For the connoisseur, walking into 10th annual Rainhill Beer Festival must have been like walking into heaven, with two giant rows of barrels of different beers from the length and breadth of the country.
No wonder that over a thousand people visited over the three-day festival, which started on Thursday at Rainhill Recreation Club, to sample a selection of more than 100 beers on offer.
The festival, which took five months to plan, was organised by Rainhill Rotary Club, including Mal Steward who said he was pleased with the turnout despite the cold weather and Christmas fast approaching.
He told JMU Journalism: “Every single Friday night that we’ve had a beer festival it has rained, and this time was no exception. But they were still queuing up outside waiting to come in.”
Mr Steward said that he thinks the festival is a way of putting something back into the community and was pleased at people coming from other parts of the country.
He said: “It’s something for the village as well. The village is very, very quiet. All the shops are boarded up now and we’re trying to bring a bit of life back into it.
“People are coming from miles away. We’ve had people from Sheffield, Cumbria, Bradford, just to come and sample these beers.”
Despite the success, Mr Steward says that they are looking for ways to improve the festival and make it more fun.
He said: “One idea we have is to play the funeral march when a beer runs out.”