The Highlands and Islands largest indoor craft beer festival has been deemed a huge success, after welcoming over 1,500 festival goers through its doors over the weekend in Inverness.
North Hop, which took place at Eden Court in Inverness, saw food and drink enthusiasts travelling from across the globe to the event, to sample over 60 beers and ciders.
The two-day festival, which doubled its ticket offering from 2014, featured over 25 exhibitors from across Scotland celebrating craft beer, cider, artisan gins, creative cocktails, street food, as well as 24 music acts, offering up something for everyone.
Breweries offered up half and two-third of a pint measures ensuring attendees could experience a number of the different beers and ciders. Cromarty Brewing Company also served people a complimentary taste of an exclusive festival brew, which was specially crafted for the occasion.
The festival is now planning to return to the venue in 2016, and North Hop also has a number of other festival dates throughout Scotland lined up.
Festival organiser, Michelle Russell said: “This years festival was an incredible success. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and we have had a hugely positive response on social media, which has been extremely overwhelming.
Event Organiser Michelle Russell. Picture: Fraser
“I am delighted to announce that the festival welcomed over 1,500 individuals over the three sessions from as far as Europe, Africa, Canada and New Mexico USA, and I am ecstatic that our Saturday session actually sold out – the other sessions weren’t far off it either. Feedback from the public and from the exhibitors has been fantastic and the buzz around the festival is incredible.
“The festival has grown massively since 2014. Our food stalls quadrupled and we had a number of new bottle stalls too, as well as our guest brewery, the oldest brewery in the world, Weihenstephan.
“We had wide range of individuals attend the festival and our festival gin, which was created by Dunnet Bay Distillery, went down extremely well. A number of the food stalls sold out late in the evening on Saturday and two of our festival acts were signed to new Inverness based indie music label, IMOUT Records.”
The festival, which ran over the Friday and Saturday sessions welcomed local and national music acts from all over Scotland to entertain the busy beer hall and local DJ’s and acoustic acts were invited to play upstairs in the cocktail lounge.
North Hop will continue to run regular ‘taster’ and ‘pop-up’ events for food, drink, and music enthusiasts and looks to host five further festivals in 2016.
For more information on North Hop and the events visit www.northhop.co.uk.
