It's not just not ale on offer at the Christmas Beer Festival

Excitement is building for the two-day event, which takes at the Guildhall over December 15 and 16, with a session on the Friday evening from 6pm to 11pm and two on Saturday, from midday to 5pm and 6pm to 11pm.

Festive Beers will be featured from local breweries as well as from around the UK. A large variety of ales will feature to suit the season, but fear not, there will also be a fine selection of the regular favourites to choose from.

The Craft Beer bar will return with a host of draught beers from some of the country’s top breweries.

Co-organiser Ben Miles said: ‘The rise of craft beer has been phenomenal over the past few years, and it’s something we had to include.

‘We like to be able to offer all the traditional hallmarks of a beer festival, but with the addition of the modern expectations of the discerning beer drinkers. The choice nowadays is huge and we like to celebrate that at Portsmouth Beer Festival as much as possible.

‘2017 will see the return of the popular gin bar to the beer festival. And with a wide-ranging audience demographic and an ever-increasing female attendance, we’ve stretched our range to cater for a big variance in tastes.’

The live entertainment line-up consists of local favourites Kojak’s Revenge headlining on Friday, The Tiddley Kinks, a tribute to Ray Davies and The Kinks topping the Saturday afternoon bill and favourites The Silver Beatles closing the Saturday night session.

Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association is this year’s chosen charity supported by the festival.

Tickets cost £12 (subject to booking fee) per person, per session, and include a complimentary souvenir glass, programme and beer.

You can buy them online at pompeybeerfestival.co.uk or from Portsmouth Guildhall Box Office, Meat & Barrel and The Belle Isle’s Southsea branch.