On Tuesday 28 May Portchester Brewery will celebrate its strong bitter, Battering Ram, being voted the favourite beer of customers who attended the 2001 Southampton Beer Festival. The presentation of the winning certificate will be made at The South Western Arms, St Denys, Southampton at 9.00pm. The event is open to all and customers will be able to sample a selection of Portchester Brewery beers. The South Western Arms is an award-winning pub - recently voted Southern Hampshire CAMRA Pub Of The Year.

The brewery will also be represented at the 2002 Southampton Beer Festival, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday 20, 21, 22 June. More than 70 beers from across Britain and nearer to home will be on offer for the 3000 customers who are expected to attend.

The entertainment will be from "The Bob Pearce Trio" on Friday evening, "The Riverside Jazz Band" on Saturday lunchtime and "The Bog Rolling Stones" on Saturday evening.

Festival organiser Rob Whatley said, "This will be the sixth year that the beer festival has been held at the Guildhall and its popularity seems to be growing each year. We had to turn away people at the door last year so I would encourage customers to buy their tickets in advance to avoid disappointment. There is an ever increasing selection of beers being produced in Hampshire and we would like as many people as possible to sample these brews and others from further afield. Our volunteer staff will be happy to offer advice to customers to guide them through the wide variety of beer styles on offer."

Tickets are on sale now. For ticket details contact Ian on 023 8077 8906, tickets@shantscamra.org.uk or visit www.shantscamra.org.uk.

Notes for editors

The press are welcome to attend the presentation at the South Western Arms on the evening of Tuesday 28 May.

The Portchester Brewery was founded in 2000 by Gill and Graham Stone. The names of the brewery's beers, Catapult, Bastion, Slingshot and of course Battering Ram, reflect aspects of the town's famous castle. The beers are brewed by Gill, who is one of a small but growing number of female brewers. Further details can be found at www.portchesterbrewery.co.uk.

Battering Ram gained the most votes on the forms completed by customers at the 2001 Southampton Beer Festival. The winning beer has a strength of 5.0% alcohol by volume and is described by the brewery as, "a robust, copper-coloured ale packed with a full, malty taste and bags of hop character. It has a smooth, dry finish and lovely hop aftertaste."

The Southampton Beer Festival is run by the South Hants Branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. It is organised and run by volunteer staff who are among the 800 members of the South Hants Branch of CAMRA.

Further press releases will give more details of the festival. In addition to when the festival is open, you are welcome to visit the Guildhall while the festival is being set up on Wednesday 19 June and during the day on Thursday 20 June.

Tickets are available from the following outlets:

• Southampton Guildhall
• South Western Arms, St Denys
• Dolphin, St Denys
• Bevois Castle, Bevois Valley
• Park Inn, Shirley
• Bitter Virtue Off Licence, Portswood
• Waterloo Arms, Freemantle
• The Hogshead, Eastleigh