Hi,A handful of corporations own our food. They decide what farmers can grow and how much we have to pay for it.
Giant companies like @Bayer-Monsanto and @Carlsberg can do this because they patent our seeds: from melons and tomatoes to barley used to make beer.
We campaigned for five years to get the office which decides on patents (European Patent Office – EPO), to ban patents on plants and animals. And we won! But companies are cancelling our win by taking advantage of where the rules are not 100 percent clear.
All it would take to block these companies is for ministers to make patent rules watertight. The very rules they put in place thanks to public pressure from people like us.
And we know we can do this because this time around, our community is even stronger. We also have 50 organisations including local breweries from across Europe joining the fight.
Together let’s call our ministers to schedule an official conference and take bold decisions that will stop companies from manipulating the rules.
I had only been in the Algarve for a week, when I found out about Faro’s first beer festival. It was during the weekend of Friday 3rd July till 0200hrs, Monday 6th July with the temperature in the high 30s. It was opposite the police station and entry was free. It was €2.50 for a festival glass (copo), and beer and food was purchased by vouchers. They had a number of kiosk, where money could be exchanged for vouchers. There were individual stalls for the different artisan breweries and food outlets, with plenty of space to sit down.
Main seating area
A square meal
On the first day, I tried a pork dish and like festival in the UK, it was short on vegetables. But it could be described as a square meal, 250mm x 250mm (10 sq ins), bread was included.
The food outlets, were all selling bottles of Samual Adams and the Faro Motorcycle club selling, Trooper! There were a large number of Portuguese and Spanish artisan brewers represented:
Sovina, Cabbeer (Spanish), Moura, Octava Colina, Praxis, Rolls Beer, Ballut, La Cibeles, Rapada, Maldita, Deck Beer Lab, Post Scriptum, Letra, Mammooth (Spanish), Amphora, Zézé Blond, Marafada, Seleccáo 1927, Boheme and Vadia. Unfortunately, the weekist beer was 4.8% with most in the 7 and 8%. They were especially keen on stouts and porters, with some only selling the dark beers. Because of the heat, I stayed with the IPAs and wheat beers. The Spanish Mammooth’s wheat beer, was ‘interesting’, a very orange colour. One brewery, Deck Beer Lab, had a badge a bit like Brew Dog with Bath Ale’s hare in it. I was informed, it was an adaption of their restraunts sign, but instead of a pig, they have a rabbit. They also mentioned, the restraunt had being a around a lot longer than Brew Dog.
Mammooth’s wheat beer
Also available in the park was a gym and puddings for people to really comfortable in. Though I would imagine, most CAMRA members would not be able to get to their feet again. There were also scenes of mothers openly breast-feeding the children, which might have brought about an early demise for some CAMRA members. Musical entertainment and cookery lesson went on throughout the day. It was very much a carnival atmosphere, with families very much in evidence.
patricktsudlow 