Saxmundham: Beer festival to celebrate best of Suffolk’s brewers - what’s your favourite tipple?

Turner and Taylor’s Hog and Ale Experience has rallied together 24 of the county’s 26 brewers to bring their favourite tipple to the three-day event at Saxmundham Market Hall.

Festival organiser Ross Turner hopes the event will bring some of the county’s lesser known delicacies to the forefront and promises a “beer for everyone’s tastes”.

“It’s to celebrate the fact that we’ve got some great brewers in Suffolk – far more than most counties have got – and also to let people know about some of the smaller breweries,” he said.

“We’re all aware of Adnams and Greene King but some of the smaller companies that supply their local pubs are producing some brilliant beers that don’t get so much exposure.

“What we’re trying to do is let people know about the great quality that’s out there.”

Suffolk Brewers’ Choice, as the festival is called, takes its name from the fact that each of the companies taking part will be putting forward one of their favourite products for the festival-goers’ consideration.

Mr Turner says there will be a wide range of choice including golden ales, best bitters and stouts, with some low strength and others reaching above 7% ABV. “There’s going to be a beer for everyone’s tastes,” he said.

The festival, which starts at 5pm on Friday, March 21, and runs until 8pm on Sunday, will also feature live music, entertainment and food, including a hog roast.

Bookings are yet to be finalised but there are expected to be bands on each of the three nights and it is hoped that a troupe of morris dancers will also attend.

Mr Turner held a beer festival in Saxmundham last September and said he was returning to the town “to put a bit more emphasis on that side of Suffolk”.

Last time he said he received “nothing but good feedback from the people in the town”. He also held a three-day festival in Wickham Market last November after the village lost its last remaining pub in a fire.