The second Whitehaven beer Festival has been declared an outstanding success. Around 700 people attended over the three sessions. Nearly two thirds of the 40 beers available had been finished by closing time on Saturday night, a contrast with last year when CAMRA volunteers had to throw away over 100 gallons of unsold beer. Beers were selected from all the Cumbrian breweries, and from the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Isle of Man. Over 2,500 pints were drunk. Preconceptions about what Cumbrians will drink were swept away: The first beer to run out was Loweswater’s festival brew, Haven Pride, closely followed by Bluebird XB from the award-winning Coniston brewery, and Great Gable’s dry hopped Yewbarrow, a dark beer somewhere between a porter and a stout. Mild was also popular, for example Foxfield’s Pam’s Sands, a light mild. Visitors voted Loweswater’s Melbreak as Beer of the Festival, proving that drinkers are not just looking for the strongest beer on the bar. Runners up were Coniston Bluebird XB and Loweswater’s Grasmoor.

The festival was attended from a good cross section of the local community, including an encouraging number of younger people and especially on the Saturday night a good proportion of young women, enjoying their beer as much as the lads proving that real beer is not just for middle aged men. Visitors came from as far afield as Ireland, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A number of visitors were in town for the visit of the Endeavour (quite a few of the crew came along as well) and some told us that when they were deciding where to come and see the ship, the fact that there was a beer festival in Whitehaven was the deciding factor!

Organiser Chris de Cordova said "Some people think of beer festivals as just an excuse for rowdy drunkenness, but they are just not like that: it was a really happy, pleasant event - no trouble, just a tremendous buzz of people thoroughly enjoying themselves tasting half-pint samples of a wide range of craft beers."

The West Cumbria branch have already decided to stage another festival next year on 30th September and 1st October.

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