ALL hail to the ale!

Real ale lovers from all over the country are descending on Weymouth this weekend for the resort’s annual beer festival.

Aficionados will be supping brews from across the region declared the ‘best from the west’ – and there’ll be almost 70 to choose from. Cider is also well represented with a dozen different drinks on offer.

The Weymouth Octoberfest has moved to the new spacious venue of the Pavilion Ocean Room, leaving behind its former home of Brewers Quay which is being redeveloped.

Anyone hoping to get in today will be disappointed as the festival sold out its 1,300 tickets well in advance.

It’s a testament to the popularity of beer festivals and cask ale which is becoming more popular than ever, according to experts.

The two-day festival, organised by the West Dorset branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) started yesterday with a lunchtime shift for the early-birds and then an evening session.

Bar manager Rich Gabe has selected 68 ales from Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Wiltshire.

It’s a good cross-section he calls the ‘best from the west’. “No two flavours are the same it’s the great thing about real ale. One man’s nectar is another man’s poison,” said Mr Gabe.

He added: “Most of the ones I’ve chosen are from small independent breweries with the exception of some big ones which have pub estates.

“Some of the breweries only brew once or twice a week.”

Ales on offer include the copper-red Middle from Blue Anchor of Cornwall, one of the oldest brew pubs in the country, Gold from Hunters in Devon which has a hoppy lager taste while Wessex’s nine per cent Russian Stoat from Wiltshire is the strongest beer of the festival.

The ale is quite a coup for the festival – due to an increase in tax on high strength beers introduced on October 1, Russian Stoat will no longer be available.

Closer to home, the Dorset Brewing Co of Crossways and Dorset Piddle of Piddlehinton are offering their own delights while Paul Smith, who brews in his garage in Gillingham, is hoping to win prizes with his Blackberry Mild. West Dorset CAMRA spokesman and assistant director of CAMRA Wessex Region Michel Hooper-Immins said: “The response of the public to this year’s event has been phenomenal – it’s going to be a brilliant festival.

“There’s much more space here and I think people appreciate that. Brewers Quay looked after us for a few years but everyone was on top of one another there.”

He added: “CAMRA is one of the oldest consumer organisations in the country and interest in real ale is growing all the time.

“Cask ale has much more flavour than keg ale. Cask ale breathes, it’s a living thing.”

Among the visitors was Nick Brown, 54, from Eastleigh in Hampshire, who said: “The Pavilion is a great venue, you could enjoy the lovely views across the bay if the beer barrels weren’t in the way.

“I remember at Brewers Quay you had to run to get a seat but this is far better.”

A WHISTLESTOP TOUR OF THE OCTOBERFEST’S FINEST

IF I’M honest I would say I’m more of a cider fan.

I’ve seen real ale as the preserve of men, mainly bearded, who wear socks and sandals. Oh yes, and Inspector Morse.

I couldn’t think of anything worse than flat warm beer, so have traditionally opted for a cider or (don’t tell this crowd) fizzy, European lager.

Recently though, having visited a few beer festivals with a friend my view has begun to change.

Not that I’m filling out my membership form for CAMRA yet, but I’ve started learning more about the passion of brewing and, ultimately, the buzz around the final product without totally appreciating it.

It is with this minimal experience that I arrive at Weymouth Octoberfest ready to try a few ales, under orders from my editor.

Keen to support Dorset beers, I select Town Mill Best from Lyme Regis. It’s a malty biscuity brew and pleasant enough that it deserves a tick in my programme. The second, Portland Bill Porter, is a dark beer with a hit as cruel as a wind off the Bill itself but strangely comforting at the same time. Staying on the dark side on the advice of an old friend I move onto the Dark-ness brewed by Red Rock of Devon and immediately regret it as it’s just too rich for me. Before I know it a glass of the festival’s strongest beer, Russian Stoat, is being placed in my hand. It tastes like treacle and marks the end of brief affair with real ale. Now where’s the cider...