Skipton Beer Festival 2013, which ran from 11th to 13th April, broke all its own records. Over 2200 customers attended the event and at close of play on Saturday, all that remained was a small quantity of cider and perry and some foreign bottled beers. All the real ale, down to the very last drop, had been drunk, despite an increased beer order over the previous year. Customers choice for Beer of the Festival was Drop Hammer, a 10% ABV dark beer from the Kirkstall Brewery in Leeds.
The festival drew customers of all ages from both near and far. Many were attending their first ever beer festival and had a great time discovering the different styles of traditional real ale available, from a cask-conditioned alternative to lager in Copper Dragon‘s Silver Myst, through hoppy golden ales, traditional Yorkshire bitters, dark and light milds to porters, stouts and old ales such as Naylors Old Ale. (Follow the link on the right, for the full list.) Much of Skipton‘s tourist accommodation was fully booked for the weekend by customers from further afield, who like to combine a trip to the festival with a visit to the Yorkshire Dales.
You can read more in the post-festival press release. In the meanwhile look out for Keighley Beer Festival which is at the end of September in Central Hall, Alice Street, Keighley - this is also organised by Keighley and Craven CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale). And if you can‘t get to that, the next Skipton festival is provisionally booked for the Spring Bank Holiday weekend 2014. Check out this web-site next spring for more information...
It‘s Thursday morning (11th April) and Skipton Beer Festival starts at 5 o'clock this afternoon. The beer has been conditioning nicely since Tuesday, the cider and foreign beer are all ready and all we need now are some customers to come and enjoy it all. The festival is in Skipton Town Hall at the top of the main street opposite the church and castle. See you sometime over the next three days!
More detail below or check out the other pages on this site more more information.... You can keep up with the latest changes on Twitter.
It‘s Wednesday 10th April and Skipton Beer Festival starts at 5 p.m. tomorrow. The beer has all arrived (except for the three final casks which are expected today) and it is all conditioning nicely. Today‘s important jobs are building bars and connecting up the handpumps so that we can sell the beer and cider on to you in, what we hope will be, perfect condition. Come and find us tomorrow evening and/or on Friday and Saturday (open from 11 a.m. both days). The festival is in Skipton Town Hall at the top of the main street opposite the church and castle. See below and the other pages on this site more more details.... You can keep up with changing information on Twitter.
It‘s Tuesday 9th April and Skipton Beer Festival starts in two days time. As you read this, volunteer staff are setting up stillage, building bars and, most important of all, getting all that lovely real ale and cider into condition ready for Thursday‘s opening. The doors open at 5 p.m. on Thursday and the festival is also open from 11 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday. Come and find us in Skipton Town Hall at the top of the main street opposite the church and castle. You won‘t be disappointed! See the other pages on this site more more details....
Dates for the 7th Skipton Beer Festival have been cofirmed as Thursday 11th to Saturday 13th April 2013. The festival will again be held in Skipton Town Hall at the top of the main street opposite the church and castle. The organising committee has already met several times and planning is well underway. The festival will keep the same hours as last year and the cost of admission has been pegged at last year‘s prices. There will be marginally more cask ale this year than last and a larger quantity of traditional cider should also be available. Otherwise it‘s a case of “if it ain‘t broken, don‘t fix it”. See the other pages on this site more more details....
Beer of the festival, voted by the customers, has been awarded to Smokey Joe‘s Black Beer from the Hopstar brewery in Darwen, Lancashire. This, as its name suggests, is a very dark beer with a slightly smoky flavour, complemented by hints of chocolate. Initially one of the ‘reserve’ beers, Smokey Joe‘s only came on sale on Saturday, but it proved so popular that it soon ran out. Apologies to those who missed it both before and after!
Cider of the festival goes to Ampleforth Abbey cider from near York. This was a clear winner over the other ciders and perries from the more traditional cider and perry producing areas of the country.
Skipton Beer Festival struggled to make it to the finish after customers drank the Town Hall dry. At close of play on Saturday 21st April, only 5 cask beers remained out of the 70 or more that went on sale, and all the traditional cider had gone despite a re-order on Friday afternoon. The final ‘dip’ (which didn‘t take very long!) revealed that we only had about 10 gallons of beer left. Keighley and Craven Branch chair and festival bar manager Colleen Holiday said “This is a phenomenal success and proves what a demand there is for cask beer.” Just over 2000 customers attended and throughout the event there was a great atmosphere. Beer of the festival will be announced soon and a longer report will appear here after we have caught our breath.
The fifth annual Skipton Beer Festival, held in the Town Hall from Thursday 19th May to Saturday 21st May 2011, was an outstanding success. A record attendance of 2,158 customers drank their way through 859 gallons (3,910 litres) of 74 different cask-conditioned real ales and 66 gallons (250 litres) of 16 different ciders and perries. As is usual on these occasions, there was absolutely no trouble reported and a happy, relaxed atmosphere prevailed throughout the festival. An innovation this year was the outside drinking area which proved to be very popular, especially on the warm, sunny Saturday afternoon.
Customers voted Black Band Porter, from the new Kirkstall Brewery in Leeds, as “Beer of the Festival” - Skipton being the first festival to sell their products. This was also the first beer to run out, the second being the new offering from local Copper Dragon brewery - Conqueror. The “Cider of the Festival” award was a major coup for a Craven brewery, Naylor“s of Crosshills, whose excellent “Emporium Press No.2” was a result of their community apple-pressing day last October.
May being CAMRA‘s “Mild Month”, the festival again featured a “Mild Trail” with 15 milds available including light milds, dark milds, a rye mild and a maple mild.
The festival was visited by Julian Smith MP and the Mayor‘s charities, the Alzheimer‘s Society and Parkinson‘s UK, benefited to the tune of £519 from raffles, cash donations and unused beer tokens. Commemorative glasses and T-shirts, bearing the festival logo “A fifth ewe, a fifth ewe - we all fall down!” were very popular and almost sold-out.
The festival committee would like to thank all the volunteer staff and, of course, the customers with special thanks going to the events sponsors.
