This year at the 2nd Annual Wandsworth Common Beer Festival we are promoting two innovations to the beer festival format. First we take the bold move of listing them all in order of strength. As opposed to alphabetically or by brewery. They range from 3% in 0.1% increments all the way up to 10%. Second we are promoting a series of BEER LADDERS that we will publish over the coming weeks (or suggest your own). These alternative lists (or Ladders) that will give you access to beers of similar strength, colour, style or a theme. A bunch of these ‘ladders’ will be official ones printed up and available at the festival. Others are being posted up and we encourage people to post other ladders, suggestions and commets.

1. Minotaur Mild 3.3% – Milton Cambridge: Red/brown with defined roasted malt nose leading to sweet finish
2. Napolean’s Retreat 3.9% – Allgates Wigan, Lancashire:  A deep golden copper colour. Worth trying
3. Battleaxe 4.2% – Rudgate Brewery Tockwith, North Yorkshire: More complex than the gravity initially suggests. Gentle bitterness leads to a fruity finish.
4. Naked Ladies 4.4% – Twichenham Fine Ales Twickenham, London (OFFICIAL GLASS SPONSOR): Hopped with both First Gold and Styrian
5. Yankee Pale Ale 5.0% – Allgates Brewery of Wigan, Lancashire: American style pale ale with specially imported yeast from USA. Cascade, Chinook and Galena hops combine with the low colour extract of Mari otter malt to give a light colour. Crisp and dry another MUST TRY!
6. Captain Smith 5.2%  - Titanic. Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire.  Red/brown colour. Full bodied. Good strong finish. A truly excellent beer celebrating the captain who famously went down with his ship.
7. Lotus IPA 5.7% – Ilkley Ilkley, West Yorkshire. (NEW BREWERY): Only started in 2009. A golden coloured IPA with hoppy, lemon and citrus aromas.
8. Skullsplitter 8.5% – Orkney. Quoyloo, Orkney Isles: Intense velvet nose with hints of apple, prune & plum. Hoppy but balanced with silky malt & fruity spices. Long dry finish.
9. Thomas Sykes 10%!!!!- Burton Bridge. Burton on Trent…. The one to finish on. What is so surprising AND dangerous is that it drinks really well without being overly sweet or cloying. Careful…you may want another.
10. Go home now Or maybe finish off with a Dark Ruby Mild (or insert this at No 8, moving Skull to 9 and Skyes to 10)… Sarah Hughes Sedgely, West Midlands 6.0% Dark Ruby Mild A festival favourite and rightly so. Now brewing at enlarged brewhouse to supply the free trade and festival demand. One of Britains best beers. Do not leave without trying. Dark and complex.

You can get Beer Festival tickets here (pre register for a chance to win free beer) and full Beer & Cider list is here.

The 2010 edition of the Battersea Beer Festival in London (Feb ) was another solid event. A great selection of UK craft beer and reasonable International stand of mainly Belgian and German beers. However, I didn't find a single American beer on site – buy maybe I missed something.

I was down on the landlord and brewer day which was cool as I ran into Downton's head brewer and the landlord of La Gothique (home of the Wandsworth Common Beer Festival held at the end of March – you can pre-book tickets HERE!).

Here's what I sampled on the day:

• Westerham Grasshopper Bitter 3.8% – 15/20, solid session bitter nice hop aroma, smooth (btw – one of favourite brewers in the UK!)
• Kelda Gole 4% – 14/20, nice goledn dry bitter
• Bazens Pacific Biiter – 13/14, drinkable
• Bowman Quiver 4.5% – 14/20 really nice earthy bite and hoppy finish
• Downton IPA 6.8% – only 12/20 needs work, other beer from this brewer much better
• Also, got a few tasty beer from the international stand to take home (pls see photo)

My overall view is that the Battersea rates a 7 out of 10 for beer festivals. For my taste its a bit 'old school' and cramped in terms of space. Not a criticism but just my impression. There's also a lack of woman and the food is mediocre at best. At leasts its easy to get to being only a 10 minute walk from Clapham Junction. I will most likely go back next year…