Beer of the festival was Bazen's Liberty Aleⁱ and most people agreed with me. Unfortunately it was a one off specialy for the festival.

It was quite possibly the best beer I've had so far this year - including my trip to Prague.

West Coast IPAⁱ

from the Phoenix brewery near Manchesterⁱ was excellent - also tried it again at the Soton Beer Fest. I'm guessing it's the American hops that do it for me.

Welsh Dark Mild from Hydes, but then everything Hydes do is good.
Manchester IPA from Three Rivers brewery in Stocky was what I expect a decent bitter to be. Not sure I'd call it an IPA though.