Festival of independent craft beer with live music and street food in the grounds of Nottingham Castle.
The Nottingham Independents' Castle Beer Festival returns to the grounds of Nottingham Castle on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 May, its third year running. Four of the county's best-known independent breweries take over the castle for the weekend, with locally brewed ales, lagers and craft beers on tap, live music from local bands and street food across the site. The whole thing sits in the castle gardens, so you've got views across the city to look at while you drink.
The breweries on board this time are Blue Monkey Brewery, Castle Rock Brewery, Shipstone's Brewery and Lincoln Green Brewery. Between them they'll be pouring a good range of the local scene, from traditional ales to lagers and craft beers, with local bands providing the music and street food to keep you going. It's a proper independent line-up, and the whole thing is about the brewing that happens right here in Nottinghamshire.
There's a bit of a community angle to this edition, too. The participating breweries donate their spent brewers' grain to help feed the deer at Wollaton Park, giving a brewing by-product a second life rather than letting it go to waste. It's a nice touch that links the festival back to the county's wildlife.
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On the practical side, there are two ways to do it. The all-day session runs from 12pm to 10pm and costs £16.50, while the evening session runs from 5pm to 10pm for £11, with booking fees on top of both. Early bird tickets went on sale on Friday 28 August 2026, so if you're planning to head down, it's worth getting yours sorted early. The festival is at Nottingham Castle, Lenton Road, Nottingham, NG1 6EL.
