Hemel Old Town Beer Festival 2026

On the third weekend of July, the Hemel Old Town Beer Festival rolled into town in again, now in its fourth year. Since its inception back in 2023, it has been held at the grounds of St. Mary’s Church, markedly the oldest building in Hemel Hempstead, dating from the 12^th century. This festival is co-organised between Mid Chilterns CAMRA branch and St Mary’s Church, since it’s a non-for-profit event the proceeds are split between the two organisations with any surplus going towards the upkeep of the church building and local pubs. This year’s festival selection was organised by beer orderer Alex Baker (former cellar manager of a Pub of the Year award within their branch). Among the selection were a number of beers from one of Hertfordshire’s largest brewers, Tring, including core-brand fixtures like Mansion Mild (3.7%), seasonal specials in the form of the gloriously drinkable Summer ale Fanny Ebbs (3.9%) and the festival exclusive Colley’s Glory (6.2%), a blend of their ruby-coloured ESB, Colley’s Dog (5.2%), with the barley wine Death or Glory (7.2%). The main festival bar was located in the church building itself, there were over 30 cask ales on offer, mainly from local breweries located in the Herts/ Bucks region like Tring, Vale, Rebellion and Mad Squirrel respectively, but with a decent representation from breweries across the UK as well. 

 

The main bar was split into two, with the larger John Lomax bar offering bitters, pales, golden ales, IPA’s and strong ales, while the smaller Dave Lewin Bar was dedicated to dark ales, offering a small yet decent selection of porters, stouts and milds. This kind of arrangement is unusual for a beer festival, but it ensured that all drinkers were catered for. Many of the beers on offer were sponsored by local businesses and individuals, among the highlights of the beer selection were classics like Bass (4.4%), Pale Rider (5.2%), Wobbly Bob (6%) and Boddington’s Bitter (4.4%), a Mancunian icon which was relaunched on cask last Autumn by J.W. Lees, a traditional amber-gold bitter it was a flavoursome display of gentle bitterness blended with grassy hops and bready malt. There were also a number of local regional favourites like Wychert (3.9%) and Roasted Nuts (4.6%) and the very local Jupiter Heights (4.2%) from the nearby Hop Tap micropub, even Champion Beer of Britain 2026, Independence (4.6%) from Bristol Beer Factory made an appearance. Over on the darker end of the EBC scale, there were a mixture of popular icons like Landlord Dark (4.3%) and the eminently light-bodied yet malt-forward Gravedigger’s Mild (3.8%) with its distinct chocolate and coffee notes, also on offer was a special collaboration beer in the form of Old Toby (5%) developed in conjunction between Vale Brewery and their subsidary ABC, a smoked porter which lived up to its name, giving a smoky counterpoint to the bittersweet chocolate and coffee flavours engineered by the use of heritage malt variety Chevalier. There were even some pastry stouts on the roster including Cherry Tonkoto (5.5%) to the ridiculously sweet Double Trouble Birthday Cake Stout (5%) which surely holds the title for the best titled beer at the festival.

       

To cater for a wide range of drinkers, in the adjacent church hall building, the organisers additionally set up a cider and perry bar, also holding the fort was a small keg bar primarily dominated by Tring Brewery, and a prosecco bar for the wine drinkers. On the cider/ perry front there were around 15 examples on display, there were well-known classics like Devon Red (4.5%) to cider and perry blends in the form of Gardenia (4.8%) made with Conference pears and elderflowers, there was even the likes of Kingston Black (6.5%) a rare dark cider that takes its name from the apple variety it uses, which gives off a distinct copper-red hue. While the traditional cider/perry growing regions of Devonshire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire were well represented there were some examples from further afield like Whisky Cask Cider (6.9%) from Thistly Cross based near the east Lothian coast of Scotland, where the cider is matured in casks from Glen Moray distillery, giving a distinct Scottish take on cider. Moreover, there was also a healthy number of fruit ciders available like Dance Commander Sour Cherry (3.9%), Cloudy Strawberry Cider (4.8%) and Berry Lime Blitz (3.4%), if there was such a thing as craft cider, then assuredly this would be a reasonable interpretation.

Despite the relatively small number of beers, ciders and perries on offer, the festival was eminently popular with hundreds of punters flooding the venue, while most of the visitors were sprawled over the surrounding grounds soaking in the summer sun, a good deal took shelter inside the main-building and church hall. Such is the popularity of this festival, I was informed by one of the volunteers that in the past they used to run low on stock by the end of the 2nd day; though festival organiser and Mid Chilterns CAMRA branch chairman Jared Ward-Brickett (also PR Director at Tring Brewery) has endeavoured to remedy this situation by personally sourcing more beer and cider from his brewery’s cold store if required, they have also upped their beer purchasing year on year based on forecasting with the option to restock on the interest of maximum surplus and minimal wastage. Moreover, when it came to the number of non-drink stalls, I found them rather modest in my opinion, while there were several on-site caterers perhaps a more diverse range of stalls including a snack booth, book stand, tombola, and a Brewerania table within the vicinity wouldn’t have gone amiss, though admittedly this is often difficult for festival organisers to arrange when they are constricted to a small area. Yet as beer festivals go, the drinks selection was wide and varied, catering for all tastes, not bad for a festival limited not only by space but by the number of drinks it could supply punters, which is a measure of the organisers ingenuity. Although at its heart it is a small-scale festival catering for the local community, it offers a unique microcosm of larger festivals, giving both seasoned real-ale drinkers and newcomers the opportune insight into the wonderful world that beer, cider and perry has to offer.