Hadrian Border Brewery announces festival to celebrate a milestone birthday
Tickets are on now on sale for Newcastle brewery's 30th birthday beer festival which is all set for the summer with a menu to include top brews, tours, street food and live music
by Barbara Hodgson · ChronicleLiveBeer and conversation will be in full flow in celebration of a family-owned Newcastle brewery's 30-year anniversary this summer when fans raise a glass to success.
Hadrian Border Brewery, owned by Andy and Shona Burrows, has announced a new summer festival to mark the big occasion and Shona says: "We’ve made it through two recessions; a stock market crash; a pandemic and are bang in the middle of a cost of living crisis. To still be thriving after three decades, that must be worth celebrating!”
A large marquee will be set up outside the brewery in the city's Newburn Industrial Estate for the festival's June 7-9 run and as part of the birthday celebrations it also will be releasing a series of limited edition beers and collaborations throughout the year, adding to a range which includes such top-sellers as Tyneside Blonde, Grainger Ale and Farne Island.
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Besides selling a stock of Hadrian's own award-winning brews at the festival, there will be a range of cask and keg beers from other popular breweries too, alongside street food and live music. The owners, with the rest of their team, are out to make their 30th Birthday Beer Festival into quite a party to mark those three decades of a business which has become renowned for its classic-style, traditionally-brewed beers. It also runs the Station East pub in Gateshead.
Shona said that hosting a beer festival is not the sort of thing they usually do so it will be an opportunity for fans to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes. "As a business we have always been a bit insular, quietly getting on with what we do," she said.
"So we are welcoming everyone to our space - tours of the brewery will run during the days of the festival." There also will be opportunities to taste beers from the tank throughout the maturation process, she said, as well as "giveaways; random ticket selection prizes and fun questions that will pop up on the screens to win prizes".
She added: "Our ideas just keep coming. We are all so excited to see people enjoy 'us' and all the great beers and breweries the North East has to offer."
She and Andy started their business on June 9, 1994 after taking over Border Brewery Company in Berwick then moving to Byker in 2000 when The Four Rivers Brewery there - previously called Hadrian Brewery - went into liquidation. They changed its name to Hadrian and Border and, when it expanded, moved again to take over the former Ross’s pickle factory in Newburn in 2009 with the first brew being mashed there in April 2011.
In 2014 it became the first North East brewery to earn a 'SALSA plus Beer' approval accreditation and its current production capacity is 200 barrels a week. Other popular brews include Northern Pale and Northern IPA.
Already the first batch of Hadrian's special birthday brews is out, with names referencing the fact its traditional styles may not be considered the trendiest - "but they’re ok with that", they say. There's a 10% cacao and coconut imperial stout called Too Uncool For School and a 10.2% caffe latte imperial porter, Too Old To Care, which is brewed with locally-roasted Pumphrey’s Coffee.
The couple has plenty more to celebrate from across the 30 years, during which, says Shona, there have been those three different locations; a move of house three times; two children - now aged 18 and 21 years - and a notching up of 35 years of married life. And the team they have working with them at both the brewery and the pub are "fabulous" she says.
Tickets for the three-day birthday festival are on sale now. The event will be running a token system at the bar and there will be a commemorative glass for festival-goers to take away afterwards as a memento.
The festival also will be dog-friendly, as long as pets remain on a short lead. Tickets for the Friday or Saturday cost £18.50, which includes the equivalent of two pints of beer, depending on strength, and the commemorative glass along with entry between 2pm and 10pm on the Friday and noon-10pm on the Saturday.
Sunday's tickets, including the same deal but a shorter session from noon-6pm, cost £15.50. Book here.
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