Forget Christmas – think Midsummer Beer Festival!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Midsummer, as one of Scotland’s biggest and most-popular beer festivals unveils its dates for 2020.

The Midsummer Beer Happening in Stonehaven will be held from Thursday June 18 to Saturday June 20 – and has ‘locked in’ dates for future years. The massive event, which attracts thousands of visitors to a purpose-built marquee in the town’s Baird Park, will always be held on the third weekend in June.

As an added bonus, entries for the 2020 Happening’s sportive –one of the biggest cycling sportive events of its kind in Scotland – will open on Christmas Eve.

Organiser of the Midsummer Beer Happening, Robert Lindsay, said: ‘With the winter solstice almost upon us, we thought we’d brighten the long dark nights with some good news about the Happening at the summer solstice.

‘Even as we were packing up last year’s 10th anniversary festival, people were asking us for the dates for the next one. Not only can we now reveal those, we can also let people know to always keep the third weekend in June clear so they can join in the fun of this three day celebration of brilliant beer, fantastic food and marvellous music.’

This will be the Stonehaven beer festival’s 11th outing and follows a barnstorming celebration of its first decade which saw records tumble for not only visitor numbers, attracting 6,000 people, but also charity fundraising, with £52,000 raised for local good causes.

Robert said: ‘Our challenge now is to make the Happening bigger and better for everyone who comes along to enjoy the party – and we do like a challenge!

‘After all, it has grown from a festival of Scottish real ale organised by some beer fans in Stonehaven’s Town Hall to one of the biggest events in the north-east – if not the country – with a huge array of beer from the best brewers across the UK, Europe and North America, street food from award-winning local producers and the finest musical talent the north-east has to offer.

‘All of that has been achieved by a willing and hard-working band of volunteers staging a not-for-profit event for the sheer fun of it. We always say we are putting on the sort of beer festival we would want to go to. And we are delighted so many people love it, too.’

Tickets for the Happening will go on sale early in 2020, but Robert, who is founder of Stonehaven-based Six°North brewery, said he expected a rush for entries to the sportive when it opens on Christmas Eve.

He said: ‘It’s our Christmas present to the 1,000 plus riders who took part and enjoyed it so much last year. And it’s the perfect last minute stocking filler for anyone who has a keen cyclist in their family.’

And they do have to be keen given the sportive, held on the Saturday of the Happening, is one of the most challenging as well as the most popular in the country. It offers three routes – 52 miles, 70 and 100, all taking in the daunting Cairn o’ Mount.

Robert added: ‘The sportive has grown each year since we launched it five years ago and it is now one of the most celebrated dates in the Scottish cycling calendar.’

Robert said he was looking forward to welcoming everyone to the marquee next June for an event renowned for its special, welcoming, vibrant atmosphere.

For more information visit www.msbh.co.uk

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