Tamworth Beer Festival returns for its 30th anniversary!

30th Tamworth Beer Fetsival

Tamworth Beer Festival is set to return next month - and this year marks the 30th anniversary of the ever-popular flagship event.

Taking place once again at Tamworth Assembly Rooms, the locally organised Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Beer Festival will feature an amazing 75 cask beers. There will also be a range of ciders and perries for people to enjoy.

It will open its doors at 11am on Thursday, September 5th and also takes place on the Friday and Saturday. Opening hours are 11am to 11pm daily.

Organised by the Lichfield, Sutton and Tamworth CAMRA branch, it promises to be three days to remember – with this year’s theme celebrating 50 years of ABBA and their iconic Waterloo Eurovision win.

It is one of the CAMRA’s longest standing and best-known beer festivals, with people flocking from across the country to attend and try the range of beers from brewers from across the UK.

There will be a number of ‘festival special’ ales on offer, which are unique to this event and brewed specially for it.

The full beer list will be revealed the week before and can also be found on the Real Ale Finder app. A number of generous local businesses – including pubs – sponsor t-shirts, glasses and barrels of beer, helping it to thrive.

This year will see beers from across the nation – including offerings from Cumbria and Scotland. There will also be specially brewed ales from local producers.

Choices will range from a 2.4 per cent beer up to a an 11.3 per cent beer which is definitely not for the faint hearted!

Beer lovers can choose from a range of recognised beer styles along with more unusually flavoured tipples including strawberry wheat, Bakewell tart, marmite & peanut butter, smoked chilli and maple.

Festival Organiser Ian Eason said: “It is great to be back once again at Tamworth Assembly Rooms and to welcome back people from near and far. We pride ourselves on providing a wide range of real ale, to celebrate and promote our great British beer.

“It is hard to believe that it has been 30 years since we first opened the door to Tamworth Beer Festival. It is testament to the volunteers and visitors that we are still going strong and one of the best in CAMRA’s calendar.

“There is something for everyone and our wide offering will cater to everyone’s taste. There is definitely a beer style out there to suit all tastes and I would encourage all to come and enter the wonderful world of beer.”

There will be themed music and the entertainment on Friday evening provided by local acoustic duo Fitzy, playing a range of rock, pop, folk and country. Thursday is the traditional quiet session.

The first Tamworth Beer Festival took place in 1994 and has taken place each year apart from a break during the pandemic. Volunteers who took part in the very first one continue to volunteer today. Sadly, one of the original organisers Chris Fudge passed away in 2010 and that year it was billed as ‘Fudge’s Farewell Festival’ to celebrate his life and valued part in helping to get this much-loved event off the ground.

The infamous Tamworth pigs have been a regular feature of the logo, along with the Staffordshire Hoard being discovered, commemorating World War II code breaker Colin Grazier and celebrating a range of local heroes and news.

The Assembly Rooms will also serve a range of wines, spirits and soft drinks with hot and cold food available.

T-shirts will be available along with refundable souvenir glasses. Entry is £3 daily, except Friday between 5-11pm when it is £4. Supervised children are permitted until 5pm.
Admission for CAMRA members is £1 at all times. People joining CAMRA at the event will get their admission price back.

More information can be found at: lst.camra.org.uk