GOOD BEERS AND OLD FARTSNov 09: "The same old faces, the same old beards, the same old flatulence," a Camra acquaintance said to a bearded me at another excellent Star Inn Beer Festival, in Lockwood, Huddersfield.
I never fart at beer festivals, not since an incident at the Wakefield Beer Festival a few years back.
I was with a few pals when a terrible stench arose. My friend Rob pointed at me and everyone believed him, including strangers sitting nearby. Everyone blames the fat bloke.
During the rest of the beer festival, every fart in our vicinity was blamed on me. Then a few months later, a smirking Rob confessed he was the culprit. The swine!
Anyway back to the Star Fest. As I always say when I review the Star's dos, they have an amazing selection of beers. Some pubs put 12 beers on and call it festival - The Star had 62 this time and I didn't have a bad one.
I had a few lovely dark, chocolatey beers - Cheddar's Totty Pot, Lytham's Lytham Dark and Cottage's Old Freckled Ken. There was also a chance to try beers from recent award winners Ilkley (Grandmas' Pud, a porter) and Five Towns (Viva Cas Vegas, a tasty copper-coloured one).
Which pub has the best beer festivals? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind (and it's not me) - The Star.
BEER FESTIVAL/SIBA WINNERS 2009Nov 09: Wakefield Camra have kindly released the top 10 most popular beers at their recent festival and I've decided to track down a few other winners of branch festivals this year.It's always interesting to find out if your favourites match up with everyone else's, but while branches are very good at pre-publicity for their beer festivals, it's often a bugger to find out who's won.
YORKSaltaire Triple Chocoholic (does anyone do flavoured beers better? I don't think so - chocolatey without being sickly or too heavy)
WAKEFIELD1 Five Towns Niamh's Nemesis
2 Thornbridge Jaipur
3 Mallinsons Stainborough Castle
4 Bob's Chardonnayle
5 East Coast Bonhomme Richard/Iceni Fine Soft Day
7 Five Towns Ponte Carlo
8 Fat Cat (Norwich, Norfolk) Bitter/Nottingham Rock Ale
10 Mallinsons Emley Moor Mild/Potbelly Captain Pigwash/Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild/Elland Diablo
Funnily enough I've had all the 10th placed ones - all good ones, plus Jaipur (one of the most popular beers at festivals) and Chardonnayle.
SKIPTONDunham Massey's Chocolate Cherry Mild
Another hit at festivals, but one that will never pass my lips after a liqueur incident as a child.
SHEFFIELD1 Thornbridge Gold
2 Bollington White Nancy/Brew Company St Petrus Stout
Thornbridge also won the bitter and strong bitter categories. Leeds Midnight Bell won best porter, Bollington Nights won best mild.
OLDHAM1 Millstone Ye Olde Vic
2 Phoenix Black Bee
3 Green Mill Big Chief
MANCHESTER FOOD AND DRINK FESTIVALJudges: Marble Dobber
Public: Outstanding Stout
LEEDSBoggart Hole Clough's Dark Rum Porter (a good 'un)
Best Mild: Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby
HUDDERSFIELDOverall (and best bitter): Mallinsons Scarlet Pimpernel
Mild: Brass Monkey Tamarin Mild
Strong Ale: Fullers 1845
Porter: Golcar's Guthlacs Porter
Stout: Mallinsons Oatmeal Stout
Speciality Beer: Marble Ginger
Can't fault any of these choices
CHESHIRE BEER OF THE YEARBollington Brewery Best Bitter
BRADFORDChampion beer: East Coast SSB
Mild: Bridestone’s Pennine Dark Mild.
3.5-4%ABV: East Coast SSB.
4.1-4.5%: Naylor’s Star Anise.
4.6-5%: Saltaire Texas Brown.
5%: Thornbridge Kapito.
SOCIETY OF INDEPENDENT BREWERS NORTH OF ENGLAND WINNERS (to compete in 2010 national finals)
Bitter/Pale Ale: Ilkley Brewing Company's Mary Jane
Strong Ale: Acorn Conquest
BEER FESTIVAL IN SIKH LEISURE CENTREAug 09: What do a masonic lodge, an Irish club and a Sikh leisure centre have in common? They have been - or will be - venues for the Huddersfield Beer Festival.This year the festival moves to the Sikh Leisure Centre, on the edge of the town centre, almost midway between The Grove and The Rat.
The festival has become a victim of its own success. It has outgrown its former home, St Patricks, which has become a bit cramped in the past two years.
Let's hope the festival doesn't lose its atmosphere in a bigger, less pubby venue.
And let's hope well-oiled punters don't get mown down on the ring road trying to get to the Rat.
Around 80 different real ales will be on sale, many from local breweries. There's also a cider bar featuring 10 ciders and perries.
Opening times: Thurs October 1 6pm-10.30pm; Fri October 2 noon-11pm; Sat October 3 11am-11pm.
Entrance fee: £1 to CAMRA members; £3 non-membs. No advance tickets.
The centre itself is in Apna Ave, off Prospect St, HD1 2NX
I'm putting in my usual stint behind the bar on the Saturday afternoon/early evening. I'll be the fat one with glasses (sorry, that doesn't narrow it down much). If you fancy being a volunteer behind the bar, contact robert.tomlinson@cht.nhs.uk.
RUDGATE MILD IS BEST BEER IN BRITAINAug 09: Congratulations to Rudgate brewery of York. Their Ruby Mild has been voted Best Beer in Britain at Camra's Great British Beer Festival.It's a nice pint and it's great to see a mild win, but I have to say I don't hold much store in this competition, apart from the national publicity real ale gets.
Some past winners have been very disappointing. I think the winners depend on the judging panel on the day and Camra never make it clear who they are.
Rudgate beat 60 finalists in seven categories. The finalists themselves were whittled down from a year of testing by branch members and in regional competitions.
Yet again (and I say this every year) the south of England dominates among category winners, runners-up, and bronze medallists - with 13 beers. The Midlands had five, north of England four and Scotland and Wales one each.
Are southern beers more lightier and hoppier and more to the judges' taste? Past winners tended to be these sort of beers.
This may be a wild generalisation, of course, because the winner this year is a mild and the runner-up, Oakham's Attila, a barley wine. Third overall was West Berkshire's Dr Hexters Healer - a beer with a 'citrus, orange and marmalade finish', according to the brewer (sounds dreadful, if I wanted fruit I'd have a smoothie).
The top three are all relatively strong too - Rudgate at 4.4 per cent, Attila 7.5 and Hexters 5.
Here are the full results. Good to see Southport's Sandgrounder winning a category and Bank Top finishing second in the mild category - it's better than Rudgate I reckon.
Overall winnersChampion Beer of Britain - Rudgate, Ruby Mild (York, North Yorkshire)
Second - Oakham, Attila (Peterborough, Cambridgeshire)
Third - West Berkshire, Dr Hexter's Healer (Thatcham, Berkshire)
Mild categoryGold - Rudgate, Ruby Mild (York, North Yorkshire)
Silver - Bank Top, Dark Mild (Bolton, Lancashire)
Bronze - Highland, Dark Munro (Birsay, Orkney)
Bitter categoryGold - Surrey Hills, Ranmore Ale (Guildford, Surrey)
Silver - Butcombe, Bitter (Bristol, Avon)
Joint Bronze - Humpty Dumpty, Little Sharpie (Reedham, Norfolk)
Joint Bronze - Triple fff, Alton's Pride (Alton, Hampshire)
Best Bitter categoryGold - Southport, Golden Sands (Southport, Merseyside)
Silver - Buntingford, Britannia (Royston, Hertfordshire)
Joint Bronze - Evan Evans, Cwrw (Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire)
Joint Bronze - Thornbridge, Lord Marples (Bakewell, Derbyshire)
Joint Bronze - Vale, VPA (Brill, Buckinghamshire)
Golden Ale categoryGold - Dark Star, American Pale Ale (Ansty, West Sussex)
Joint Silver - Adnams, Explorer (Southwold, Suffolk)
Joint Silver - St Austell, Proper Job (St Austell, Cornwall)
Strong Bitter categoryGold - West Berkshire, Dr Hexter's Healer (Thatcham, Berkshire)
Silver - Thornbridge, Kipling (Bakewell, Derbyshire)
Bronze - Grain, Tamarind IPA (Harleston, Norfolk)
Speciality Beer categoryGold - Nethergate, Umbel Magna (Pentlow, Essex)
Silver - Wentworth, Bumble Beer (Wentworth, South Yorkshire)
Bronze - Amber, Chocolate Orange Stout (Ripley, Derbyshire)
Winter Beer of Britain winner (announced in January 2009)
Oakham, Attila (Cambridgshire)
Bottled Beer of Britain winners Gold - Titanic, Stout (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire)
Silver - Great Gable, Yewbarrow (Gosforth, Cumbria)
Bronze - White Shield Brewery, White Shield (Coors, Burton-on-Trent)
Camra now has 100,000 members and there are 670 brewers in the UK, more than at any other time since the war.
Let's hope the Tory twats who infest beer mags and blogs ( it's all right to say twat - David 'Dave of the People' Cameron said it) remember that Gordon Brown helped to start the brewing boom by cutting tax to help micro-brewers, but no doubt we'll hear more whingeing about the government raising booze duty (like every government, especially in a recession) and the smoking ban (it was a free vote, blame MPs of all parties).
SOCIETY OF INDEPENDENT BREWERS' BEERS OF THE YEAR 2009April 09: Cairngorm's Black Gold has been crowned supreme champion out of 62 finalists in SIBA's National Beer Competition. Runner-up was Arundel's Sussex Mild, with Oakham's Bishop's Farewell and Castle Rock's Screech Owl joint third.Beers were divided into nine categories with seven regional winners in each.
National category winners: Mild: Arundel's Sussex Mild
Bitter and Pale Ale (up to 4.0%): Yeovil's Star Gazer
Best Bitter (4.1-4.5%): Purity's Mad Goose
Premium (4.6–4.9%): Oakham's Bishop's Farewell
Strong Bitter (5.1-5.5%): Castle Rock's Screech Owl (Ossett's magnificent Excelsior was runner-up)
Strong Ale (over 5.6%): Highland's Orkney Blast
Champion Porters, Strong Milds, Old Ales & Stouts: Cairngorm's Black Gold
Speciality Beers: Dark Star's Espresso (Saltaire's fabulous Hazelnut Coffee Porter was second)
Bottled Beer: Oakleaf's Hole Hearted
Northern results:Champion: Southport Brewery's Golden Sands
2 Prospect Brewery's Nutty Slack
3 Millstone Brewery's True Grit
Mild: Prospect's Nutty Slack
2 Bank Top Brewery's Dark Mild
3 Moorhouses Brewery's Black Cat
Porters, Strong Milds, Old Ales and Stouts: Lancaster Brewery's Lancaster Black
2 Bowland Beer Company's Black Dragon Porter
3 Rudgate Brewery's Ruby Mild
Bitters and Pale Ales: Southport Brewery's Golden Sands
Best Bitters: Kelham Island Brewery's Easy Rider
Premium Bitters: Millstone Brewery's True Grit
Strong Bitters: Ossett's Excelsior
Speciality: Saltaire Brewery's Hazlenut Coffee Porter
MY TICKER SHAME!Feb 09: Yes, I've started jotting down which beers I've drunk - but my friends 'forced' me to it!King Richard of Otley and Raiders of Skipton came up with this 'drink around Britain' scheme shortly before Christmas. The idea is that we try and drink a beer from every county this year. We also choose our favourites every month.
I tend to drink beers which are dark and from the north of England. Owing to time and money constraints I didn't alter my drinking habits in January - I've been disappointed too many times by 'award-winning beers' from down south which are too hoppy and bitter for me.
Also, I've always been averse to ticking - trying beers just to add them to a list rather than for their quality. It means many brewers produce rafts of beers to satisfy the tickers and the good beers get lost because of the huge numbers produced.
Having said all that I did manage to drink beers from nine English counties and one each from Wales and Scotland in January, mainly in the King's Head, Grove and Rat and Ratchet in Huddersfield.
Yorkshire dominated with 11 different beers including old favourites Ossett Excelsior, Saltaire Hazelnut Coffee Porter and Riverhead Sparth Mild. I also wanted to try beers from new breweries Summer Wine from Holmfirth and Brass Monkey from Sowerby Bridge, plus there were two new 'uns from Mallinsons of Lindley available.
Surprisingly, Sussex was second on my list of counties with four different beers. Perhaps it was the northern names that fooled me - Hepworth Old Ale from Horsham and Rother Valley Blues from Rye were among the ones I tried and they were my two favourites in January. Rother Valley Blues was a porter, I think (listen I'm not writing a flaming essay in a pub on a busy Friday!)
To see all three Real Ale Twat strips in readable versions, go here
Real Ale Twats
ILKLEY BEER FESTIVAL 2: THE PIESFeb 09: Another lovely afternoon in Ilkley for the second beer festival in the town. Good selection of ales in good form. My favourites were Dent Aviator and Hesket's Doris's 90th birthday (butterscotchy - the beer not Doris, although she's probably grappled with a Werther's in her time). Hesket are from Newmarket in Cumbria - a new 'un for me. Plenty of staff on as per last year and as it's a Round Table event some of the servers look slightly startled to be part of the service economy! As for the pies I didn't try 'em, although I'm familiar with Lishman's work. But who does their PR? Do we really want to know that much about the black puddings?
WINTER BEER FESTIVAL RESULTS 2009Jan 09: A barley wine is this year's winner of the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester. It's Oakham's Attila, a 7.5 per center. I was on the panel for the old ales and strong milds category and our favourite, Sarah Hughes's Dark Mild, finished third overall with Elland Brewery's excellent 1872 Porter the overall runner-up.Being a judge is an intriguing experience and made me realise my sense of smell isn't up too much. While my fellow panellists - two Camra execs and two brewery chaps from Marble and Isle of Arran - were extolling fruity notes, coffee and smoke, I barely got a whiff of caramel.
We tried seven beers, only knowing they were either ales or milds. Most of us agreed the Sarah Hughes was one of the best, although the last one I tried, an old ale, was my equal favourite with the Sarah Hughes. Unfortunately I couldn't find out what this was.
Stouts and porters were being tried elsewhere in the judging room and our winner and their winners went forward to a final tasting panel, along with Oakham's which had already won a barley wine competition at the Dudley festival in November.
BEERS OF THE YEAR 2008Dec 08: Here's a list I made for the City Life website so it's a bit Manc biased but I think it's a fair reflection of local award winners and a few of my own favourites. My personal favourites would be Ossett Excelsior, any Acorn beers, Empire's Pandemonium Vanilla Porter, Saltaire's Coffee Porter, Mallinsons' Wild Card, Linfit Old Eli/Special and Marble Ginger.Allgates Hung Drawn and Portered A lovely, rich porter from Wigan. This was my favourite at the City Life Food and Drink Festival’s Greater Manchester Beer of the Year.
Bank Top Pavilion Pale Ale The Bolton brewery won the people’s pint award at the City Life Manchester Food and Drink Festival. A pale 4.5 per center.
Dunham Massey Chocolate Cherry Mild Winner of the Bury, Huddersfield and Chelmsford Beer Festivals. I’m afraid I haven’t tried this one as it brings back memories of a chocolate liqueur incident in my youth, but I’ve heard good reports.
Hornbeam Dark Domination The Denton brewery triumphed with this one at the Leeds Beer Festival. It’s a chocolatey 6 per center with dominatrixes on the beerclips. Hornbeam’s Malt Mountain Mild was champion beer at Rugby’s festival.
Linfit The only place to try this brewery’s beers is at a former national CAMRA pub of the year, The Sair Inn, in Linthwaite, near Huddersfield. There were fears for the brewery's future earlier this year, but a new brewer has ensured the quality of tasty malty beers, such as Old Eli and Special, are back and as good as ever. Northern Rail are introducing an hourly service from Victoria to Slaithwaite, 20 minutes’ walk from the pub, on Sundays from December 14, if you fancy an outing.
Marble Ginger The only beer I’ve tasted which tingles on the lips. A light, pale beer full of flavour, it’s ‘gingier’ than Liverpool supersub David Fairclough in a carrot-top love-in with Tori Amos. One of my all time favourites (the beer, not Tori).
Phoenix Wobbly Bob An old reliable which won the Macclesfield Beer Festival this year. A 6 per center that’s sweetish and without the chemical aftertaste of some strong beers . The Heywood brewery’s Spotland Gold was runner-up in the Greater Manchester Beer of the Year.
Pictish Alchemists Ale Winner of the Greater Manchester Beer of the Year. Hoppy, fruity and bitter. Made in Rochdale.
Robinsons Old Tom The strongest of the lot in this selection at 8.5 per cent. Runner-up at the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester. A smoky and, some say, spicy brew just right for cold nights.
Thornbridge Jaipur IPA The brewery’s based near Bakewell, but this hoppy beer is a big hit round these parts. Winner at the Oldham Beer Festival and runner-up at Wigan’s Festival, it’s a deceptively strong 5.9 per center.
YORK BREWERY TAKEOVERDec 08: Mitchell's of Lancaster has bought one of my favourite breweries, York.York was looking for new investors earlier this year so let's hope it won't be one of those takeovers that ends in tears like so many Greene King ones.
Mitchell's will also buy York pubs and the name will continue. No-one will be laid off and Mitchell's hopes to open new pubs, possibly in Leeds, Ilkley and Harrogate.
MALLINSONS GETS REGULAROct 08: Huddersfield brewery Mallinsons has produced its first regular beer, Stadium, and has also unveiled two new specials meaning they've now made 18 different beers since they started brewing six months ago.I haven't managed to try them all, unfortunately, and many of them have sold out, but I've yet to have a bad one. Personally I would prefer a few more regulars than specials because if you try a really a good one it's always sad to find out you'll never drink it again.
But it'a great achievement for a new brewer to produce this number of beers in such a short time and to get them in several pubs and at festivals.
Stadium (3.8%) is described as straw coloured with a clean bitter taste and dry fruity finish.
Three more regulars are promised, including a mild.
The new specials are Sugarloaf and Fawkes, two light beers. The other specials have either sold out or are limited editions.
Mallinsons beers can be found in Huddersfield at The Star, The Grove, The Rat, Kings Head, Green Cross, Lindley Liberal club, The Swan (Crimble) and The Crimea.
Kelham Island and Fat Cat are stocking them in Sheffield and the Crown and Kettle and Smithfield in Manchester.
GREATER MANCHESTER BEER OF THE YEAR
Oct 08: I got my first chance to be a judge at a beer festival but unfortunately the winner - Pictish's Alchemist from Rochdale - was probably my least favourite.It was one of those light beers with a sharp aftertaste that I hate. My own favourite was Allgates Drawn and Quartered, from Wigan, a rich sweet porter.
But there's the rub with judging beer - however objective you're going to be it's very difficult to choose a light bitter beer from a dark sweet one if you prefer the latter.
The judges were divided into two groups who tried a total of 18 beers - nine different ones in each group, with two dark ones in each. We weren't told what they were until after the judging.
The top 12 then went forward to a different judging panel, again divided into two groups, who included Manchester's council leader Richard Leese and eat-all-of-a-pig speccy chef Fergus Henderson.
Phoenix's Spotland Gold was second and Greenfield Black Five third overall.
The event was part of the City Life Manchester Food and Drink Festival which also included a two-day beer festival starring Greater Manchester breweries. Punters voted Bank Top's Pavilion Pale Ale as the winner.
A BETTER CLASS OF GRAFFITI AT THE STARJuly 08: Someone was scrawling this in the Gents during the Star summer festival, in Huddersfield. You get a better class of graffiti and a better class of beer festival at The Star -Hudds Mild pub of the year. Once again, a choice of more than 70 beers, putting many town beer festivals to shame, and some real corkers. Coach House did a special to commemorate the pub cat's imminent motherhood (Tizzi's Tiddlers) with a beer which was like drinking a Quality Street penny toffee. Other highlights for me were Allgates Pussy Galore which was described as slightly spiced but was very smooth to me and Great Heck's Dave "dark and very enjoyable" Spot-on description. As for the grafitti, does crack refer to light through the lavvy window, Leonard Cohen's real ale period, or arses?
CAINS INTO ADMINISTRATION - NOOOOOOH!Aug 08: Bugger! A real ale success story, Cains of Liverpool, has gone into administration.Things have looked ominous in the past couple of weeks with the taxman threatening a winding-up order, then the banks refusing to bail them out. Cains has fantastic beers, some fantastic pubs (100 of them), 1,000 staff, and has become a Liverpool stalwart.
Sudarghara Dusanj took over the running of the company with his brother Ajmail in July 2002 and did a great job but maybe they overreached themselves by buying 92 pubs from Honeycombe in May 2007. A bank loaned 'em most of the money - shame it can't spends relatively small change to bail out a successful company that happens to be bucking the trend and doing something different (a good English lager, raisin beer)
Sudarghara is talking about the company in the past tense but the adminstrators say they've already had interest.
GREAT BRITISH BEER FESTIVAL WINNERS 2008Aug 08: The north of England took six of the 20 medals up for grabs at this year's Great British Beer Festival.Beckstones' Black Dog Freddy (Cumbria) won the mild gold, Rudgate's Ruby Mild (York) took silver. Lees Bitter (Manchester) won silver in the bitter category, Jarrow's Rivet Catcher (Tyne & Wear) getting a joint bronze. Timothy Taylor's Landlord (West Yorkshire) took joint bronze in the best bitter and Wentworth's Bumble Beer (South Yorkshire) won silver in the speciality beer category.
There were 60 finalists in six categories, with gold, silver and bronze for each category, plus the Winter Beer Winner announced in Manchester in January. I've just included the medals won this month.
Alton's Pride brewed by Triple fff Brewery in Hampshire has been judged the best overall by the panel of brewers, beer writers and journalists.
The overall silver went to Black Dog Freddy from Beckstones (Cumbria). Bronze went to CAMRA's current National Winter Beer of Britain winner Station Porter from the Wickar Brewery (Gloucestershire).
CAMRA's Good Beer Guide describes Alton's Pride as, “clean-tasting, golden brown beer, full-bodied for its strength with an aroma of floral hops. An initial malty flavour fades as citrus notes and hoppiness take over, leading to a hoppy, bitter finish.” Never heard of it, I'm afraid, in fact I don't think I've ever been to Hampshire!
Full results:
Mild Category Gold - Beckstones, Black Dog Freddy (Cumbria)
Silver - Rudgate, Ruby Mild (York)
Bronze - Rhymney, Dark (Merthyr Tydfil)
Bitter Category Gold - Triple fff, Alton's Pride (Hampshire)
Silver - Lees, Bitter (Manchester)
Joint Bronze - Jarrow, Rivet Catcher (Tyne & Wear) and Surrey Hills, Ranmore Ale (Surrey)
Best Bitter CategoryGold - Skinner's, Betty Stogs (Cornwall)
Silver - Highland, Scapa Special (Orkney)
Bronze - Cairngorm, Nessies Monster Mash (Highlands) and Timothy Taylor, Landlord (West Yorkshire)
Strong Bitter Category Gold - Thornbridge, Jaipur IPA (Derbyshire)
Silver - Fuller's, ESB (London)
Bronze - Highland, Orkney Blast (Orkney)
Golden Ale CategoryGold - Otley, O1 (Mid Glamorgan)
Silver - Loddon, Ferryman's Gold (Oxfordshire)
Bronze - Skinner's, Cornish Knocker Ale (Cornwall)
Speciality Beer Category Gold - Otley, OGarden (Mid Glamorgan)
Silver - Wentworth, Bumble Beer (South Yorkshire)
Bronze - Nethergate, Umbel Magna (Essex)
Winter Beer of Britain Winner (announced in Jan 2008)Gold - Wickwar, Station Porter
Silver - Robinson's Old Tom (Manchester)
Bronze - Hop Back Entire Stout.
I'm surprised Lees and Landlord figure so highly, but I'm a fan of Otley and Skinner breweries, the mild one and two, and the fabulous Fuller's ESB.
SAIR IT IS ISN'T SO - NO LINFIT BUT SOME MALLINSONSJuly 08: The brewer at the best pub in the world - The Sair Inn in Linthwaite - has departed so there's no Linfit beer at the moment. Hudds Camra reckons a former employee may return to help boss Ron or he could train someone up. Aug 08: Old Eli and Special back on, hurrah! (See Best Pubs for more about The Sair).Meanwhile Huddersfield's newest brewer is former primary school teacher Tara Mallinson, brewer of...Mallinsons, a great name for a brewer it has to be said, reminds me of a butcher's shop or an ironmonger's.
She's based in Lindley and is brewing a few specials before branching out with bottles and four regulars. Wild Card, one of the specials, brewed in time for Wimbledon, is a nice malty brown bitter.
Look out for the forthcoming El Capitan at 4.8 which is pale and lightly hoppy and bitter. Plus Cruel Summer 4.2 also pale, but with a bit more hop bite in the taste.
Mallinsons beers are on sale at The Star, Lockwood, The Grove, The Rat and Kings Head, all in Hudds, and Fat Cat and Kelham Island in Sheffield, among others. Good luck Tara!
HEY-HEY IT'S THE MONKEY CLUBJuly 08: Paid my first visit to the Monkey Club, in Armitage Bridge (Huddersfield Camra's Club of the Year 2008) for Monkeyfest, a splendid beer festival.
Clouds loomed on the Saturday but the rain held off in the afternoon and it was very pleasant sitting in the open surrounded by cottages and trees.
Two local beers stood out for me - Mallinsons' Lindley Loc-Ale (toffeeish) and Empire's Chapman Three Stars (a lightish brew celebrating ex-Town and Arsenal boss Herbert Chapman). It's called the Monkey Club because a sailor used to bring his monkey in here (mmm...that well-known port of Huddersfield)
VIVIAN STANSHALL ADVERTISES RUDDLESJune 08: Hurrah! A TV advert extolling real ale - but the late great Bonzo Dog man is at his most bonkers here.You can imagine the ad firm showing it to Ruddles execs for the first time, followed by deathly silence and the sound of gentle sobbing from the bloke who had the idea for employing Viv as he contemplates his P45.
It has Dawn French in drag, creepy flying teeth and this verse:
Malcolm the Porcupine went to see
If a moon of green cheese would float
He exhaled a spray of 'will you go away'
To the land where the hoppity oats
He brewed humpty of Ruddles
Which he dumpty in puddles
And licked up whenever it snowed
In final conclusion, twas only illusion,
Malcolm Porcupine said 'I'LL BE BLOWED'
Thanks to Richard, King of Otley for this (via YouTube of course).
Ruddles adAnd of course the good old t'inters has a rather wonderful article about the ad by Jonathan Street on the excellent vivarchive site
Ruddles ad articleViv also did more conventional ads for creme eggs and Toshiba.
Pic: BBC
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEEDS (BREWERY)June 08: At last! Something from Leeds that lives up the hype - Leeds Brewery, which celebrated its first birthday on the same day as my birthday (I'm 807 in dog years).There was a buzz about the brewery for months before it opened, because of its location in the new-look Holbeck, and because it was a new brewery in the city.
It has lived up to expectations. Some breweries have concentrated on fancy signs and good distribution deals, but forgotten that good-tasting beers are always the foundation (Hello Copper Dragon), while others produce a different beer a week with daft names which they are forgettable because there are so many.
Leeds Brewery stuck to basics - a bitter (Best), a mild (Midnight Bell) and a pale ale with a handful of seasonal beers and specials.
All are superb - the mild chocolatey, the bitter hoppy and thirst-quenching, and the pale without that chemically taste that blights so many light beers.
The company owners are two York University graduates in their mid twenties, who served their time with York Brewery, and another fella in his twenties who did a masters degree in brewing.
They opened their first pub last month - The Midnight Bell, next to the Cross Keys in Holbeck and very similar in style - exposed brick, light, comfortable with modern furnishings. Not really my sort of place but if it encourages people to try real ale for the first time it's got to be good.
Happy Birthday Leeds!
TIME PLEASE!May 08: There's only 55 beers left, the woman at the door of the Halifax Beer Festival said with a wry smile. Small, but perfectly formed (the festival, not the woman that is), Halifax is one of my favourites, thanks in part to the attractively distressed venue The Square Chapel. I was attractively distressed after quaffing a few halfs of Elland, Beartown and other favourites on a glorious sunny day.
YORKSHIRE GREATS JOIN FORCESMar 08: Two of my favourite brewers - Elland and Mitchell/Eastwood - are joining forces.The brewers describe it as a 'partnership' and an 'amalgamation' on Elland's website although there's no word if there's going to be a new name for the breweries.
Elland's head brewer David Sanders said “Teaming up with Gary Mitchell (head brewer at Mitchell and Eastwood) will not only allow us to share our brewing experience but, more importantly, it will allow Gary and I to create some exciting new brews.”
Elland director Martin Ogley added: "Given the recent increased costs of malt, water, fuel, energy and, in particular a trebling in the price of hops due to a worldwide shortage, it makes sound commercial sense to amalgamate two award-winning breweries under one roof."
Gary, whose brewery is based next to the Barge & Barrel Public House in Elland, said “I am extremely pleased to be joining forces with David Sanders at the Elland Brewery. The more modern and larger brew plant offers me the opportunity to expand my current range of beers alongside the existing Elland Brewery beers and hopefully we will be able to offer all our existing customers an even greater choice of cask conditioned ales.”
The brewers will be combining their talents first off for Elland's 100th brew. I'm a big fan of Elland's dark strong beers in particular and I'm looking forward to their new brews. It's good to hear they'll both survive, however Elland does seem to have a history tangled up with Eastwood.
If I've got his right - Elland was formerly known as Eastwood and Sanders and is now joining forces with Mitchell and Eastwood. Legendary brewer John Eastwood used to be involved in both breweries, I believe, but it's a bit like the People's Front of Judea and the Popular Front!
ILKLEY BEER FESTIVAL
Feb 08: I'd forgotten just how posh Ilkley is. Yummy mummies with 4x4 prams, disapproving pensioners with immaculate swirls of white hair, trendy-specced baldies in rugger shirts with their over-tanned wives, and Prince Harry a-likes with their three-quarter length shorts and flip-flops. Tha latter stuck out like a sore thumb at the first ever Ilkley Beer Festival at the Kings Hall. Shorts and flip-flops. In Yorkshire. In February. The word 'Twat' was never too far away when they passed myself, the lovely P and King Richard of Otley at the festival.
As I've said elsewhere, the venue often makes a festival - Square Chapel, Halifax and Victoria Hall, Saltaire - and the Kings Hall is a grand venue. You can imagine The Good Old Days being staged here with its lovely balconies and alcoves. It instantly puts a smile on your face.
You can tell there's a bit of money about the festival with its huge sponsor banner and the beer tokens - not the usual raffle tickets but beautifully designed and made of cardboard (Cardboard, fancy!). There were also loads of volunteer staff, so many you couldn't see the beers.
The beer selection was excellent with some of my absolute favourite brewers - Acorn, Anglo Dutch, Dent, Elland, Leeds, Marble, Ossett and a rare chance to drink draught Fraoch Heather Ale. A newie for me was Stewart Edinburgh No 3 - a reminder of the glorious dark and malty McEwans 50 Shillings. As usual at beer festivals, the lack of sparklers meant the flat beers weren't as tasty as they would be in pubs, but the beer was in good order.
A brass band came on just as the booze was kicking in - ideal woozy music for getting drunk by, although the ra-ras in the audience didn't show enough appreciation for my liking.
More than 8,000 pints were sold and £15,000 raised for young people's sports facilities. The Round Table organisers are doing it again next year. I'll be there old bean!
Pic: My Flickr site
OH WICKWAR PORTER!Jan 08: A 6.1% porter is this year's Supreme Champion Winter Beer of Britain.Wickwar Station Porter is described in CAMRA's 2008 Good Beer Guide as “A rich, smooth, dark ruby-brown ale. Starts with a roast malt; coffee, chocolate and dark fruit then develops a complex, spicy, bittersweet taste and a long roast finish.”
The Silver award went to Robinson's Old Tom and the Bronze to Hop Back Entire Stout.
I haven't heard of Wickwar but my Gloucestershire snout Mr Quanters is a fan of their Bob beer. Good to see Elland and Acorn in the Porter runners-up spots.
I had a brief visit to the festival yesterday (Jan 18). Wickwar wasn't on but I had a quick slurp of Otley (a Welsh brewer), St Peter's Porter and some Pws Moose (the Welsh brewery Purple Moose, not dark Side of the Moose unfortunately).
Category winners:
Old Ales & Strong Mild Category
Gold - Purple Moose, Dark Side of the Moose (Porthmadog, Gwynedd)
Silver - West Berkshire, Maggs Magnificent Mild (Thatcham, Berkshire)
Bronze - Highland, Dark Munro (Birsay, Orkney)
Stouts
Gold - Hop Back, Entire Stout (Salisbury, Berkshire)
Silver - Spitting Feathers Old Wavertonian (Waverton, Chester)
Bronze - Spire, Sgt. Pepper Stout (Chesterfield, Derbyshire)
Porters
Gold - Wickwar, Station Porter (Wickwar, Gloucestershire)
Silver - E&S Elland, 1872 Porter (Elland, West Yorkshire)
Bronze - Acorn, Old Moor Porter (Barnsley, South Yorkshire)
Barley Wines
Gold - Robinson's Old Tom (Stockport, Cheshire)
Silver - Durham, Benedictus (Bowburn, Co Durham)
Bronze - Mighty Oak, Saxon Song (Maldon, Essex)
ALEING AND DOWNING 2: MORE 2007 REAL ALE EXCURSIONSAfter Halifax, Haworth and Huddersfield in the first half of the year, I've been a bit more adventurous in the second half - sampling ales in Sweden (pictured from Flickr site), trying Britain's strongest ale, watching goth morris dancers at a Horsforth pub, listening to filthy karaoke in Southport, filling up with Fuller's at a special promotion night, getting Christmassy in Skipton, getting grim up north in Sowerby Bridge and going on the Keighley and Worth Valley train (again) for a fantastic beer festival in Oxenhope.Northern Europeans may have a reputation of being beer-quaffing drunks but in
Sweden they are desperately trying to limit what their citizens drink by only allowing stronger beers to be sold in a limited number of places. So in the local supermarkets it's nearly all watery 2-3% lagers, although I did see one solitary Bishop's Finger (by Shepherd's Neame, always worth a double entendre) looking forlorn on the shelves.
Imagine my delight when our hosts arranged a beer tasting session with some darker stronger bottles of ales which the Swedes drink in the run-up to Christmas. There were porters and winter ales with chocolately and stouty tastes such as Oppigards Winter Ale and Nynashamns Mysingen. Falcons Jamma had madeira (dessert wine) in it and tasted like Christmas pudding.
That was in cold and wet December. In July the weather wasn't much better at a beer and bands festival at the
Abbey Inn, Horsforth. A surprisingly (for Leeds) rural pub near the rail line to Shipley. The music wasn't great (bland folk) but the beer was - mainly Old Bear, the Keighley brewery which has come on leaps and bounds since it started and has helped the inn get into the Good Beer Guide this year.
It was also a chance to see goth morris dancers - not, as you'd expect, eye-linered sulkers in long coats, but blokes with ZZ Top beards and women in black frocks perambulatung in a slow and desultory fashion to some minor key accordian playing. Strangely compelling.
Talking of Old Bear, there was a chance to try their new brew and
Britain's strongest beer (unofficially) - the 12.5% Duke of Bronte Full Capstan Strength. This was served in a wine glass at the Scarborough in Leeds and the first surprise was that it was a light beer. The second was it didn't have the slight chemically taste that some strong beers have. Worth a sup as was the Leeds Brewery's ales - a new kid on the block with excellent bitter and mild. The latter is Midnight Bell which won best beer at the Huddersfield Beer Festival where I spent an exhaustinng few hours behind the bar.
A few days before that I was in
Southport where I spent much of childhood. The town now relies heavily on The Guest House for the quality of its ale and as an attractive pub. I popped into some of my old haunts to see what they were like:
The Falstaff looked to be geared mainly for food, had an unadventurous selection of real ales (Black Sheep etc) and was virtually empty.
The Coronation had a Greene King sign outside but no real ale inside and is now just a garish yoof joint.
O'Neills has been reverted to its old name The Hoghton and was closed by 11.30 on Saturday (sigh) - the decor looked horrible and there seemed to be one ale pump.
The Masons, however, was great. Customers and staff were singing along to some Celine Dion-type ballad when I walked in. There was Unicorn and Hartley's on - I'm not a big fan of bland Robinson's brews but the Unicorn was great. I'd forgotten about the wood-panelled snug with roaring fire.
After spending most of the night at the Guesty, supping lovely Cains, it was late drinks at The Ship, a pub which has never recovered from being opened out into one big room a few years ago.
There were three Sam Smith's electric beers - all off - when I was there and some lively karaoke by a leopard-skinned-trousered lady belting out Robbie Williams' Angels and replacing the lyric 'I'm loving Angels instead' with 'Im with this arsehole in bed'.
Like the Masons, most of the regulars looked like the sort of people Clint Eastwood shoots in spaghetti westerns. Good atmosphere though, like the Fox and Goose across the way - once a three-storey Berni Inn it's been a rockers pub for years. We were greeted by the lead singer of a band doing a rocky version of The Proclaimers' 500 Miles while leading a conga around the bar. The beer was slightly more drinkable than normal.
How Southport needs The Grove in Huddersfield where they had a fantastic
Fuller's night. Although London Pride is common up here, it was great to try Discovery, London Porter and especially ESB again. What a good idea for breweries to 'take over' a pub for the night. The pub was packed (on a Wednesday) with sausages and pies laid on and raffles of Fuller's products.
A few miles down the road is
The Riverhead in Marsden, now part of the Ossett empire, although they are still making Riverhead's beers. They've also done up the place - the bar is on the opposite side and upstairs is now a very good restaurant - wholesome food, tastefully presented. It's another triumph for Ossett - the beer has actually improved and The Riverhead needed to serve food as it attracts a lot of hungry walkers and hippy/arty inhabitants
Good beer was to be had at the
Worth Valley Beer and Music Weekend
in October. This is my favourite beer festival of the year, although it's not an official Camra one.
Some beers are sold at Keighley, others on the train to Oxenhope and most are at the engine shed. They moved a train out to accommodate more people and they certainly needed the space - by Saturday night the beer was running out and there was still a day to go!
The trains in the shed create a great atmosphere, there was good blues music and of course the beers - which feature a description of each one on the pumps and barrels - are spot on. Highlights included Dent Aviator, Cornish Knocker Ale by Skinner's and Southport Brewery's Natterjack.
Finally a couple of December days-out. Firstly
Skipton - an attractive market town that looks great at Christmas time and has some lovely looking pubs on the outside which look awful inside with no real ale.
The Cross Keys, for example, is a stunning looking farmhouse cottage building which sells Whitebread Trophy, has horrible striped wallpaper and a pool table dominates the bar when you walk in. The Red Lion is equally awful.
The Narrow Boat - the town's only beer guide pub - is, not surprisingly, doing a roaring trade. Bland Copper Dragon and an absence of dark beers and milds are its only faults. Elsewhere Wetherspooon's Devonshire is a cracking conversion of country-house type hotel in the centre of town. There's enough little rooms and alcoves to get away from the usual Wetherspoon all-day quaffing hardmen at the bar. There's also the Fleece, offering a full range of Timmy Taylor's.
A few days later I was in
Sowerby Bridge, which, by contrast, looks rather bleak at Christmas, with its forlorn bulbs lining the street. But it does, amazingly for a town of this size, have five real ale pubs in the guide, including two of my favourites, The Puzzle Hall, a cosy Taylor's pub down a country lane with friendly cats and dogs, and The Works, a more modern pub on the same lane with about half a dozen real ales on.
I couldn't find The Rushcart, another pub in the guide, but I did find The White Lion after a walk up a steep hill past endless back to backs in foul weather conditions - it really was grim up north. Good pint of Tetley's Mild though.
Camra's best beer of 2007
August 2007: Hobsons Mild from Hobsons Brewery in Shropshire has been judged to be the best beer in Britain by a panel of brewers, beer writers and journalists at the Great British Beer Festival. There were 50 finalists in eight categories.The Silver award went to Mighty Oak brewery in Essex for their Maldon Gold. The Bronze was awarded to Green Jack brewery in Suffolk for Ripper.
CATEGORY WINNERS
Milds Gold Hobsons Mild
Silver Nottingham Rock Mild
Bronze Brain's Dark
Bitters Gold Castle Rock Harvest Pale
Silver Twickenham Crane Sundancer
Joint Bronze Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale & Fyne Piper's Gold
Best Bitters Gold Purple Moose Glaslyn Ale
Silver George Wright Pipe Dream
Joint Bronze Fuller's London Pride & Nethergate Suffolk County & Station House Buzzin'
Strong BittersGold York Centurion's Ghost
Silver Inveralmond Lia Fail
Bronze Brain's SA Gold
Speciality BeersGold Nethergate Umbel Magna
Silver Little Valley Hebden Wheat
Bronze St Peter's Grapefruit
Golden AlesGold Mighty Oak Maldon Gold
Silver Oak Leaf Hole Hearted
Bronze Otley 01
ALEING AND DOWNING - REAL ALE EXCURSIONS 2007
June 07: Three beer festivals, two old haunts, trips to Halifax and a train which sells beer - these are a few of my favourite things.Just like last year, the festival at the
West Riding Refreshment Rooms in Dewsbury was blessed with glorious sunshine. My head looked like a boiled sweet after being sat at a table without an umbrella.
As I wrote last year they've made a lovely job of the outdoor extension and this year they've added decking (that's right - decking in Dewsbury. Take that fancy dans in that there London).
The festival was entitled Beer, Bangers and Blues and the languid blues tunes were ideal for the lazying weather. The only band I saw was the Gillroyd Parade - featuring a chap I knew from a former job. Shamefully I called him the wrong name and he knew my Christian and surnames - doh!
Rob (for that was he, not Guy as I thought) is a tech-y and banished all my prejudices about musical techies (they only play Apples and press about three buttons during a gig because it's all been pre-programmed) by having a lovely crooning voice to tunes such as Goodnight Irene (I think), Folding Money and that Leadbelly song that Nirvana did (How Do You Sleep at Night?).
Here's their MySpace site
http://www.myspace.com/thegillroydparade . I think they're named after a street in Morley
The festival was heaving by four on a Saturday but I did manage to try Springhead Liberty, Orkney Dark Island, Oakham Bishops' Farwell and some sausages flavoured with Tabatha the Knackered beer (mmm!).
A week before that festival I met the Southport crew for a real ale birthday excursion for my pals John and Al in and around
Keighley.
Starting in The Corn Dolly in Bradford at 11.30am we had a beer on the Keighley and Worth Valley train (Salamander I think) and quaffed Taylors at the Fleece in Haworth and the Boltmakers in Keighley, where regulars were amazed that people from Southport were visiting Keighley.
As for the train, it's £9 return to stand on a packed carriage for a 50-minute round trip. If it was a modern service there'd be a lot of grumbling but there's something magical ambling through fields in a steam train with all the volunteers in their fancy uniforms. It does seem like going in time and you half expect to see Bernard Cribbins shouting: "Oakworth, O-oakworth!"
Yet again I took a wrong turning from Haworth station in an attempt to find the rest of the village and ended up going up the wrong hill to be met by the eerie abandoned Bronte cinema. Everyone congratulated me on my brillaint sense of direction and said how much they enjoyed going up two steep cobbled hills instead of one.
We finished in Fanny's Ale House in Saltaire, a UN World Heritage site like the Taj Mahal (that's Saltaire not Fanny's, although the pub should be!).
A splendid excursion and all the trains were on time!
Earlier in May I went to the Square Chapel in Halifax for
Mayfest.
No matter how good the beers are, a festival depends on a good venue - Wakefield's has never been the same since they moved out of the sumptuous town hall and into an underground gymnasium. The chapel in Halifax is a lovely building - high, ornate ceilings and pillars in the walls. Built in 1772 it was almost demolished in the 80s.
It's also a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon - Guardian, pint, comfy chair - bliss. The beer range was relatively small, but good, with plenty of familiar names - Cains Bitter, Arran Blonde - and a few I hadn't tried such as Dorset Durdle Door and Gorton Chocolate Frog.
I've been visiting Halifax regularly recently now my mate Derek's returned from his world travels. The
Three Pigeons is always a port of call - a multi-room Ossett beer pub with splendid art deco trimmings - and the
Pump Room nearby - new owners but beer quality just as good, and they're still one of the few pubs to favour rugby over football.
I think Derek was at the
Star Inn beer festival in Lockwood, Huddersfield, at the end of March.
They could put many official town beer festivals to shame with the range of beers they put on - I think here were 60 or 70 on - the highlights for me included Coach House's Caramely Mild (just like it says on the tin), Goose Eye Mild, Summer Wine (new brewery in Holmfirth, can't remember beer name), Northern's Mighty Crowded, Allendale Wolf and Falstaff's Norman Wisdom - although when I started drinking this I inadvertedly spilled beer over the head of a stern faced man with a fob watch and round glasses then started laughing in his face and shouting: 'Mr Grimsdale, Mr Grimsdale.'
Elsewhere in Hudds I've mainly been supping in
The Grove and the
The Rat and Ratchet. The Rat has deservedly won Hudds pub of the year - it's a handsome, lively pub with a good range of northern guests backing up excellently kept Ossett ales. The Grove is a rather more sedate place with a greater range of beers although there's too many light, headless southern ones for my taste.
Picture of my veiny hand - the lovely P
WHAT TO DRINK ON CHRISTMAS DAY
Dec 2006: Here's Camra's advice for appropriate beers for various meals - although after drinking and eating all this lot, you'll be probably ready to blow like Mr Creosote ("a wafer-thin mint sir?")BREAKFAST: Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs
TRY: An English style wheat beer
WHY: The beer will complement the delicate flavour of the fish, but is not too hoppy as to overwhelm it.
RECOMMENDED: Meantime Wheat Grand Cru (Contact brewery for stockists) or O'Hanlon's Double Champion Wheat. (Available at Booths, Thresher and Majestic).
DINNER: For an Aperitif, try fruit beer such as Meantime Raspberry Grand Cru.
(Contact brewery for stockists).
STARTER: Vegetable Soup
TRY: A pale bitter.
WHY: The gentle perfume flavours of the beer will complement the taste of the vegetables and leave a pleasant hoppy aftertaste.
RECOMMENDED: Coniston Bluebird Bitter. (Available at Asda, Booths, Co-op, Sainsbury's, Waitrose)
MAIN COURSE: Turkey
TRY: Malty Ales
WHY: The bittersweet malt will bring out the subtler tastes of the turkey without overpowering the flavours in the vegetables and trimmings.
RECOMMENDED: Fuller's 1845 - picture from Fuller's website. (Available at Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose).
VEGETARIAN: Nut Loaf
TRY: A Malty Ale suitable for vegetarians
WHY: The spicy, smoky flavours of the malt will complement the nuttiness of the dish.
RECOMMENDED: Black Isle Organic Scotch Ale (Suitable for vegans. Contact the brewery for stockists).
DESSERT: Christmas Pudding or mince pies.
TRY: A dark stout or porter
WHY: The roast coffee and chocolate flavours in dark stout or porter are a perfect match with sweet desserts (including the after dinner chocolate mint).
RECOMMENDED: Titanic Stout. (Available at Sainsbury's).
As a digestive try a barley wine such as the 2006 Champion Winter Beer of Britain, A over T by Hog's Back Brewery.(Available at Harrods).
STAR QUALITY
July 2006: Doh! Even though the Star Inn beer festival was on my website, I forgot about it until I was in the pub on July 7.The Star, in Lockwood, is one of Huddersfield's best pubs and doesn't just add a couple of extra beers at the bar, they erect a whacking great marquee at the back. I thought they'd be serving 20 beers, or even 30, but they were serving SEVENTY!
And they were selling parkin - ginger food of the gods! Real ale AND parkin, did I die and go to heaven in a big white marquee? (There was also cheese - boo!)
In a Norman Wisdom-esque entrance to the big tent I dropped my glass, but fortunately I was allowed another one for free and quaffed two or three excellent dark ales.
More info/pic: www.thestarinn
THE WORLD SUP - IN DEWSBURYJune 2006: Can there anything be better than lazing on a Saturday afternoon - in Dewsbury?The West Riding Refreshment Rooms, in Dewsbury train station, held its annual beer festival from June 1-4 and named it The World Sup in honour of some minor association football tournament.
Part of the car park at the side of the pub has been sectioned off, a fence erected and most of the area is covered, plus there's a little stage at the end.
It doesn't sound much but with a glorious day and 26 quaffable ales it was very relaxing, plus some spirited versions of Oasis/Small Faces songs by a couple of well-oiled fellas.
The Red Lion Chardonale was beer of the festival.
Tribute to great Yorkshire painter Peter Brook
Never mind nasty RoboMonkhouse Jimmy Carr or nicey-nicey Michael McIntyre, Daniel Kitson is a true comedy great
Rugby league pubs - never mind football oafs, here's the Dusty Miller (plus Sky fixtures)
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