there is also quite a bit more space for seating. Don’t forget to visit the upstairs bars as well as the ones downstairs!

I’ve been to both Earls Court and Olympia for this one. The positives of both is that the staff are very friendly, and it’s easy to meet an extremely wide variety of beer fans from far and wide. Staff at the cider booth spent a lot of time explaining the different varieties, since I don’t know a lot about them. The food was not exciting at either, but then again there are quite a few choices outside the venue in the surrounding neighborhoods, especially around Olympia. I hope that seating at Olympia is more plentiful than it was at Earls Court this year. And I hope someone follows in the tradition of nate2g, who did a terrific job taking us on pub crawls at the time of the 2011 festival.

A fantastic festival, both for UK cask ales and foreign beers. I really enjoy going to this festival and can recommend it to anyone. Yes, they cater for the masses in some ways, but there is always something, even for the most seasoned of tickers!

The place had everything I would want at a beer festival, namely big space and toilets. Given the huge crowds at the fest I think the Earls Court handled the mayhem pretty well. I never saw any incidents and the atmosphere was pretty much always jovial. I guess it got pretty noisy, but as I reflect on my time spent at GBBF in Earls Court I only remember spending time with good people and drinking lots and lots of beer. It will be interesting to see how Olympia fares as the new venue.

Noizy and crowdy. Not easy to find a place to sit if you are coming an our or two after opening hours. Great beer selection, but not always a great beer. Now and then you will go for a bottle just to be sure you get a real taste :-) Lot of nice people and some good tutored tastings. You need to be there for a while to get the whole picture. Been at Earls Court three times. Looking forward to visit Olympia

Lots of beers. Possible to sit down and relax while drinking. Large and noizy. Atmospheric . . Lots of tics and friendly people.

So big that everything is hit and miss. A few constants: You WILL get a lot of ticks (if you want). You WILL get a beer in terrible condition. You WILL eat pork scratchings. You WILL hate all those noisy people. You WILL love the plentyful seating. You WILL visit the foreign beer bar when you get tired of diacetyl bombs.

Well, Olympia will be different, so this review isn’t relevant any more. Noisy and sweaty. But you can’t fauly the selection. You can fault boring brewers for brewing yet another boring bitter, though. Nosh is pucker. Beers are cheap, but entry isn’t.