Record-breaking Cambridge Beer Festival not likely to grow much bigger, organiser says

By Chris Elliott

Organisers of Cambridge's hugely successful Summer Beer Festival are soberly keeping their feet on the ground – and steering clear of predicting another record-breaking year in 2017.
As the News has reported, CAMRA says this year's festival clocked up an all-time high of 41,000 customers, who sank 86,000 pints between them, as well as 13,000 pints of cider and perry, 9,300 pints of foreign beer, and 1,600 bottles of wine and mead.
They also munched their way through about a tonne of cheese, the weight of a small saloon car.
The event raised more than £10,000 for Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust, which supports patient care at Addenbrooke's and the Rosie.

Festival organiser Bert Kenward told the News: “It was our largest ever festival. I think this shows the interest in real ales, perries and ciders."

Speculation has mounted about just how big the festival could get, with real ale now said to be the height of fashion among trend-chasing 'hipsters'.
Asked if it could break the 50,000 mark, Mr Kenward said the numbers were limited by the size of the venue on Jesus Green.
He said: “I think we're operating pretty much at the right size for the location, and also for the number of volunteers we have helping to make it all happen. We had 400 this year, whom I'd particularly like to thank, and we always need more."
Next year's festival is scheduled for May 22-26, and selection of the beers and ciders for that event will begin in January.
Mr Kenward said: “It's not quite as glamorous as people might think. We don't do tastings of every beer – we use our experience of the breweries involved to make the choices."
Cambridge CAMRA's competition to find the best drinks on offer at this year's fesival produced joint winners in the beer category: Cambridge Brewing Company's Chicken Porter and Harvey's Prince of Denmark, with third place going to Siren Broken Dream.
Best cider was judged as Simon's COX!!!, the best perry was Apple Cottage Pyder Buldock, and the best mead was Rookery Spruce Mead.
The next Cambridge CAMRA festival is Octoberfest, at the University Social Club, October 14 and 15.

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