Dorset Beer Festival Hosts County’s First Beer And Music Pairing, Raises £10,000 For Charity

Over 1500 guests visited the Dorset Beer Festival at the Hall & Woodhouse Brewery in Blandford last weekend (13 and 14 June) to enjoy beers and live music in the sunshine. The event, at the home of Badger and Outland beers, has raised an estimated £10,000+ for charitable causes.

The festival also staged Dorset’s first beer and music pairing as award-winning writer and Sunday Times beer columnist Pete Brown led visitors through some of his favourite beers, each matched with a different piece of music. Pete explained some of the emerging neuroscience behind beer and music matching before giving them three beers to try while listening to music.

Pete said: “I started matching beers with songs as a joke, then discovered that scientists at Oxford University were doing something very similar and taking it really seriously. So I’ve been hosting events to show how music can influence the taste of beer – and have just published Tasting Notes, a book about it.

“The crowd at the Badger Brewery were very responsive to the pairings, and particularly enjoyed drinking locally-brewed Outland West Coast IPA with ‘Human’ by The Killers. I matched these partly because IPAs and The Killers’ music have both been shaped by cross-Atlantic travel; IPAs were first brewed in the UK and then adapted by American brewers, while ‘Human’, written by a West Coast USA band, has achieved anthemic status in this country.”

Head brewer Toby Heasman said: “The Festival was, as always, a wonderful celebration of beer, food and music. And, as in previous years, all proceeds from the event go to charitable causes, this year The Huntington’s Disease Association and The Brewers’ Benevolent Fund.” Hall & Woodhouse raised over £850,000 for good causes in its heartland last year.

He added: “Pete’s sessions were a great addition to the Beer Festival. We all enjoy listening to music while savouring a beer, and this was a fun way to understand how the relationship between the two is closer than we think.”