Clitheroe Beer Festival

Clitheroe Beer Festival 2024

We are delighted to announce that Clitheroe Beer Festival will return in its customary mid May slot again in 2024. In the meantime we will continue to support our local pubs, bars, brewers and distributors. We would like to thank all our sponsors, supporters and brewers for supporting us in 2023 and all those who’ve signed up for 2024 already, it’s going to be another festival to remember!

Special Festival Ales

Each year we ask a select number of local breweries to brew a special new beer just for our festival. Find the logos and links to our 2023 brewers’ webites above. Many thanks to all these brewers for their ideas and inspiration for these tasty brews (we’ll be updating with the 2024 ones when we know them):

Avid Brewing Co – a staple of our festival, Avid are returning with another fabulous 10% Russian Imperial Stout, Catherine The Greatest. Aged for 15 months in oak whisky barrels and brewed in memory of Catherine Snelling, dark beer lover and former Clitheroe Beer Festival Organiser.

The Beer Shack – a small nanobrewery in this fabulous Clitheroe craft beer bar, have brewed possibly the best named beer of the festival, The Greatest Biscuit Salesman There Ever Was, a 5% Custard Cream Pale Ale.

Bowland Brewery – Once again they’ve brewed our “Festival Ale” – this year called Mango Obscura a 4% Pale Ale, hopped with Mosaic and a large addition of mango purée.

Hop Doctor Brewing – a small nanobrewery in Clitheroe. They have brewed Parlick, a 4.1% a West Coast IPA with Citra and Mosaic hops.

Libatory Brewery – a first visit for this Altrincham based nanobrewery, who have brewed Purest Green, a 5.9% Green Tea IPA.

Peregrine Brewery – last year’s winner of our “Beer of the Festival”. Based in Rishton, this year they’ve brewed Red Aiofe, a 4.5% Irish Red Ale.

Unbound Brewery – this Colne based brewery won the “Beer of the Festival” at Pendle Beer Festival earlier this year. They will be brewing Baroque, a 4.7% Vienna Lager.

Wakey Wakey Brew Co. – a first visit to the festival for these talented new Rochdale brewers. They’re brewing Rise and Shine, a 4.2% Pale Ale using hop CF 252 from the UK development hop project.

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Advertising at Clitheroe Beer Festival

Why not advertise in our Festival Programme and reach a potential audience of over 1500? It’s a cost-effective way to promote your business to hundreds of local visitors, and visitors from across the region and the UK….

Visitor Information

Clitheroe Beer Festival 2024 runs from Thurs 9 – Sat 11 May 2024*  times at base of site

Our venue is The Assembly Hall of St Michaels & St Johns – aka ‘The Old Schoolrooms’
Entry for card carrying CAMRA members is £1 on the preview evening for CAMRA & trade on Thursday and £1 before 6pm on Friday & Saturday (£2 after 6pm).

Non member entry is £4 on Friday & Saturday (£5 after 6pm).
Buy a ‘starter card’ on entry.
Starter card includes half or pint glass hire and drinks tokens.
Further top-up cards of tokens are then available.
No money is taken at our festival bars.
All unused tokens can be refunded on exit.
If you don’t want to keep your glass you can get your hire fee back.

NB! We will be welcoming contactless card payment as well as cash! 

Festival Fringe Events

We’ve always prided ourselves on being known as “the friendly festival” and each year we try and introduce new ideas to make your visit more enjoyable. This year our friends in some fantastic Clitheroe bars will once again be running special events around the town centre linked to our festival. We feel the festival is something for the whole town and we’re really happy to connect our CAMRA festival to the vibrant bar scene that can be found in our town centre. We are happy to work in partnership with some of our local bars and hope that you find time to support them and get involved with their events…or just pop in and try all the special beers that they’ll be offering!

PRE FESTIVAL FRINGE EVENTS

Tuesday 7 May 2024 – Bowland Beer Hall at Holmes Mill, Greenacre Street, Clitheroe.

Vocation Brewery – Meet the Brewer event and tap takeover.

Passionate pioneers in the craft beer scene, Vocation Brewery pushes boundaries with innovative recipes and quality ingredients. Each sip is a testament to their dedication to brewing excellence, delivering bold flavours that leave a lasting impression. This is a guided tasting featuring six 1/3 tasters of unique brews handpicked by the experts.

Cost £20 per ticket which includes six 1/3 tasters, Beer Hall nibbles and a complimentary gift. Places are limited, book your place here

Wednesday 8 May 2024 Bowland Beer Hall at Holmes Mill, Greenacre Street, Clitheroe.

Rivington Brewery – Meet the Brewer event and tap takeover

Crafted with precision and passion, Rivington Brewery’s brews embody the spirit of tradition with innovative flair, offering a taste of artisanal excellence in every sip. Discover their finely crafted ales, where every drop tells a story of quality craftsmanship and local pride. This is a guided tasting featuring six 1/3 tasters of unique brews handpicked by the experts.

Cost £20 per ticket which includes six 1/3 tasters, Beer Hall nibbles and a complimentary gift. Places are limited, book your place here

FESTIVAL WEEKEND FRINGE EVENTS

If you enjoyed the beers at the festival and want even more choice, or maybe just take a break from the festival, why not pop along to support one of the following beer venues and try out their amazing beer menus!

The Ale House – 12-14, Market Place, Clitheroe

A superb micro pub in the centre of Clitheroe offering 5 cask and 10 keg lines. They often have a tap takeover from an interesting brewery from outside our area, so why not pop in and check out what’s on offer.

The Beer Shack – 22-24, King Street, Clitheroe

Don’t miss a visit to this fabulous craft beer bar, serving exceptional beers from across the UK. You’ll usually find some of their own micro brews on the bar too. At our CAMRA festival we have their new ESB to try, as well as their recent collaborations with Big Trip (Mountain IPA) and Moorhouses (American Brown Ale). During the festival period you’ll also find a cask tap takeover from Welsh brewery Purple Moose and a keg tap takeover from Scottish brewery Fierce.

Bowland Beer Hall at Holmes Mill – Greenacre Street, Clitheroe

As usual the Beer Hall will have at least 10 of its own Bowland beers on the bar, plus a range of 18 guest ales, including some from both Rivington and Vocation breweries. If you haven’t tried the Beer Hall experience yet, then this is the time to try it!

Rose and Crown pub – Castle Street, Clitheroe

Pop into this Thwaites pub to enjoy a choice of four Thwaites ales, one of which will be directly linked to our festival charity, Foundation for Ribble Valley Families. For every pint of it sold, £1 will go to the charity, sosupport the Rose and Crown, our festival charity and enjoy great beer all at the same time!

Frequently Asked Questions

I love beer / cider / perry but my preferred drinking companion doesn’t, do you serve other drinks?

Yes sirree! We’ll have wine, fizz and gin available too from our festival bars

Are soft drinks available?

They are indeed, if you’re a designated driver let our bar-staff know and you can have free soft drinks – we normally have lemonade, cola and water

Is there an outside space at the festival to smoke / dance / sunbathe / howl at the moon?

There’s a fabulous space at the back and we’ll have a marquee out there too, so if it’s sunny you can get a tan while having a beer, if it’s rainy you can howl at the moon from the marquee

Are you on Social Media and / or How can we contact you?

Indeed we are! You can Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter (icons below) and can message us on either platform or click the button below to email us

I’d like to Volunteer please!

When we’re closer to a festival, in the Visitors Section above, there will be a link to download the volunteer form. Just fill it in and send it to the email address given on the form and someone will be in touch