We’ve got 34 beers for you to buy this year with plenty of old favourites for you to enjoy.

Our beers making a first appearance are from the following breweries: Chiltern (nr Aylesbury); Dark Star (nr Haywards Heath); Downton (south of Salisbury) and Meantime (Greenwich), who were voted Brewer of the Year 2008, by the Beer Writers Guild. We also have a welcome return to Everards (Tiger and Sunchaser) as well as Wadworth’s 6X.

The stronger (ABV 5.0%+) ales are Dark Star - Original, Fullers - ESB, Ringwood - Old Thumper, and St Austell - HSD.

Here’s a few personal selections from our full range to tempt your taste buds.

First up are a couple of blondes. Did you know that one in two women and six out of ten 25-34 year olds also prefer blonde beer? And, that 48% of people trying real ale for the first time prefer blonde beer? Not surprisingly as these are a perfect introduction to real ale for those who’ve never tried one of our finest traditions before.

Rebellion Blonde (ABV 4.3%)

[Editor's note - Might as well include my favourite! This has been one of our best sellers over the years. This is a lovely refreshing ale with warm caramel flavours]

The launch of the Rebellion Beer Company in 1993 marked the revival of Marlow’s illustrious brewing tradition dating back over 240 years. The town’s position in the chalky Chiltern Hills means that the local water, used for brewing, is high in the minerals & salts essential for producing distinctive, high quality traditional ales

Blonde is a light coloured, thirst quenching premium ale that utilises equal proportions of lager and bitter malts in its production process to give a distinctive, flavoursome brew.

EVERARDS Sunchaser (ABV 4.0%)

William Everard brewed his first pint of Everards ale in 1849, and stated “No efforst shall be found wanting in the production and supply of genuine ale of first rate quality”.

Today, 160 years later, in its fifth generation as an independent family brewery, Everards brewery is very much family run company with values that echo that of William the founder family member.

Sunchaser blonde is golden straw coloured, thirst quenching beer made in the style of a continental lager. First brewed in 2006 it smells delicate and with a hint of citrus fruit. Hence you will find subtle zesty fruit flavours and a little sweetness within.

DARK STAR Hophead (ABV 3.8%)

The Dark Star Brewing Company was born in 1994 in the cellar of The Evening Star Pub, in Brighton. With a brew plant only marginally bigger than an enthusiastic home-brew kit the characteristic style of hoppy beers was developed and tried out on the willing guinea pigs at the bar.

Within a few hard working years it was obvious that the brewery could not keep up with the growing thirst of the Evening Star’s drinkers, yet alone the demand for its beers from other local pubs and beer festivals.

In 2001 the brewery relocated to a new purpose built 15 brewers barrel brewery in Ansty, near Haywards Heath, from where it still supplies the Evening Star with a selection of its beers, along with its sister pubs.

Hophead is an extremely clean drinking pale gold coloured ale with a strong floral aroma and elderflower notes. This beer is full bodied despite its very quaffable strength and dryness.

Adnams & Co plc Explorer (ABV 4.3%)

Adnams beers have been famous since 1872, when George and Ernest Adnams bought the brewery. They remain proudly independent but, also, Adnams is available not only in our 83 pubs across East Anglia and in London, but also in over 5,000 pubs nationwide. They are coming towards the end of a six-year programme of refurbishment in Southwold. By 2007, they expect to be the most energy efficient brewer in the country.

It’s not often that a Managing Director tells his Head Brewer to go off and discover, but that’s exactly what happened with this beer: Adnams Explorer, the result of “brewer’s playtime” as the head brewer affectionately calls it. With hops sourced from across the Atlantic for a new fruity, citrussy flavour, Adnams Explorer blends together Chinook and Columbus hops to create a beer that is light and refreshing. Hops are used both in the copper and in the cask to create a mix of the traditional brewing quality, and the contemporary flavours of the New World.

BATEMAN’S BREWERY LTD Dark Mild (ABV 3.0%)

George Bateman joined his father at the brewery in 1950 as Executive Director in charge of the commercial side of the brewery. He had trained as a brewer at Green’s Brewery in Luton and Kelsey’s of Tunbridge Wells, unfortunately neither brewery are around today. After training he was offered a job as Managing Director of a new brewery which was being built near Grantham, Lincolnshire. However, his roots were strongly embedded in Batemans Brewery and he also did not want to enter any arrangement, which did not include his brother. Until 1953, fermentation had taken place in the same cask in which it went out into the trade. The casks were stacked on pine troughs in such a way that the fermenting beer would flow out of the bunghole and down the belly of the cask. It was then topped up by a can from the trough at the peak of fermentation every two hours, day and night. The horror of this became apparent in the summer as this took place in ground floor room where the heat of the atmosphere and fermentation would take the temperature up to 25C. To try and keep the rooms as cool as possible, every Spring he would spend a day white washing the slates. This effort was pretty fruitless and the answer years later lay in the purchase of a stainless steel fermenting vessel.

Dark Mild is a creamy mild with a fruity palate, some roast character and a hoppy finish. Dark Mild has been voted Mild of the Year by CAMRA three times

HOP BACK BREWERY First Gold (ABV 3.8%)

Hop Back is derived from the name of the vessel in which the hop cones are strained from the finished beer.

First Gold is a pale chestnut ale with a soft bitterness and an interestingly fruity spicy palate with orangey citrus notes. First Gold is a very new variety which was only released for general cultivation in 1997, having been bred at Wye HRI in Kent from a Goldings and a dwarf male hop. It is a true dwarf variety, which means it is grown on a low trellis rather than the traditional tall framework. First Gold has proved popular with the brewing industry; it yields well and has a fair resistance to Verticillium Wilt

TIMOTHY TAYLOR & CO LTD Landlord (ABV 4.3%)

In 1858 Timothy Taylor began brewing beer in the West Riding town of Keighley. The spring water that wells up from deep under the Pennines is still used today to produce the traditional cask ales. The brewery remains in the Taylor family and is now the last independent brewery of its type left in West Yorkshire.

A Classic Strong Pale Ale, Landlord has won more awards nationally than any other beer: This includes four times as Champion at the Brewers’ International Exhibition and four times as CAMRA’s beer of the year. Refreshing, has a complex and hoppy aroma

More about our Beers

We hope that selection’s given you a taster of what we have to offer. Come along to the festival and find out about our full range (listed on our beers page)

Programmes will be on sale at the festival containing full beer descriptions of all our breweries and beers and also our tasting notes pages with space for you to make your own notes on the beers you sample.

Beer Alternatives

For those who don’t like real ale don’t fear.  If you are feeling adventurous why don’t you start with a half of Rebellion Blonde (described above), a good intro to real ale.  Alternatively just ask our friendly serving staff what’s a good ale to try.  You can order a half pint and give it a go.  If you really don’t want to try head over to the wine bar where the committee have made a selection of wines for you to enjoy and also champagne.  We also sell a few varieties of cider and Becks bottled lager and soft drinks - so even if the ales aren’t for you there is plenty to quench your thirst.

Buy Tickets

Tickets for the festival can be purchased from the following locations priced at £15 for Thursday and £20 for Friday/Saturday:

• Online from our website
• Hickies Music Store, Reading
• 3 Ways Physiotherapy, Woodley
• Black Horse Pub, Emmer Green
• On the gate each evening (cash only).