NO Place was the place to be at the weekend for anyone with a taste for real ale.
The 11th Beamish Mary Inn Beer Festival attracted drinkers from across the globe to the village in north-west Durham.
Customers sampling the 31 ales on offer at the former Pub of the Year included two travellers from the outskirts of Los Angeles, US.
A North-East exile chose the weekend of the festival to travel home, with a friend, from Pasadena, California.
Landlord Graham Ford said the festival seemed to grow in popularity each year.
"It has been like Christmas and New Year rolled into one all weekend," he said yesterday.
Mr Ford said five brews were vying for the most popular beer of the festival award, judging by sales.
These included the strongest ale on offer, Blackout, from the Big Lamp brewery on Tyneside, which, at 11 per cent alcohol by gravity, came with a skull and crossbones warning on the festival programme
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