The challenge is on to the drink the beer festival dry!
But with 30 firkins of ale, mostly from North Yorkshire''s excellent breweries, that's a lot of beer to get through. Not to mention the lagers, ciders, perry, milds, stouts and porters!

Some of previous years' favourites are making another appearance - notably Daleside Blonde from Harrogate, the 2005 Festival Champion Ale, and the excellent Black Dub Oat Stout brought to us by Wensleydale Brewery. Not forgetting Rhatas from the Black Dog Brewery, made by Hambleton, which is bound to go down well once again.

New this year will be the August special from York Brewery, a bitter called Nelson Sauvin at 4%, which the drayman said was the best cask they'd ever produced when he delivered it this morning, so I can''t wait to tap that firkin!  And another seasonal from the award-winning Yorkshire Dales Brewing Company, called Muker Silver, is one I''m really looking forward to. Also from them we've ordered two casks of a superb lager-style beer called Buckden Pike.

 

We've some new breweries on the list too - Great Heck from Selby, Leeds Brewery (not quite North Yorkshire but so what!) and Dark Horse, which took over from Wharfedale. Plenty of new ciders too, mostly from the south west, but the return of the popular (if lethal) Slaughtered Lamb from Cropton, by popular demand.

So, something for everyone. Check out the website for the full list, and see how many you can try on the big day before you fall over!