Beer festival. The very words suggest a wintry day outside; a selection of robust bitters and ales; perhaps a pie; a tipsy train ride home.

This time around it’s all kicking off in Birkenhead, as would be expected of a Birkenhead beer festival, at the Pacific Road Arts Centre for its 17th year.

Organised by the Wirral branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, the vent will largely feature beers from small local breweriesincludinf sponsors Liverpool Organic Brewery.

Other local brewers on show include both of Wirral’s microbreweries, Peerless Brewing of Birkenhead and Brimstage Brewery.

A recent explosion in microbreweries due to favourable tax breaks introduced by Gordon Brown means that the UK currently has almost 1,000 microbreweries - that’s a lot of beers to sample.

We suggest you get along to the Pacific Road Arts Centre later this month to try a few local examples. And it goes without saying that it’s always nice to help out your local breweries and pubs; fortuitously you an do it by simply drinking beer. If only all problems were so easy.

Birkenhead Beer Festival
20-22nd October
Pacific Road Arts Centre, Birkenhead
See the Wirral CAMRA website for more details