CAMRA Cheshire Beer Festival® 2019

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Welcome to the Chesire Bear Festival 2019®

Well the festival has now been and gone for 2019.  If you made it to the festival, we hope you had a great time and enjoyed the event.  The full results of the Champion Beer of Cheshire 2019 can be found on the beer list page, but briefly Chapter Brewing Co’s #3. Dead Man’s Fist took the gold award this year.  Congratulations to Noah Torn (brewer).

If you attended then we would appreciate your feedback on the event please, to help us plan next year’s event.

Buy TicketsCheshire CAMRA branches have again worked together to organise this event, which we have moved from November to March. There will be over 80 real ales in total with around 40 from Cheshire and the remainder from all parts of Britain.  In addition, 18 ciders and perries will be on offer. The festival is hosting the Champion Beer of Cheshire (CBoC) Competition and every Cheshire brewery able to supply is here.  There is a large lounge upstairs which will have seating, plus stalls with interests relating to beer and brewing.

The venue is the historic Chester Racecourse which is located just outside the city walls, a few minutes walk from the centre of Chester.  Hot and cold food will available throughout and there will live entertainment and pub games.  There is plenty of free parking right by the entrance and the venue is accessible for the less able.  Tickets are available on-line and from selected local pubs in Chester.

About the festival

Everything you are likely to want to know is to be found under “The Festival” – if there is anything else you need to know, please email @

CAMRA makes a difference

In 45 years of campaigning, we’ve helped make history more than just once: in the past few years alone we’ve changed the law to protect all pubs in the planning system, lobbied for the introduction of a Pubs Code and Adjudicator to give licensees a fair deal, and we scrapped the much hated beer duty escalator which would have seen the cost of a pint rise year on year.

One of our main concerns currently is pub protection. Too many pubs are closing permanently, often becoming shops or housing. We are campaigning against this. Our local Pub Protection Groups are working hard to save pubs in Cheshire, with several in immediate danger.

Congratulations to the community group that has saved and taken over The Centurion and good luck to those trying to save The Golden Lion, Ashton and several other pubs.  In recent years pubs threatened with closure have become CAMRA pubs of the year, notably The Cricketers Arms St. Helens and Wonston Arms, Hampshire

For news and information of our campaigns and events, please see our national website.  If you are a member and do not get our news, then have we got your email?  If you are not a member, please join.

Thanks

The festival could not happen if it were not for the generous gifts of time, skills and financial support.  Thanks to

  • all the volunteers who organise and staff the festival
  • the entertainers, who perform at no cost to support CAMRA – please book them if you are having an event
  • all our sponsors and advertisers – please support them
  • to Mustard Print for printing posters and banners (01244 389360)
  • to the members of the public for buying tickets. drinking the beer and having a great time

We hope you enjoy the fifth, but we hope, not the last, Cheshire Beer Festival®.

The Cheshire Beer Festival® is organised and run by unpaid volunteers from across the county. We are always looking for volunteers, old and new. As a volunteer you get free beer.  If you’d like to help out, whether just for a few hours one day or throughout the whole festival, you will be made most welcome. Don’t worry about needing experience, as training will be given and we have a wide range of jobs available. Find out more on the volunteer’s page.

Sessions

For the first time the festival will be open all day on both Friday and Saturday so having paid your admission you will be free to stay for the whole session.  The upper floor within the County Stand will again be in use with plenty of seating for those who like to enjoy their beers in a slightly less boisterous environment while the lower floor will be a hive of activity as usual.

CBoC

Judging for the Champion Beer of Cheshire competition will take place on Friday 22nd prior to the opening session of the festival so we look forward to the county’s brewers providing us with their very best beers.

The programme for the judging is:

  • 11:00 for 11:15am start – preliminary round of beer judging (7 or 8 beers per panel – 3 panels)
  • 12:45 for 1:00pm start – final judging of the best 2 beers from each panel
  • 1:00pm – Festival opens to the public
  • 2:30pm – Presentation of the Cheshire Branches Pubs of the Year 2019
  • 3:30pm – Presentation of the Champion Beer of Cheshire 2019

(Presentation timings are provisional and subject to change)