Real ale fans drink festival dry

Oct 9 2009 by Stuart Wilson

Huge success as fans of real ale drink festival dry

THE BARRELS were left dry as real ale fans descended on Troon.

And it was a record breaking festival for the Ayrshire and Galloway branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

Both attendances and sales were up on last year, with more than 1000 people inside the Concert Hall at the busiest point on Friday night.

Branch chairman Reg Smith said: “People came to the festival from France, Ireland, southern England, the United States and from all over Scotland.

“While final figures are still being counted, it is clear that we were even busier than we have ever been. We drafted in emergency supplies of beer on Friday, but still ran out at around 9pm on Saturday.

“We will try our best to work out how we can stock even more beer next year.

“The popularity of this festival and others around Scotland shows that the demand for good quality beer from Britain’s best breweries continues to grow.

“Publicans who are looking to attract more customers to their businesses should give serious consideration to adding real ale to their product range, and CAMRA is more than willing to help them with that.”

Beer of the festival was Reverend James from Cardiff-based brewery Brains.