Winterfest Beer Festival enjoyed by hundreds at Salisbury Guildhall

Thursday, 30 January 2025 05:55

Over 400 beer and cider lovers attended Winterfest, Salisbury’s popular beer and cider festival, at the city’s Guildhall at the weekend.

It was the second year that Winterfest, which is organised by the Salisbury & South Wiltshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), was held in the municipal magnificence of the Guildhall.

Saturday was a sellout, and most of the tickets for the Friday session were snapped up.

The youngest attendee by some distance was five-day-old Millie Robinson, the daughter of James and Nicola Robinson, who runs local brewery Stonehenge Ales at Netheravon, north of Salisbury. They popped in for a brief visit with their first child after a check-up at Salisbury District Hospital, where Millie was born on 20 January.

Apart from introducing Millie to local CAMRA members, they were also presented with certificates for the success of two Stonehenge beers in the London and South East regional competition for the CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain.

Danish Dynamite topped the bill with the Gold award for the Premium Pale, Blonde, and Golden Ales category, while Pigswill came second and picked up a Silver in the standard bitter category.

Danish Dynamite will now go forward to the national final of the competition with a good chance of picking up the award for Champion Beer of Britain 2025.

Half the 24 real ales on sale at Winterfest came from local brewers such as Stonehenge. Old Sarum brewers Dark Revolution supplied two beers, including Dark Matter, a smooth oatmeal stout which is a blend of eight different malts. At the same time, Downton Brewery’s New Forest Ale was, as always, a crowd-pleasing session bitter.

Microbreweries were represented by the Dead Duck Brewery from Hale on the outskirts of the New Forest and another one-man outfit, Small Paul’s Brewery from Gillingham, north Dorset,

“The reaction from festival-goers to Winterfest has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Andrew Hesketh, festivals co-ordinator for CAMRA's Salisbury & South Wiltshire branch. “We are looking forward to Summerfest, our summer festival, which will be held at the Guildhall on 20-21 June.”