Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival takes it Outside as new dates announced
New venue will allow social distancing while you sample a range of fine beers, writes Rosalind Erskine
This year’s Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival is set to take place in October and at a new venue – Outside @ The Corn Exchange.
Adhering to Scottish Government guidelines, organisers We Are Beer made the decision to move the festival from its original home at The Biscuit Factory to The Corn Exchange’s outside area to ensure a safe, socially distanced festival.
Taking place on 9 and 10 October, the festival hopes to bring the city together to celebrate the flourishing craft beer scene in Scotland with a strong focus on local beers: Fierce, Vault City, 71 Brewing, and new kid on the block, Newbarns. Beers from some of the world’s most cuttingedge breweries will be shipped over by brewers unable to travel abroad – including Equilibrium (NYC).
A range of UK breweries will be showcasing their products at the festival, which celebrates the best beer in all its forms: from sour beers and IPAS to low ABV beers.
The organisers have been working hard to secure a venue that will allow them to put strict health and safety measures in place including increased PPE at service areas, updating queuing and directional signage for visitors, app-based registration to comply with track and trace, rigorous cleaning and sanitising throughout and in between sessions, increased entry and exit points as well as admittance by advance tickets only and no cash payments.
Festival founder Greg Wells, said: “Although we are sad not to be returning to the Biscuit Factory, we had to make the decision to move to a much bigger outdoor venue to make sure we could accommodate festival-goers while also adhering to social distancing guidelines. We have been working with Edinburgh Council to make sure that the festival ticks all the boxes when it comes to safety.”
ECBF2020 will also showcase some of Scotland’s top restaurants and street food vendors, including Harajuku Kitchen, who will be serving up authentic Japanese gyoza and Bross Bagels.
Tickets are priced from £46 and include entry, samples of beers from the breweries, a special festival beer glass, access to the festival’s pop-up kitchens and music acts. Visit www. edinburghcraftbeerfestival.co.uk to purchase tickets.