29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Press and Journal
Midsummer Beer Happening 2025: All you need to know about the Stonehaven festival
Stonehaven will be the place to be for beer lovers once again as the annual Midsummer Beer Happening (MSBH) returns next month.
The beer festival, which began in November 2009 as the Stonehaven Real Ale Festival, will return for a three-day event from June 12-14.
It is now the north-east's biggest and most popular beer festival and one of, if not the biggest, in Scotland.
Somewhere in the region of 6,000 people will attend, enjoying an array of drinks, good food and entertainment.
Here is all you need to know about the event.
The Midsummer Beer Happening will take place at the purpose built marquee in Stonehaven's Baird Park.
The fun will start at 4.30pm on Thursday June 12, with the festival running until 11pm.
Friday's festivities will follow the same timetable, before a bumper final fling on Saturday 14, when the event opens at noon.
Beer lovers and those of a cider persuasion are well catered for at the festival, as there will be over 120 beers and ciders to choose from.
Produced by some of the UK's finest brewers – and with a number of continental guests too – they range from zingy, fruity ciders to dark stout and everything in between.
There will also be non-alcoholic drinks for those that are driving or are teetotal.
There is live music throughout the day, with a variety of local talent lined-up to keep eventgoers entertained.
When the sun sets, organisers said it will be 'time to put on your dancing shoes and let your hair down', with visitors encouraged to 'boogie with their brews'.
It'll be an eclectic mix, with 16 acts hitting the high notes at the Happening this year.
They include Aberdeenshire's own 'supergroup' The Broken Creels and perennial crowd-pleaser and folk hero, Ray Moore.
Stonehaven band The Sapiens, the Spiorad Trad Band and Happening favourites Funk Connection will also appear.
And you can also enjoy the Blues Jam Aberdeen House Band, fresh from Aberdeen's iconic Blue Lamp.
If top beers and excellent entertainment were't enough, the Midsummer Beer Happening will also serve up an array of street food too.
Organisers have assembled a line-up of 'some of the finest local purveyors of street food'.
On offer will be fresh woodfired pizza, fish and chips, farm made pies, burgers, Spanish bocadillos (sandwiches) and empanadas, as well as ice cream.
The fish and chips are from the Bay in Stonehaven, while the ice cream also comes from a local source as well – the town's Giulianotti's.
Wark Farm Pies, Smoke and Soul, Hadyns, Picos and The Bay on the Road will be other well-known names serving up treats.
Tickets cost £29 individually for each day, or you can pick up a three-day pass for £45.
As well as entry, all tickets include a commemorative festival glass and one half of festival beer.
Last year, the not-for-profit Midsummer Beer Happening raised £61,000, bringing the total it has raised over the past 15 years for local causes to £375,000.
And this year will be no different, with an array of Stonehaven charities and groups to benefit.
If you fancy a bit of cycling during the weekend, there are four different routes starting and finishing in Baird Park.
The MSBH Sportive has become a 'huge' social day out for many.
It includes six refreshment pit stops along the way – and some free cakes.
Starting in waves from 8am (meeting at 7.30am) on Saturday June 14, tickets cost £40 and includes entry into the festival, a beer and 'sore legs'.
Festival manager Robert Lindsay said: 'The Midsummer Beer Happening in Stonehaven prides itself on creating a vibrant, fun and unforgettable three-day celebration of beer.
'We can't wait to welcome some 6,000 visitors to our marquee in the town's Baird Park.
'We've curated 120 of the finest beers from across the country – with some special guests from Belgium, too, along with an al fresco food court chock full of award-winning street food vendors, plus the cream of north-east musicians ready to provide the soundtrack for the festival.
'All we need now is the people to come along and help make unforgettable memories at the Midsummer Beer Happening in Stonehaven 2025.
'See you in the marquee.'
