Mine's a Pint - Spring 2020

Reading Beer &
Cider Festival 2020 - A Preview
my teens. Disclaimer: I sometimes still crave a
lager, and I have zero shame about that.
I sincerely hope that the beer festival offers
that same voyage of discovery to others too.
It is, without a doubt, a chance to showcase
wonderful breweries who specialise in cask,
craft or both. An opportunity to try them
out. It’s a chance to talk about beer, grab a
recommendation, meet new people and, maybe
(just maybe) have a jolly good knees up. There
is always an excellent se-lection of perry and
cider, too. Friends from further afield tell me it
is one of the best run beer festivals in the UK.
The beer festival is nothing without its
wonderful volunteers: they keep everybody
safe, they support across the whole site, often
giving up their annual leave to do so. The
volunteers behind the bar want to talk beer
with you and help you make sense of what’s on,
what’s in the guide and what you should try.
It is a joke amongst family and friends that
the Reading Beer and Cider Festival is my
Christmas. It might be a joke to them, but I’m
not sure that it is for me: I really do love it.
My friend Andy, a keen home brewer with big
beery ambitions, was rather excited about it
himself when we chatted away in late December.
“You know, we aren’t that far off now. It’s only
five months away” he said excitedly. He goes
most years, and I’ve known him attend every
day of the festival.
Well, by the time you read this it will be a mere
two months away, and I can’t wait.
From a personal perspective the beer festivals
have been the springboard to my love affair
with beer. Proper beer, not the pints of
Kronenbourg I used to drink as a staple in
The beer festival is a place that I have made
friends, re-connected with old friends and
sometimes it’s the only time in the year I get to
see certain friends.
Over the past two years, CAMRA have had a
‘key keg’ stand, which should suit the craft beer
connoisseurs amongst you. That said, the cask
selection is huge. My favourite beer of last year
was Old Chimneys Brewery with their Good
King Henry, a Russian imperial stout, which is
an incredible beer on cask.
What can you expect from the festival this year?
It is scheduled to run over the (later than
normal) May bank holiday weekend of the
7 th -10 th May 2020. Tickets are now available
to purchase online at readingbeerfestival.org.
uk. The Friday 8 th May is officially the bank
holiday, so it should prove to be a wonderful
day with so many people having the day off
Mine’s A Pint
22