'Weird and wonderful' flavours set for Maidenhead Craft Beer Festival in May

An ale-star cast of brewers and limited-edition stouts are confirmed for the up-and-coming Maidenhead Craft Beer Festival over the May bank holiday weekend.

The first ever Maidenhead Craft Beer Festival is set to take place on May 3 and 4 (Saturday and Sunday) at Stipes Bar and Maidenhead United Football Club, York Road.

Co-organiser of this event (and co-owner of A Hoppy Place) Dave Haywood says it will differ from the popular Maidenhead Beer and Cider Festival, which will be returning to Summerleaze Park in July.

Instead of drinks being primarily served up by volunteer enthusiasts, this festival will welcome the brewers themselves to come and pour their own beers.

This, said Dave, will give punters a chance to chat with them and tap into their crafting process.

There will be 15 breweries in total, with 11 of the brewers showing up in person. All will be bringing two to four beers along, making about 50 craft beers.

The offering will range from ‘sensible session sunshine beers’ to ‘very silly barrel-aged strong dark beers’ – and there will be lagers for those who don’t go for ale.

There will be ‘safe options’ from three fairly well-known breweries in the area; Siren Craft Brew and Elusive Brewing, both based in Wokingham, and Indie Rabble from Windsor (Dave and Naomi’s brewery).

Other breweries include: Double Barrelled Brewery, Tilehurst; Otherworld Brewing, Edinburgh; Great Beyond Brewery, Hoxton; New Invention Brewery, Walsall; and Attic Brew Co, Stirchley.

Going beyond the boundaries of Berkshire was intentional.

“Most of the people attending will be Berkshire based and we wanted to make sure there was something weird and wonderful as well that they definitely wouldn’t have had before,” said Dave.

Beer can be bought by the pint or by third-pint taster.

For all the non-beer people accompanying the enthusiasts, there will be wines, spirits, soft drinks and an independent small batch cider from Ascension Cider in Sussex.

Meanwhile, for serious beer fans, organisers will be pouring some session-specific ‘super limited-edition’ imperial stouts each day in Stripes Bar:

• Saturday afternoon: Sinnister Brew
• Saturday evening: Vault City
• Sunday afternoon: Lervig
• Sunday evening: Emperor’s Brewery

The cellar at A Hoppy Place has a ‘backlog of very strong, very exciting beers’ Dave explained – because he is occasionally offered small batches of these which he ‘can’t say no to’.

Because these can’t easily be built into A Hoppy Place’s rotation on tap, Dave thought the festival would be a good opportunity to showcase them.

“There’s a big market of beer ‘tickers’ or collectors who won’t have had these beers and will want to try them,” he said.

Food-wise, two vendors are confirmed: SMASHED Burgers & Fries (part of Off the Tap, run by fellow organiser Toby Denney) and Knead Pizza from Maidenhead.

Organisers are also hoping to confirm a dedicated vegan food vendor – but failing that, they will ensure other vendors have a vegan offer.

Meanwhile, three or four DJs are planned, to be confirmed nearer the date.

“The evening session on Saturday is likely to be the loudest and most music focused,” said Dave.

“Although it’s not going to be crazy – we’re a beer festival, not a rave.”

Tickets for the festival are £10 per session plus booking fee. Afternoon sessions are from 12pm to 5pm and evening sessions from 6pm to 11pm on both days.

The Saturday afternoon session is getting close to sold-out – and Dave encourages people to get booking sooner rather than later.

“It makes a massive difference to us and the breweries to know we’ve got guaranteed numbers,” he said.

“I’d ask everyone not to leave it until the last minute – it makes it a bit scarier for us, and also they risk missing out.”

Find the Eventbrite ticket link at tinyurl.com/2mzkzbjz