Beer Festivals

Southern Hampshire CAMRA has been running the Southampton Beer Festival at Southampton Guildhall for the past 15 years.

In 2010 we added to this by organising an Autumn Festival, in Woolston, appropriately called Woolston Beer Festival. We repeated this last year and we hope to keep it as an annual event.

Last year we held Winchester Real Ale and Cider Festival at the end of March 2011, returning a CAMRA beer festival to Winchester Guildhall after a gap of 28 years. This was another big success and is back again this year, see below.

All the staff at our beer festivals are volunteers. Many members of Southern Hampshire CAMRA also volunteer their time to work at the Great British Beer Festival each year.

Some of our aims in running beer festivals are:

To serve customers quality cask conditioned real ale.
To promote real ale to the local community, therefore increasing its popularity.
To promote membership of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale.

CAMRA Beer Festivals

If you'd like us to email you and let you know when we're holding beer festivals then join our "beerfests" mailing list and keep you informed!

Gosport Winterfest XX – 17th & 18th February 2012. Thorngate Halls, Gosport. Three sessions, Friday Evening & Saturday Lunchtime & Evening. Tickets now on sale. Run by Portsmouth & South East Hampshire CAMRA.
2nd Winchester Real Ale & Cider Festival – 16th & 17th March 2012. Winchester Guildhall, SO23 9GH. Last year's very successful debut sold out weeks in advance so be sure to get your tickets now – they are on sale in all outlets, by post or online. Full details are on the website. One of the three annual beer festivals run by our CAMRA branch.
16th Southampton Beer Festival – 31st May, 1st, & 2nd June 2012. Southampton Guildhall. For many years the main Southern Hampshire Branch beer festival – we think it's the best on the South Coast. For a review of the 2011 festival see here.

Non-CAMRA Beer Festivals

Many beer festivals take place in our branch area, or nearby, that are not CAMRA beer festivals. Despite being unable to endorse these events, we believe that any beer festival that sells quality cask-conditioned real ales should be supported (see you there!). The information given here is purely for the benefit of readers, and is accurate to the best of our knowledge.

• Fri 17/02/2012 – Sat 18/02/2012	Alton Winter Beer Festival, Alton College Old Odiham Road, Alton, Hampshire GU34 2LX Alton Winter Beer Festival has moved from The Maltings and has gained a Friday evening session, in addition to the Saturday lunchtime & evening sessions. Tickets are £7 for each session and advance purchase is essential. Over 50 real ales all at £2 a pint plus ciders, local wine, live music & good food. Glasses are not provided so you must bring your own. Details are on www.altonbeerfestival.co.uk.
• Sat 18/02/2012	Eastleigh Railway Institute 2 Romsey Road, Eastleigh, Hants, SO50 9FE Real Ale Festival – 12 noon to 7pm. Free entry - everyone welcome. Bar open all day + food available. Over 10 real ales from local breweries plus Thatcher’s Vintage Ciders. Everly Brothers Tribute from 8.30pm – all are welcome to stay & enjoy!
• Fri 24/02/2012 – Sun 26/02/2012	The Rose in June, Portsmouth 102 Milton Road, Portsmouth, PO3 6AR Winter beer festival with about a dozen beers. www.theroseinjune.co.uk
• Fri 24/02/2012 – Sun 26/02/2012	Four Chesnuts 234 Oving Road, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 7EJ Chase away the winter blues at the annual February Beer Festival, which will be held in the Skittle Room and the main bar. A range of up to 15 real ales, mainly from micro breweries. http://www.the4chesnuts.co.uk/WhatsOn/WhatsOn.html#winterbf
• Fri 02/03/2012 – Sun 04/03/2012	The Croft, Hythe Langdown Lawn, Hythe, SO45 5GS The Croft (in association with Oakhaven Hospice), is holding a Beer Festival Weekend. 9 Real Ales (inc. Thumper + American IPA), 3 Ciders (inc. Old Rosie, a real favourite). 4 Artists/Bands providing music over the weekend. Families and children are very welcome. Phone: 023 8084 2141 or email The Croft for more details or to make a donation to Oakhaven Hospice.
• Fri 23/03/2012 – Sun 25/03/2012	New Forest Inn Emery Down, Lyndhurst SO43 7DY 'Sausage & Cider Festival' – about 15 ciders & 20 varieties of sausages. Music Friday & Saturday evening. Details http://thenewforestinn.co.uk/events.htm.
• Fri 30/03/2012 – Sun 01/04/2012	Dean Park Inn, Bournemouth 41 Wimbourne Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6NB Sausage & Cider Festival. About a dozen ciders & perries and two dozen varities of home made sausage. Website www.deanparkinn.co.uk.
• Sat 14/04/2012	8th Wickham Charity Beer Festival The Wickham Centre, Mill Lane, Wickham, Nr. Fareham, PO17 5AL Real Ales, Cider, plus Live Music and barbecue in the evening. Two sessions, 11:00 – 16:00 & 18:00 – 23:00. Wickham Beer Festival is an independently run charity festival and the money raised from it goes towards local organisations and charities. Tickets £4 for lunch session & £7 for evening session, all day tickets £9. All details are on www.wickhambeerfestival.co.uk.
• Mon 07/05/2012	St. Mary's Church May Fayre Fratton Road, Fratton, Portsmouth Over 40 Real Ales, Ciders and Perry. Although not a CAMRA event, the beer tent at St Mary's Church May Fayre is predominantly staffed by CAMRA volunteers. Open from 10:30am to 5pm, or more likely earlier, when the beer runs out. Free entrance. All profits are donated to the church. Full details can be found at http://www.mayfayre.me.uk/.
• Fri 11/05/2012 – Sat 12/05/2012	Salisbury Rugby Club Castle Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 3SA 7pm to midnight, 16 real ales, ciders and cheese. Tickets £5. They have a website, but this event isn't listed yet, but there are contact details.
• Fri 11/05/2012 – Sun 13/05/2012	Ye Olde George Inn, Christchurch 2A Castle Street, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 1DT There are usually about twenty beers. Food all day. The festival is held in the courtyard at the back of the pub.

If you know of any more non-CAMRA beer festivals in our branch area then please email the details to us.