North Sussex

Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

Spring Equinox Beer Festival

Poster for Spring Equinox beer festival March 22 & 23 2024 The 2024 Equinox beer and cider festival

The event returns to the Drill Hall for it's 10th year on Friday March 22nd and Saturday 23rd 2024.

There will be the usual range of 50+ ales from Sussex and far beyond, including a keg wall, plus an excellent range of Sussex ciders and wine from House Coren.

As part of our Branch 50th anniversary celebrations, several new beers have been brewed for us by local brewers for the festival and for the anniversary events, plus several that would not normally be available at this time have been re-brewed especially.

The provisional beer and cider list and tasting notes can be seen at https://festivaltaplist.co.uk/events/springequinox/

Tickets for the Saturday afternoon sold out nearly a month ago, and the last few Friday evening tickets are likely to sell out before the event. Tickets for the Saturday evening will be on sale on the door - and we plan to still have a good selection of ales right to the end of the Saturday evening.

If you have a ticket for the Saturday afternoon but cannot now come, refunds are available before the day as there is a waiting list of people wanting to buy one. Please contact us at moc.liamg@xoniuqe,armac if you would like a ticket refund, or if you have any other festival questions.

The last few tickets can be purchased from the outlets shown on the poster or online via Tckty at https://tckty.camra.org.uk/e/208/camra-north-sussex-2024-spring-equinox-beer-and-cider-festival from late December.

Tickets include a festival glass, which can be returned at the end of the event for a £2 refund if you wish.

CAMRA members will receive a £5 token sheet on presentation of their membership card at the membership stall at the Festival.

Payment at the event will be by token sheets. Any unused tokens can be donated to the festival charity, Samaritans of Horsham & Crawley, or refunded.

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2023 Festival poster The 2023 Equinox beer and cider festival

was a rip roaring success following uncertainty as to whether the hall would be available this year.

Virtually all our brilliant team of volunteers from last year stepped up again, plus it was great to welcome a few new members to the team. Thank you to each and every one of you, for what turned out to be our slickest ever set up, and a virtually problem free event.

It was a pleasure to welcome Christine Cryne to run two very popular Cheese and Beer tasting sessions, attracting great feedback from attendees.

The range of beers were as popular as ever and record ticket sales enabled us to increase the number on offer from 50 to 54. It was great to have only just over 2 casks worth left at the end, but still 16 on sale at the close on Saturday evening.

The Dark Beer of the Festival award was jointly won by two wonderful 6% beers from local brewers. Kissingate’s dark beers have been a feature of the event every year and their latest new one, Horsham Ditty Porter, shared the award with first-timers Flying Trunk from Forest Row with Past Your Bedtime Stout.