Cheers! Tony and Karen are here for the beer
Duo will welcome you to annual festival
The biggest beer festival in Scotland is coming back to Paisley Town Hall this year.
And for the first time, two thirtysomethings are organising this year’s four-day event.
Karen Moore, 39, and her colleague at Kelburn Brewery, Tony Baregi, 34, are the volunteer co-organisers.
And for Karen, who runs Kelburn Brewery in Barrhead with her younger brother Ross, it’s a return to somewhere she’s known all her life.
The Paisley mum-of-two said: “I’ve been there right from the start.
“My dad Derek was one of the organisers of the first year in 1986 and I remember me and Ross running around the town hall when we were kids and you could take children to it.
“I started volunteering on the front desk when I was 16 and have served behind the bar ever since.
“The only year I’ve missed was in 2013 when the festival moved from April to September and my youngest daughter Rosa was just three weeks old. I’ve been to them all since childhood.
“It’s great co-organising it this year because I’ve grown up with it. My dad’s still involved – he’s still on the committee and will volunteer there, but he’s happy to take a step back now.”
This year’s festival is the 28th and once again it will be the biggest in Scotland with over 250 different beers from 100 breweries across Scotland and England as well as a foreign beers bar.
There will also be a range of ciders, wine and mead on offer with crepes, bratwurst, scotch eggs and sausage rolls available for hungry punters.
A committee of 25 volunteers from Renfrewshire branch of real ale enthusiasts Camra start organising the festival back in October and an army of around 60 help set everything up and serve customers over the four days.
Last year an estimated 6,000 people went along to the festival and the amount of beer involved easily makes it the largest in Scotland.
Karen and Tony are looking forward to organising the event and hope it will spark an interest in younger people to volunteer with Renfrewshire Camra.
Karen said: “There’s a few younger ones on the committee but we’re hoping to get some more. There are a lot of older members and they’re keen for some young blood to come in.
“We’re not just old guys with beer bellies. Hopefully it will go well this year and the committee will have me back again.”
This year’s festival runs from Wednesday, April 25 to Saturday, April 28.
Entry is £6 which includes your pint glass and a beer guide. If you go again, bring your beer glass to get in for free.
I’ve been there right from the start Karen Moore