All of the beers are from local breweries, most of which are rarely or never seen in any Abingdon pubs. A provisional list is:

There will also be 2 real ciders and live music.

The Brewery Tap in Ock Street, Abingdon is holding a Cider festival this weekend (Friday 25th June – Sunday 27th June).

It will feature 21 different ciders, including a rare breed of ciders from local sources and CAMRA award winners.

The full list of ciders and perrys along with tasting notes can be downloaded here

There will also be a selection of world beers, and a selection of interestingly flavoured sausages that have been very popular at the previous beer festivals.

Sunday afternoon should be good, watching England beat Germany whilst drinking some traditionally made real English ciders.

The Plough is a classic local pub, with a pool table, darts board and TVs. Beer is from Greene King with IPA always available and usually a Greene King seasonal guest.

The Flowing Well in Sunningwell has its beer festival starting this week (May 27th – June 6th). This coincides with the Sunningwell Festival.

The Brewery Tap was recently awarded Locale accreditation by the Oxford branch of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) in recognition of it regularly serving beer from local breweries including the West Berkshire Brewery, White Horse Brewery and Vale Brewery…. and this weekend for the first time, Prospect from the Shotover Brewery. They also regularly have live bands on Sunday evenings. This bank holiday sunday they have Parallel Blondie. They will be holding a Cider and Sausage Festival on the last weekend of June (June 24th-27th) featuring around 20 real ciders and seasonal beers from around the world.

The Prince of Wales in Shippon now has 6 real ales served in excellent condition, including beer from the local Shotover Brewery. The kitchen has now been refurbished, and there is also live music there most saturdays, and occasionally some Morris dancers and folk musicians during the week.

The Plough in Stert Street remains shut.

The Broad Face serves 3 beers from the Greene King guest range in good condition. There is a regular jazz music session on Sunday afternoons starting at 4pm and sometimes some live music on thursdays. They are in the early stages of planning a beer festival in September.

The Spread Eagle on Northcourt Road is serving beer from Greene King range in very good condition and also has an interesting menu.

The Boundary House on Oxford Road has built a fenced-in family area, although currently it only features a small sand pit, but it does stop children running off the beer garden into the busy road.

The Old Anchor is having a beer festival in July. I’ll post more details when I get them.

The Kings Head and Bell is in early stages of planning a beer festival on the August bank holiday weekend (August 28th-30th), which will include beer from the local Appleford brewery and Hook Norton and possibly demonstrations of traditional coopers (barrel makers) and Hook Norton’s Shire Horse drawn dray

The Loose Cannon Brewery has suffered some delays getting up and running, but is expecting to do some trial brews over the next month.

They are currently serving Morlands Original, Olde Trip and GK IPA and awaiting new guest beer.

They will be holding a Beer Festival from May 27th to June 6th.

I haven’t visited yet since the new management took over, but previously it has been a pleasant place to visit in the summer with a large beer garden (With a well at the bottom), children’s outside play area and situated in the unspoilt village of Sunningwell which is easily reached by walking or cycling from Abingdon along the footpath heading north from Dunmore Road.

You can get more info about the pub from their web site at www.theflowingwell.co.uk

They expect to be offering a range of approximately 30 ales and ciders.

You can get more info from their facebook page or main website at www.crownandthistle.com

The Stocks Bar is at the Crown & Thistle Hotel, 18 Bridge Street, Abingdon, OX14 3HS

In recent months following changes of bar management the Stocks Bar has been up and down regarding its beer range, but recently it seems back on track again with a good range of beers including local beers from Witney based Brakspear, Wychwood and Grove based Pitstop, as well as guest beers from further afield such as Jennings. So let’s hope that this beer festival goes well and is a sign of good things to come.

The List of beers is:

• Snecklifter 5.1%
• Cockerhoop 4.6%
• Mans Bitter 3.9%
• Old Empire 5.7%
• Fortyniner 4.9%
• Old Thumper 5.6%
• Marstons EPA 3.6%
• Hobgoblin 4.5%
• Oxford Blue 4.0%
• Brakspear Bitter 3.4%
• Dragon Tale 4.5%
• Boondoggle 4.2%
• Oxford Gold 4.0%
• Stickle Pike 3.8%
• Normans Conquest 7%
• Golden Arrow 4.5%
• Grumpling 4.6%
• SaracenIPA 4.5%
• Dragon Hill 4.2%
• Bitumen 10%
• IPA Indianapolis 7%
• Star 3.8%
• Jumping Jack Flash 3.9%
• Dr Hectors Healer 5.0%
• Mags Mild 3.8%
• Gravitas 4.8%
• Old Father Thames 3.4%
• Tom Fool 4.0%

The first was in December 2009, and had an excellent range of beers combined with an amazing range of sausages. The Brewery Tap are planning to hold four festivals a year.

This second festival will have 30 cask ales and 6 real ciders. There will also be live jazz music on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

For more information download Brewery Tap Beer Festival 2 – Tasting Notes which has a list of all beers with tasting notes.

I can see several beers on the list I have not tried before, and as before it has a good mixture of beer from local breweries (Appleford, White Horse, Pitstop, Vale, Hook Norton) and a few from further afield.

The Kings Head and Bell is also planning a beer festival soon on May day bank holiday weekend, and I’ll post more info on that when I have it.

Other big beer related news in Abingdon is that the Loose Cannon Brewery in Suffolk Way is getting close to opening. Trial brews will begin in April and hopefully will be on sale in May direct from the brewery’s shop and in local pubs. For more information see this article in the Oxford Mail.

The Oxford CAMRA branch’s newsletter for Feb/March 2010 has now been published. It includes news, articles and information about pubs and breweries in the Oxford and White Horse branch areas.

Free copies can be found in most real ale pubs. In Abingdon this includes Brewery Tap, Stocks Bar, Punchbowl, King’s Head & Bell, Spread Eagle, Nags Head, Broad Face, White Horse, Plough, The Anchor, Cross Keys.

You can also read it online as a PDF at www.oxfordcamra.org.uk/drinker/

There are 30 different real ales, 8 ciders and 20 different types of sausage, including Steak & Marmite and other interesting flavours.

There will be live music on Sunday afternoon. Additionally on Sunday, anyone showing a CAMRA membership card will be offered a discount on beer prices

The beer list has a good range, including many local beers from breweries such as Pitstop, Vale, West Berkshire, White Horse as well some from further afield. I particularly recommend you try some of the Pitstop beers as they are unlike anything else you will have ever tried (Try the Sump in half pints as it is very strong… and on Friday was amongst the most popular). The complete beer and cider list is reproduced below:

It is open between 11am-11pm on Friday 20th November and Saturday 21st November.

Stagecoach number 31 is an hourly bus service between Abingdon and Wantage, that takes about 35 minutes. [Timetable PDF]