Craft, Culture, and Community: Exploring These Hills Festival with The Beak Brewery Team

There's nothing quite like the vibrant microbrewery culture that defines our local scene here in Sussex! And guess what? Beak Brewery is kicking it up a notch with Their Hills Festival for the third year in a row. Get ready for an experience centred around killer craft beer, featuring top-notch brews from local favourites and international gems. Plus, they'll be introducing you to the vibrant low intervention & natural wine scene across Sussex and our friends in Kent!

Join us for a Q&A session with the team at Beak.

CRAFT BEER, MUSIC, STREET FOOD, LOW-INTERVENTION WINE + CIDER 15 - 16 June 2024 LEWES, EAST SUSSEX

How did the idea for These Hills Festival come about, and what inspired its unique focus on craft beer, low-intervention wine, cider, and street food?

“We always wanted to do something different and after lockdown, we missed our friends from the craft beer industry and being an ambitious team, we decided to put together a well curated international beer festival set in an open field.” 

Could you share the ethos or mission behind the festival and what you hope attendees will take away from the experience?

“We aim to make These Hills a festival where people can appreciate the beauty of the South Downs and eat and drink some of the finest food and drink available. Each year we invite a number of international breweries to give people a chance to try things they may not usually be able to get hold of. This year we will have breweries from the USA, Australia, Sweden, Belgium and Spain!”

Can you tell us a bit about Beak Brewery, its story, and what sets your craft beer apart?

“Beak started off as a nomadic brewery before putting down roots in the historic brewing town of Lewes. The taproom and brewery opened in 2020 (in the middle of lockdown). Beak takes great care in every part of the business, from Jay Cover’s wonderful artwork to nuanced and creative beer recipes - everything is done with a careful eye for detail.”

The festival has a strong emphasis on low-intervention drinks. How does this tie into the local Sussex drink scene?

“Sussex and Kent have a great natural wine scene and people are making great use of the land and producing some really exciting wines. Joining us from Sussex will be Titch Hill Wines, along with Westwell and Ham Street from Kent”

Who else can we expect at the festival? 

"We've been releasing our lineup over the last few months on our These Hills Instagram page. Currently, we have over 30 breweries confirmed to attend. In addition to cider makers and English wineries, we're thrilled to announce some super exciting food vendors. These include vegan kebabs from Doner Summer, Romana pizza from Slice Culture, patties from Original Patty Men. From Sussex we we will have our good friends from Caccia and Tails serving their Italian American street food and Brighton based Majahma will be bringing their mouth-watering Indian cuisine to These Hills.”

What sets These Hills Festival apart from other events in the area?

“There are plenty of wonderful beer festivals out there but very few are in such a picturesque location. We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to have the South Downs right on our doorstep, providing the perfect backdrop for our festival. We also hope that attendees will have the opportunity to discover a new favourite brewery or wine maker amidst this stunning landscape. In the past, many attendees have described the festival as a highlight of their summer!”

Are there any particular activities, workshops, or entertainment options that attendees can look forward to?

"We will be having live music from The Dead Reds for the Saturday day session. These local legends will be playing a mix of blues and rock’n’roll. Then, on Saturday evening, we will be welcoming BBC Radio 6 DJ Tom Ravenscroft to the festival, who will be playing a curated mix of unique music from around the world.

For the Sunday day session, the folk trio Nine Dead Mice will be playing some foot-stomping folk, followed by the DJ collective Lazy Susan, who will be taking over with their superlative sounds. Additionally, our quiz Queen Doreen, who runs our legendary taproom quiz, will be hosting one of her quizzes from the cask beer tent."

“These Hills bring together breweries, drinks producers, food vendors and musicians from all over the country and world! With the festival we aim to support our local community and help to put Sussex on the map as one of the most exciting places for food and drink in the country.”