After two years away, St Albans Beer & Cider Festival returns to the Alban Arena in 2022 for the 25th time. While popular features from years gone by will be back, we're also freshening up the feel of the Festival, making it a truly inclusive and up-to-date pageant of real ale, craft beer, cider and perry - with delicious street food, great live music, and other attractions thrown into the mix.

This year's Festival has something for all tastes. With an array of showcase bars, you'll get to sample the extended ranges of our featured brewers as well as chat to the people behind the beer. In addition to these, our traditional festival bars will feature specially-curated selections of beers and ciders from across the UK and the world.

For more details about the festival, including what's taking place during different sessions, see www.stalbansbf.org.uk

As part of this year's St Albans Beer & Cider Festival, we're staging a very special tutored tasting session on the evening of Wednesday 28th September, hosted by world-renowned beer writer Roger Protz.

Starting at 7pm in the upper balcony, Roger will take you through a selection of six different beer styles, including mild, bitter, strong bitter, golden ale, porter/stout and barley wine. While you enjoy generous samples of each ale (included in the ticket price), you'll also get an expert take on the different characteristics of these beer styles, their origins and history, pointers on how to assess quality, and suggestions of further examples to look out for.

This is a rare opportunity, and ticket numbers are limited. By going to the "Wednesday" tab above, you can order an advance ticket package that includes admission to the tutored beer tasting, as well as general festival admission, tokens to spend at any bar, and a souvenir glass.