Fierce Beer was the official beer of NUART Aberdeen 2026. The festival beer carried the name of this year's theme, Poetry Is In The Streets, and it poured across select Aberdeen venues throughout what became one of the most talked-about editions of the festival in years. Cans are still available online now, and they are already worth keeping.

What is NUART Aberdeen and why does it matter?

NUART Aberdeen has a reputation that reaches well beyond Scotland. The festival has been named among the best street art festivals in the world by the Financial Times and hailed as a cultural highlight by The Independent. It is recognised as one of the top six street art festivals in the world, combining large-scale murals with intimate, thought-provoking pieces. Since launching in 2017, Nuart Aberdeen has grown into a major highlight of Aberdeen's cultural calendar, attracting a global lineup of artists who bring murals, paste-ups, stencils, installations and hidden gems to the Granite City. (VisitAberdeenshire, Aberdeen Inspired)

The 2026 edition ran from 22 to 26 April and brought something genuinely new to Aberdeen's streets.

What made NUART Aberdeen 2026 different?

This year, NUART did something no street art festival had done before. Curated by Martyn Reed, the 2026 edition was the world's first poetry and text-based street art festival. The theme was drawn from a phrase sprayed on the walls of Paris during the 1968 student uprisings. The original phrase, La poésie est dans la rue, or "Poetry is in the Streets", inspired the genesis of this year's poetry and text-based NUART. (NUART Aberdeen 2026 official site, The Scotsman)

Under the theme, the 2026 edition moved away from the dominance of large-scale murals, with text, language and small-scale interventions taking centre stage, reflecting a return to some of the core principles of street art culture. Thirteen artists transformed walls and spaces across the city, with works appearing from Aberdeen artists and internationally recognised names alike. (Inspiring City, StreetArtNews)

The festival left its mark on people who were there. Independent street art writer Giulia Blocal, reviewing the festival for BLocal, described a moment during a tour led by walking artist Alisa Oleva, noting that an older woman stopped to read one of the lines by festival artist The Writing is on the Wall, then told the artist: "you really touched my heart with that." (BLocal)

Why did Fierce Beer make the official NUART beer?

Fierce Beer is Aberdeen's brewery. Working with Aberdeen Inspired and NUART themselves, Fierce created Poetry Is In The Streets to sit at the heart of the festival. The beer poured across select Aberdeen venues throughout the week, and for anyone who was there, it was part of what made the experience feel complete.

Larder Magazine covered the collaboration, reporting that Aberdeen Inspired commented: "We're delighted to have Fierce's support and passion helping put Nuart in front of beer fans everywhere. Their enthusiasm underlines just how embedded Nuart has become in the fabric of the Granite City." (Larder Magazine)

NUART founder and curator Martyn Reed put it differently. He inscribed one of the cans with a line of his own: "The magic of drink, like art, is that it has the power to turn our pain into poetry."

What does Poetry Is In The Streets taste like?

Poetry Is In The Streets is a Hazy IPA brewed with Galaxy, Mosaic and Citra hops. The aroma is ripe mango, guava and lime peel. The flavour is juicy, bittersweet and fruity, soft on the palate with a clean tropical finish that does not linger into harshness.

At 5.0% ABV, Poetry Is In The Streets sits right in the range where a hazy IPA should: present enough to be interesting, easy enough to drink across an afternoon spent moving between festival walls. Galaxy brings the mango and stone fruit. Mosaic adds complexity and depth. Citra cuts through with citrus sharpness and that distinctive lime peel note. Together they make a beer that is relaxed, well-made and genuinely enjoyable.

This is not a novelty collaboration beer. It is a proper Fierce hazy IPA with a label that means something.

Can you still buy Poetry Is In The Streets?

Yes. Cans of Poetry Is In The Streets are available now at fiercebeer.com.

These are limited edition. NUART 2026 has been and gone, and this was the official festival beer for what has been widely described as one of the most significant editions in the festival's history: the world's first poetry and text-based street art festival. The cans carry that. The artwork is NUART 2026. The blank wall printed on each can, left deliberately empty for drinkers to fill with their own mark, is a direct expression of the festival's invitation to everyone: you do not need a fine art degree, a cherry picker or a wall the size of a building. You just need something to say.

Hold on to them. A limited-edition can from a landmark cultural moment does not get less interesting with time.

Where was Poetry Is In The Streets available during the festival?

The beer poured at Fierce Bar on Exchequer Row in Aberdeen and at Fierce Beer's Edinburgh venue on Rose Street. Local stockists during the festival included Westhill Service Station and Inverurie Whisky Shop. Online orders are still available now via fiercebeer.com.

NUART Aberdeen 2026 is done. The walls remain, but the week itself is gone. What is left is the beer, and Poetry Is In The Streets is worth drinking for its own sake: a proper Fierce hazy IPA loaded with ripe mango, guava, lime peel and a bittersweet tropical finish. Order a can, crack it open, and let the festival live on in the glass.