The Pigs Ear Beer Festival returns again for 2008 with its 25th festival, so get your taste buds ready to sample some of the best beers and ciders that Britain and the Continent has to offer. And what's more, if you're a student you can get in for free. Beer and freebies? Perfect.

Cockney traditions
If you’re a Hackney resident, you should already know that pig’s ear is Cockney rhyming slang for beer, and that’s exactly what’s going on at the Ocean for five days in December. Take part in a festival dedicated to (nearly) every Londoner’s favourite pastime. The Pigs Ear Beer Festival is a chance to eat, drink and be merry with more than 100 different types of beer and cider, plus pub games and memorabilia dedicated to – what else? – beer, of course.

Christmas Cheer
After considerable success for the past 24 years, the festival returns in 2008 for its 25th anniversary as the perfect place to start getting festive. There are plenty of seasonal beers that will warm your cockles and get you firmly in the Christmas spirit. East London residents couldn’t be happier about the festival’s return, which will feature over a hundred kinds of beer and cider, including ones specially brewed just for the festival. There’ll also be foreign and bottled beer stands and beer paraphernalia for sale. If you’re not too wobbly by the end of the evening, you can try your hand at some traditional pub games.

Beers at the festival
The Pigs Ear Beer Festival will carry all the traditional brews, and unique ones on offer include an Brodies Hoppy Ho Ho Ho, the Fat Cat Christmas port stout and much more. Also on tap is a Coffee Stout from Scotland, a Chilly Willy from Sussex, and plenty of special Christmas ales that will get you in a festive spirit.

Ciders on offer
There’ll be barrels of cider at the festival too, for those of you who like your alcohol a bit fruitier. The festival has the largest range of ciders and perries to ever grace East London, including single apple and pear varieties and ciders that have been barrelled in malt whisky, bourbon whiskey, and blended scotch and rum, with strengths of about 8 percent.

Fill your stomach
It would be a shame to have all this alcohol without any decent food, so the Pigs Ear Beer Festival will also have meals from the Splendid Meat Company, which uses traditionally reared animals for their meat, and organic cheese and snacks from the Wobbly Bottom Cheese Company.

The London Pigs Ear Beer Festival is open Tuesday 2nd December - Saturday 6th December 2008 at Ocean. Hours of admittance are noon to 10.30pm Tuesday to Thursday, noon to 11pm Friday, and noon to 11pm Saturday.

Admission for Tuesday to Thursday is £3.00 for non-CAMRA members and £2.00 for CAMRA members. For more information please click below.

Pigs Ear Official Site

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