18,000 pints sunk by ale lovers at Rotherham festival

More than 5,000 commemorative glasses were snapped up, filled and drained at the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival — dubbed the Festival For Heroes in tribute to NHS staff and keyworkers who earned our gratitude during the coronavirus pandemic.

There were more than 2,000 ales, ciders and perrys from around the country to sample and pies, jerk chicken and pork scratchings to fill up on.

An estimated 18,000 pints were sunk and up to £10,000 raised for charity, with Rotherham Cancer Care Centre the main beneficiary and Crossroads and Start-a-Heart 24:7 both holding collections.

Festival organiser Steve Burns said he was delighted how the event had gone after a year off due to the pandemic.

“It all came together very smoothly,” he added.

“We had 145 hand pulls across four bars.

“The bar managers were fantastic and we have 150 volunteers — we couldn’t do it without them.

“They are all just people who want to work on the festival and give their time to support charities.

“I also want to thank the staff at Magna, who have worked so hard and never complained.”

Magna’s main hall hosted a packed music line-up featuring the Beatleg Bootles, The Leathernecks, Matilda Shakes, Fu Fighters, TowHead and Papa Soul.

And Thursday night was the new Friday night as the Everly Pregnant Brothers pulled in the punters, boosting the usual 600 attendance to more like 2,000.

“The main was packed - I’ve never seen it like that before on a Thursday,” said Steve.

“There were no divas among the bands and they all want to come back and play again.

“It is important that it’s not just about the beer — it’s real ale and music festival as it all started with the heavy rock society run by Jim Charters, which inspired the first festival at Oakwood.”

Of the festival theme, Steve added: “We’ve had a festival of heroes in the past but this was a festival for heroes and everyone who came from NHS, police or carers received a free drink.

“They were delighted, especially when I said it was to say thank you for everything you’ve done in the last two years.

“We also offered free soft drinks and non-alcoholic beer because we want to be an ethical festival.

“It’s not just about getting drunk — we reckon on average people drink about three pints each.”

Before the event got underway, expert beer tasters from CAMRA endured the gruelling task of sampling the brews on offer and narrowing them down to the final few, before picking mild, bitter, golden ale, speciality and porter/stout category winners and an overall champion.

This year’s Rotherham CAMRA champion beer of Yorkshire was Neepsend Baubus — described as a Baltic Porter brewed with notes of coffee, molasses, chocolate and liqourice.

Bradfield Vanilla Stout took second, while Kelham Island’s Pale Rider shared third with Mexborough-based Gorilla Brewery’s Ape-X.

And next year there will be an extra title up for grabs, as Steve explained: “We had a few comments about how we had a good selection of darker beers.

“There was a lot of interest, so much so that CAMRA have asked me to run their Champion Winter Beer of Britain at the festival next year.”

Planning for next year’s festival — with the theme yet to be decided — begins in September.