Course turns on the taps for annual beer festival.

Byline: Lee Mottershead

RACEGOERS at Ascot today and tomorrow will be able to enjoy a Ginger Tosser, some Naked Ladies and a Cornish Knocker, and all for as little as pounds 1.25 a go, thanks to the racecourse joining forces with the Campaign For Real Ale and Fuller's to stage the track's third beer festival.

More than 180 beers, ciders and perries (pear ciders), the majority of them produced by local craft brewers, will be showcased, sold and supped at a venue rather more associated with upmarket champagne.

Quite whether the Queen will choose to sample any of the offerings when attending tomorrow's fixture is unclear, but she and other racegoers will be able to sample the many tipples being offered towards the east end of the main concourse for pounds 2.50 a pint or pounds 1.25 for a halfpint.

Ascot spokesman Nick Smith said: "To get a drink, racegoers buy a voucher, each of which entitles them to half a pint, and we've already sold 6,000 vouchers in advance. Last year we ran out of beer early on Saturday, so this year we've tripled our order."

Camra's Mike Smith added: "This is an excellent opportunity for us to introduce the enormous variety of beers available from independent brewers to an audience that wouldn't usually attend a beer festival."

Among the other tipples on offer are Oakleaf's 'I Can't Believe It's Not Bitter', Ascot Ales's 'Yeats' Golden Ale' and the Concrete Cow's 'Old Bloomer'.

Top ten names of runners for the Ascot beer festival The Drunken Duck Hangover Soba Jones ESB Tipsey Creek Drunken Disorderly Secret Drinker Stout Answer Bricks And Porter Mister Baileys

CAPTION(S):

Mastercraftsman: kept in QEII as insurance should anything happen to Rip Van Winkle