'Unlucky' weather doesn't dampen 11th Maidenhead Beer and Cider Festival

The wet weekend weather didn’t stop hundreds from turning out to the ‘sublime’ return of Maidenhead’s Beer and Cider Festival.

More than 1000 visitors enjoyed samples of beer, cider and perries at the event hosted by the Maidenhead, Windsor and Slough branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) on July 5 and 6.

New Royal Borough Mayor, Cllr Simon Bond said it was ‘exciting’ to pull the first pint and thanked organisers for inviting him to the 11th annual event.

Festival organiser Allan Willoughby said they experienced flooding due to the month’s worth of rainfall on Friday and Saturday.

“We started on the Friday morning a bit sluggishly – there was quite a hangover from the general election. We got off to a slow start and then the heavens opened. It did not stop raining,” he added.

Visitors were diverted to another marquee entrance due to the grass being ‘ripped up’ from flooding, but Allan said the marquee capacity was ‘luckily’ 40 per cent greater than last year.

“We’d had two good years of good weather and I think we were a bit sceptical about having three years on the trott. So the weather played havoc on Friday and we probably only had about 50 per cent of the people we hoped to get," he said.

“Having said that, the Saturday was okay. It started a bit ropey but the sun came out in the afternoon and was sublime.

“We were just stacked out with people so it just shows you how weather-dependent these outside festivals and parties are.”

Music and live entertainment were featured across the two days, as well as a pizza wagon and a special beer and cheese tasting session.

Allan said the entertainment had to be ‘staggered’ around the Euros quarter-finals on both days.

“We had big screen TVs but in terms of selling beer and cider, virtually nothing happened because people were just glued to the TV,” he said.

Although many attendees bought a drink during halftime, Allan said the event ‘would have been a lot busier had it not been for the Euros’.

But he said it was ‘nothing but praise’ from the hundreds of punters, who were 'pleased' with the beer.

“We had a lot of people comment on the range of beers and ciders we had and the quality because this year it was a little easier to cool the beer," he said. 

“In the last couple of years, a lot of the beer [arrives] not as cold as we’d like but this year, because the nights have been quite cold, the beer arrived in absolutely tip-top condition.

“In one respect, because of the poor summer and the lack of sunshine, that did help us in the quality of the beer which was great.”

However, due to the ‘unlucky weather’ and fewer sales, Allan said approximately 20 per cent of the beer had to be thrown out on Sunday (July 7).

He said it was ‘something we always hate to do’ but couldn't give it away due to licensing restrictions. 

“We promised to keep prices pegged at the 2023 level which means we suffer in terms of profitability if we don’t have as many punters there and don’t sell as much beer as we should," he said. 

“We certainly hope to have broken even. It was a tough weekend – I’ve never seen rain like it. Just a bit unlucky.

“It was all in all very enjoyable, a lot of hard work and other than the weather, it went fantastically well.”

Maidenhead’s Beer and Cider Festival will donate £400 to their chosen charity, Maidenhead Foodshare.