Beer around ere issue 175

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Issue 175 | Feb / March 2014

See page 11 >

Also inside:

Pub of the Year 2014 • Pub News Star Brewing • Scarborough Pubs CAMRA Young Members & much more Peterborough & District Branch of CAMRA | www.peterborough-camra.org.uk

Chairman’s Corner | 3

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Chairman’s Corner

e can look forward to 2014 with some optimism, due to actions being under taken by our ruling masters, which should be of some benefit to our pubs.

I start with the decision made by the Chancellor to pledge more would be done to help small businesses that pay high business rates.

George Osbourne acknowledged that these smaller businesses such as pubs, high street shops and cafes have been hit hard by the recession and also admitted that previous efforts had not made an impact on easing their plight. He announced a discount for the next two years for all retail premises with a rateable value of up to £50,000 and a cap on business rates. He also extended the current small business rate relief provision until April 2015. We can only hope his commitment to helping the pub sector is reinforced by freezing beer duty in his forthcoming budget. Remember he was the one who scrapped the damaging Beer Duty Escalator last year.

Continuing with the “help our pubs” theme, we are intensifying our action to support and secure the reform of the large pubcos beer tie. CAMRA members have been lobbying their MPs to convince Business Minister, Vince Cable that reforms are desperately needed if we are to have a thriving pub sector. After years of broken promises by the pubcos to reform their pub stock and offer their licensees a fairer deal, it’s a golden opportunity for the government to act. All the licensees want is a chance to compete on a level playing field with other non-tied houses. It’s a fact that we have lost many of our pubs, and many a livelihood, because of the unfair practices imposed by the pubcos.

We extend a warm welcome to four of our members who have taken up the vacant positions

on the Branch Committee. Our new Membership Secretary is Bob Melville who takes over from Steve Saldana. Steve decided to step down due to his growing commitment to his Bexar County Brewery. Our new Press & Publicity man is Mike Blakesley a ‘new kid on the block’. Changes in his life meant previous post holder Karl Simpson had to step down. Dave McLennan has taken over from John Rice as our Locale Officer. Dave has some experience in the licenced trade being an ex-licensee of one of the city’s most popular pubs.

We hope that John Rice’s current health problems improve over the next few months. Finally, possibly the most challenging position, that of Young Members Co-ordinator, has been taken on

by Kara Williams. Kara joins a family member who has been involved in the branch for many years, namely her Dad, Steve. I hope that all of you will give the utmost support to these people.

To date we have received six or seven nominations for our Gold/ Merit award scheme. We are going to be busy this year presenting them! Also this year the Peterborough & District Branch are celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the formation of the branch. We hope to hold a celebratory social gathering later in the year.

Finally a big thank you to our members who made the effort to vote for our POTY (Pub of the Year) and GBG (Good Beer Guide) nominations.

We received the highest number of votes for several years, which resulted in a very close contest.

Congratulations to The Ploughman in Werrington for coming out as POTY, with The Ostrich as a close runner up. The other three pubs all had a similar number of votes for third place. These were, The Ship in March, The Crown and The Dragon both of which are in Peterborough. All of these pubs get automatic consideration for the 2015 GBG. We shall be making the presentation to The Ploughman on Saturday 15th of February at 8pm. So if you forget to give your loved one a Valentine card the day before, get over to Werrington and join us in celebrating the pub’s success.

That’s it for now folks

David Murray Branch Chairman.

Peterborough Branch Website |www.real-ale.org.uk

Pub News Around ‘Ere Simmo ploughs through the POTY This year’s POTY (Pub of The Year), The Ploughman in Werrington, Peterborough has achieved something of a first. It is only three years ago that we were presenting the award to the pub as our 2011 POTY. In a closely fought competition and with the best returns in votes for several years, The Ploughman came out top after the third count. The pub with the least number of votes is eliminated and the second choice (if there is one) on those voting forms are accredited to the leading pubs. This continues until one pub has reached the minimum of 50% of the votes and is declared the winner. Licensee of the pub Andy Simmonds also had his brother Stuart of The Dragon, Werrington, as a rival and so it was going to be an interesting contest. Ironically Andy can thank all the supporters of The Dragon as well as his own fans for reaching the winning post. Our congratulations go to Andy and his team of loyal staff and of course his supporters. We shall be presenting the award at a grand ceremony on Saturday 15th of February around 8pm. Come and give your support!

Whittlesey Straw Bear

With the festivities of Christmas and New Year behind us it is back to normality for the pub trade. That is however, unless you were in the Market Town of Whittlesey in January! Yes it was one of my favourite times of the year, The Straw Bear Festival. www.real-ale.org.uk

For those of you who don’t know what it’s all about here is a little bit of info on the event.

“The Straw Bear Festival celebrates the old Fenland plough custom of parading straw bears around the town every January.

The custom was revived in 1980 by the Whittlesea Society, and for the first time in seventy years a ‘Straw Bear’ was seen on the streets accompanied by his attendant keeper, musicians and dancers, about 30 in all. Various public houses were visited around the town as convenient places for the ‘Bear’ and dancers to perform in front of an audience - with much needed refreshment available!

The Bear is constructed in a more practical way now, the straw being fixed to a suitable garment, the head supported on a metal frame on the shoulders. This arrangement allows the costume to be removable which is essential as the length of the processional route and the time taken necessitates two persons ‘driving the bear’. The person donning the costume is adding something like 5 stone to his own weight.

The procession now contains over 250 dancers, musicians and performers from various parts of the British Isles performing traditional ‘Molly’, ‘Morris’, ‘Clog’ and ‘Sword’ dancing. There is also American style ‘Appalachian’ dancing, street performances and Mummers plays. A decorated plough is pulled by 21st century plough boys and is now an established part of the procession.

In 1999 the Straw Bear made friends with a German Straw Bear from Walldürn near Frankfurt, a town that celebrates its own Straw Bear Festival on the Monday before Shrove Tuesday. Although the festivities begin earlier in the week, the Saturday is the only day on which the ‘Bear’ makes an appearance before the ‘Bear Burning’ on the Sunday. This leaves the way open for a new bear to be created from the next season’s harvest.”

Pub News | 5

So if you missed the Straw Bear festival this year or have never been make sure you look out for next year’s event.

Please let me know if you have any pub news to go in the April / May issue by mid March.

Neil Holmes - Pubs Officer Three Breweries produced special Straw Bear Beer for the festival, these were Oakham, Elgoods and Tydd Steam. Now most of the pubs celebrate Straw Bear by having extra real ales on offer.

A number of the pubs have stillages of beers. I am proud to say I volunteer to work on the Real Ale Bar at the Letter B. This year we had a LocAle beer fest with 12 different beers from brewers including Elgoods, Tydd Steam, Mile Tree, Digfield, Austendyke, Xtreme Ales and Bexar County.

The LocAle Bar at The Letter B

A great selection from our Local Brewers which sold out just after 6pm. Some good news for Whittlesey is that the Bricklayers Arms reopened at the beginning of January with Greene King IPA, Charles Wells Bombardier and beers from The Star Brewery. Over the Straw Bear Festival they had an Elgood’s stillage with four beers available.

The Straw Bear pub also had a Beer Festival on over the same weekend.

There is some sad news though as the Black Bull Inn on the High Street closed the week before Straw Bear and doesn’t look like reopening any time soon.

New Pub in Oakham

A pub formerly known as The Griff Inn free house, Northgate, Oakham, re- opened in December 2013 as The Three Crowns.

The new owners are The Steamin’ Billy Brewery and this is their 8th Pub. Their beers were originally brewed by Leatherbritches Brewery from 1998 until 2000, but demand outgrew capacity and brewing was moved to The Grainstore in Oakham. It then moved to the Tower Brewery in Burton from 2008 to 2010 then back to The Grainstore until March 2013. Beers are now brewed by Colin Brown at The Belvoir Brewery in Old Dalby, Belvoir.

During my visit I got a warm welcome from Jeannine Petty and Jeff Fraine and their staff.

They had a healthy six guest beers and three Steamin Billy regulars: Tipsy Fisherman, Steamin Billy Bitter and the increasingly popular 1485.

They serve simple lunchtime cobs and traditional Ploughmans every day. Live lunchtime Jazz will feature soon and they welcome clubs and societies to use The Three Crowns for meetings. They also have a dart board and a super little garden for summer. Well worth a visit.

Mike Blakesley (Press Officer Peterborough CAMRA) Peterborough Branch Website |www.real-ale.org.uk

“Pubs and the Economy” campaign launched to tackle January lull 6 | Campaigning News

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AMRA has launched their national “Pubs and the Economy” campaign which aims to promote the benefits of pubs to the British economy and encourage more people to use their local during January, which can often be a quiet period for the industry.

The pub industry employs over half a million people and the pub and beer industry adds £19 billion a year to the UK economy, but the lack of trade in the month after the festive season could prove to be the nail in the coffin for struggling pubs up and down the UK – with 26 pubs a week currently closing nationwide.

“Pubs play an important part in the UK economy and need to be protected and supported. The ‘Pubs and the Economy’ campaign does not only call on people to use their locals in January, but also highlights the importance of the pub industry overall and encourages people to support CAMRA’s call for a freeze in Beer Duty in the 2014 budget. This support could play an important role in saving many British pubs.” Mike Benner, CAMRA Chief Executive.

CAMRA is calling on the Government to freeze beer duty in the 2014 Budget following the unprecedented 1p cut in 2013 and scrapping of the much hated beer duty escalator – which added 2% above inflation to beer tax year-on-year.

To back CAMRA’s call for a freeze in Beer Duty in the 2014 Budget people should contact their local MP and ask for their support.

“Alongside contacting their MP and asking for a freeze in Beer Duty, the best way people can help the pub industry is to use their local pub during January.

Many of us only visit pubs over Christmas but if we want British pubs, which are such an important part of our economy and way of life, to survive then we need to support our local all year round.”

www.real-ale.org.uk

CAMRA has issued free promotional packs to around 7,000 pubs across Britain to help raise the awareness of this important campaign. Included in the packs are posters featuring real pub staff and landlords from around the UK, including many such as licensee Billy Evans of The Derby Arms who works tirelessly to keep his great pub open.

“When we took over in June 2013 there was one part time member of staff, now we have five and would like to employ more, but the current economic climate doesn’t allow. So we work all hours to try to keep our heads above water.”

Other pubs, who also feature in the posters, are keen to highlight why pubs would love to see more friendly faces in January: “After a manic Christmas period, there’s no better time to support your local. Your pub is always open and welcoming through busy and quiet times. We’re always here to lend an ear and would love to hear about your Christmas. Even if it’s just for a swift pint and one of our black pudding scotch eggs! What excuse do you need?” said Eilidh Ferguson from the Red Lion, Britwell Salome (Oxfordshire).

To find out more about Pubs and the Economy month visit www.communitypubscampaign.org.uk

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From our Editor| 7

Editor’s Ramblings

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Serves 6 guest ales & craft beer. Walker & dog friendly.

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HOME OF CASTOR ALES

Greetings! I hope celebrations went well and included a visit to your local. We are fortunate in this area as we do have good pubs selling good condition real ale, plus an increasing number of micro-breweries. The result of which is a wide range of beers available for the discerning ale drinker! We must make the most of them because as I’m sure you are aware not many weeks go by without news of a pub closure! As the saying goes “use or lose it!”

As it’s the beginning of a new year it’s a good time to try out new ideas for articles. To this end included this month is” Meet the Landlord”, which could become an occasional feature depending on feedback and uptake. What’s still needed is your input, what would you like to see in BAE? Come on girls don’t leave it all to the men! Hopefully we will soon start to notice the lengthening of the days and look forward to warmer days and time spent relaxing in pub gardens. That’s rather premature I realise as we haven’t really had winter yet, wishful thinking on my part!

Cheers

JB

Smith’s of Bourne 10 Years in the Good Beer Guide Saturday 9th November 2013 saw a small group of stalwarts travel to Bourne for presentation to Smith’s of Bourne for being in the Good Beer Guide for ten years. No mean feat! This was my first visit to Smiths, but it certainly won’t be the last! An amazing place and of course excellent beer. Well worth a visit.

JB Peterborough Branch Website |www.real-ale.org.uk

Bexar County Brewery Bexar County continue to produce unusual beers for discerning beer drinkers both near and far.

The brewery has been represented at a number of festivals including Colchester, Cambridge and Ely, with an annual appearance at the Letter B in Whittlesey for the Straw Bear Festival. Over in Brum the well respected Craven Arms hosted a Beer Festival where the brewery had no fewer than 11 different beers on show! Steve was also invited to work with the Great Food Club Magazine (a magazine that highlights good food and drinks in the Midlands see www.greatfoodclub.co.uk /mag) to produce a beer to complement some cheese and nibbles. The result was Kaas Bier a 6.9% Belgian Strong Pale Ale. There have been further collaborations with other like minded breweries including Hand Drawn Monkey in Huddersfield where the resulting ‘love child’ was a blond Christmas spiced beer of 3.6%.

The beer was suitably christened “Generically Named Christmas Beer”.

Being from San Antonio, Texas (San Antonio is in Bexar County) Steve occasionally visits his family back home and on a Thanksgiving trip back in November he was accompanied by his long suffering Brewery Liaison Officer Steve Williams. One of the purposes of the visit was to give a presentation on how to look after real ale to an assembled body of local brewers and bar owners. The event went extremely well and as a result there maybe experimental cask conditioned ales appearing in the Lone Star State sooner than we thought! A follow up event of bottled beer tasting took place in January to expand the knowledge of hotel and catering staff.

The beers can be sourced at www.thealeroom.co.uk Blue Bell It has been business as usual at the Blue Bell with Christmas sales of Polypins and bottles www.real-ale.org.uk

being particularly healthy. Sales are now slowing down, so Emma is going to take advantage of winter slowdown and catch up on some brewery decoration. Cask sales are steady and sales of bottle conditioned beers to the Co-op are still doing well. No new beers are planned at present.

Castor Ales This year marks the 5th anniversary of the start of brewing at Castor Ales, though the first brews did not emerge until later in the year. Some 120,000 pints later Castor Ales is producing at full capacity with demand continuing to outstrip capacity, keeping the brewery very busy. Regular beers continue to be readily available with several specials planned throughout the course of the year.

Digfield Ales Recent investments in more barrels and a replacement larger delivery vehicle has allowed Digfield to increase brewing frequencies. This also enables them to develop their sales area, which now extends into Northampton and surrounding area.

They have noticed there is an increasing number of local competitors which has risen from 8 when they first started brewing in 2004 to 22 in Northamptonshire alone. Although it makes life more difficult for them it allows us drinkers a larger choice.

Elgoods Plum Porter did well at the Norwich Beer Festival winning Gold in its class and overall Silver. Sales over Christmas have been buoyant with Thin Ice 4.7% ABV making an appearance over the festive season. Straw Beer 4% ABV was brewed for the Whittlesey Straw Bear Festival which took place 10/11/12th January. The award winning bottled beer, Warrior, has now been brewed in cask form at 5.5% ABV. This is an English style malty, fruit beer with a distinctive nutty finish and will be available to the trade in January and February.

The second brewing of Lambic took place on

BLO Reports | 9

12th November and the first batch has now been put into specially bought French wine casks for ageing.

Mile Tree Brewery Mile Tree brewery has been having great success at promoting and selling their range of bottled beers at a number of Christmas Markets in March and Wisbech. They are so taken with their success that they have planned to attend Farmers Markets and Craft Markets in the region during 2014. The range of bottle conditioned beers will be increased as a result of this new area of growth. Richard has attended a Brewing Skills Development course at Brewlab in Sunderland which has inspired him to produce some different beer styles on a regular basis. For those of you who do not know where the brewery is, it can be found at the Secret Garden Touring Park in Wisbech St Mary where happy campers can enjoy a readily available source of excellent ales!

Nene Valley Brewery Jacky Rees left the company at the end of November and has been replaced as Sales Director

by John Blythin, who was previously employed by Marston’s at Burton. Business at the Brewery Shop was brisk over the festive period with sales up by 50% on 2012. Blond Session Ale (BSA) and Starless and Bible Black Porter both sold out in bottled form, as did all of the 18 pint mini-pins (beer in a box). Sales into pubs was steady but, as is usual in January, it has fallen away since the start of the year. Brewing, however, goes on apace to replenish the stocks exhausted over the holiday.

Oakham Ales A year in Beer. 2014 sees some significant changes to the brewery’s range of beers from outside the core range which remains as the ‘famous five’. The quarterly seasonals see a return of the popular Jester’s Ferret at 3.6% ABV for Jan, Feb & March, with new beer Curmudgeon at 4.5% ABV for the

spring quarter whilst the ever popular Endless Summer at 3.4% ABV surfs its way around the summer bar tops. Completing the quartet is Asylum at 4.5% ABV. The quarterly specials or The Aged & Vintage range sees the year start with another new brew called Gangster at 4.9% ABV. The next two quarters see a return of two old favourites firstly Helter Skelter at 5% ABV followed by Mompesson’s Gold at 5.2% ABV. Of all the beers that have been brewed in the past these are the two I am asked about the most regarding their availability. So here they are to savour through the spring and summer months. Completing the four is a new beer called Navi at 5.5% ABV. The Oakadamy of Excellence range sees a whole new broom sweep through the brew house with six new beers available for two monthly spells starting with Jan /Feb Dolphin Dance 3.7% AVB, Mar/Apr Don’t Panic 4.1% ABV, May/Jun Paranoid 5.2% AVB, Jul/Aug Improbability 3.9% AVB, Sept /Oct Deep Thought 4.7% AVB & finally Nov/ Dec 42 4.2% AVB. These beers will only be available in the Oakadamy outlets so seek out your local Oakadamy pub to sample these.

XTREME Ales Founded last year by father and son team Mike and Neil Holmes, this Fenland based brewery has already had success selling to local and national beer festivals. The “Letter B” in Whittlesey has ordered most of their beer to date, with three on at the recent Straw Bear Festival: Baby Bear 3.3%, Black Bear 4.5%, Plum Porter 5.0% At the time of going to press a new beer is being brewed for The Letter B, Pigeon Ale a 4.0% session beer for the locals. We wish the boys all the luck with their new venture and cannot wait to sample one or two! www.real-ale.org.uk

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IN THE CAMRA GOOD BEER GUIDE 2013

| 11

Elgoods get Spontaneous

Question. What do the River Senne west of Brussels and the River Nene in Wisbech have in common? Answer. Spontaneous Fermentation.

Lovers of Belgian beers will be familiar with the unique beer style known as Lambic, however there is now the intriguing possibility of an English version, the Cambic! For those not familiar with the term Lambic, these beers are brewed with wild yeasts utilising spontaneous fermentation and are brewed in Belgium, mainly in the Senne Valley in a semi-rural area known as the Payottenland, to the west of Brussels.

The beers are very tart to the point of sourness and come in several different versions, Lambic, the unblended beer, Gueuze which is a blend of older and younger Lambics. Kriek which is Lambic beer with cherries added and Frambozen which is Lambic with raspberries.

What has this got to do with British beer you may ask? Well, traditional family brewer Elgoods of Wisbech have recently startled the brewing world by producing spontaneously fermented beers. I was recently invited to the brewery for the second brewing of Lambic and what a fascinating day it turned out to be. A group which included other brewers and beer writers etc. were met by all of the family and staff concerned. After some refreshments we were shown around an old subterranean store in the brewery which it is hoped will be refurbished as the Lambic store. This store was used as an air raid shelter during the war and was last used in the nineteen fifties. As mentioned above, Gueuze is a blend of Lambic beers of different ages and this is where the Lambic beers will be aged. This ageing allows the Brettanomyces yeasts that will have impregnated the beer to develop the sour but complex tastes.

continued on page 12 >

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We were then shown around the brewery by Head Brewer Alan Pateman. We viewed the emptying of the Mash Tun and Alan then explained the process and ingredients which include pale ale malt, un-malted wheat and aged Styrian Golding hops of the Savinjski variety.

These are not used for bittering but more for their preservative qualities. Next we were shown the most important item of equipment used in the spontaneous fermentation process, the Koelschip.

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Elgoods used to cool beer in huge open cooling trays made of copper (see cover photo). This method was discontinued many years ago but the trays remained in place as a central feature preserved for tours of the brewery. A koelschip is the Belgian term for the open fermenting trays used in the brewery to attract wild yeast onto the

(

...we were shown around an old subterranean store in the brewery which it is hoped will be refurbished as the Lambic store...last used as an air raid shelter during the war.

)

wort. The cooling trays at Elgoods, although originally designed for a different use make a perfect Koelschip! Elgoods have also installed huge Oak planks above the cooling trays. The Oak came from a tree which had fallen down in the brewery gardens and had been seasoned for several years.

Steam from the process permeates the wood and this encourages a habitat for the wild yeasts.

Next it was on to the kegging plant where we saw a holding tank used to store the beer after the initial fermentation. We then viewed the first batch of Lambic brewed earlier in the year being put into redundant French wine casks bought by the brewery. These casks will be moved to the underground store when it is completed. This investment in refurbishing the cooling trays, installing oak panels and purchasing wine casks shows that Elgoods are very serious about this beer. That is not to say that they are not having

Elgoods Lambic | 13

one that is in its early days. One thing is certain though and that is Elgoods, whilst being very mindful of its history and traditions, is certainly looking to do some things differently in the future. The Cambic beers follow on from a range of bottled flavoured wheat beers called QE or Quintessentially English which are now available from the brewery. These new innovations complement the more traditional aspects of the brewery and show Elgoods to be amongst the most progressive of the family brewers.

And what of the name Cambic, well as a brewery in Cambridgeshire, you couldn’t call it Lambic could you?

fun with this project. Following a very pleasant buffet in the visitor centre we were all summoned to the cooling trays to witness the brew being put in. The atmosphere was one of excitement and anticipation and everyone from the brewery seemed to be there. We were not disappointed.

When the hot wort hit the trays the whole area became completely shrouded in steam in just a couple of minutes. Nigel Elgood, the company chairman told me that in the old days when cooling the beer the wooden slats around the cooling trays would all be open to disperse the steam, but initially for Lambic they needed to be shut to impregnate the oak panels with moisture to help with the environment for the yeast. The slats would then be opened later to allow wild yeasts to enter and sit on the cooling wort.

This was the end of the process as far as we were concerned so we retired to the visitor centre where some very interesting discussions on the whole project took place. Why on earth brew this type of beer being one of the main questions asked! The reasons are varied but are export-led with the initial inspiration coming from America.

Whether the beers will be left as Lambic or blended into other styles such as Gueuze has yet to be decided and the project is a very long term

John Hunt - Social Secretary and BLO

Freehouse

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Peterborough & District Branch

PUB OF THE YEAR 2013 Oakham JHB, Digfield Barnwell Bitter and Shepherd Neame Spitfire on permanently with two changing guest ales from local breweries.

Opening Times Tuesday - Saturday: 12 to 3pm and 6 to 11pm Sunday: 12 to 7pm

Food Served Tuesday - Saturday: 12 to 2pm and 6 to 9pm Sunday 12 to 3pm (Roast Rib of Beef every Sunday)

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Queens Head, Bulwick, Northamptonshire NN17 3DY Tel: 01780 450272

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Congratulations to The Ploughman, Werrington on winning Peterborough CAMRA Pub of the Year 2014 from all of us at the Queens Head, Bulwick

CAMRA Young Members

H

i I’m Kara Williams, the new Young Members contact and I will be organising a range of activities throughout the coming year. So, as you’ve probably never heard of me you may like to know who I am and where I fit in.

are no crowds! The Letter B was full to bursting as usual, probably due in part to a mini beer festival that was up and running “out back”. It was a superb day and a great first outing for us Young Members. We’ll definitely repeat the exercise next year!

I have worked at the Peterborough Beer Festival for the last couple of years in a number of jobs and was bar manager in 2013. As my parents have always been involved with the festival it was inevitable I’d end up there as well! My Mum works on the glasses stand at beer fest and Dad was pubs officer, compiling Pub News until last year. He seems to have a few different jobs at beer fest, which is all a bit mysterious.

Our next outing will be on Saturday 8th March when we will be visiting Stamford to try out a few of the local pubs. If you’ve never had a beer in Stamford, I have been assured that there are some excellent pubs to visit. I’m not quite sure where we will start off or end up but we will meet at Peterborough railway station at 11.30 for 11.52 train.

The activities got under way in January, when a small group of under 30’s braved the cold at the Whittlesey Straw Bear festival. It appears that the idea of the festival is to avoid the Straw Bear and hide in as many pubs as possible! It was nice to try a couple of places I’d never visited before, with Hubs Bar on the Market Place being an excellent first port of call. I may have to revisit when there

Keep up to date with what’s going on via our Facebook page – CAMRA Young Members Peterborough & District or follow us on Twitter at PboroCAMRAYM. You can email me at young-members@real-ale.org.uk Kara Jayne Williams Young Members Officer

www.real-ale.org.uk

Star’s Bright in Deeping A cold, bright day in January saw me, Daniel Speed, hunting around the industrial parks at the back of Market Deeping searching out the Star Brewing Company, our newest addition to the local microbrewing fraternity.

After a phone call to one of the two owners, Tom Marriott, I was directed to a unit and came across both Tom and Simon Raines putting the finishing touches to their shiny new brew kit.

T

his ‘back to roots’ micro brewing is a massive change for Tom, who spent twelve years working for Molson Coors specialising in sales and marketing. Tom is bringing big brewing experience and aiming to use it to create both great ales and great service for the trade.

Tom told me ‘Before I started business with Simon I could have moved from Molson Coors to Glaxo, Heinz or another big company, but as my career advanced at Molson Coors I found myself getting further and further away from the pub, not to say I wanted to spend my life in the pub, but that’s why I joined the beer trade in the first place.

It was the love of the beer, the social and the community aspect of this business that always appealed to me.’

‘Sitting in meeting rooms, flying spreadsheets all day and worrying about the global price of nickel I became removed from the very things that I loved and inspired me in the first place, now I’m living the dream!’

One day Tom hopes to become a really good brewer, for now however, that aspect of the business lays squarely on the shoulders of ex-Ufford Ales brewer, Simon Raines.

Since 2012, The Star Brewing Company had been brewing over in Norwich, leasing time from Kevin Tweedy on the Golden Triangle brew kit.

I asked if the move was required to increase production, Simon replied ‘Initially there will be no increase in volume as we only have the one

Brewery News | 17

fermenter, but it was really important to get brewing locally in order to keep an eye on the beer every day and not spend so much time driving up and down the A47.’ Tom added ‘It’s important to us to see, smell and regularly check our beer to keep the quality as high as possible’.

I asked if the move from Norwich has required any changes to the recipes to which Simon replied, ‘The biggest issues to sort out are the water and the vessels, new equipment does make a difference, they are not just tanks! Our suppliers of hops, malt and yeast will remain the same so the actual ingredients won’t change.’

‘One major addition is a new hopback which will be used to add really late-addition hops in volumes which we weren’t able to in Norwich, this will help to add an extra dimension to our ales.’

Once the brewery set up is complete the first brew will be a new beer called Astral and the palest addition to the range. At 4.2% Tom told me ‘It will have a lot of American hop characters and be predominately brewed with Citra and Cascade.

We are aiming to have this on sale at the end of January.’

When I asked about his hop preference Simon said ‘I find American hop varieties lend themselves very well to pale beer styles but the cost of adding them in the volumes the American craft brewers used would be enormously expensive in the UK.’ ‘American hops are so expensive as the American market holds on to most of their own product. Some UK growers are trying to bring hybrid versions to this country but its going to take time and obviously land space is at a premium.’

people have been really good to us’. Tom then showed me a list of recent Tweets which which included several comments from the best real ale pubs in the district giving high praise for Star’s wares.

‘It’s crucial to us to build good business relationships with our customers, it’s really important to offer good customer service, from the quality and consistency of the beer to ordering and delivery.’

I asked both what the future plans for the brewery would be, Tom replied ‘We want to concentrate on getting our core range to the highest quality but within the next twelve months we want to get some of our beer in bottles’.

Simon added ‘Eventually I would like to offer 15 specials and a core range of five regular ales’.

Simon’s final words before I left for home were probably the most poignant for me, and showed his passion for his craft, ‘The key to it (brewing) is you have to judge yourself and the beer you make.

Be your own critic. You have to be happy with it.

If you’re happy with the product and it’s as it should be, then that’s the best you can do. The rest is down to personal preference. You can’t produce one beer to suit everybody, and that’s part of the appeal cask ale has, everyone is different.’

Having personally tried Comet and Galaxy, this brewery is one to look out for. Hunt them out at your local pub and beer festival soon!

For more information on the brewery and range of available beers, check out Facebook: facebook.com /StarBrewingCompany

by Daniel Speed

When asked about any upcoming launch events Tom told me ‘We are going to have an opening event but it is in the early planning stage’. He continued, ‘We need to concentrate on getting up and running in the next week as demand is high for our beers and we are running low on stock’.

I asked if local support had been strong, Tom replied ‘Local support has been fantastic and

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Membership Matters CAMRA Membership Information| 19

I

n the ten or so years since I was previously Membership Secretary of the Peterborough & District branch, membership of CAMRA nationally passed 100,000, and is now over 155,000.

Membership numbers in this branch have more than doubled to over 2,700. It is great to see that interest in real ale is on the up, contrary to what some industry observers try to tell us.

I have some observations regarding the membership records.

Do you receive communications from either CAMRA HQ or from the branch which has some anomaly in your name or your address? Do you no longer receive email communications when you have done so previously? Are you paying more than you need to for your CAMRA subscription?

These are all problems which can be addressed in less than 10 minutes by checking your record on the CAMRA Membership system. See instructions in the box below.

There are many member records where there is no first name recorded, not even an initial.

Several of these, although by no means all, are female partners who are shown as Mrs, Miss or Ms X.

Have you changed your internet service provider, as so many of us do, and as a result changed email address? Could this be why you no longer receive email communications? Has your home telephone number and/or mobile number changed since you joined CAMRA?

be applied to their membership subscription. We wouldn't want you paying more than you need to now, would we?

Trying to keep membership records up-to-date is a never-ending task and, although I am familiar with a significant number of the branch members, the only person who can verify all of your details is you. Please spend a little time checking, and where necessary amending, the information that CAMRA holds about you.

Bob Melville membership-secretary@real-ale.org.uk

National CAMRA Website To login to the CAMRA national web site www.camra.org.uk, please use your membership number minus any leading zeros (e.g.

001234 would become 1234) and your password (unless you have changed it on a previous login) which will be your postcode with uppercase letters and no spaces included (e.g. if your post code is PE1 2AB your default password will be PE12AB). If you have previously changed your password and can’t remember what it is, you can reset it at http://www.camra.org.uk /page.php?id=266.

A cursory glance through the branch records shows that there are over 300 members for whom CAMRA does not hold a date of birth. Many of these are long-standing members of the Campaign whose dates of birth were not sought when they joined. It could be that they are now approaching the time of life when an age-related discount could www.real-ale.org.uk

Scarborough or Bust 20 |

On Saturday 16th November 19 of us set off with Mick Slaughter on the 9.15am train from Peterborough to York, then onwards to Scarborough, where we arrived at 11.29am.

Our first ale of the day was in The Valley Bar, 51 Valley Road, Scarborough, which had opened up early just for us (so nice). It is a cellar bar that has CAMRA Awards on the wall for National Cider Pub of the Year, Yorkshire Cider Regional Pub of the Year and also CAMRA Town Pub of the Year, all to its credit. Staff were very friendly and the beer was “on song�. They had Scarborough Stout from The

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Scarborough | 21

Scarborough Brewery which was a very good pint and the Dark Star Hophead went down well.

There were also 100 bottled Belgian Beers.

Definitely worth another trip, or a visit if staying in Scarborough. The tables in the pub are old “Space Invaders” game consuls, but it was such a shame that they were not working, as we could have stayed longer and played the game. All in all worth a visit, but ask Les for the short cut route!

Next pub was 100 yards along the road The Cellars, 35-37 Valley Road. I liked this one, they had that day started using 1/3 pint glasses and had just 4 sets to trial. Well we used the 4 sets, they certainly went down well with us. There were 8 beers on hand pumps and we tried Cameron Strongarm Ruby Red, Monkey Wrench and American Ale. All were good ales in very good condition and it was well worth the visit. The Cellars also does hotel accommodation and holiday lets, so look for them on the website if interested.

It was a bit of a climb to our next watering hole, up the hill round the corner to the right and then further up the hill. Taxing on the legs so take

care, however you will be rewarded for the climb to find The Rivelyn Hotel and Real Ale Bar. Their advertising showed hand pumps of Scarborough Cascades and Blonde, so it was a little disappointing to find only Scarborough Stout available and that was almost empty!. The brewer was serving in the pub and had not got a spare, so those who missed it at the first pub were gutted that it was off here. They also had American Ale, and to their credit we did get a few samples of Scarborough Stout to try. Once again the staff could not be faulted. They run a very large establishment of 50 rooms and they serve good beer at £2-50 a pint, which is not bad going. Look it up if you want to stay www.rivelynhotel.co.uk or 01723 363513.

Last on the morning list was a visit to The Highlander Bar, 15-16 The Esplanade. We had prebooked lunches here whilst on the train, at the very reasonable price of £4.95 or two for £9-00.

Other than ale I am very fond of Malt Whiskies and this bar is renowned for its private collection of 800, wow! Just a little disappointed to find out

continued on page 23 >

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Scarborough - continued | 23

that they do not serve all 800, but they did have 25 on sale. The disappointment was overcome by the food they served, which was wonderful, hot, very well cooked and well presented. Robert asked that they pass his thanks to the chef as it was the best fish and chips he had ever tasted. As for the beer, we had Wold Top Bitter.

Before lunch Mick went on the nearby Spa Cliff Lift, one of three in Scarborough, just because he could and it was running. It cost £1-20 return.

Our afternoon started with a train journey on Old Scalby Mills

drank the North Riding Motueka 4.3% at £2-60 a pint, or again you could buy 1/3rds. Other beers brewed are Peasholme Pale Ale again 4.3% and Fat Lads Mild 4.5%. You could have left me there for the rest of the day or all day I would not have minded. It was dark when we arrived but we were told that it was situated near to the cricket ground where Yorkshire play some of their matches.

With a heavy heart we left and made our way to Scholars Bar, 6 Somerset Terrace. This was to be the meeting place ready for the train home. What a disappointment! It smelt of cleaning fluid and the staff where not at all friendly. There was a large T.V. screen pumping out M.T.V. so loud that with the wooden floor and very few customers, it just echoed around the pub. My friend had walked enough, so we had a pint of one of the 5 real ales and sat there waiting for the rest of the group to join us. They had gone off to visit Indigo Alley, Leeds Arms and The Spa. They also called in at Lord Rosebery, a Weatherspoons pub, which they said was good, with a good array of beers, not saying “Coming soon”! I was sorry that I had not visited these, as I would not recommend Scholars Bar to anyone.

The North Bay Railway, (miniature railway) from Peasholme Park Station to Scalby Mills stop, and visited the Old Scalby Mill Pub, Into each life a little rain must which is a two minute walk from fall, but the silver lining to our the train stop. This pub used to be cloud was that our 20 minutes a watermill, with a stream running wait at the York Tap, was by on the seaward side but nothing The Boatman’s Tavern extended due to a late running was working when we went. The train, whoopee! We had to wait there for an hour. cost of the return train ticket was £3-50. They had Well, for those of you that travel north by train a good selection of beer but the stay here was the York Tap is a welcome resting place for the limited by return trains, which run every half hour. weary traveller, as they have such a good range of beers including Thornbridge Jaipur. What more In the grounds of Peasholme Park is the smallest could you ask for! pub in Yorkshire, The Boatman’s Tavern which has enough room inside for 3 customers sitting and 5 We arrived back in Peterborough sometime after standing. Sadly it was all locked up as it only 10-00pm and all agreed it was a great day out. opens from Easter to September.

Thank you Mick for all your efforts arranging it and I look forward to our next trip.

We then went to the North Riding Brew Pub, 161-163 North Marine Road, the local CAMRA Town Pub of the Year and I could see why. I loved Roz Fountain this place. The beer was just wonderful, and I www.real-ale.org.uk

DIARY DATES FEBRUARY

Monday 3rd Committee meeting, The Crown, Lincoln Road. 8.30pm.

All branch members welcome, please bring membership card.

Diary Dates and Festival Listings | 25

Return from St Neots by 10.44 at the latest.

Cost £6.00 for Cambridgeshire Dayrider and £3 for Super Off Peak return to St Neots with Groupsave.

Saturday 8th CAMRA Young Members Trip to Stamford, Meet Peterborough Rail Station at 11.30am for 11.52am train.

Saturday 15th POTY Presentation. The Ploughman, Werrington. 8pm

BEER FESTIVALS

MARCH

FEBRUARY

Monday 3rd Committee meeting, The Solstice, Northminster. 8.30pm.

All branch members welcome, please bring membership card.

7th - 8th Feb 5th Elysian Winter Beer Festival Maltings, Ship Lane, Ely CB7 4BB 66 casks to start, plus reserves. Bottled Foreign beers and a good selection of cider.

Food available at all sessions. Disabled access. www.ely-camra.org.uk

Saturday 8th Cambridgeshire Guided Busway trip Meet Peterborough Railway Station no later than 10am for 10.10 train to Huntingdon.

PALMERSTON ARMS 82 Oundle Rd www.palmerston-arms.co.uk

14 Ever-changing, gravity fed real ales Wood burner for winter QUIZ NIGHT STARTING 16TH FEB Every Sunday from 7.30pm Cash jackpot and a gallon of ale!

VINYL NIGHT Bring down your favourite records Check Facebook for next event

UKELELE NIGHT Every Thursday from 7.30pm

PHILOSOPHY NIGHT Check Facebook for next event

LAZY SUNDAYS from 3pm

Opening Times Mon - Thurs 3-12pm Fri and Sat 12 - midnight Sun 12-11.30pm For information on live entertainment go to Palmerston Arms

Meet the Landlord

Richard Savage and his wife Kath, have owned the Honest John Free House on South Park Street, Chatteris since 1987. Richard, who is also the pub’s cook said “I have always loved running the pub and enjoy meeting a wide variety of people in the bar. I love to cook and also enjoy exploring our range of cask ales and Belgian beer. In our time here we have had over a thousand cask ales. I remember an art colleague of mine saying that I had the ideal life, a studio above a pub! I love the duality of my work, both so different, the sociability of the pub and the solitary nature of the artist”.

The Gig Guide

FEBRUARY Sat 1 - Cool Cat Cry - Iron Horse, Market Deeping Sun 2 - Charters Unplugged - Charters, Peterborough Wed 4 - Jayne & Kolz open mic - Pig N Falcon, St Neots Fri 7 - Children Of The Revolution - The Solstice Fri 7 - Loose Rocket - Swiss Cottage, Woodston Sat 8 - Dave Jackson Blues Band - Charters, Peterborough

Sat 8 - Soul Runners - Elm Tree Tavern, Peterborough Sat 8 - The 707 - Ostrich, City Centre Sat 8 - Rocket Dogs - Iron Horse, Market Deeping Sun 9 - Pennyless - Iron Horse, Market Deeping Fri 14 - The Chris Watson Quartet - Brewery Tap, Peterborough

Fri 14 - Frank Cinelli - Charters, Peterborough Fri 14 - Sound Injectors - The Stage, Market Deeping

Richard Savage - Honest John | 27

It is not all beer and skittles, Richard’s day starts at 8am and finishes at 1.30 am every day, six days a week. He merges the two jobs during the course of the day, fitting in art around the needs of the pub. His art work is his passion. “I have been drawing from the time I could hold a pencil. Art is a part of my nature and to a large extent it defines who I am. I can’t imagine my life without art” Richard has been a commercial artist and illustrator for more than twenty years and has had a string of credits to his name, close to 100 book covers and illustrations in numerous publications.

Richard has never seen a conflict between the two businesses but admits that without his wife Kath it simply would not work! A busy but satisfying life!

Visit Richard and Kath at Honest John, South Park Street, Chatteris PE16 6AR

Sat 15 - Rock ‘N’ Blues - Iron Horse, Market Deeping Sat 15 - Children Of The Revolution - Swiss Cottage, Woodston

Sat 15 - Kick Back - Charters, Peterborough Sat 15 - Ramshackle Serenade - Palmerston Arms, Woodston

Sat 15 - Magic of Soul disco - Ivy Leaf Club, Whittlesey Fri 21 - Captain Obvious - Swiss Cottage, Woodston Fri 21 - Children Of The Revolution - Charters, Peterborough

Sat 22 - Ain’t Misbehavin - Iron Horse, Market Deeping MARCH

Fri 7 - Lavandula – Tap Room £4 all proceeds to Brain Tumour UK - Brewery Tap, Peterborough FRI 14 - Live Wire - Corn Exchange, Bourne Please send any details for April / May gigs to info@orchardhousemedia.co.uk.

Contact Details | 29

Branch Committee Secretary: Dickie Bird 4 Cissbury Ring,Werrington Peterborough, PE4 6QH 01733 574226 (tel & fax) 07731 993896 info@real-ale.org.uk Chairman: David Murray 01733 560453 chairman@real-ale.org.uk Treasurer: Paul Beecham 01733 311981 07710 008693 0870 7620848 (fax) treasurer@real-ale.org.uk Vice Chair: Matthew Mace 07809 629241 vice-chair@real-ale.org.uk Social Sec: John Hunt 07923 489917 social-sec@real-ale.org.uk Pubs Officer: Neil Holmes 07886 974977 pubs-officer@real-ale.org.uk Press Officer: Mike Blakesley 01733 390828 (h) 07747 617527 (m) press-officer@real-ale.org.uk Young Members: Kara Williams young-members@real-ale.org.uk Membership: Bob Melville 07941 246693 membership@real-ale.org.uk Festival Org: Mike Lane 07850 334203 festival-organiser@real-ale.org.uk LocAle Officer: Dave McLennan 01733 346059 (h) 07854 642773 (m) locale@real-ale.org.uk Webmaster: Harry Morten webmaster@real-ale.org.uk

Beer Around ’Ere Editor: Jane Brown bae-editor@real-ale.org.uk Distribution: David Murray (See Chairman on the left) Advertising: Jane Michelson 01733 211410 Mobile: 07732 393621 jane@orchardhousemedia.co.uk Magazine & Advertising Production: Daniel Speed 01733 211933 info@orchardhousemedia.co.uk Proofreader: Bob Melville See details below Brewery Liaison Officers Blue Bell: John Hunt 07923 489917 Bexar County Brewery & Mile Tree Brewery: Steve Williams 07756 066503 Castor Ales: Mike Lane 07850 334203 Digfield: Dave Waller 07821 912605 Elgoods: John Hunt 07923 489917 Hopshackle: Noel Ryland 07944 869656 Melbourn: Lew Clayton 01780 765063 Nene Valley: Bob Melville 07941 246693 Oakham Ales: Dave Allett 07966 344417 Tydd Steam: John Hunt 07923 489917 Xtreme Ales: Matt Mace 07809 629241 Trading Standards 08545 040506 www.consumerdirect.gov.uk Check out our website at: www.real-ale.org.uk

The next issue of BAE will be available on: 20th March We must have your stories, news and advertisements by: 1st March Late copy cannot be guaranteed entry.

Please contact Jane Michelson Tel: 01733 211410 Mobile: 07732 393621 jane@orchardhousemedia.co.uk for all of your advertising needs.

Neil Holmes pubs-officer@real-ale.org.uk or 07886 974977 is always looking for pub news.

Please send stories and other copy to bae-editor@real-ale.org.uk Beer Around ‘Ere is published by Peterborough & District Branch of CAMRA Copyright © 2014, The Campaign for Real Ale Ltd. Views or comments expressed in this publication may not necessarily be those of the Editor or of CAMRA.

Pub Merit Awards & Gold Awards Does your local pub have excellent beer, friendly staff, a great atmosphere/ community spirit, or have they introduced additional hand pumps? If so nominate them for Gold or Merit Award. The new Merit Award is for pubs that are continuously outstanding, so if you know of a deserving pub within the branch area, please complete the form below indicating Gold or Merit Award and post to the secretary or email nominations to info@real-ale.org.uk.

Pub name:

Pub address/town/village:

Reason for award:

Your name:

Your phone number or e-mail address:

Your membership number:

Hodgson Centre, Hodgson Ave PE4 5EG Tel: 01733 578088

Staniland Way, Werrington Centre Tel: 01733 327696

Six Real Ales from £2.50 a pint

Ten Real Ales from £2.00 a pint

Live Satellite Sports • Live Entertainment

Live Satellite Sports • Live Entertainment

Happy Hour Monday - Thursday 5-7pm Cash Quiz every Sunday from 8pm

Happy Hour Monday - Friday 5-7pm

S INE’ T N E VAL ALL B h F eb t 4 1 n y Frida e Ploughmas l at Th for Detai l l Ca

CHARITY PRESENTATION NIGHT Saturday 22nd March at The Ploughman from the Kelly Simmonds Fund to Papworth Hospital Live Music from the Nuggets • Free Entry

Big kfasot 11am t a e 8 Brry Sat 95!

ree At Least Th

, ry ve r r ca o e at f h e t m can o r f u lf se s yo r e u a ev lp yo uch e H as m

Real Ales!

5. £ y onl

More than just a Carvery!

A great welcome awaits you at The Farmers, Yaxley.

We are famous for our fresh vegetables and great carvery meats, succulent and served with all the trimmings, then finished off with a tantalising hot or cold dessert!

Open Every Day 10am - 5.30pm All Day Menu & Coffee Midday - 2:30pm Carvery & Specials Menu 5:30pm - LATE Carvery & Grill Menu Sunday Open From 12 Noon - 9pm All Day Carvery

Check out our lunch time grill menus and our ever changing specials boards. Put it all together with three fine cask ales and you have the perfect place to enjoy dinner with friends or a family celebration. We have a self contained function suite which is ideal for parties, weddings and all of life’s celebrations.

So if you’ve not been before give us a try and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Introducing our new Green Room, available for parties and weddings.

We are now taking booking for 2014!

Now taking bookings for Mothers day!

Book early to avoid disappointment.

200 Broadway, Yaxley Tel: 01733 244885 Email: thefarmers@btconnect.com

www.thefarmersyaxley.co.uk