Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival returns to the Biscuit Factory over the Bank Holiday weekend, 25-27 May.
Combining a world class line-up of breweries, headline music acts and some of Scotland’s finest street food, the event made its Edinburgh debut last year.
Organised by We Are Beer, the festival also runs at sites in London and Bristol.
One of the features that sets the Craft Beer Festivals apart is that all beers are included in the ticket price.
There are no tokens, no cash bars and, if last year’s event was anything to go by, no queues at the different brewery stalls.
Customers are free to sample as many different brews as they like. While drinking responsibly, obviously.
Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival: beers from around the world
Another stand-out aspect of last year’s Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival was the quality of the music line-up. We have nothing against an oompah band but, last year, the music line -up included DJ sets from Young Fathers, Belle & Sebastian and Idlewild.
This year’s musicians are still to be announced as is the full beer line-up.
However, the organisers have invited Mikkeller from Denmark; Dugges from Sweden, and Stillwater Artisanal from Baltimore.
Closer to home, there will be beers from up and coming UK stars like Verdant from Cornwall; Beavertown Brewery from London and Tempest Brew Company from the Scottish Borders.
Of course, there will also be representatives from craft beer giants such as BrewDog, Sierra Nevada, and Oskar Blues.
Street food vendors will come from The Pitt.
New for this year, consumers will also have the chance to sample beers from the winning brewers of the ‘Raise the Bar’ initiative.
In a bid to champion new-to-market brewers, the organisers and founders of We Are Beer, Greg Wells and Dan Sylvester, are inviting submissions from upcoming brewers keen to raise their profile.
An expert panel will independently blind taste all submissions before selecting the top four brewers to attend all three festivals, providing them with a platform to showcase their beer to around 17,000 people across the country.
Commenting on the festivals Greg Wells, co-founder of We Are Beer, said: ‘The festivals are an opportunity to celebrate brewers and modern brewing culture from across the globe. They have been designed to be great value for money, giving all ticket holders the opportunity to explore all of the hundreds of beers.’
Tickets for Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival are on sale now with early bird tickets starting at £35.
There are four separate sessions over the weekend or you could buy a £120 beer geek weekender ticket which gives access to all the sessions.
A Glasgow Beer Event
If May seems a very long way off, you could always swing by A Glasgow Beer Event which takes place this weekend.
Held in the Glasgow A Caring City warehouse on Govan Road on Fri 2 and Sat 3 Feb, the organisers promise a focus on dark beers with sixteen breweries in attendance plus a cask bar with brews from a further nine.
And if you are less keen on dark beers, there will, of course, be plenty of pale ales to sample.
Tickets at £10.50 can be bought online from here.
Tickets gain you entry to your chosen session, a souvenir glass and 3x £1 tokens which can be used against the purchase of beer, soft drinks or food at the festival.