THOUSANDS of pints are ready in their barrels at Worcester’s Pitchcroft racecourse for this year’s CAMRA beer festival.

The popular event annual event opened its doors to the public yesterday and will open at noon today and again on Saturday at the same time.

Last year, festival-goers got through 22,680 pints of beer and a further 15,500 pints of cider and perry.

This year’s crowd, which is anticipated to be around 10,500, will have more than 170 different types of beer and over 100 draught ciders and perries to choose from.

Pete Thorogood of the Worcester branch of CAMRA said: “There will be something for everyone.

“The strongest beer we have on offer is a 10.6 per cent chocolate vanilla stout by Baltic Trader, and the strongest cider is 8.4 per cent.

“As always, there are some beers with very odd names, including Jack Rat, Badgers Spit, Fannys Bramble and Slack ma Girdle.”

Following reports that previous festivals had been drunk dry by the Saturday session, organisers are keeping supplied of beer back particularly for that session.

Mr Thorogood said: “It’s a fallacy that we’ve ever completely run out. There have always been some beers left, and we’ve never run out of cider, although last year we did have to get extra supplies of Prosecco in.

“We have allocated some beer supplies for Saturday only, just to be on the safe side.”

The festival has a dedicated music tent, and among the acts appearing this year are Mumbo Jumbo, the Wootown Hillbillies, Autumn, Swampcandy, Vincent Flats Blues Band and the Whipjacks. Mr Thorogood said there are still openings for volunteers today and tomorrow.

He said: “ If you can work to the end of the festival, on each day, then there is a staff session at the end of the day with free food.

“Taking an active part in any beer festival is a great way to meet new people, have fun and learn new things, all while bringing real ale to life for our visitors.”

More details can be found at worcesterbeerfest.org.uk.