Raising a glass to a decade of Stratford Beer and Cider Festival

BEER and cider lovers are in for a treat this weekend as Stratfordupon-Avon’s annual celebration of their favourite tipples takes place.

Stratford’s 10th Beer and Cider Festival, organised by Shakespeare CAMRA, will take place at Stratford Racecourse this Friday and Saturday, 10th and 11th June.

With more than 70 beers and in excess of 30 ciders and perries available to try, the festival promises to be as popular as ever.

Like previous years the festival will raise money for the Shakespeare Hospice, which to date has benefitted to the tune of more than £8,000 from the festival.

The event will be opened by the mayor of Stratford, Juliet Short, on Friday, after which a cheque for £510 will be presented to the Shakespeare Hospice. The money was raised by donations of unused drinks tokens from last year’s festival.

This year the event will follow the theme: ‘Wales, the West and the Best’ and will celebrate Welsh and West Country brewery ales and ciders, as well as local ales.

During the festival judging will take place of the Porters for the West Midlands round of the Champion Beer of Britain competition and there will be live music acts performing on Saturday.

Phil Mills, publicity officer at the CAMRA Shakespeare branch, said: “This is our 10th anniversary and some beers have been specially brewed to mark that milestone.

“We will have a lot of local beers and ciders but also a number from elsewhere that people won’t really have got the chance to try unless they have been to that region.

“The fact this is our 10th festival shows it is popular, it is a nice venue with a nice atmosphere and we get people of all ages coming down. It’s not just a bunch of old blokes in a pub drinking beer.”

The festival runs between 12noon-11pm on Friday and 11am-11pm on Saturday. Food is available all weekend and tickets are available on the door for £10, which includes a £2 souvenir glass.