Field Day festival 2015. Pic: Anna Sorensen
The annual Field Day festival in Victoria Park, Hackney, is marking its 10th anniversary with a limited edition beer in collaboration with the local Five Points Brewing Company.
Ten Points Extra Pale is a specially-brewed beer for Field Day. Tom Baker, director of the event, said: “It’s the 10th year of us putting on Field Day and we wanted to do something special and unusual to mark the occasion.
“Ed, the founder of The Five Points Brewing Company, felt the same about marking the 10th birthday and Ten Points Extra Pale Ale started from there.”
Brewed with Australian Galaxy and American Citra hops, Five Points has aimed to produce a beer with a juicy, tropical aroma and a flavour with restrained bitterness. Baker said: “We wanted something distinctive but not something with a crazy alcohol by volume (ABV). Everyone had a think and we decided on a pale ale as it’s a popular style right now.”
Despite the low ABV of 4 per cent, the small percentage of oats will give “Ten Points Extra Pale” a good amount of body. The blend of fruity and citrus hops with British Low Colour Maris Otter malt gives the beer an extra pale colour.
Making Ten Points Extra Pale beer. Pic: The Five Points Brewing Company
Greg Hobbs, Head Brewer at The Five Points Brewing Company, said: “We hope people will find this a really enjoyable beer. The pubs, bars and other businesses we are working with are thrilled to be getting something that’s really special for us, for Field Day and, we hope, for drinkers.”
Music festivals are often tied into long term contracts with multinational breweries, which makes collaboration with local breweries difficult. Hobbs said: “Thankfully, there has been a move in the last few years to provide festival attendees a choice of amazing local beverages, spearheaded by festivals like Field Day. Ten Points is a celebration of this.
“It’s amazing to work in collaboration with the organisers of an event with as good a provenance and profile as Field Day, particularly at such a milestone.”
For Field Day it was important to collaborate with an east London brewery on its anniversary beer. Baker said: “It felt like a natural fit. The festival has been going for 10 years now so it’s a big part of the area and I think it’s important to support and collaborate with local companies, venues and breweries.”
Ten Points Extra Pale will be served at the two-day festival and at number of pubs and bars around east London prior to the event, including MOTH Club, Shacklewell Arms and Crate. Baker said: “I think they’ll ensure the success of it. All the pubs we’re working with have a good range of drinks on tap and really knowledgable staff.
“People will see something unusual and will hopefully want to try it or ask questions about it, then tell their friends about it before or during the festival.
“You won’t see this beer at any festival but Field Day. What other festival has its own beer? I will be drinking ten pints of Ten Points to celebrate 10 years of Field Day!”
