DANCERS from Germany, a live ram and more than 100 types of beer will all feature in Derby's annual beer festival.

The theme for this year's event is "a dictionary of drink", to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of Dr Samuel Johnson, who wrote the Dictionary of the English Language in 1755.

The official opening ceremony for the 32nd Camra City Charter Beer Festival, organised by the Campaign for Real Ale, will take place in Derby Market Place on Wednesday, while the festival will be held in the Assembly Rooms.

At the opening ceremony, Derby's Beer King, Les Baynton, will join the beer king from Derby's twin city, Osnabruck, and the Mayor of Derby, Councillor Sean Marshall.

Mr Baynton said he expected that the five-day event would be more popular than ever.

He said: "Numbers at our winter festival in Derby last year were up. So we expect more than 10,000 people to come through the doors during this event.

"People may be more hard up but a bad time economically means people are more ready to come out and have a good time – and we can definitely show them that."

At the opening ceremony and during the festival there will be live performances from Grün-Weisse-Garde, a carnival dance group of 16 girls from Osnabruck.

Mr Baynton will be wearing a regal cloak and crown, sponsored by Derby City Council and designed by students from the University of Derby, at the opening ceremony.

The mascot for the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters regiment – a ram called Private Derby – will also be making a guest appearance at the opening event.

It will be the first time the 29th Private Derby has attended the festival, after becoming the regimental mascot in January. His predecessor died in September last year of natural causes.

Mr Baynton said: "Sadly, that particular animal died not long after last year's festival, though it wasn't the ale that did it.

"So this year we have a new ram, ready to enjoy the atmosphere."

Four beers have been brewed specially for the event, all of which tie in to the life of Dr Johnson, who spent time in Ashbourne, drinking in the Green Man pub, which still exists on St John Street.

Mr Baynton said: "We have also got top beer writers coming along to the event, along with bands like Limehouse Lizzy, The Wam Bam Band and the Jake and Elwood Blues Brothers Tribute.

"The beers will be excellent but there is wine, too.

"We have one beer this year called Buffy's 9X, which will be the strongest beer on show at 9% volume – quite potent."

The festival will run until July 12.