A NIGHT on the Clipper followed by a Blonde Bombshell and the inevitable Shipwreck – but as long as there’s Hoppyness in the world you’ll never be Bitter and Twisted. Luckily there was no drama for the 1900 visitors to Dunfermline’s Charity Beer Festival who were choosing which of the 43 colourfully named ales and 12 ciders they wanted to try.

Thousands of pints were supped and there was a distinct Scottish flavour to this year’s event in the Glen Pavilion which raised just under £30,000 for good causes.

One of the organisers, Alan Johnston, said, “We had about 900 people on the Friday night, 1000 people on the Saturday night and around 500 for the afternoon session and everyone seemed to have a fantastic time. The numbers were slightly down from last year but we’ve raised close to £30,000 and the bands, No Alibi, Cut the Cake and Sids Garage, were very well received.

“We had fantastic support from the Eden Brewery who sponsored the glasses and gave us 24 casks of ale and we concentrated on Scottish breweries only, we didn’t have any English ales at all.

“There’s a huge number of micro-breweries up here so it was all Scottish ales and Scottish ciders and they went down very well.” Dunfermline was well represented with De Brus ales and ciders on offer as well as beers from the Abbot Brewhouse, there was also the more exotic-sounding Merlin’s Ale, Inkie Pinkie and Muckle Toon Rosie. There were no headaches for the organisers as Alan said, “We ran low on some beers but didn’t run out and there will be very little poured away.

“We judged it just about right. We’ve 11 years of experience with it now and know what quantities we need.

“Next to the beer festival in Edinburgh, this is probably the second biggest in Scotland and it’s certainly looked forward to by a lot of people.

“It’s part of Dunfermline’s calendar now, it’s always the first Friday and Saturday in October so people know when to expect us!” The event is jointly run by Dunfermline Rugby Club and Dunfermline Round Table, the Press is the media sponsor, and has been going since 2004.

Their fund-raising efforts are now nearing the quarter of a million pound mark as the previous 10 festivals raised £201,550.

Half of that sum has gone to boost youth rugby in the city while charities that have benefited from the round table’s proceeds include CHAS, the Anthony Nolan Trust and Alzheimer Scotland.