The Northern Lights Beer Festival returns to the Aberdeen Music Hall in April 2026. Early ticket sales suggest the craft beer event is set to be even bigger than the sold out 2025 debut. If you're a craft beer enthusiast looking to visit the best beer festivals in the UK, this is one you won't want to miss.
A New Name for The Aberdeen Beer Festival
Let’s start with change. The Aberdeen Beer Festival is now the Northern Lights Beer Festival. This new name celebrates the quality, creativity, and community that makes the UK craft beer scene shine. The venue, the vibe, and the commitment to bringing world class breweries to Aberdeen remains the same. We're just raising our flag a little higher.
Building on a Successful Craft Beer Festival
The first Northern Lights Beer Festival wasn't just about sampling craft beers. It was about bringing the wider UK craft beer community to Aberdeen, showcasing what's possible when quality independent breweries gather in one place, and creating an event that felt genuinely special for everyone involved.
The mix of established UK craft breweries, local businesses, and over 1300 attendees created an atmosphere that people loved.
2026 Craft Beer Festival Lineup: 12 World-Class UK Breweries Confirmed
We're delighted to announce that we've confirmed 12 world class independent breweries for April 2026. The brewery lineup includes some of the most exciting names in UK craft beer:
| Brewery | Location | Speciality |
| Northern Monk | Leeds | Known for hop-forward ales, particularly hazy pale ales and New England IPAs. They are also recognised for creative and experimental stouts. |
| Rivington Brewing Co | Lancashire | Specialises in hop-forward pale ales, IPAs, and double IPAs. |
| Tartarus | Leeds | Produces strong, European-style beers, with a focus on high-ABV and experimental brews. Especially noted for rich imperial stouts, decadent porters, and hop-forward IPAs. |
| Cloudwater Brew Co | Manchester | Best known for hop-forward IPAs and pale ales, with particular renown for New England IPAs and double IPAs. |
| Elusive Brewing | Berkshire | While brewing a wide range of styles, West Coast IPAs are their most recognised specialty. |
| Beak Brewery | East Sussex | Produces hop-forward ales, particularly IPAs and pale ales, often focusing on soft, hazy, and juicy profiles. Also offers a diverse range of other styles. |
| Bullhouse Brewing Co | Belfast | Juicy, soft, and flavourful New England IPAs, hazy IPAs, and juicy pale ales are regarded as their signature styles. |
| Siren Craft Brew | Berkshire | Renowned for producing a diverse range, including barrel-aged beers and sours. However, IPAs, pale ales, and stouts are the standout styles. |
| Holy Goat | Dundee | Specialises in mixed-fermentation and wood-aged beers, resulting in complex, full-flavoured sour beers. |
| Emperor's Brewery | Leicestershire | Produces high-ABV, decadent imperial stouts and imperial porters. Often leans into pastry stouts and barrel-aging. |
| Attic Brew Co | Birmingham | Hop-forward pale ales and IPAs lead a broad range of other beer styles. |
| Lost Cause Brewing Co | Castleford | Offers a variety of modern beers, but is best known for hop-forward styles, particularly New England IPAs, other IPA variations, and pale ales. |
We’re bringing the best of UK independent brewing to Scotland's north east.
Each brewery has been announced on our social channels over a number of weeks (you saw that because you follow us on Instagram and Facebook right?).
Even with a 20%+ increase in available tickets this year, sales are already tracking ahead of where they were at the same point last year.
The Northern Lights Beer Festival is becoming an established date in the calendar for craft beer breweries and enthusiasts across the U.K.
Why This Craft Beer Event Matters
Aberdeen has a thriving beer culture, supportive venues like the Music Hall, and people who genuinely appreciate quality independent beers. The Northern Lights Beer Festival gives craft beer lovers access to breweries they might not normally get to try, all in one place, all on one day. Face to face.
For the craft breweries who attend, it's a chance to introduce their beers to a new audience in Scotland's north east. And for everyone who attends, it's simply a day of good beers and good times with good people.
Beer Festival Tickets: Book Early for the 2026 Northern Lights Beer Event
The 2026 craft beer festival builds on everything that worked in 2025. The quality, the variety, the atmosphere. While growing in scale, reputation and ambition. 2026 is going to be huge.
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