The first day of the Festival is over, and a busy one it was to be sure.  Record numbers of punters made theor way to Pudsey Civic Hall to try some of the beery, cidery and, er, perry-y delights on offer.

Some beers have already started to run low, and some have even run out.  There’s still plenty left, though.  Get down to Pudsey today!

There’s only half an hour to opening time (15 minutes if you’re a CAMRA member).

175 beers have duly arrived, along with ciders and perry from all over, and global beer from even further away.

Get down there and start supping!

One week from today the Festival will be open.  In fact it will be almost half way through!

Start making plans to be there.  Do not miss this one.

If you need further convincing, the lists for the beer, cider, perry and global beer are bow available.  Click over to the section that interests you using the menu.  Or if you just want the beer list, it’s here (as a PDF).

As the Festival gets closer, it’s time to make sure you’re properly dressed for the occasion.

To make sure you are, head off to the Grove Inn on Back Row in Holbeck (just under Bridgewater Place) where you’ll be able to get hold of this year’s Festival T-Shirt.

This year they come in a range of colours from a subdued black to a yellowy-greeny sort of kiwi fruit colour.  Available in sizes to fit all Festival-goers, these are a snip at only £7 a pop.

Leeds Beer, Cider and Perry Festival is organised and staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers from the Campaign for Real Ale.

Let’s emphasise that.  No-one working at the Festival gets paid for working.  Nor do any of the people who work half the year organising the Festival.

More help is always welcome.  There are plenty of jobs that need to be done; certainly there’s much more to do than just serving beer!

Members of Leeds CAMRA should have received a form in the post.  The form can also be downloaded in Word or PDF formats.

A feature of beer festivals is one-off brews made by friendly local breweries.  These are beers that are available only at the Festival; once they’ve gone, they’re gone for ever.

We currently expecting specials from Old Bear and Elland, both of which are producing beers to support our charity, the National Autistic Society.  Other specials should be coming from Brown Cow, Goose Eye and Anglo-Dutch.  We’ll add to this list if we manage to talk any other breweries into it!

Daleside Brewery are regular advertisers in Leeds CAMRA’s newsletter, New Full Measure, which means they’re one of the first breweries we go to come Festival time.

This year they’ll be sending the ever popular Daleside Blonde.  to go with this, we’ve persuaded them to keep back firkins of two of their beers that are normally only available during the winter.  Morocco is a spicy dark beer, and Monkey Wrench is a proper strong ale.  Come along to the Festival for your last chance to try them before the warm weather!

Denzil at Great Heck Brewery got in touch a while back to ask if we’d have his beers at the Festival, and today a selection was duly ordered.  We’ll be having one of Denzil’s beers that’s rapidly getting a following in their part of the world: Dave (Dark And Very Enjoyable), a beer that sits in style somewhere between a dark bitter and a mild.  To go with the Dave, expect some SBH Celebration Ale and some Blooming Heck.

Dave the Bar Manager can’t wait …

Another brewer, this time Steve from Naylor’s over Crosshills way has contacted us to push his wares.  Steve recommends their Old Ale as a beer people are liking at the moment, along with Cravenbrau.

We’ll be in touch!

We are contacted this evening by James from Summer Wine Brewery over Holmfirth way.  All together now: “Der der der, der der der-der …”.

We’ll be pleased to have some of Compo’s local tipple over to the festival.  Especially if they come in those rather natty palstic casks …