THE Great Yorkshire Fringe has launched the 6 Of The Best Beer & Cider Festival to complement The Feastival street food celebration, comedy, music, theatre, cabaret and family entertainment on the Parliament Street village green in York.

The Thinking Drinkers' Tom Sandham and Ben McFarland took a break from their 80 Drinks Around The World show in The Turn Pot to raise a glass to the festival before returning to their six-night run of 6pm performances that ends on Sunday.

Festival director Martin Witts says: “We’ve called the Beer and Cider Festival 6 Of The Best in keeping with a Yorkshire cricketing theme. We will rotate the six casks daily between now and August 1 when the festival ends, so there should always be something new to try.”

There is no entry charge to the Great Yorkshire Fringe site and the cask beers are available from the specially adapted camper van bars. "So why not enjoy a beer while relaxing in the village-green setting, taking in some of the rolling programme of free street entertainment?" says Martin. "Just go easy on the beers if you’re planning on holding on to those memories or remembering any great jokes."

York Press:

The Thinking Drinkers' Ben McFarland, left, and Tom Sandham, enjoying a pint at the Great Yorkshire Fringe's 6 Of The Best Beer & Cider Festival. Picture: Kippa Matthews

The featured ales are Brew York's Jarsa Summer Ale (3.7%), Maris The Otter Bitter (5.0%), Kiwi Brown Ale (5.0%), brewed just off Walmgate; Malton micro brewery Bad Seed Brewery's Summer Ale (3.8%), Bravo Pale Ale (4.5%) and Session IPA (4.0%); and Ainsty Ales' Flummoxed Farmer Blonde Ale (4.0%) and Wankled Waggoner Golden Ale (4.5%), inspired by The Ainsty, an ancient "Wapentake" area to the west of York bounded by the rivers Ouse, Wharfe and Nidd.

The ciders are Orchard Pig Explorer; Orchard Pig Hogfather; Weston’s Old Rosie; Weston’s Old Rosie Pig; Broadoak Moonshine; Gwynn y Ddraig Farmhouse Scumpy and Gwynn y Ddraig Fiery Fox.

Orchard Pig’s home in the West Bradley Orchards is rooted in Somerset’s cider-making history; Henry Weston's range is made using Herefordshire’s nest apples at Weston's Cider Mill, which dates back to 1880; Broadoak Cider (7.5%) is from Clutton Farm, Somerset. where Brian Blunt of Broadoak has been making cider and perry of all sorts for more than 30 years.

Gwynn y Ddraig is a Welsh farmhouse cider, shaped by the elements and made traditionally using freshly pressed fruit since 2001, when the cider making began as a hobbyist’s experiment on a farm in Llantwit Fardre, South Wales.