This Valentine’s, beer lovers can make it a hot date at Magna for the Great British Beer Festival Winter.
If you were sad to see last orders called on the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival, don’t cry over spilt beer. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has relit the flame and are bringing their annual winter festival to Rotherham this year.
The bumper four-day event takes place from Wednesday 12th to Saturday 15th February at Magna Science Adventure Centre. With three full days and an evening session, there will be 40 hours of festivities, with a hearty selection of beers and bands.
Whether you’re smitten by traditional cask or key keg ales, stout and porter, or old ales and barley wine, there’ll be plenty of tipples for you to try.
CAMRA will be turning up the heat with a huge range of real ales from breweries across the UK. A selection of breweries will have their own bars, including Rotherham’s Chantry, Bakewell’s Thornbridge, Brew York, and Radio City of Chelmsford. There will also be around 100 international beers on offer with an ‘around the world’ bar.
Not a beer drinker? The Great British Beer Festival Winter will have a range of real ciders and perries, gins and spirits, and wines and prosecco. There will also be some low- or no-alcohol beers and a range of soft drinks for tee-totallers or designated drivers.
This year, the bars will be accepting contactless payments for your convenience, or you can buy traditional beer tokens to spend throughout the night.
With CAMRA at the helm, there will be the chance for beer aficionados to delve beyond the booze with exclusive tasting sessions held by top brewers and sommeliers. You can book a session to try some rare and limited-edition beers, with insights into brewing techniques and tasting notes.
The festival will also see the crowning of CAMRA’s prestigious champion beer of Britain award, with a dedicated bar for you to sample the competition entries.
Inspired by the much-loved Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival, the festival has got a banging soundtrack to keep the energy high and winter chill at bay. CAMRA have lined up some great South Yorkshire bands and artists, some of whom you might recognise from past RRAMF events.
To launch the event on the Wednesday night, blues rock band Bone Broke Kings and the electrifying Lightning Threads will warm up the stage for country rockers The Fargo Railroad Co. If you like the Black Keys, White Stripes, Led Zepplin, Johnny Cash and Lynryd Skynyrd then this will be right up your street.
Get ready to rock on Thursday night with FloodHounds and their riff-heavy mix of indie, garage-rock, punk and grunge. They’ll be joined by Northern Citizens, a rock band who do covers of everything from the Beatles to Bowie, ACDC to ABBA.
Friday’s lineup brings the party feel with reggae funk-rockers Kiziah and the Kings, eight-piece Soul Battalion, and function band The Leptons. In the daytime, there will also be acoustic covers by Daniel Horsham and stunning vocals from Eboney Jayne O’Brien.
Closing the festival on the Saturday, there’s a real mix of genres to go out with a bang. Jack T Harper of The G Men kicks things off with his acoustic covers, followed by a special performance by Maltby Miners Welfare Band. As the evening arrives, indie rock and rollers Matilda Shakes take to the stage, followed by a high-energy performance from Republic. Before its time to skedaddle, everyone’s favourite ska band Handsome Dan and the Mavericks deliver that rocksteady reggae beat.
Wednesday 12th February 5-11pm
Thursday 13th to Saturday 15th February 12pm-11pm
Early bird tickets are £10 per night or £8 for CAMRA members. Or pay on the night for £2 extra. This includes a non-refundable souvenir glass, but there will be no free entry with the glass this year.
Other ticket options include a group ticket for five people at £40, or a season ticket for £30 which guarantees entry for all festival dates.
To book tickets or find out more about the tasting sessions, visit www.winter.gbbf.org.uk
