The eagerly anticipated Wetherspoon autumn real-ale and cider festival is almost upon us as we prepare to serve an unrivalled selection of great British beers and ciders for your enjoyment.
Click here to download the festival tasting notes.
The 12-day extravaganza, which will be showcasing 30 UK ales and five UK ciders, runs in our pubs across the UK and the Republic of Ireland from Wednesday 10 October until Sunday 21 October (inclusive).
All 30 festival ales this autumn have been brewed by SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) members – small, independent UK brewers, many of them award-winners in SIBA competitions.
New
The festival line-up also includes new, seasonal and speciality beers – in addition to which many of the beers are available in the pubs for the first time, having been brewed exclusively for our bi-annual event.
Among our SIBA award-winning festival ales are the golden Liberation IPA (4.8% ABV) from Liberation Brewery in the Channel Islands, Sirius Dog Star (4.4% ABV) a deep red ale by Wolf Brewery in Norfolk, West Dunbartonshire’s Loch Lomond Southern Summit (4.0% ABV), Suffolk-based Mauldons Blackberry Porter (4.8% ABV) and Old Man (4.3% ABV) from Long Man Brewery, in East Sussex.
Exclusive
Festival-exclusive beers to watch out for are Perthshire’s Inveralmond Fortingale (4.0% ABV), Cotleigh Styrian Wolf (4.4% ABV) from Somerset, Carmarthenshire’s Evan Evans Hop Picker (4.5% ABV), Wadworth Burnt Orange IPA (4.5% ABV) from Wiltshire, Nottinghamshire’s Castle Rock Wheel of Fortune (4.6% ABV) and XV Oatmeal Stout (4.8% ABV) from Acorn Brewery, South Yorkshire.
As the name might suggest, St Austell Big Job packs a punch at 7.2% ABV – our strongest of the festival beers, for those who dare! This golden IPA, from St Austell Brewery, in Cornwall, was a gold-medal winner in the SIBA Southwest competition this year.
Fabulous
The fabulous five festival ciders are Mr Whitehead’s Toffee Apple (4.0% ABV) from Hampshire, Dorset’s Purbeck Devil’s Leaf (4.0% ABV) and Knights Malvern Gold (6.0% ABV) from the West Midlands, as well as Rich’s Legbender (6.0% ABV) and Broadoak Premium Perry (7.5% ABV) both from Somerset.
Customers will be able to sample any three of the real ales in special third-of-a-pint glasses for the price of a festival pint. Tasting notes will be available at pubs throughout the festival.
SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers, was founded in 1980 and represents around 830 British brewers. Approximately 300 suppliers are also Supplier Associate members of SIBA. The SIBA vision is to deliver the future of British beer and become the voice of British brewing.