This is a sponsored article on behalf of City Beerfest.
City Beerfest is back this summer, offering an irresistible choice of over 30 different beers, tasty street food and banging Louisianan music — all in a seriously impressive setting.
Sip on ales and beers from breweries around the UK and further afield at the eighth edition of the beer festival, which takes place this July at Guildhall Yard in the City of London.
The historic surroundings make for a more intimate setting than many other large-scale beer festivals, meaning less time queuing, and more time for chatting to brewers and fellow beer fans... and of course, sampling the brews.
And about those beers — breweries confirmed so far include London-based Meantime and Five Points; cask aficionados Windsor & Eton Brewery; Glasgow outfit Drygate; Freedom Brewery (based near the beer mecca that is Burton-on-Trent), and Italian brewers Menabrea, who've been coming up with the hoppy goods since 1846. Low-alcohol and vegan beers are among the brews available on the day.
Street food and live music
But the drinks are just the start of it. Cuisine at City Beerfest comes in the form of street food traders. Top of the bill is Souvlaki Street — who you may know from their permanent home at Pop Brixton. They're serving up their famous souvlaki wraps, with fresh pork shoulder or chicken breast, grilled halloumi and vine tomatoes. Oh boy.
There's live entertainment too, with New Orleans band The Unswung Heroes getting you grooving to two sets across the evening. We're promised 'dance rhythms and lots of noise' — expect to see lots of people up on their feet... especially after a sampling a few of those brews.
Drink beer for charity
So you've got top-notch brews, scrummy street food, New Orleans vibes and (hopefully!) summer sunshine, all in historic surroundings — sounds like a smashing afternoon/evening out. But what if we told you that by drinking beer, you're raising money for charity too?
City Beerfest is produced by City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Brewers to raise money for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal. This year, five charities are benefitting, all of which help to change and save lives. They are:
- The Duke of Edinburgh's Award — giving 14-24 year-olds a chance to develop life skills.
- National Numeracy — supporting Londoners to acquire numeracy skills via a new Every Londoner Counts initiative.
- Place2Be — offering a mental health support programme in 180 London schools and training school leaders to support their students.
- OnSide Youth Zones — enabling OnSide to build state of the art Youth Zones in areas of high deprivation.
- Samaritans — developing an online wellbeing programme to support employees in London and beyond.
Save 10% on tickets
Some beer festivals can set you back up to £60 on tickets alone — but City Beerfest isn't one of them. Tickets are an extremely reasonable £15, which includes entry, four beer tokens, and a City Beerfest glass to keep. Plus, if you book online in advance, you save 10%, bringing the price down to just £13.50.
City Beerfest 2022 takes place on Thursday 7 July at Guildhall Yard in the City of London. It's 12.30pm-9pm, so you can make an afternoon of it, or clock off work early (we won't tell if you won't...) and spend a summer's evening in the open air with friends or colleagues. Get a 10% discount on tickets by booking online.
