Norwich's real ale drinkers are gearing up for a bumper summer season of beer festivals – giving them a chance to raise a glass to some of the best brewers from this region and beyond.

Organisers of Norwich's very first City of Ale festival are busy putting together final preparations for the event, which runs from May 26 until June 5, with more than 50 pubs and brewers so far signed up to the festival.

But beer lovers do not have to wait until next month to sample some of the best brews of the season with the Murderers pub in Timberhill, Norwich, holding its fifth annual beer festival between April 22 and May 2.

The festival will be followed by a three-day beer festival over the May Day bank holiday weekend at one of Norwich's oldest buildings – Dragon Hall.

The first Dragon Hall Norfolk Beer Festival is being run in association with the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and will show off local independent brewers such as Yetman's, Buffy's and Humpty Dumpty.

It takes place from Friday, April 29 until Sunday, May 1. Other city pubs to be holding beer festivals in the coming months include the Wig and Pen (May 27 to June 5), The Whalebone (June 17 to June 19), Heath House (June 20 to June 26), and the Beehive (June 30 to July 3).

Warren Wordsworth, secretary of the Norwich and Norfolk branch of CAMRA said: 'This is a great time of year for beer festivals – we're just coming into warmer weather and have got all the bank holidays coming up.

'I'm very pleased that Norwich is such a vibrant place and has got so many beer festivals going on – it's great we've got so many real ale pubs putting on festivals for the public giving them plenty of variety of real ales to drink. From a real ale point of view everything is looking very good at the moment.'

For details about other festivals log onto www.norwichcamra.org.uk

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