St Austell Brewery’s annual Celtic Beer Festival has attracted its biggest crowds in the event’s 11-year history. 

Before the doors had even opened on Saturday (November, 28) at 11am, queues had already formed, and by the end of the day, nearly 3,000 people had passed through the doors. 

Revellers came together in the unique surroundings of the old wine cellars and vaults beneath the Victorian brewery and sampled some of the 120-plus beers on offer and partied throughout the day and evening to the sounds of eight live bands – raising thousands of pounds for local charities in the process. 

Despite the capacity for the event being increased to accommodate a further 400 people, by 1.30pm it had already reached capacity, with door staff operating a ‘one out – one in’ policy for the rest of the day and evening. 

St Austell Brewery head brewer Roger Ryman, said: “The 11^th Celtic Beer Festival was really one to remember and we’re delighted with the amount of people that came along. We responded to the huge popularity of the event and increased the capacity but more people than ever came along to make this such a fantastic event and one of the UK’s biggest beer festivals of the year.” 

The Celtic Beer Festival is organised and staffed by volunteers from the Brewery, together with suppliers, with all money raised going to local charities through the St Austell Brewery Charitable Trust. 

At present the nominated charity is Cornwall Hospice Care.