BEER enthusiasts had a barrel-load of fun as they drank the bar dry and toasted all things hops and barley at the 28th Luton Beer Festival last weekend.
A bevy of boozers supped around 30 tipples from local brewers as well as beers from further afield at the event which ran from Thursday until Saturday at the High Town Sports and Arts Centre.
This year’s festival was bigger and better than ever with 109 real ales, ciders and perries selling out by the call for last orders on Saturday night.
South Beds CAMRA press officer Adam Croft said: “On the beer front there’s something for everyone.
“Anything liquid, we’ve got it. We had a very mixed crowd, you get a lot of young people and women in especially on Friday and Saturday night.
“It’s good to see all sorts of people from all walks of life coming in.
“It improves every year.”
Old Bedford Road pub The English Rose took the South Beds CAMRA Pub of the Year award on Thursday night, taking the crown from popular Dunstable venue The Globe, which had taken the top spot four years running.
It beat The Albion pub in Ampthill into second place.
Enjoying his first beer festival, 22-year-old Ryan Bennett told the Luton News: “I took a day off work after I saw the poster and thought what better to do than come down and try a few of the beers.
“I’ve never been to a beer festival before so thought I’d try it out. It’s really good so far.”
Sandra Hoey, a regular at the festival, said that the event gets better each year.
She said: “I’m here to try out the whole range and I particularly enjoy the local ones.
“We were trying to think when we came in and we think this might be our fifth year here.
“It gets busier every year and you get a better range particularly of the ciders and perries, which I like.
“The organisers seem to have taken on board what people have said about seating as in previous years there have not been enough seats and it’s not always been the most comfortable place.
“We wouldn’t miss it.”
For more information on joining CAMRA, log onto www.sbedscamra.org.uk