Bull landlord Jon Cox gets set for the Easter Ales Festival

A popular South Cheshire country inn is celebrating National Cask Ale Week with an Easter beer festival that will showcase SIBA member’s ales.

Cask-ale loving landlord Jon Cox, of the Bull at Shocklach, near Malpas, has sourced 18 new brews mostly through the Direct Delivery Scheme from award winning small breweries in Wales and the Midlands to offer customers a complete change of beers over four days, starting on Good Friday. The range will also include Oswestry’s Stonehouse beers, which regularly appear on the pub’s five permanent hand pumps. Another eight hand pulls will be in use for the festival.

Already operating the Camra (Campaign for Real Ale) LocAle scheme to promote local breweries, the Admiral leased Bull has become well known for its real ales selection since opening for business little more than a year ago. During the festival a special beer and food pairing menu will be featured to encourage diners to try cask ale.

On Saturday night at 7pm festival-goers will be asked to take part in the simultaneous effort in pubs across the country to smash the ‘World Record for the Largest Toast’ – officially monitored for the Guinness Book of Records. Easter Sunday evening sees a hog roast with live music from Kristyna Myles* and her band.

Jon and partner Lindsay Melling re-opened the fire ravaged village hostelry with in December 2007 following a £150,000 investment. Since then the Bull has become a highly popular dining venue, recognised with recent listings in the Michelin Guide 2009, the Good Pub Guide and the Sawdays Pubs and Inns Guide and is also featured on the Taste Cheshire Food Trail.

Jon said: “As a pub dedicated to quality beer and food we wanted to do something special to support the National Cask Ale Week. Cask ale is at the forefront of our offer and we have sourced 95 per cent of our festival beers from award winning SIBA craft breweries in both South and North Wales and the Midlands though the DDS scheme, which we use throughout the year.

“Our first beer festival last August was a huge success with record sales and this time we have many more new beers to try as well as the added interest of the food and beer menu, which shows how different beers can be a good match for a variety food. But people can just pop in and try a pint. We expect to have another great festival weekend as cask beer becomes ever more popular with our customers.”