Wakefield Beer Festival is open

ON THE BAR: Mick Exley, Paul Ruthven, Derek Waller and Maureen Waller at last year's festival

Wakefield Beer Festival opened at 11am today (Thursday) and will run until Saturday night.

Wakefield CAMRA’s showcase event is at The Space, on Waldorf Way, off Denby Dale Road.

This is the 25th festival and the organisers have drawn inspiration from the first festival at Wakefield Town Hall in 1991.

Organiser Mark Gibson said: “There are four main areas of beer. We scanned down the beer list from 1991 and picked out all the beers that are still being brewed.”

T’Owd Dreadnought 2015 is one such beer. It’s a recreation of the classic strong ale which was a firm favourite at many Wakefield festivals in the town hall.

Branch chairman Albert Bradbury has also brewed a beer with Clark’s called Under The Clock Tower - a nod to the venue of the first festival.

There will be also a good selection of modern day ‘LocAles’ from 11 breweries within the Wakefield district. Look out for Ossett Brewery’s Treacle Stout and Five Town’s Nowt, a rum stout, which will both be served from wooden casks. These can give a greater depth of flavour to the beer.

Mr Gibson said: “We’ve also got beers from the South East and South West.”

These range from long established breweries like Harvey’s, of Sussex, to small micro breweries that are rarely seen outside their home area.

It’s a pay on the door event, apart from the Friday night session, which is all ticket. A few Friday night tickets remain at the Wakefield Visitor Centre on the Bull Ring.

Click here for more information about session times and venue details.