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News from the GeoparkGeopark's beer is festival star5 Jun 2010Beery Head is putting in another star appearance at this weekend's Occombe Farm Beer Festival. Following on from its successful launch last year, the official beer of the English Riviera Geopark will be at the popular event which continues today. It was developed by Torbay's own brewery, Bays, especially for the festival, where it will showcase alongside over 60 other regional beers and a selection of local ciders and perries. Residents were asked to name the new English Riviera Geopark beer to promote Torbay's status as a Geopark, which is awarded to areas with outstanding geological, archaeological, ecological and cultural interest. It will be among more than 180 barrels of 60 different beers, including A Pint of Two Halves, Proper Ansome, Beerwolf, Denbury Dreamer, Double Header, Cornish Knockers and Topsail - the new brew from Bays brewery which is on trial exclusively at the event.The festival marks the finale of the English Riviera Geopark Festival 2010, which is a week-long celebration of the geology, history and culture of Torbay. Occombe Farm is a key Geopark site as it connects the rich red soil of our natural environment with sustainable local produce, like beer. Despite a cold and wet weekend last year, more than 11,000 pints of real ale and 2,500 pints of cider were enjoyed by welly-clad visitors who braved the rain. This weekend is set to be fine and dry, so more supplies of real ale than ever before are being brought in. Rachel Tapper, who organises the event for Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust, which runs Occombe, said: "With all the rain we had at last year's festival we decided to get an open-sided marquee in to cover the farmyard, but with the fantastic forecast it looks as though this will be more of a sun umbrella. "There will be uncovered areas for people to spill out into, while it will provide some shade if it gets too hot." Double the bar staff are being employed to help serve visitors more quickly, and 2,000 tickets have been sold in advance to help ease admission queues. Live music at the event will includes Cahoots from midday, Three Bags Full from 3pm and then ten-piece classic soul band Soul Funktion will close the festival from around 8pm. |