Monday 19 July 2010

Wantage based Pitstop Brewery Revving up for the CAMRA Ascot Beer Festival in September

Rip Van Winkle wins the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in 2009.
The CAMRA Ascot Racecourse Beer Festival attracts an ever increasing crowd. In 2009, 21,000 pints were sold over the two days.

Pitstop Brewery, based behind Bellingers Garage in Grove near Wantage, has announced that it is to brew a Festival Special for the 4th CAMRA Ascot Racecourse Beer Festival on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th September 2010.

Horsepower is a 7% American-style IPA, heavily hopped with Centennial, Chinook and Cascade hops. Pitstop Brewery boss Peter Fowler said, ‘I have used Belgian yeast to give extra flavour. The result is an ever-so-slightly-hazy straw-coloured beer - probably caused from the excess of hop oils - that bursts with flavour and has a wonderfully long-lasting hoppy aftertaste’.

Peter went on to explain; ‘I'm putting Horsepower all as one word to formalise it into the motor racing world’. The real ale is hoping to emulate the feat of Sump, a superb example of a black Russian style stout that won the Beer of the Festival at Ascot in 2009.

The September meeting at Ascot, aka The Ascot Festival, is a highlight of the Flat season and one of the feature race days of the Ascot calendar. The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by Sony) is Europe's top mile race and crowns the top miler in Europe. Also on the card are the Group One Meon Valley Stud Fillies' Mile and the Group Two Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes, for the top two year old milers. It was on this day in 1996 that Frankie Dettori went through the card winning all seven races and creating history!

The annual Ascot Racecourse Beer Festival started in 2007 and is organised by the Berkshire South East branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

The Campaign for Real Ale campaigns for real ale, real pubs and consumer rights. They are an independent, voluntary organisation with over 100,000 members and have been described as the most successful consumer group in Europe. CAMRA promotes good-quality real ale and pubs, as well as acting as the consumer's champion in relation to the UK and European beer and drinks industry: www.camra.org.uk.

Past winners of the Beer of the Festival Award as voted for by racegoers are as follows:
2007: Summer Lightning brewed by Hop Back Brewery, Downton, Wiltshire.
2008: Barbus Barbus brewed by Butts Brewery, Great Shefford, Berkshire.
2009: Sump brewed by Pitstop Brewery, Wantage, Oxfordshire.

Tickets start from just £11. To book call 0870 727 1234 or visit ascot.co.uk. Gates and bars open at 11am with the first race off at 2pm. A voucher system will be in operation for all Beer Festival ales, perries and ciders. A half pint is priced at £1.40 and a pint £2.80. A limited edition commemorative oversized pint glass is available for £4.

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