Beer festival goes down well
THE campaign to revive real ale is going down well if Hitchin Beer Festival is anything to go by. Last weekend, organisers of the ale extravaganza were so overwhelmed by merry drinkers that they ran out of some of the more popular brews. To keep up with s
THE campaign to revive real ale is going down well if Hitchin Beer Festival is anything to go by.
Last weekend, organisers of the ale extravaganza were so overwhelmed by merry drinkers that they ran out of some of the more popular brews.
To keep up with such high demand, organisers ordered in an extra 54 gallons of beer on the festival's second day, only to sell out totally by 9pm.
Andy Rawnsley, branch chairman and festival organiser, said: "It has been going stormingly well.
"We've had more beers on than last year yet still that wasn't enough.
"It's been so busy that we've had queues of people waiting to get in and we've had to implement a one in, one out system."
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Organised by the Hitchin Round Table and CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), the two-day event left Hitchin Town Hall bursting at the seams, offering an estimated 1,431 visitors a taste of real ale, foreign beer and cider.
The first barrel to run dry was St Paddy's from the Buntingford brewery in Therfield Heath, which organisers have named the best beer of the festival.
Hitchin Beer Festival will be returning next year, but with almost a 50 per cent increase in attendance this year, there will be yet more beers on offer and more bar staff to deal with demand.
CAMRA and the Round Table have said they "set the challenge to drink us dry next year and our apologies to those who turned up to dry barrels on Saturday night".
