Folk 'n' Ale

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The Folk 'n' Ale festival. It's a great name for a beer festival, isn't it? Say it out loud really quickly and you will, hopefully, hear and get what I mean.

Geddit, now?

The festival in question is the Dumfries Folk 'n' Ale Festival which takes place this year on the 15th and 16th of July. It's not just a great name for a festival, it's also a concept for a beer festival so devilish that you could put some horns on it and call it Belzebub.

You see, most beer festivals either take place in the one pub or in the local town hall that has been hired out for the purpose of the event. Most beer festivals have their beer all in the one place and the punters stream in, drink the beer then go home. This one is a bit more unconventional in that the festival is planned round the eleven pubs participating in the event and the punters have to haul their ample arses round the Ale Trail map sampling the different beers in each pub they visit.

Don't worry, though. The pubs are all either contained within the town centre or a short walk from it and therefore does not require much traversing between the venues. Less walking equals more drinking.

There will be over forty different beers available during the festival. The list is being finalised at the moment but given that last years list contained beers from the likes of Fyne Ales, Thornbridge, Harviestoun, Broughton, Arran and Sulwath, I've no doubt that those responsible for this year's beer will be pulling the stops out  to deliver some great beer.

The festival, organised by Dumfries Camra, is now in it's third year and it is apparant that the organisers want to involve as many people as possible from the local community in the event. Many of the events, such as the busking competition, take place in Dumfries High St and in participating pubs, drinkers are encouraged to bring musical instruments along for impromptu jamming sessions. And, for those that like songs about someone's sheep being stolen 300 years ago, various Folk bands are playing over the weekend.

The pubs in Dumfries, and the town, will be absolutely buzzing the weekend of the festival and it is shaping up to be one of the best beery events of the summer.

It might be worth a punt if you are doing not doing anything that weekend.

You can find out more about the festival and have a look at the festival programme here


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