Whistles wetted at Hinckley beer festival
REAL ale, craft cider and fruit wine were among the tantalising tipples on offer at the tenth annual Hinckley and Bosworth Camra beer festival.
The three-day event, spanning Thursday through Saturday attracted crowds from near and far, all eager to sample the selection of rare alcoholic beverages.
With music in the outside marquee and tasty treats to soak up the sauce there was a convivial atmosphere at the Atkins Building in Lower Bond Street, Hinckley.
Some 71 real ales were on offer including Bass, Worthington and M&B along with new microbrewery specials and ‘blasts from the past’ pints, such as Brew XI.
This year the festival had a theme celebrating the pioneers of ale and brewing, William Bass, William Butler and William Worthington, who all had close ties with the area and have recently each been honoured with blue plaques marking their homes in Hinckley and in Orton on the Hill.
The festival hosted a small exhibition on the Three Brewers thanks to a partnership with the Hinckley and District Museum which is running a display on the trio entitled All Hail the Ale until the end of October.
This year’s bar manager was Jackie Wallis, an accountant and Camra member for the last six years. She acquired the taste for real beer at a young age, partaking of the froth from her father’s pints of mild.
Later she graduated to mild shandies but these days there’s not much lemonade in her favourite tipples.
Jackie and debut cider bar manager Sam Buswell were among a number of Camra members to attend a training course in Norwich looking at all aspects of bar tending. It stood them in good stead for the September event.
She and a contingent of Camra volunteers were at the Atkins Building on the Monday prior to the festival weekend, setting up the barrel stacks and cooling equipment to ensure the ales were settled and in fine fettle come the opening on Thursday.
Among the visitors was 77-yearold Sheffield native Brian Moore, a regular patron of the festival. In his time he has sampled more than 64,000 different ales.
He said: “I come down for the day, it’s easy to get down to Hinckley on the train. I like coming to this festival because there are always interesting beers and the people are so friendly.”
Another festival regular Barry Greener had travelled from Coventry. He said: “It’s not one of the biggest festivals but it is one of the friendliest. I remember attending the very first event, when it was held at the Masonic hall.”
Michelle Teale was one of a growing number of female attendees. A Hinckley and Bosworth Camra member for the last two years the Yorkshire lass is a fan of the darker, more robust ales like stouts and porters.
Her favourite of the festival was a parma violet porter, reminiscent of the scented purple sweets beloved of schoolchildren in the 70s and 80s.
She said: ”The people here at the festival are so lovely. I used to be a lager drinker but then I met my husband Melvin who drank real ale and I’ve never looked back. The Hinckley festival is great, it’s not too big it’s just nice, a nice size.”
Reflecting on the event Hinckley and Bosworth Camra festival organiser Chris James said: “Our claim to be a small, friendly Camra festival certainly seems to have been upheld, thanks to our branch volunteers. In total we had over 1,600 visitors who consumed over 4,000 pints of beer and
1,000 pints of cider along with traditional beer festival food.
“Everyone I spoke to was captivated by their visit to the museum to view the “All Hail the Ale” tribute to the Three Brewers exhibition and enjoyed splendid hospitality from the staff.”