Stand by for Festival Fever… that lasts three months!
By: JimOldfield
June 24th, 2012
While most British beer festivals last up to three days, hardened drinkers in the Steel City can brace themselves for one that lasts… three MONTHS!
Sheffield pubs The Harley and The Wick at Both Ends have launched the Twisted Beer Festival which started last week and runs until September 16.
They are serving bottled beers from around the world – beginning with six brewed here in Blighty.
But visitors are warned to bring deep pockets, as the cheapest of the ales on sale is Wells Banana Bread at £4.10 a bottle – with prices rising to £5.90 for Worthington’s sought-after White Shield!
These will be followed by two weeks of Trappist and Abbey Belgian beers, before more European, then Asian, Southern Hemisphere and North American ales.
Organisers have defended the prices, citing the recession and the “crippling” beer duty escalator. They have also promised cheaper beers in subsequent weeks and are offering a buy-five-get-one-free Beer Passport.
Meanwhile, beer festival organisers in the West Midlands are feeling charitable with their takings.
The three-day Bromsgrove Beer and Cider festival starts this Thursday (June 28) and organisers Redditch and Bromsgrove CAMRA want the Royal British Legion to benefit from the ale extravaganza – which is expected to pull in over 2,000 drinkers.
Around 100 ales and 45 ciders and perries will be available over the weekend at the Bromsgrove Rugby Club in Finstall Park where judging of the West Midlands Region Speciality Beer of the Year Competition will also take place.
A Boomtown Rat fronts a boomtime industry when Bob Geldof headlines the Plymouth Beer Festival at Plymouth Pavilions on Friday and Saturday, July 13-14.
The event, run in association with CAMRA will feature more than 165 ales, 60 ciders and 10 perries – together with a foreign bar.
Geldof will be the festival’s biggest ever name when he takes to the stage on the Saturday to perform solo material along with a few Boomtown favourites.
Tickets for Saturday evening are expected to be at a premium – so book in advance by calling 0845 1461460, or visit www.plymouthpavilions.com
Over in Chorley, Lancs, it is the football club which is hosting the beers for the inaugural Thirsty Magpie Beer Festival.
Chorley FC – which plays in the Evostik Premier Division – are joining with the Spinner’s Arms pub at nearby Cowling for an 80-ale fest at its Victory Park grounds.
The four-day event, which will also have live bands, takes place from July 12-15.
At the same time, ale fans further east, can double up their drinking with a day admiring steam trains.
Visitors to the North Norfolk Railway Beer Festival in Sheringham can sip their ale while sitting in a vintage diesel carriage or riding in a steam train to nearby Holt.
Organisers North Norfolk Railway are expecting to sell more than 12,000 pints of over 100 different beers to rail and ale lovers over the weekend of July 13-15.
Up in West Yorkshire, it’s the beers, plus a pair of TV presenters, which are set to be the star attractions at a village beer festival.
Calendar news presenter Christine Talbot and fellow TV personality Ian Clayton are to appear at the Clifford annual beer festival on Saturday (June 30) – where they will be drinking Elland Brewery’s “What the Eck’s That”… named after a Yorkshire TV show and book by Ian.
Christine is currently off Yorkshire screens as she battles breast cancer and festival organisers say they are “honoured and delighted” that she will be making an appearance.
Visitors can also expect a bevy of prize ales as the festival also boasts four past and present Supreme Champions, four festival specials, and around 25 beers which organisers see as “future prize winners”.
Finally, in Essex, around 1,000 drinkers attended the three-day Braintree Real Ale Festival and drank the bar dry! Co-organisers North West Essex CAMRA and Braintree Lions said that screening the England football match against Sweden had helped empty the barrels!
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Hand Pumped links
www.thewickatbothends.co.uk/2012/06/the-twisted-beer-festival/
www.bromsgrovebeerfestival.org.uk/
www.nnrailway.co.uk/
