Well, it was a sadly whistlestop tour of Shrewsbury Folk Festival for me this year, as I had a Shrewsbeer tour to give. But in those short hours I fell in love. What a festival to have on your doorstep.
It’s everything you could want for from a festival (except for perhaps a metal stage in my case.) A huge selection of stages, loads of great entertainment for the kids, plenty of tasty noms. And of course, a real beer offering. Real ale, real cider and no skimping on the quality.
Cask Ale Massive
There is a great crossover between the folk music loving world and the beer loving world. So that creates people like Moongazing Hare bars who provided a stellar lineup of nicely kept real ale and cider at a plentiful supply of bars accompanying every stage. There were plenty of brilliant local beers on offer to keep even the most discerning beer lover happy. And if that wasn’t enough, Purity had sponsored a stage, and Salopian had the Berwick Pavilion covered as their sponsored bar.
I was blown away by the Enville Ginger, which I had not tried before. Enville are such a great brewery. So little known and hard to find, even within Shropshire. But their commitment to consistent quality is noticeable and to be commended. Check them out, if you’re lucky enough to see their beer out and about.
Face the music
I even managed to catch a little bit of entertainment, although admittedly not much at all, given my tight schedule. I saw two Morris performances (I assume they are happening somewhere at all times, given the number of different Morris troupes I saw patrolling the perimeter). I saw a little bit of The Canny Band too, who were wonderful.
So all in all, I have a lot of love for the Shrewsbury Folk Festival and it is to my enduring chagrin that I wasn’t able to make even a whole day of it. Love this festival. See you there next year for a spot of camping and a pint?