It's festival time at Brighton's pubs with the Tap Takeover

If you’re lucky, you might find a two-piece band in the corner with a banjo and a guitar. But as with most things in life, when Brighton does something, it likes to do it differently. And when it comes to beer festivals, that means two things that Brighton is particularly good at: partying and pubs.

Now in its second year, The Brighton Tap Takeover Craft Beer Festival (March 31 - April 2) is unique in the craft beer world in that it takes place entirely in the pub. In 2017, that means 14 of the city’s finest pubs simultaneously taken over by some of the world’s greatest craft brewers. In essence, with each of the pubs within ten minutes’ walk, it creates the world’s best craft beer pub crawl. More than 100 brews will be available over the weekend, with a number available in the city for the first time.

A collaboration between The Beer Collective, Sussex’s top craft beer distributor, and Brighton’s Laine Pub Company, this year’s festival is all about building on the success of the first.

Jack Hibberd, festival manager, said: “Last year’s event was just brilliant. We had 2,000 visitors over the three days and watching beer lovers walk from pub to pub drinking some of the world’s best beers in the centre of Brighton was magical. There was a real buzz. But we didn’t want to just repeat it. This year we’ve come back bigger and better.”

Hibberd explains that they’ve increased the number of participating pubs from 10 to 14 and the number of brewers from nine to 13. They’ve also invited brewers from overseas to give the festival an international flavour. The volume has been turned up on the musical offer - with live music in a number for pubs across the weekend - and an expanded program of tutored tastings and educational events has been put in place.

“It’s great to have Garden brewery from Croatia, Edge Brewing from Spain and Boundary from Ireland, who are all making some amazing beers at the moment,” said Niki Deighton, director of The Beer Collective. “We’ve also got three brewers from Sussex - Two Tribes, Burning Sky and Laine Brew Co - and six more from across the UK: Gipsy Hill, Four Pure and Five Points from London, Fierce from Aberdeen, Moor from Bristol and Wylam from Newcastle. Whether you’re into massive IPAs, refreshing sours or barrel aged stouts, it’s all going to be here.”

To celebrate the launch of the festival, Laine Brew Co has teamed up with fellow Sussex brewer, Two Tribes, to create ‘Dirty Weekend’. A beer designed to be ‘Brighton in a beer glass’.

Jordan Mower, head brewer at Two Tribes, said: “The colour is reminiscent of a summer sunset over the West Pier and we’ve used seaweed from Brighton Beach and sea salt from under the pier in the brew. We’ve used hops from all over the world to reflect Brighton’s cosmopolitan outlook alongside some home-grown ones from Sussex. We’re pretty sure it’s the most Brighton beer ever brewed.”

Visitors to the Tap Takeover can buy a priority wristband in advance. Available for £15, tickets come pre-loaded with £15 of beer, gets you a ‘swag bag; and then gives a 20 per cent discount on all festival beers, all weekend. Wristbands are available from participating pubs and at: www.taptakeover.co.uk

All ale! Raise a pint to exciting keg beers

Until relatively recently, if you wanted good beer in Brighton it meant cask.

Real Ale has always been popular in the city - with brewers such as Harvey’s and Hepworth’s serving up serving up some of the country’s best pints.

The majority of beer sold in the city’s pubs, however, was standard lager. Refreshing on a hot day, but not something you’d want to talk about.

In the last five years this has all changed. With the emergence of the modern craft brewer (who were much inspired by the renaissance of the American beer scene) you are not equally likely to find interesting exciting beers in keg.

They are carbonated and chilled like commercial brews, but when it comes to flavour there is a world of difference.

Brighton was not as quick to catch on to the Craft Beer trends as other cities - such as London, Manchester and Bristol - but the craft beer bug has now hit hard. It’s now almost as easy to find a big hoppy IPA in a city centre pub as a standard lager.

Moreover, a new breed of brewers has sprung up in Sussex and now at least a third of the county’s 60 brewers make craft beer in keg.

Specialist bottle shops and bars has also sprung up across the city to dispense to thirsty locals and Brighton is now firmly positioned as the craft beer hub for the south coast.