Ed Barnes, the man behind expanding craft beer shop group Hopsters and the newly revived (pre-pandemic) Ipswich Beer Festival, has announced an exciting new event for the Suffolk seaside.

The beer festival, across the weekend of March 25 and 26, will bring live music and a raft of new beers to try to a space behind Felixstowe’s Beach Street, from 12noon both days.

“We’re hoping to put this on twice a year,” says Ed. “We’re inviting a dozen different breweries to come down and show off what they can do. This year we’re keeping it quite local. We want to work with our local beer heroes and support them, especially after everything they’ve been through with the pandemic.

“They’ll come together, and we want to lean on all the wonderful food vendors at Beach Street for the event too. We don’t need to bring in outside catering. There’s the best pizza there. Vietnamese. The most incredible vegan food from Hank’s.”

Breweries attending the festival (which is £5 entry per person) include Burnt Mill, Ampersand, Duration, Three Blind Mice, The Little Earth Project, Artefact and Briarbank.

“You don’t need to go further than East Anglia for really good beer,” says Ed. “The quality of beer in Suffolk is incredible, some of the best in the country. In fact, we have the best stout from Little Earth, the best all-rounders in Duration, and these fantastic new breweries coming up, like Artefact which is superb.

“James at Artefact has teamed up with people like Alan from Old Chimneys Brewery. He’s a master brewer in the UK, and even though he’s retired, he’s still being chased by people all over the country who want to work with him.

“I’m so proud we’ve got Rob from Briarbank in Ipswich coming. He’s just done an utterly utterly beautiful IPA that was an experiment that went wrong. I think he’s created one of the best IPAs he’s ever made with it.

“You’ve got to try Burnt Mill’s London Fog series too. Just stunning.”

Tickets are available at myhopsters.com

“I really can’t wait to show off all these amazing breweries on our doorstep,” adds Ed. “I think it’s going to be a great event!”