Festival-goers will be able to watch this year's horses speeding across the line while drinking the 'world’s most expensive' Guinness.
The beverage will set you back £20-a-pint and has been launched by online bookmaker, Fitzdares. The tipple, which is billed as the 'perfect blend' of English sparkling wine and Irish stout' will be on sale throughout Cheltenham Festival, which starts today.
Called Club Black Velvet, the drink could be the most expensive ale ever served at a racecourse. It will be available in Fitzdares Club at the racecourse and its sister venues in the Cotswolds and London’s Belgravia throughout the race meeting, reports Daily Star.
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The drink has been launched to toast the Government’s post-Brexit Northern Ireland trade deal with the European Union. The bookmaker’s chief executive officer William Woodhams said: "Every year there is more and more controversy around the cost of Guinness at the Cheltenham Festival and frankly we were bored of it.
"So, to gently rib the complainers and celebrate recent political manoeuvres we have created the world’s most expensive - and finest - pint of the black stuff with a mix of premium English sparkling wine and Guinness brewed in Dublin.
"Isn’t it the perfect way to celebrate free trade between our two great nations and the Windsor protocol? The Irish visitors to Cheltenham can afford it with their strong currency. Yours for £20."
Ordinary pints of Guinness will cost £7.50 at the course. Thirsty punters are expected to sup up to 300,000 during the festival.
A self-service pull-your-own-pint bar has been brought in to cut queues. More than 20,000 Irish racing fans are expected to jet over for the bash which is expecting total crowds of around 274,000.
The four-day racing spectacular is a huge event in the South West and there are some pretty weighty numbers when the Festival is broken down into statistics.
Festival food and drink
Around 12,000 people each day will sit down to three or four course lunches in the various restaurants and hospitality areas, while racegoers will consume an estimated:
- 45,000 bread rolls
- 45,000 afternoon teas
- 8,000 gallons of tea and coffee
- Nine tons of potatoes
- Five tons of smoked and fresh salmon
- Five tons of cheese
Festival attendance
The Cheltenham Festival in 2022 saw a record attendance of 280,627 across the four days.
- Tuesday: 68,567
- Wednesday: 64,431
- Thursday: 73,754
- Friday: 73,875
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