Beer festival begins

BEERS from awardwinning breweries in the UK and overseas will be available at 10 Leicestershire pubs as part of the Wetherspoons real ale festival.

The event begins on Wednesday and runs until Sunday, April 2.

The Baron of Hinckley in Regent Street will be serving up to 30 beers from Italy, Brazil, Holland and the USA, as well as the UK, during the festival.

All the beers will be priced from £2.09 to £2.39 a pint.

The overseas beers are; Back Garden (Bagby Brewing, USA), Mild the Gap (Birrificio MC-77, Italy), Flink (Brouwerij ‘T IJ, Holland), Burton Pale Ale (Bodebrown Brewery, Brazil) and Continental IPA (St Louis Brewery, USA).

Each of the overseas brewers has won awards for its beer in its respective country.

The UK beers include; Salopian Lemon Dream (named The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) National Champion Speciality Beer in 2012), Mauldons Blackberry Porter (winner of SIBA East’s Champion Speciality Beer in 2016), Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted (voted Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Champion Beer of Britain 2003) and Acorn Darkness (winner of a bronze medal at the 2016 CAMRA Great British Beer Festival).

The participating pubs in Leicester are:

The High Cross in High Street

The Last Plantagenet in Granby Street

The White House in Scraptoft Lane

The Corn Exchange in Market Place

Unusual flavours will be present in some of the beers, including blackberries, coffee, lemon and lemongrass.

Customers will be able to sample any three of the real ales in special third-of-a-pint glasses for the price of a pint.

The Last Plantagenet manager, Lisa Townsend, said: “We are promising our customers a superb range of award-winning ales, including some great beers from overseas and many others from brewers across the UK.

“The festival will be the perfect way for real ale enthusiasts to enjoy a range of excellent beers over 12 days.”

Tasting notes on all of the beers will be available in each of the pubs.