St Austell beer festival raises £20k for charity

The day-long festival saw the Victorian cellars of the brewery transformed into a packed venue with five bars featuring more than 100 beers and complete with live music.

A huge £20,000 was raised for charity through the event – which is more than a 50% uplift in fundraising efforts compared to 2019.

Four-year hiatus​

Despite being four years since the last event – due to the pandemic – St Austell said the thirst for beer and a sing-along with the Fisherman’s Friends was key to those who went to the festival.

Beer from more than 50 breweries was donated to the festival, with all profits from ticket sales going to the St Austell Brewery Charitable Trust, which supports local charities and worthy causes across the south-west.

The trust recently celebrated raising a landmark £1m since it was established in 2003 – previous fundraising events have included a trek to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, raffles, ale tastings and quizzes, but the annual Celtic Beer Festival remains the trust’s flagship fundraising activity.

Expectations surpassed​

St Austell Brewery brewing director Georgina Young said: “The 22nd Celtic Beer Festival surpassed all our expectations. It was a huge team effort to prepare and run the event and I thank everyone in the company for their support.

“The array of 112 different beers from us and our other brewing friends across the country were really well received.”

She continued: “I’m very proud of our brewing teams in St Austell and at Hare Brewery – our second production site in Warmley – which created a wide spread of beers including a cherry Rauchbier, a mango weizen, a mild and a wee heavy. All of which were excellent.”