The magic of the beer festivals!

Artbeerfest venue taken by the crowd at Caminha, Portugal.

Hello! I know, it could easily be another edition of “Ask me something about beer” asking “What’s your favorite beer festival?”.
But I still consider myself a beginner when it comes to beer festivals. I've mostly been to festivals in Portugal and a few here between Greece and Bulgaria. But I’ve never been to what are considered the biggest or most important ones, so I’ll save that question for my future self who, if all goes well, will experience those festivals one day. Also, the answer to that question wouldn’t be “it depends,” so it would break my mystique haha.

Since tomorrow marks the start of what, for me, is the best beer festival I’ve ever attended, I decided to dedicate a few words to these iconic events so celebrated in the imagination of craft beer lovers: the beer festivals.

Yes, tomorrow, July 10th, 2025 (until July 13th), kicks off another edition of the ArtBeerFest, considered the mecca of Portuguese craft beer, attracting people from all over the world to the small town of Caminha. For those unfamiliar with Portuguese geography, Caminha is the first coastal city at the northern tip, separated from neighboring Spain only by the Minho River. It’s a calm, quiet town with about 2,500 inhabitants, part of the Viana do Castelo district. The festival is now in its twelfth edition and will feature over 20 international brands, plus, of course, the majority of Portuguese breweries. That’s about 400 beers to try over four days of festival. I had the pleasure of attending the 2019, 2022, and 2023 editions, and now living in Greece, I’m quite jealous of everyone who’ll be there.

But this post isn’t specifically to talk about the ArtBeerFest itself, but rather to highlight some aspects that makes a beer festival so remarkable, iconic, and memorable – which, in the end, means I’ll still end up talking about it quite a lot haha.

First of all, let’s talk about the basics: the conditions for people to socialize and meet their physiological needs, which should always be ensured at any event. So, of course, the festival should make sure everyone can go to the bathroom when needed, eat when hungry, sit down when tired, drink water, and so on. These should be the foundations of a good experience and should never be neglected or replaced by any other priority. In music and summer festivals, sometimes these basic conditions aren’t great, but because they attract a younger, more carefree crowd, they still succeed. Beer festivals usually have a more family-friendly atmosphere, so these basic conditions should be as much a priority as the choice of beer brands or other activities.

Second, as someone who loves good beer and is always eager to discover new brews, going to a beer festival is a unique moment. When we live in a certain region, we end up with a limited range of beers available. No matter how good the geography, how restless the local breweries are to create new labels, and how active the distributors/importers are, the overall variety tends to stay more or less the same. One thing that feeds the desire of people like me to go to a festival is precisely the chance to taste different beers. In case of more local festivals, an effort could make with the local breweries themselves to have new releases at the festival, making it more interesting without needing breweries from outside. These kinds of synergies can turn a festival from “just another festival” into THE festival.

Which brings me to the third key element: synergy. I’ll explain with two examples.

The ArtBeerFest is an open festival that takes place in Largo Calouste Gulbenkian, right in front of Caminha’s Town Hall. This means anyone – even those who don’t drink beer – can hang out at the venue and enjoy most of the cultural program, which is largely free and open. The festival “ticket” is essentially buying the festival glass and the tokens to drink beer. No brand will serve beer in any cup other than the official one, and they don’t sell beer directly for cash or card. That’s exclusive to the real festival-goers who paid to participate. But because it’s open, we can still hang out with other people who didn’t buy the glass and just came to enjoy the music, a pleasant summer evening in the square, or the company of beer-loving friends and family. Thanks to this format, I was able to bring family and friends and have them taste several beers – something impossible when the venue is closed off.

The traditional pic with the Artbeerfest sign on the left (2023). In the center, a young version of myself having fun at the Mikkeller Run at Caminha, Portugal. It is a fun activity during the festival, running along the Minho river bank. My happiness probably because of having a hidration stop on sight. Of course, beer is an option! 🍻 Another traditional pic with the Artbeerfest sign on right (2022).

But more than that, this open format made the local community embrace the festival. From the start, the interaction between the town’s residents and local businesses with festival-goers created a synergy you rarely see elsewhere. As is common in Europe, Portugal and the municipality of Caminha face population aging, and many would expect (that kind of prejudice is called “ageism”) that an older population would turn its back on the idea of filling the town with people, ‘weird’ beer, music, etc. But what we see is the exact opposite: this meeting of generations is yet another feature that makes the festival unique and a great promoter of the local economy and quality of life. The festival’s economic impact on the local community was even the subject of a documentary, and today the town eagerly awaits the beer lovers who bring a weekend of excitement. Of course, the fact that it happens in the summer, in a coastal town where the Minho River meets the Atlantic Ocean, also helps draw visitors.

For the another example, I noticed another type of synergy this year at the Balkan Beer Bash in Sofia, Bulgaria. Unlike the ArtBeerFest, this is an indoor festival in an “open bar” format: you pay a set price and can drink as much as you want from the available beers during a certain period. Very different from Caminha, Sofia is a vibrant European capital that already welcomes tourists year-round, regardless of what’s on that weekend. But the Balkan Beer Bash organizers create a whole series of activities in different bars and craft beer shops around the city during the entire festival week. This dynamic practically extends the festival days and makes almost every craft beer venue in the city feel like part of the festival. Plus, most of their owners and staff end up being the volunteers who help make the festival happen.

This year glass of the Balkan Beer Bash on the left (small glass helps to reduce beer waste). In the center, the detail of the place to leave the glass on the WCs 😂. On the right, the sold out booth of Omnipollo and its iconic baloon.

At this last edition, Sofia was invaded by several breweries starting from the Tuesday before the festival. And as Friday approached, more and more events built up a unique atmosphere that culminates in the festival’s peak days. These moments create unique opportunities for interaction between the breweries themselves and future collaborations. Also, they give beer lovers the chance to meet the creators or brand representatives in a relaxed, friendly bar setting. We start associating faces with the brands, and they become even more special in our beer memory. These synergies are also what turn festivals into real institutions, strong brands that can be promoted all year long – not just on festival days.

Another important thing is understanding what kind of festival you want to be – in other words, the festival’s identity. In the two examples I mentioned, we have an open festival happening at the heart of the local community, and another closed, open-bar festival that becomes a kind of temple for more experienced craft beer lovers. Both work but have totally different audiences and ways of functioning. Being a community festival, the ArtBeerFest offers extra activities like concerts, the famous “Mikkeller Run,” tasting sessions, etc. But none of these activities overshadow the beer itself – they’ve always known they were, first and foremost, a beer festival. After living in Greece for a year, I often hear complaints here that beer festivals feel more like music festivals than beer festivals. Organizers end up investing in big-name concerts to draw crowds, and some breweries complain that they don’t even get customers during the performances. Probably, such choices would be interesting back in times, when many people were still not aware of the craft beer market. Nowadays, probably it only adds distraction and non-beer enthusiasts. Using the ArtBeerFest as an example, music has always been treated as an addition, never a distraction. I remember in 2019 there was a small stage for local bands, but in recent years the organizers have prioritized more mobile performers who can walk among festival-goers. It might sound strange, but it really works. And to give you an idea of how much the Balkan Beer Bash is truly about beer, I honestly can’t even remember if there was background music there. Again, two completely different atmospheres, two unique festivals, each with its own identity – but with beer as the protagonist.

So, I’ll wrap up with these four points:

✅ Basic conditions for public gathering;
🍺 New and different beers;
🤝 Synergies;
🎭 Identity.

In the end, this is just my humble opinion. And talking with several fellow festival-goers, almost all more experienced than I am, we always end up agreeing: there’s no single formula for a successful festival. And no festival becomes an ArtBeerFest or a Balkan Beer Bash in its first year. It’s a constant process of trial and error, and over time, even the most loyal participants need new reasons to stay excited. But I think these four points can help reflect on how to build a truly successful festival.

Another thing in common between these two festivals might be the passion of their founders. Of course, there’s a whole support team, but both Otávio Costa (ArtBeerFest) and Rostislav Bakalov (Balkan Beer Bash) are people with years of dedication to craft beer who can inspire, motivate, and lead the creation of these festivals like no one else. They fell in love with beer culture when it only existed in countries like Germany, Belgium, and the UK – and became ambassadors of this movement that now spreads to nearly every corner of the world. In Portugal or Bulgaria, no one can talk about the craft beer movement without mentioning these two personalities and “their” festivals.

To these remarkable people, today I raise my glass, close my eyes, and mentally transport myself to Caminha’s square, full of people smiling, sharing new memories – and of course, drinking good beer! Long live beer festivals! 🍻✨