Drinkers at London Drinker, which was held on 28 to 30 March 2007, made Spire Brewery Sergeant Pepper Stout the Beer of the Festival. Spire, which was set up about a year ago in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, produces a range of beers with 'musical' names. It is fitting that the beer of the festival should be a dark stout, since the festival coincided with CAMRA's Stout and Porter promotion week.

The Cider or Perry of the Festival was Hecks Perry. Hecks, of Street in Somerset, are a medium-sized producer of farmhouse ciders and perries, founded in 1896.

Special mention should be given to the Dark Star Brewery of Ansty, West Sussex, whose Hophead and Spring Equinox bitters topped the Bitter category, and were jointly runners up in the beer of the festival competition. Dark Star Routemaster, specially brewed for the festival, won the strong bitter class. Dark Star Hophead was the beer of festival in 2006.

A range of draught German beers, mostly from Franconia, were also shown - most were found to be very good, the winner being the Trunk Dunkel, a dark lager from the village of Vierzeinheiligen near Bamberg.

Individual Categories:

Cider & Perry
Winner - Hecks Perry: runner up - Ben Crossman Medium Cider

Mild
Winner - Ballards Midhurst Mild: joint runners up Dark Star Over the Moon & Triple fff Pressed Rat & Warthog

Bitter
Winner - Dark Star Hophead: runner up - Dark Star Spring Equinox

Best Bitter
Winner - Cairngorm Trade Winds: runner up - Grand Union One Hop

Strong Bitter
Winner - Dark Star Routemaster: runner up Peakstone Rock Black Hole

Stout & Porter
Winner - Spire Sergeant Pepper Stout: runner up - Fullers Gales Festival Mild

Foreign Beer
Winner - Trunk Dunkel

North London CAMRA Press Release