Hello and welcome to The Edgar Wallace Autumn Beer Festival 2008.

After the popularity of our Summer Beer Festival, we decided to have another one.

Autumn ales have not taken off as a style of beer in the same way as the golden summer ales, or the dark sweet winter ales. I think this is a pity as autumn is when a new harvest of barley and hops is gathered. Good brewers use these fresh ingredients to produce fresh, fruity beers which have a bit more depth than the summer ales but are less sweet and heavy than the winter ales.

With flavours of berries, fruit and nuts, these ales tend to be stronger in alcohol than summer ales but not as strong as winter ales. More of the flavour is derived from the malt than in a typical summer ale (which tend to be more hoppy), and the colour tends towards ruby red (but not always).

Fill out the bit at the bottom of the page for a chance to win a gallon of ale (that's 8 pints to you younger ones!).

You can download a copy of the festival leaflet by clicking on the link below.