Name a beer for Rotherham Real Ale Festival

The new brew from Wentworth Brewery is so strong—at 16 per cent alcohol—that it will be sold to punters at the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival in a fortnight in third-of-a-pint measures.

Festival organisers have appealed for beer lovers’ help in coming up with a name for the powerful ale, which has been created to mark the festival’s 20th anniversary and will make its debut at the Magna event from February 29 to March 3.

Whoever comes up with the best suggestion will scoop a pair of VIP passes to the popular four-day party, which showcases more than 200 beers, wines and ciders, and will also see the chosen name appear on a specially designed pump clip, used to help serve the beer during the festival.

There will also be two pairs of tickets for the best runners-up for the preview evenings of the festival on Wednesday, February 29, and Thursday, March 1.

Richard Hancock, head brewer at the Wentworth brewery, explained that the unique new variety of real ale—believed to be one of the strongest ales that has ever been produced in Yorkshire using traditional brewing methods—featured the unusual addition of champagne yeast.

“Beer festivals often give brewers a chance to experiment with new ingredients, try different processes and be able to get feedback directly from customers,” he said.

The Wentworth brewery anniversary ale is one of 236 different varieties that will be available during the festival, dubbed Baas of Steel.

Tickets for the 2012 event are now on sale via the website at www.magnarealale.co.uk, which can also be used to obtain further details about how to volunteer for the festival and information about sponsorship packages.

A full list of outlets selling tickets is also available.

You can email your suggestion for the 16 per cent Wentworth ale with your name and address to [email protected]. Entries have to be submitted by 5pm on Monday.