1st Ibstock Beer Festival

21 - 23 October 2011

The festival was held across four venues, all within easy walking distance. The majority of beers were in the Palace Community Centre on High Street with additional beers in the Waggon & Horses, The Whimsey Inn and The Boot; The Ram Inn having dropped out.
The Palace, as the name might suggest, was originally the cinema but has now been turned into a community centre for the village and is now used for a variety of activities including shows, concerts, films and fairs.

We arrived early on Friday evening and were first through the doors of the Palace where 13 beers and 9 ciders awaited us. It was £2 for a programme and this entitled you to 50p per pint discount off the first drink in each venue, a good way to encourage visitors to circulate. Beer List

From the Palace we moved on to the Waggon & Horses, an excellent locals pubs that is renowned for its Bass, where a temporary bar, constructed by the landlord, was offering four beers. it was already busy here with several locals testing the festival beers.

We next went to the Whimsey Inn, a pub that obviously caters for the younger end of the customer range, where the three beers and three ciders were arranged on tables in one of the rooms.

Our final venue was the Boot Inn, just round the corner from the Whimsey. Again another busy pub with almost all seats taken. There were three beers, all 5% or above and two ciders available here.

Our visit was on the first day of the first festival, I hope the rest of the weekend proved to be a success. We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, staying longer than we had intended, some members of our party were threatening to return the next day! I'm sure this could be a successful annual event, everyone we spoke to was friendly and keen to see the event do well and, who knows, as a result of an event like this, the choice of real ales may well increase in Ibstock.

The Palace	Waggon & Horses	Waggon & Horses temporary bar	Whimsey temporary bar	The Boot Inn

Words & Photos by Alan