IT IS not often that you are given the chance to drink a pub dry – but that is exactly what this Hampshire bar is hoping punters will do.

The Overdraft Craft Ale Bar in Shirley is hosting a festival celebrating the huge variety of Hampshire beers on offer.

The bar will be exclusively offering real ales brewed in the county and said they will keep replenishing the bar and serving the craft beers until the tank is dry.

Ales including Black IPA from the Dancing Man Brewery in Bugle Street, Southampton, the multiple award winning Oat and Coffee Stout from Lymington’s Vibrant Forest Brewery and Strata Sour from Red Cat Brewery in Winchester will all be on offer.

Punters will also have the chance to taste Goodens Gold from Flowerpots of Cheriton and Triple FFF of Alton, both named as CAMRA champion beers of Britain and Shaft from Bowman Ales of Droxford.

Overdraft, in Shirley Road, is expecting more than 600 people at their first festival, a biannual three-day event launching at 3pm today, featuring music with DJ Nocturnal and DJ Justin Pollard.

Starting today (Fri June 24) the pub will have eight casks and eight kegs of the finest Hampshire brews and will be selling them all through the weekend and into next week.

Mikh Rai, who co-owns the pub with his dad Amrik, said the inaugural beer festival was a chance to showcase the best ales in the county.

He said: “We start on Friday and we will keep replacing the kegs with the best beers in Hampshire all weekend and possibly beyond. We will just keep going until the beers run out and we have got a lot of beers. The real ale and craft beer scene in Southampton and Hampshire in the last year has become really, really good.

“A lot of really exciting breweries are coming up and this is just a celebration of Hampshire beer.”

For more information and opening times throughout the weekend go to facebook.com/overdraftcraftale.