During the August Bank Holiday weekend, The Grainstore Brewery Tap is holding the 26th Rutland Beer Festival, bringing together great ales, live music, local food and the World Amateur Pork Pie Championships.

Taking place from Thursday 27 to Monday 31 August, The Grainstore has a packed weekend planned.

They will be serving up a wide range of real ales from around the UK, featuring over 40 Real Ales alongside golden ales, stouts, bitters, porters, barley wines and a selection of traditional ciders.

Kicking off on the Thursday, this is the first opportunity to try the ales on offer in the evening.

The festival gets into full-swing on Friday with ales available all day with barbecue and pizza served up in the evening and a performance from The Guards from 8.30pm.

On Saturday and Sunday, they will be serving breakfast in the morning (booking is advised as this is popular) and the bar will be open late serving ales accompanied by the barbecue and pizzas.

Saturday will also be when the World Amateur Pork Pie Championships take place, hosted by the Rutland Pork Pie Appreciation Society at The Grainstore Brewery Tap.

Formed out of a mutual love for 'all things pork pie', The Rutland Pork Pie Appreciation Society meets regularly at The Grainstore, bringing together hand raised pies made by those attending. Other members just come along to meetings to enjoy the pie, banter and beer.

A few pints and pies later, the World Amateur Pork Pie Championships was born, with all entry fees from the competition donated to the East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS).

To find out more about the Pork Pie Championships and how to enter, click here.

Accompanying the ale and Pork Pie Championships on Saturday, there will be live music throughout the day, including Side by Side at 3pm and Filthy Contact at 8pm.

Live music will continue through Sunday and Monday, which is the final day of the festival.

Ales and drinks will be available until 10pm on Monday with barbecue and pizza served until around 6pm.

This year will be owners Richard and Andrea's third festival of the year since they took over in November 2025.

'We are excited and a little nervous about this one,' they said, 'as this is the big festival of the year and we have some big shoes to fill since taking over from Pete and Will.

'We aim to make the weekend as enjoyable as possible for everyone, whether it's locals that want to pop in for something a little different, a seasoned real ale expert or member of CAMRA wanting to try our wide range of ales we will have on offer, or one of the ladies wanting to try out gins and spritzes while singing and dancing the night away to our amazing bands.

'We feel strongly about supporting local and independent businesses and will use local providers for our products as much as we can and try to provide a range of ales from smaller breweries across the UK, as well as better known ones.'

The Rutland Real Ale Festival will take place from Thursday 27 to Monday 31 August over the bank holiday at The Grainstore Brewery Tap in Oakham.

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