Last chance to book for online Maidenhead Beer Festival

The Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead (SWM) branch of CAMRA has moved its traditional beer and cider festival online this year – with profits being donated to Maidenhead FoodShare.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, SWM CAMRA will be unable to host its annual Maidenhead Beer Festival in the summer in the usual way.

In previous years the event was hosted at the Magnet Leisure Centre, Desborough College and Maidenhead Rugby Club.

Instead, it will be hosting a two-day virtual beer festival on March 26 and 27, between 7:30pm and 10:30pm.

Those tuning in are invited to sample 14 different bottled and canned beers across two evenings of beer-based talks and live entertainment – all fully interactive via Zoom.

The beers will be a combination of traditional styles and craft – with a different brewery to talk about their beer each night.

Festival-goers will enjoy interviews with local pub and brewery figures, including director of Windsor & Eton Brewery, Will Calvert, Mark Newcombe of the Craufurd Arms and a panel chat with some of the branch's pub bosses.

There will also be a pub quiz, an interactive beer tasting with beer sommelier Dave Hayward from A Hoppy Place in Windsor – the branch’s first micropub – and live music with Windsor artist Lainie Live.

Allan Willoughby, festival organiser, said: “The likelihood of having any mass outdoor events this summer is pretty slim, so we decided to go online. It’s uncharted waters for us, but it was that or cancel the event.

“Because we didn’t have a festival last year, we think this is the way forward in the short term.”

The price is £34.95 per night which includes seven beers and a snack or £64.95 for the weekend pass (14 beers and two snacks). Nationwide delivery is free of charge.

For more information and details of the programme, visit https://tinyurl.com/1ga9qlxk

Profits will be donated to SWM CAMRA’s official branch charity FoodShare.

Tickets are available through A Hoppy Place at ahoppyplace.co.uk/product/mbf21/

Last orders for ticket sales are on Sunday, March 7 at 11.59pm.