It was as long ago as 2000 when the last Ongar Beer Festival closed its doors for the final time. However, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, from 26 to 28 July, Ongar was once again blessed with a large selection of ales. This time as part of the Epping Ongar Railway’s beer festival, Ongar station hosted over 25 cask ales, a range of cider plus a smattering of Whitley Neill gin produced along the Central Line near St Pauls. Over the course of three sunny days, just under 1,800 people attended this growing annual fixture. This was significantly more than the organising team had budgeted for! As well as the expanded bar at Ongar, the main marquee at North Weald was serving up to 30 cask beers at any one time, with additional beer and cider on the vintage trains that ply the route between fields and forest.
To make sure there was enough ale to go around, an additional 900 pints were delivered to North Weald on the Saturday morning, with an extra 140 pints of cider arriving on Sunday. The festival organising committee are very grateful to Brentwood Brewery and Brick Lock Orchard for their support at short notice. This year’s beer of the festival, by popular vote, was Inca Gold (4.4% ABV) by Bull of the Woods Brewing Company from Bungay in Suffolk.

As in previous years, the festival hosted a charity, raising just under £450 for the St Clares Hospice. Epping Ongar Railway is hugely grateful for the support from CAMRA in putting on this year’s event and we look forward to announcing details of the 2025 festival in due course.
Alan Perryman