Rotherham CAMRA Inn Touch issue 41

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Newsletter of the Rotherham Branch of The Campaign for Real Ale Issue 41

Inside

this issue: Campaigning News Meet the Brewer Branch Diary

Black Lion, Firbeck wins Pub of the Year! see centre Pints, Percussion and Plectrums

www.rotherhamcamra.co.uk

The Black Lion

InnCellar Equipment

~FIRBECK~ ROTHERHAM CAMRA

PUB OF THE YEAR 2012

InnCellar Equipment now established in South Yorkshire.

With the experience and knowledge to give a total commitment to sell quality products, that will assist the user in pulling the perfect pint every time.

Cask & Keg cooling jackets, Stillaging, Racking, ancillary equipment, fittings and materials.

FOOD IS SERVED - TUES - SAT Lunchtime 12-2pm • Evening 5.30 - 9pm

SUNDAY LUNCH 12-4pm Serving Traditional Ales and Home Cooked Food We offer a great choice of dishes freshly prepared with the finest fresh local produce.

Full range of festival equipment If you are looking for that personal touch, then we are able to supply. Check out our website.

En Suite Accommodation - Now Available

ENTERTAINMENT Tuesdays - Quiz Night Monthly Attractions Jazz Night - 7th and 21st June New Road, Firbeck, Rotherham • Tel: 01709 812575

7 Hunshelf Road, Sheffield S35 1UF Tel / Fax: 01142 727426 Mobile: 07527 049900 www.inncellar.com mikewill@inncellar.co.uk

Phoenix Sports and Social Club Pavilion Lane Brinsworth Rotherham S60 5PA Tel 01709 363788 www.phoenixssc.co.uk

• Function Rooms available to hire for Weddings, Parties, Conferences etc • Free Wifi

•Open 7 days

• Large Screen TVs for Sky Sports • Ample free parking

• Up to 5 quality assured cask ales • All sports & cultural sections are open to the public for associate membership • 2 full sized snooker tables and pool table

Real Ale & Real Food Athel’s @ The Phoenix Athel’s Opening Times Sun 10.00 a.m. - 3.00 p.m.

Mon Closed Tues to Fri 10.00 - 8.00 p.m.

Sat 10.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.

SUNDAY CARVERY 12 noon until 3pm.

Large parties are accommodated with ease and bookings are advisable

Pubs are the Best Social Networking Sites!

CAMRA News

On a day when over 5,500 pubs across the UK are toasting the success of Community Pubs Month, CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale has kick started its festivities with new research showing how local pubs play an integral role right the way through the lives of people in local communities.

Since 2008, over 4,500 pubs have closed across the nation, with licensees battered by high beer tax, greedy pub companies, soaring overheads, and discount booze deals from major supermarket chains. With so many pubs permanently closing their doors on a weekly basis, scores of surrounding local communities are left without their social hub.

Community Pubs Month was therefor launched

by CAMRA to champion pubs as invaluable community assets, and outlets which vast numbers of local people across the UK rely upon so heavily during their daily lives.

Pubs are vital meeting places for young adults, with just under 9 in 10 of them using their local to meet friends and socialise. Further to this, in a poll to regular pub goers, 1 in 4 currently married couples said they first met their current spouse/partner down the pub.

CAMRA’s research shows people turn to their local pub during meaningful events, so whether you are a real ale lover, or someone who enjoys the weekly quiz down your local, pubs are a core part of our identity and heritage.

‘With the launch of Community Pubs Month, CAMRA is urging local communities this April to back their local licensees and give them the support they need during these difficult economic times. Pubs are the original social networking sites, and will continue to provide an invaluable community service as long as they are used by the local people that surround them.’

Contents NEW EDITOR’S PLEA

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CONTACT DETAILS

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Mike Benner, CAMRA Chief Executive, spoke in the wake of these new findings. He said: ‘Pubs are the beating hearts of countless communities across the land, and without their existence, society would be a lot worse off.

BAA’S OF STEEL REPORT

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PUB NEWS

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‘CAMRA’s new campaign is all about reaffirming the vital importance of local pubs, and the essential role they play in many people’s lives.

PINTS, PERCUSSION & PLECTRUMS

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ROLL OF HONOUR

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PUB OF THE YEAR 2012

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WELBECK ABBEY BREWERY VISIT BRANCH DIARY

12-13 14

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The Stag Rotherham

Angela and Steve welcome you to...

Pub of the Season, Autumn 2008

All Cask Ales now

£1.99 a pint!

FREE!

Four hand pulls available Live Sport with Sky Sports and Racing UK

Cask Ale Trail on Tuesdays

Food served until 8pm every day

Try 3 different casks and get the fourth FREE!!!

karaoke every Wednesday

01709 838929 Wickersley Rd, Rotherham S60 4JN www.thestaginnwickersley.co.uk

Thorpe Hesley

Tel: 0114 246 8079

Real Ale available at all times Home Cooked Food served Monday - Saturday 12pm - 2pm & 6pm - 8.30pm Real Chips!

Monday: Quiz Night Tuesday: Music Night with live artist Wednesday: Piano Night Thursday: Cash Bingo You could win over £100!

RA CAM 2011 m ha ear her he Y Rot b of t Pu

The

Beehive Large range of cask ales, lagers, wines, spirits (including over 20 different malt whiskies)

We serve a wide variety of delicious home cooked food, including plenty of vegetarian and gluten free options.

OPENING TIMES MON: CLOSED, TUES - THURS: 12 - 2.30pm & 6 - 11pm FRI: 12 - 2.30pm & 6 - 11.30pm, SAT: 12 - 3.00 & 6 - 11.30pm SUN: 12 - 11pm FOOD SERVICE TIMES MON: CLOSED, TUES - THURS: 12 - 2pm & 6 - 8.30pm FRI: 12 - 2pm & 6 - 9pm, SAT: 12 - 2pm & 6 - 9pm, SUN: 12 - 7pm

Beer Festival 27 - 29 July Real Ale and Hog Roast!

16 Union Street, Harthill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S26 7YH TEL:- 01909 770205

New Editor’s Plea and Contact Details Whilst sat thinking about how to best begin this article, I carefully considered what I wanted to, as new editor, inject into Rotherham CAMRA’s beer magazine. An initial question I generated was; how do people Get Inn Touch?

Inn Touch has enjoyed varied amounts of success over the years. Without question we should extend our thanks to all the people that have contributed to the magazine over the years.

These same people would express regret at the times when the magazine went unpublished.

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Rotherham CAMRA committee contact details: CHAIRMAN Steve Burns - stephenburns1@sky.com INN TOUCH EDITOR Adam Rodgers 39 Renway Rd, Rotherham, S60 3EU adam1983rodgers@yahoo.co.uk SECRETARY Tracy Hyslop - burwell1967@aol.com

Such times are past. Yet the onus to develop the magazine will not fall upon the shoulders of the editor, publisher and advertisers. The big influence I want to make on the magazine is to make it more interactive. To this end, Inn Touch encourages overt participation by all and any readers; be those of you loyal drinkers or hardworking landlords/ladies and pub staff. Inn Touch is not a committee publication written for the committee, by the committee. Inn Touch is a CAMRA publication, written for people interested in pubs, beer, food and enjoyment of these things. The magazine is written to entertain existing members and entice new ones. Active participation in CAMRA means so much more than just drinking real ale. My aim is to make sure anyone who picks up Inn Touch will be interested and not want to put it down.

People need to be brought into CAMRA, learn more about the campaign’s aims and what these mean to each one of us, as discerning drinkers. In short, we want: to keep pubs open; to promote responsible drinking (and pricing/taxing) and ensure the British drinking institution carries on.

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Geoff Brown - geoff.thebroons@blueyonder.co.uk

Articles which document the travels of Rotherham CAMRA will still be a strong part of Inn Touch, as we hope such articles will encourage you to join CAMRA and the branch on its daysout. But the most important part of Inn Touch is you, the reader. If you have any ideas of how to improve the magazine, I would be keen to hear them. This is not my magazine so it will not be written as such. It is yours. In subsequent publications I wish to introduce a letters page. My contact details appear on page 5, please write to/email me if you have any ideas/feedback/etc. Alternatively, refer to the ‘Branch Diary on page 15 and say hello at one of our outings.

WEBMASTER Paul Redfern - paul.redfern861@gmail.com

If you know of any pubs that would benefit review, publicity or simply could do with more custom, please inform them about Inn Touch and Rotherham CAMRA, or inform us about them. Likewise, if we sound like the social network you have been looking for, contact us or turn up to a meeting (see ‘Branch Diary p.15). I have gone on a bit, but spread the word, don't be a stranger and Get Inn Touch!

Adam Rodgers

TREASURER Linda Andrassy - linda.andrassy@hotmail.co.uk SOCIAL SECRETARY John Hyslop - johnhyslop@btinternet.com UNDER 30 CO-ORDINATOR rotherhamyoungcamra@yahoo.co.uk PUBS OFFICER Jim Crowe - jamesicrowe@gmail.com PRESS & PUBLICITY Sean Page PUBS PRESERVATION OFFICER Paul Redfern - paul.redfern861@gmail.com FUNDRAISING OFFICERS David Owen - Dowen55uk@yahoo.co.uk John Johnson - jayjay1709@hotmail.co.uk

Published by the Rotherham Branch of CAMRA. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Editor or CAMRA Ltd. Copyright © Rotherham CAMRA 2012. Articles may be reproduced with acknowledgement.

Contributions are welcome from any CAMRA member by email or post to the editor. Layout based on a design by David Norton. Circulation 3500 in Rotherham and South Yorkshire.

ADVERTISING: Sales: Jane Michelson Tel: 01778 420888 Mobile : 07732 393621 jane@shillingmedia.co.uk MAGAZINE AND ADVERTISING PRODUCTION Orchard House Media Ltd - 01733 211001 CAMRA - Campaign for Real Ale Ltd, 230 Hatfield Road, St Albans AL1 4LW 01727 867201 www.camra.org.uk

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Baa’s of Steel

Baa’s of Steel

REPORT

2012 saw the biggest and best Real Ale and Music Festival to date. Held at its new home at the Magna Science and Adventure Park for the second year it exceeded all expectations. There were 236 real ales, 30 foreign beers, 32 ciders and perries and 29 different wines on sale as well as 20 bands performing on three different stages.

The Festival kicked off on Tuesday 28th February with the ‘Rotherham CAMRA Champion Beer of Yorkshire’ beer tasting when over 50 CAMRA members, representatives from Trade, Sheffield University Real Ale Society and some enthusiastic amateurs set about tasting 90 beers from all over Yorkshire. They narrowed it down to seven and then an expert panel plus the Mayor of Rotherham chose a worthy winner in Abbeydale’s Moonshine.

making at Magna and we featured beers from traditional steel producing areas of the country.

This meant that as well as the usual North and East Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire bars we also had the North East bar staffed by Rotherham Rotary and Oxley and Coward volunteers, the West Midland bar staffed

by Rotherham Round Table and the Scottish bar run by Shaggy and his crew.

The highlight for beer drinkers must have been the special beer lovingly created by Richard Hancock, head brewer at Wentworth, at 16%.

This was named Jupiter after a competition run by the Rotherham Advertiser and sold in 1/3 pints. It soon ran out!

The music was the best ever and was an eclectic mix with: a busker entertaining the visitors both outside and inside the Festival; wandering Barber Shop Quartets serenading inside; a Big Band with songs from the 40s and 50s. Through folk, blues, rock and pop to the main acts

The Festival opened to the public on Wednesday 29th February and over the next four days over 11,500 visitors drank us dry. The theme of the Festival this year was ‘Baa’s of Steel’, to reflect the proud heritage of steel

which were: a Bruce Springsteen tribute; the Fab Four and on the Saturday night, the Great Pretender, a fabulous Freddie Mercury tribute act.

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Also, new this year we had five young up and coming acts, all under 21, from Rotherham, Sheffield and Barnsley who entertained visitors for an hour each on Saturday afternoon (interspersed by a Coopering demonstration by Theakston’s brewery). Surreal or what?

By the Saturday afternoon session we still had 90% of the various drinks available. The guest bars eventually closed by teatime and in the evening we concentrated in the main Yorkshire Bars with the entertainment. Most of the beers, wines and ciders lasted until after 10.30 in the evening to round off a perfect event.

Rotherham CAMRA ended up signing up over 60 new members and the Tombola was very popular once again.

NEW FOR 2012

Many thanks to the Organisation Committee, to Magna and its staff, CAMRA branches, all the Sponsors and supporting Organisations and Charities and to the Breweries but mainly thanks to all the volunteers who gave up their time free of charge to make it all possible. Last year we donated £35,000 to our chosen charities and indications are that we will easily better that this year.

If you want to get involved in any capacity next year, keep an eye on our website www.magnarealale.co.uk or follow us on Twitter.

But whatever you do, make sure you’re there!

Steve Burns, Organiser

Whiston, Rotherham S60 4HQ

RED GOOSE ABV 4.2%

5 Real Ales served at all times

A symbol of 51 Sqn RAF. A rich, ruby, malty beer. 5p a pint donated to Bomber Command Memorial Appeal.

2 For £10 on selected dishes Carvery £6.95 choice of 4 meats

NELLIE DENE ABV 3.7% A fully fermented light refreshing summer ale with a touch of fruit balanced by a ripe hoppy finish.

BLONDE BOMBSHELL ABV 4.0% AN AWARD WINNING PERMANENT BEER

A pale barley malt, wheat and bohemian hops makes this a delicate and refreshing fruity beer with a sweet finish.

FOOD SERVED Sunday 12 - 4pm Monday 12 - 8pm Tuesday - Saturday 12 - 9pm

July 19th - 21st

Beer Festival July 21st Brass Band Competition Tel: 01709 377003 www.thesitwellarms.com

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Branch Roll of Honour Roll of Honour

PUB OF THE YEAR 2012 Overall Award:

The Black Lion, Firbeck

Spring 2011: The Sidings, Whitehill Lane, Brinswort Wath-on-Dearne Autumn 2010: Not awarded Summer 2010: Bridge Inn, Rotherham Spring 2010: Black Lion, Firbeck

Town & District Award:

The Bluecoat, Rotherham

PUB OF THE YEAR 2011 Overall Award:

The Beehive, Harthill Town & District Award: Phoenix Sports & Social Club, Brinsworth

Old Fart’s Corner - Church House

PUB OF THE YEAR 2010 Overall Award: Bluecoat, Rotherham town centre Rural Pub Award: Bay Horse, Scholes

CLUB OF THE YEAR 2011 Phoenix Sports & Social Club, Pavilion Lane, Brinsworth Runner-up: Wickersley Old Village Cricket Club Phoenix also won the award for 2010 & 2009

Bluebell

PUBS OF THE SEASON Winter 2012: Loyal Trooper

Autumn 2011: Church House. Montgomery Sq., Summer 2011: Blue Bell, Woodhall La., Harthill

The Sidings

POTY 2012:The Black Lion Pub Awards

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“These are tough times for the pub trade but if more pubs were in the hands of private landlords, rather than big pub firms, they could succeed.”

Phil took charge at the Black Lion last summer after securing its £500,000 purchase from Punch Taverns.

Now Phil is at the helm he is able to stock the ale he chooses, winning over the hearts of the CAMRA judges in the process—and run a pub which he is now proud to call a “success.”

After just 14-months of ownership by new landlord Phil Rogers, The Black Lion, in Firbeck, received the prestigious Rotherham Pub of the Year Award from CAMRA in recognition of his efforts to turn round the once-ailing pub.

Phil said: “I’ve worked really hard over the past year to make this place a success and it’s great to see some recognition of that. I’m really pleased with the CAMRA award.

Combining a great menu with a great choice of ale, Phil and his team draw customers down the lane through Stone into Firbeck into an idyllic and friendly location, beating back the competition for this prestigious CAMRA award and proving that some good pubs are worth the travel. Yet the biggest lesson to be learned by breweries and publicans is that hard work, independence and a return to independently-run is the way ahead of brewery-tied.

The Robin Hood Pub of the Season Spring 2012

With its low ceilings, exposed beams, cosy little corners and real fire, the Robin Hood is a fine example of a traditional English country pub.

It was built in the 1600's as a farmhouse and was an alehouse by 1864 when Bentley's brewery in Rotherham acquired it for their tied estate. Many will remember it used to have Bentleys proudly painted on the roof.

So this award has been a long time coming!

With Ian Wild in charge, the pub is now better

than ever: five well kept ever-changing real ales usually including a local brewery, mouth watering food and accommodation making The Robin Hood a worthy winner.

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Pub News Pub News

Hare & Hounds, Rotherham town centre closed on 29th April for an extensive refurbishment and is planned to re-open on 28th May featuring five real ales.

Urban Lounge Bar (ex-Effingham Arms), Rotherham town centre has been selling Shepherd Neame Spitfire at £1.80 a pint, Wychwood Hobgoblin and Wells Bombardier at £2.20 and Jennings Cumberland Ale at £2 from its two handpumps recently.

Phoenix Hotel, Rotherham town centre is currently being demolished, believed to be for a car park.

Chequers, Whiston - guest beers are now £2.95 a pint. The leaseholders, under the trading name Orchard Grove, are now also running the bar in the nearby thatched Manorial Barn as well as the Brampton Hall at Brampton Bierlow.

Manor Barn, Kimberworth has reopened and is selling three real ales.

Queens Hotel, Maltby reopened as a Wetherspoons pub on March 27th and is proving very popular. It is the only pub in Maltby selling real ale at the time of going to press.

Wath Snooker Club is now selling real ale from the Imperial Brewery in Mexborough.

Woodman Inn, Masbrough is the subject of an application by Midi Developments to convert it into a cafe, Bed & Breakfast and offices, which is expected to be passed.

Peculier or Taylor Landlord on at £2.80 a pint.

Carlton Bar at the Carlton Park Hotel, Moorgate is still operating a 50p discount to CAMRA members who show their CAMRA membership Card. This makes the current cost of the two guest beers just £2.15 to members.

Stag, Stag Island and Three Horseshoes, Wickersley are both offering ‘buy 3 pints of cask ale and get your 4th one free’.

George & Dragon, Wentworth is under new management. Still selling six real ales with most of them from local breweries. Guest beers are usually £3.05 a pint.

King Henry, Bramley has now reopened as a Sizzling Pub. Real ale is expected.

Double Barrel, Thurcroft closed, but has since reopened. It is the only pub left in the village.

Woodlands Club, Rotherham town centre has two cask beers on at very reasonable prices (£2.20-2.50 a pint) and uses lined glasses. The changing beers are often from local breweries such as Oakwell and Sheffield Brewing Co. CAMRA members are very welcome.

Travellers Rest, Swinton is selling two Marstons Group beers for £2.10 a pint!

Rockingham Arms, Wentworth now selling up to 6 real ales. Wentworth WPA, Black Sheep Best Bitter, Theakston Old Peculier and John Smiths Cask are regulars with two changing guest beers.

These can be from the nearby Wentworth Brewery or from elsewhere. Recently Milestone Brewery has found favour at £2.85 a pint.

Milton Arms, Greasbrough has one changing guest beer.

Kimberworth Park at Kimberworth Park has returned to selling real ale with Jennings Bitter on at £2.15 a pint.

Brush & Easel, Flanderwell Estate has a new manager who is currently using one handpump that has Kelham Island Easy Rider, Theakston Old

Blue Bell and Yellow Lion, both at Aston, have closed. Rumour has it that the Blue Bell will not reopen as a pub.

Music and Beer

Pints, Percussion & Plectrums Many establishments in our town entertain our drinking times with music. We are fortunate when publicans promote live music, showcasing the talents of cover artists, musicians performing their own craft, or when others allow any of us to do our own thing. Many establishments spring to mind, but information needs to be kept up-to-date.

Obviously it would be impossible to enjoy nights out at all live music events, so if you have any information about any venues that sell real ale and promote live music, please write to me (contact details on page 5) so that we can support: local musicians; the sale of real ale locally (and hopefully local real ale, also known in CAMRA circles as LocAle); and the long-life of our evening musical entertainment.

To set the ball rolling, I have a few stories about live music events I have been fortunate enough to witness in recent weeks.

On the way home from work, on one occasion I popped into The Bridge Inn (formerly Nellie Denes) next to the bus station and enjoyed a practice by Papa Legbas; the pubs in-house band, playing rock licks that a varied audience were enjoying. The Bridge has live bands on regularly, playing their own songs, alongside a ‘Jam Night’ that I have participated in, A ‘Poetry Night’ organised by Gav Roberts, and other entertaining events.

These are perfectly complemented by a great range of at least six beers (around £2.70 a pint) and a scrumpy to choose from.

Another great evening I had was when I finally made it to Clive Davis’ Open Mic Night at The Chequers. Clive organises the event with the support of the pubs management team to happen on the first Wednesday of each month. On the third Wednesday of the month, Clive is working to

showcase the talents of the best bands on Open Mic Night, to give us another perspective on great live music.

The evening surpassed expectation. I have attended Open Mic Nights in Europe, North America and across the UK, but I have never seen anyone sing and play an accordion. Accompanying this performer along the evening were talented artists of young and old, playing music across the ages and musical realms.

The Chequers has four ales (around £2.80 a pint). You will always find a core two beers, alongside two guest beers which reflect customer choice and a wish of the management to sell LocAle – that is ale brewed and sourced locally.

I have popped in a few other venues where likeminded individuals have taken my email address and promised to volunteer information, but they are yet to do so, which is a shame as I can only get in so many pubs, and I am unaware of the music that is nurtured within the walls of so many that I am unaware of. So… If you have any information at all about pubs who promote real ale and a real love of music, then please Get Inn Touch.

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Welbeck Abbey visit

On a rather pleasant Saturday afternoon, organised by our Social’s Guru, John Hyslop, Rotherham’s members trip to the Welbeck Estate near Worksop. It is only in driving into the estate that I realise…

Visiting the Monk at the Abbey...

…that I should listen to an informative talk and not allow the beer I have consumed to preoccupy my delayed sense of humour.

So, Sheffield is the place it all started to happen.

Yet many graduates fail to meet their own expectations, so just how did you get from the University of Sheffield, studying sciences to brewing beer in an idyllic environment?

Claire: After having the standard student ‘what on earth am I actually going to do with my degree?’ panic, I chatted to a lecturer who suggested combining my passion for beer and science by becoming a brewer. There’s an awful lot of geeky science that goes on in brewing which I really love and my degree fits perfectly with.

Claire Monk, head brewer at Welbeck Abbey Brewery, in her own words; Claire: ‘mean to challenge the stereotype of ‘weirdy-beardies’; the new ale-drinking population is emerging as a much younger, diverse, and less male-dominated demographic. I’m a 25 year old girl, and a brewer. Think that’s quite a good example.’

I finished my degree in 2009 and worked for a year at the Students Union before very luckily wangling a job at Sheffield’s oldest and most well known brewery – Kelham Island. The manager told me about a ‘little project’ which they were about to embark on and I was lucky enough to be offered a hand in it. This actually turned out to be setting up a little brewery and running it!

Claire: …if I had a pound for every time someone made a reference to me being a Monk in an Abbey…

I think it is an excellent example, and an excellent challenge conceded by ‘weirdy-beardies’. So Claire, this would be a dream job for me, so how did it all happen?

Claire: I’m originally from Suffolk and, to my father’s delight I developed a taste for real ale, drinking Adnams and Greene King. Then I moved up to Sheffield for my degree and my eyes were opened to the real world of ale. I chose Sheffield for the degree – microbiology and biochemistry.

This was through an interest and love of the subject rather than envisioning a career in the science sector.

So how is it all falling into place?

Claire: I started brewing at the new Welbeck Abbey Brewery in May 2011 and am pleased to say that it’s doing really well. It’s just me and another staff member who run the place because it’s so small at the minute, but I’m hoping we’ll gradually expand so the beers can be found further afield.

The brewery is housed in a converted farm barn on the Welbeck country Estate in North Nottinghamshire. Most of the equipment is second hand, wood clad, and has lots of ‘character’. I live in one

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of the estate villages and cycle to work though their deer park – yes, it’s as idyllic as it sounds.

know though, we might well quickly outgrow that size and have to get a bigger brewery!

Do you have a favourite beer style, or is there a new style you would like to attempt that you have not so far?

Anything else we should know?

Claire: Keeping with Monk and Abbey themes, I am researching into the trappist style of brewing.

I need to seriously consider a trip to Belgium. But currently, my core range of beers is:

Claire: Please let me know what you think of the beers – it’s really important that I brew beers which you enjoy, not just ones I think you might enjoy! You can visit my website which, until it’s finished, has links to a blog, twitter and facebook. www.welbeckabbeybrewery.co.uk

• • • •

Henrietta 3.6% Golden bitter Red Feather 3.9% Amber ale Portland Black 4.5% Porter Cavendish 5.0% Blonde

Claire Monk Head Brewer, Welbeck Abbey Brewery

How do you go about inventing the names?

Claire: All the names for the beers have been taken from the rich 800 years of Welbeck Abbey’s existence. The tasting notes and information about the beer names are on the blog so you can read a little more about them (and compare with your own notes!).

So, you have me brimming with anticipation; my own discovery of real ale was an accidental incident triggered when I asked for a lager in Belgium and they gave me something brewed by Steenbrugge brewery. It was all decided by fate if you ask me. But what does the future hold apart from a trip to Belgium?

Claire: We’re growing very quickly now, up to brewing 3 times a week at Welbeck. Unfortunately this isn’t enough beer to keep up with demand and I’m running out of beer all the time!

I’m on the look-out for a new fermenting vessel, which means I’ll be able to brew four times a week, and clean on the one day left in the week when I don’t brew. Once I’ve got to this level I’m hoping we’ll be able to have four full time staff members, and be able to brew and supply about 12,000 pints a week. I want to keep making tasty beer, and looking after my customers which should be manageable at this level. You never

The Milton Arms is a little country pub serving freshly made food including sandwiches, roast dinners, home made chips and fresh vegetables.

One Handpump with rotating Real Ales on a weekly basis.

We also our make all h es fr pies ! everyday

Opening Times 12noon to midnight 7 days a week Serving Food 12 - 2pm and 5 - 8pm all week Sat and Sun 12 - 3pm Not serving food Saturday or Sunday night.

63 Church Street, Rotherham, South Yorks S61 4DY Tel: 01709 512353

Food Hygiene awarded 5 Stars

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Branch Diary

CAMRA events and more, in your area!

Fri 15th June 1st Good Beer Guide 2014 Survey trip, leaving the Bridge Inn at 7pm. A chance to visit some of our harder to get to pubs without driving. There will be a charge for transport.

entry, though there will be a charge for food and drink with all proceeds in aid of the Rotherham hospice and Rotherham Cancer Care Centre.

Come and support local charities whist you eat & drink.

Sat 16th June CAMRA Yorkshire Regional Meeting at the Kings Arms, 9, Bolton Rd., Silsden, BD20 0JY. Meeting starts at 12 noon. Fully paid up CAMRA members only allowed into meeting. Socialising afterwards.

Contact Yorkshire Regional Director for more details: RD.Yorkshire@camra.org.uk

Wed 18th July Branch Meeting & Social, 8pm, venue TBC.

Wed 20th June Branch Meeting & Social at the Hare & Hounds, Wellgate, Rotherham, 8pm. TBC (depending on reopening of pub following refurbishment).

Sat 23rd June Trip to Kirkstall Brewery and Leeds City centre.

Leaving Bluecoat at 11am, returning for 8pm. £18 (inc transport, beer & food at brewery). £5 deposit required to book a place.

Sun 8th July Wentworth Cup Challenge: Rotherham CAMRA v Barnsley CAMRA sporting challenge - Rounders is the game and the venue is the George & Dragon at Wentworth, (rear garden area), start time 1.30pm. (TM travel No.227 bus leaves Rotherham Bus station at 12.35pm, due in Wentworth at 12.49 - stops outside the pub. Players (you don’t have to be good, just fit enough!) and supporters wanted.

Sat 14th July “The Big Yellow Beer Festival” - 7th Annual Festival & Barbeque at the Two Magpies, 5, Stafford Dr., Moorgate, Rotherham, S60 3DQ. From 2pm, food from 6pm. A range of six beers to try, plus cider, wine and soft drinks. There will be a raffle with great prizes! All welcome. Free

Please note: the branch are planning to hold a smaller CAMRA style Beer Festival in October/November at the new Rotherham United "New York" Football Stadium. Assistance will be required in setting up, working on the days and dismantling the festival.

Those wishing to assist will need to be CAMRA members. Further details in due course.

Please contact John & Tracy (johnhyslop@btinternet.com) or tel: 07766 953390 to book any branch event and for further information.

Please note that you can start surveying pubs for the 2014 Good Beer Guide - contact John & Tracy for forms.

MARKET HILL, BARNSLEY S70 2PX OFFERING AN EXCITING RANGE OF CASK ALES, CONTINENTAL BEERS , PILSNERS AND CIDERS. OldNo7Barnsley

@OldNo7Barnsley