Beer festival set for Fife

The festival is planned for March 24 and 25.

A St Andrews brewery has organised a beer festival to showcase the best local beers in Fife and Tayside.

The St Andrews Beer Festival, planned by the St Andrews Brewing Company, will take place on March 24 and 25 in the upper room of their bar on South Street.

While the event will not be the first beer festival to be held in the town, Andrew Reade, pub events manager, said it is hoped that it will give local breweries the opportunity to promote their beers.

“This is going to be the first beer festival where we’ve got all local Fife and Tayside suppliers included,” he said.

“There are eight or nine breweries in Fife and two more that have shot up in Dundee.

“We were at the same stage they are at a few years ago.

“This is the chance to give some of these smaller breweries the chance to showcase their beers on a larger scale.”

The company has already secured confirmation from six different breweries in Fife and Tayside and hopes to attract more breweries in the area to get involved.

Andrew said: “We have got two from Dundee – Hawk Hill and Law – and the ones in Fife include Luckie Ales in Leven and Beath in Cowdenbeath.

“We are just trying to build up our numbers as much as possible.”

The event will be the first beer festival organised by the St Andrews Brewing Company, and it is hoped that, if successful, it will grow, promoting beers from outwith the local area.

“This time round we are just trying to focus on Fife and Tayside breweries,” Andrew said.

“If it is a success there is no reason why we could not grow it and reach further afield.

“As we have these premises in St Andrews, it gives us a good platform to build something here.”

Recent years have seen breweries opening up all across Fife, including the St Andrews Brewing Company.

The business was started by Yorkshireman Bob Phaff in Glenrothes, who noticed a gap in the market.

In 2013, after teaming up with local businessmen, he opened up the restaurant and bar. The brewery now supplies its beers to chains across Scotland.

Andrew says that the event highlights that the beer industry in Fife is thriving.

“At the moment there are craft breweries popping up everywhere,” he said.

“It can start with some guy brewing out of his garage.

“It’s all healthy competition – it is not a rivalry.

“It’s a good, close-knit community.”