A brewery is set to host a virtual beer festival this weekend.

Weston Mercury: Dave Turner of Pitchfork Ales. Picture: Karen MorledgeDave Turner of Pitchfork Ales. Picture: Karen Morledge (Image: Archant)

The Armchair Beer Festival has been created after cancelled events and pubs closures have threatened the survival of independent breweries and public houses.

Pitchfork Ales is fighting back to unite beer lovers across the country with an innovative approach to tackling how to get high-quality real ale direct to drinkers.

Dave Turner, director of Pitchfork Ales, said: “Traditional beer festivals are predominantly cask ale, they allow the visitor to sample whichever beers they wish, be entertained by some great music and enjoy the company of other beer lovers.

“We saw numerous beer festivals being cancelled and wondered what we could do replicate that experience online, so we’ve done just that, but also supporting our incredible NHS by donating 20p from every pint sold to them.”

By visiting the website, beer lovers get to choose the drinks they wish to sample during the festival out of a varied range of 15 beers and three ciders.

These will then be carefully packaged along with a commemorative glass.

Anyone purchasing drinks will be sent the secret code for the live stream and also a range of free merchandise and discount vouchers.

An overnight delivery service to homes across the UK was available earlier in the week.

MORE: Drive-thru and delivery services keep beer flowing.

Pitchfork is offering a drive-through collection service from its brewery in Hewish, as it has been throughout the lockdown period.

The cut off for ordering for collection is tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon.

The exclusive live stream will run for three hours from 7pm, broadcasting three live music acts and offering beer-related chats with the Pitchfork Ales brewer and award-winning beer writer Adrian Tierney-Jones.

Dave added: “Predominantly, it’s our local area where beer lovers get to sample our brews, but already we’re seeing orders come in for the beer festival from Southampton to Glasgow.

“The unique aspect of being able to ship freshly tapped cask ale anywhere in the country direct to the consumers’ door is a real pull.”

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