Last call as Southport Beer & Cider Festival opens its doors today
HERE’S the final reminder that Camra’s Southport Beer & Cider Festival begins today (Thursday, October 25) at 6pm, writes Neville Grundy.
It continues on Friday and Saturday when it opens at midday: it closes at 11pm every night.
Admission is £4, but entry is free for Camra members.
There is also free entry on Saturday evening for anyone who presents the coupon from last week’s Midweek Visiter (or the previous week’s Ormskirk Advertiser
or Southport Visiter).
With about 60 real ales, ciders and perries, plus fine wines, Prosecco and food, there should be something to please most people.
It will all be happening at the St John Ambulance Hall, Wright Street, Southport, a three-minute walk from the station and close to most bus routes. For more information, go to the festival page of our website at: www.southport.camra.org. uk.
Real ale, also known as “cask beer” or just “cask”, is making something of a comeback among brewers at present.
Manchester’s Cloudwater Brewery gave up brewing cask less than two years ago but has changed its mind.
A spokesperson said: “At this time of year, as the nights start to lengthen and the temperature drops, a cosy pub is our favourite place to be for a relaxing afternoon pint, or a quiet evening session.
“We find ourselves drinking many a pint of cask beer and wondering how well our (own) brown ales, or stouts and seasonal pale would do on cask.”
More surprising is the Scottish company BrewDog which abandoned cask in favour of craft keg 10 years ago with a loud fanfare. It gave these reasons: It wanted to get people interested in craft keg.
It was worried that cask beer was sometimes incorrectly stored and served in pubs.
It felt the beers it was brewing at that time suited keg dispense better.
However, with craft keg now established, the brewery intends to start putting some of its beers back into casks.
Camra welcomes these developments because, as I have written before, while craft keg can be quite pleasant and is much better than 1970s keg, it cannot in our view compare to a decent pint of the real thing.
To try the real thing yourself, come along to the Camra festival tonight, tomorrow and Saturday.