Golden sunshine and amber ales at fantastic Falmouth beer festival

Volunteers from CAMRA Kernow, the Cornwall branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, welcomed just under 5,000 people through the doors between Thursday and Saturday last week.

The visitors managed to drink their way through 17,000 pints of real ale, 4,800 pints of cider and perry and a record-breaking 920 pints of Grandma’s Weapons Grade Ginger Beer, made by Colin Tranah at Crofthandy to a recipe handed down by his grandmother.

Festival organiser, Gerry Wills of CAMRA Kernow, said: “It’s always good to see crowds of wide-ranging ages enjoying good beer, especially to see more young people trying real ale than mass-produced, fizzy stuff.

“This will be my last beer festival that I will organise for Cornwall CAMRA – 35 is quite enough. In the main I’ve enjoyed the experience and I thank all the customers who have supported the festivals over the years.”

A group of tasters set about the task of choosing a champion beer and this year the honour went to a local brew, Rebel Brewing Co’s 80 Shilling, an interpretation of a traditional Scottish style of dark bitter. The cider tent proved as popular as ever, under the stewardship of CAMRA Kernow cider representative Linda Dopson. This year Linda was pleased to have a cider competition, alongside the champion beer contest, the winner being McCrindles Medium Dry from Gloucestershire.

CAMRA Kernow press officer Fran Brannan developed a mobile app for the festival providing up to date information about which beers were on offer, along with opening times and music listings.

“I’m delighted that so many fest fans enjoyed the online stuff. It was brilliant to see our hashtag, #Falbeerfest, trending, and people sharing info about the beers they were drinking online,” said Fran.