One of the joys of Guildford as a town is that it has all of the attributes necessary to be able to hold festivals on a regular basis. Whether you’re interested in second-hand clothes, food or something else entirely, you can head along to Guildford and enjoy all of it. In the September of 2025, for example, residents will be gearing up to experience the Beer Festival at Guildford Cricket Club, which promises to be an excellent event for all who attend. Whilst beers are obviously at the top of the agenda, you can also look forward to tasting some ciders, wines and even soft drinks.
What’s Taking Place
Beer lovers will be rocking up to the Guildford Cricket Club, not far from the town centre, in order to enjoy the spoils of the Guildford Beer Festival. There are actually three different sessions taking place, of which you can attend all three if you so wish. The first is occurring on the Friday night, the second on the Saturday afternoon and the third on the Saturday evening. When it comes to what it’s all about, you might think that the clue is in the title and you would be right, to some extent, but thinking it’s about beer alone doesn’t tell the full story.
As is always the case at the Guildford Beer Festival, local real ales are put at the top of the agenda. Craft beers are also an important part of things, but the drinking doesn’t stop there. Instead, you can also expect to be able to try more than a few decent gins and other spirits, whilst both ciders and wines will also be available for your delectation. Of course, a session of drinking is best served by having a full stomach, so you will be pleased to know that there will be a choice of food available for you to try, with many of the options open to you also being vegetarian and vegan in nature.
It’s Spread Around the Venue
Although Guildford Cricket Club is the main venue of the Beer Festival, it isn’t just one part of it that is being used. This year is the 14th iteration of the festival, once again seeing people turn up in their hundreds to enjoy their time supping on the various types of booze available. There are the Main Beer Tents, which is where you will be able to get your hand on some delicious real ales. The layout in terms of the various real ales is by brewery, so you will see breweries whose names begin A-L on the left, whilst those who are M-Z are on the right, moving around the main tents.
There is a second beer tent that you can head to, next to the Anderton Music Tent, which offers craft beers and lagers. In fact, if you aren’t that keen on real ale then this is where you will want to head, bearing in mind that it is also where you’ll be able to try various different ciders, wines and even soft drinks. The food court, meanwhile, promises four different food stands and a wide selection of foods for you to try. You will even be able to pick something up if you have a dietary requirement, on account of the fact that there are vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options available.
What Drinks Will Be Available
If you’re wondering about the kinds of beers that you’ll be able to sample during your time at the Guildford Beer Festival, then we can offer you something of a taster here; pun intended. The breweries that will be on-site range from Aleworks Brewing Company and Andwell Brewing Company through to Windsor & Eton Brewery. Hogs Back Brewery are offering some of their ciders, with Albury Organic Vineyard and Nibbs Gin also promising some things for you to sample. They are also just the tip of the iceberg in terms of where you’ll be able to try samples from.
Some of the ales that you’ll be able to try include Into the Wild, Stay Gold, Lazy Hazy Lager and Bushy Tail. The ciders on offer include the likes of Hazy Hog, Newtons Discovery and The Devil’s Device for you to sample, whilst you’ll also have the opportunity to meet with some of the local distillers too. In all, there will be more than a hundred different alcoholic beverages that you will be able to have a sup of during your time at the Festival.
You Can Volunteer to Help
If this sounds like something that is right up your alley, then you can get involved as a volunteer in order to help out in the running of the event. The entire thing is dependent on volunteers to run smoothly, which is why those behind the Festival do what they can in order to make sure that the volunteers are looked after properly. As well as training and a Guildford Beer Festival t-shirt, you will also get tokens for a meal and some drinks. You will also get free access to the Festival site, which might well be one of the main reasons why most of the people who volunteer choose to do so.
There are plenty of different roles that you can get involved with, depending on your area of expertise. Obviously, serving drinks behind the bars is one of the most important roles that anyone can fulfil during a Festival that will see almost everyone in attendance being there for that specific purpose, but there are other things you can do besides. The Festival also involves live music offerings throughout, so local bands and musicians are always being sought after in order to ensure that the quality on offer is good, given the fact that it has developed a reputation for it.