cheers WWW.CHEERSNORTHEAST.CO.UK // SEPTEMBER 2017 // ISSUE 73
I T ’ S
A B O U T
P U B S ,
P E O P L E ,
B E E R
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A N D
Y O U !
TAP INTO CITY’S BEER CULTURE NEW VENTURES HIT THE PULSE
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WELCOME
The schools are back, the evenings are getting darker earlier and we’re heading for the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. We’ve had our summer break and Cheers is back with a flourish, bringing you a wide range of pub and beer topics – with a dash of wine and a splash of rum thrown in to keep the variety fresh. We’re constantly amazed at pubs’ and brewers’ initiatives. We’ve got some clever folks doing some great things in a terrific industry. Of course, that industry is all about people and it’s the people who visit our pubs and drink our beer who keep its wheels turning. Just have a look through this month’s magazine, it’s packed with terrific stories and useful information. For example, we’ve been looking at wines in pubs because we think that side of things should be as exciting for the drinker as the wonderful beer they are offered and the whisky that the likes of The Chillingham is proud of (see page 37). The common theme on every page of Cheers North East is pubs; it’s what the magazine was invented for – pubs and people. We love pubs and all they stand for; the social interaction, the friendships made, and the wondrous products that come sweeping over the counter with a smile and a maybe even a wink if you’re lucky. The nights might be drawing in, but the pub is still a huge attraction – see you there. Cheers, Alastair Gilmour Editor, Cheers North East
EDITORIAL
Alastair Gilmour 07930 144 846 01661 844 115 alastair@cheersnortheast.co.uk @CheersPal www.cheersnortheast.co.uk Photography: Peter Skelton www.thepsp.net
CONTENTS 20
IT COMES OUT IN THE WASH
Hand up, it’s admission time. When we first heard of a former cinema in Durham that had been converted into a launderette and hosted bands in the evening we thought it was a wind-up. Especially when someone calling himself Mr Wishy Washy then said he was also installing a bar. But lo and behold, we proudly present the Old Cinema Launderette & Bar. The lesson here is keep an open mind. And remember, people using the washers have priority over the driers.
COVER: RICHARD TURNER IN THE OLD CINEMA LAUNDERETTE & BAR, DURHAM. PHOTO PETER SKELTON
NEWCASTLE HASH HOUSE HARRIERS COIN THEMSELVES ‘A DRINKING CLUB WITH A RUNNING PROBLEM
KEITH HUDSON
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CHEERS NORTH EAST
brings out the best in pubs and brewing that exists in the region. The magazine, published ten times a year, is distributed to almost 300 pubs, bottle shops and specialist outlets from the Borders to North Yorkshire and across to the fringes of Cumbria. It is packed with stories from them with suggestions on where to go and what you’ll find there. But most of all, Cheers is about people – after all, it’s people who make beer and people who make pubs what they are. And to be able to bring you more information, our A-Z pub guide can now be found at www.cheersnortheast.co.uk Tell them who sent you.
NEWS
BREWPUB CREATES FLORENCE NIGHTS IN ALE
HIGHS AND LOWS ARE PUB SELLING POINTS Causeway worth it: The Crown & Anchor, Holy Island. Photo: Martin Ellis
It’s all go at a Scottish Bordersbased microbrewery designer and manufacturer. Any time now, Scotia Welding & Fabricating is expecting the go-ahead for a 20-barrel plant in Glasgow which should take owner Sam Sampson to the end of the year to build and install. Sam reports that he has also completed the installation of a 500-litre brewhouse at The Florence in Herne Hill, London, on behalf of Greene King. The project was overseen by Ross O’Hara – originally from Rowlands Gill, Tyne & Wear – who now heads the brewing giant’s Craft Academy. The Craft Academy helps to unbottle potential by giving young people the chance to earn while they learn about brewing, design, marketing and sales. The 18-month course teaches participants industry-specific skills as they work towards a bespoke apprenticeship qualification, while creating beers under the Craft Academy brand and bringing them to market.
Two of the country’s most unusually-situated pubs have gone on the market. The Crown & Anchor on Holy Island, Northumberland, is accessible only at low tide via a threemile causeway, while The 17th Century Tan Hill Inn near Keld in North Yorkshire, is in the Guinness Book Records as England’s highest pub, standing at 1,732 feet (528 metres) above sea level. The Crown & Anchor with four en-suite letting rooms, catering kitchen and owners’ accommodation, enjoys beautiful
views of Lindisfarne Castle and out over the North Sea and is offered for lease at £65,000 with an annual rent of £46,833.33 plus VAT. Turnover is reported to be £378,000 per annum. ??? Current owners Kyle Luke (whose family have lived on Holy Island for generations) and his Czech wife Zuzana have run the place for four-and-a-half years but now want to take a break before getting involved in another business. The Tan Hill Inn also commands spectacular views – over Swaledale and the North Pennines
– and can be yours for £900,000. Landlady Louise Peace and her husband Mike intend to retire to Somerset. Drawbacks – or advantages, according to opinion – include being regularly snowed in for between three and 11 days, which has happened 50 times since 2005. In November last year, the band Scouting For Girls was cut off along with around 200 customers after playing a Children in Need gig at the pub. The listed Tan Hill Inn, mentioned as a “solitary inn” in a 1586 guidebook, is popular with walkers on the Pennine Way.
September 2nd Prism - Pink Floyd Tribute 9th Bad Dog 16th The Loft Boys 23rd Ruby And The Mystery Cats 30th Kings of Rhythm
October 7th Pistoleros 14th Four Letter Word 21st Russ Tippins 28th The Cushion Creepers
The Steamboat 2015, 2016, 2017 Sunderland & South Tyneside CAMRA Pub of the Year Over 200 Spirits / 9 Hand Pulls on rotation Regular events throughout the year, call pub for details Supporters of South Shields FC
27 Mill Dam, South Shields, NE33 1EQ (0191) 454 0134 4 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
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NEWS
NEW LAGER UNVEILED AFTER QUARTER OF A CENTURY
NEW JUICE SOURCE IS BREWERY FUTURE
A Newcastle brewery has switched on to the future of “green” energy and produced a special beer to mark the occasion. Hadrian Border Brewery has installed 115 solar panels on the roof of its Newburn plant, which should have an output of around 25,000 kWh, depending on light conditions. “Along with replacing nearly 100 lightbulbs with LED ones, we’ve brought out a brew called Solar Powered (5.0%. abv),” says brewery managing director Andy Burrows. “It’s a hoppy, strong but refreshing light-coloured beer made with Maris Otter malt. advert cheers 1.pdf 1 31/08/2017 “The solar panel project cost over £40,000,
but when you consider we spend in excess of £15,000 a year on electricity it was something we needed to address. Unfortunately, the technology wasn’t available when we moved in and put a new roof on the building so it just wasn’t cost-effective. “We’ll have to draw some power from the grid – apparently there is a limit to how many panels can go on a certain sized roof – but we’ll produce more than we need at times and in a few months we’ll know if a battery would be of use to store excess. “One thing 115 solar panels does is gets you looking up at the sky just willing that cloud to 08:42 move on.”
Black Sheep Brewery has embarked on an adventurous new chapter in its 25-year history with the launch of its first-ever lager. 54 Degrees North (4.5% abv) has been created in homage to Black Sheep’s hometown of Masham, North Yorkshire, which sits on 54’ 13’ 24” N; 1’ 39’ 20” W longitude and latitude lines. It also celebrates 25 years of brewing in the town and has been endorsed by leading British mountaineer and explorer, Alan Hinkes OBE, who is the only Briton to have climbed all 14 of the world’s 8,000m peaks. Top-fermented in Black Sheep’s famous Yorkshire Squares, 54 Degrees North is brewed using German Pilsner Malt with Magnum and Polaris hops and Tettnang, the classic German aroma hop. It is then lagered (stored) for a month to intensify the crisp, clean finish. Jo Left to right: Phil Douglas Theakston, and Rob Theakston from Black Sheep Black Sheep and climber sales and Alan Hinkes marketing director, said: “We are excited about the potential of 54 Degrees North among drinkers curious to try something new.”
R I G G A N D F U R R OW.C O M
EST. 2017 C
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WE ARE AN AUTHENTIC FARMHOUSE BREWERY LO C AT E D O N O U R FA M I LY FA R M I N NORTHUMBERLAND. W E M A K E I N N OVAT I V E BEERS WITH A TRUE SENSE OF PLACE.
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NEWS
GOOD DEEDS FOLLOW PUB CATASTROPHE The Free Trade Inn, Newcastle, held a Friends of Craig David tribute and fundraiser in memory of the pub’s much-adored and sadly missed cat who was found dead in June after going for his customary neighbourhood trot. All money raised is heading for the Westgate Ark Cat Homing Centre following generous donations of beer by Almasty, Brinkburn Street, Dalronnach and Dog & Rabbit breweries, along with individual contributions from Paul Frost (Hop Secret) and proceeds from cupcakes by Eileen Dyer at Confetti (Bedlington). A commemorative plaque was also unveiled.
SECOND CHAPTER IN TYGER’S TALE
A new version of Tyger Blood, the beer launched last year by Box Social Brewing in honour of long-running heavy metal band Tygers of Pan Tang is now being distributed. The original red session ale was a massive hit in cans and followed the band around a UK tour that started at The Cluny in Newcastle last November. Tyger Blood V2 (5.5% abv) is a touch stronger but manages to keep the red glow and easy-drinking regime of the original. Band front-man Robb Weir
Tyger feat: Robb Weir, left, Ross Holland, centre, and Tom Noble
and manager Tom Noble were delighted with the end product, launched at Box Social Bar & Charcuterie, the brewery’s popular Newcastle city centre micropub. “I’m really enjoying this,” said Robb. “I think I might prefer it to the first one. Our fans will love it too.” Box Social owner and brewer Ross Holland said: “V2 has turned out even better than expected
using slightly different malts and is a little bit stronger than the first one but I’m really happy with it.”
THE BRIDGE TAVERN BREW PUB & EATERY
www.thebridgetavern.com
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30/01/2015 14:07
NEWS
PUB GROUP GROWING BY MILES Work has begun on a multimillion-pound project to transform a well-known North East pub into a 64-bedroom hotel, bar and restaurant. Hospitality giant Malhotra Group has embarked on an 18-month, £5.6m development of the Three Mile Inn in Gosforth, Newcastle. However, with development taking place in three phases, it’s business as usual at the venue, which also features the popular Scalini’s Italian restaurant. Conversion of the existing building from two to three storeys
will create conference, function and private dining facilities, a residents’ lounge, café, bar and restaurant. The Three Mile Inn development is one of several current leisure projects for the Malhotra Group which began with a £1.2m refurbishment of its Newcastle city centre Grey Street Hotel. Future plans include a sports themed bar, new gin bar and additional bedrooms at The New Northumbria Hotel, Jesmond, while the Market Lane in Newcastle (aka the Monkey Bar) is to be fully refurbished over both floors.
CAMRA 2017 SOUTH WEST NORTHUMBERLAND PUB OF THE YEAR WINNER
TRADITIONAL PUB WITH REAL ALES, A REAL FIRE AND A WARM WELCOME (12 Handpulls - 12 Ciders/Perrys) Pie & Peas, toasties & sandwiches available every day
BUSKERS NIGHTS Tuesday Sep 5th & 19th / Oct 3rd
THE NEW BOATHOUSE B&B NOW OPEN CONTACT US FOR BOOKINGS FREE Function room !! Catering available on request
Station Road, Wylam, NE41 8HR Tel: 01661 853431 Follow us @Boathouse Wylam & Like us on
Ready, steady: Brian Burnie, founder of Daft As A Brush, gets the ride off
PUMPED UP AND READY FOR ACTION The seventh annual Rock’n’Roll Tyne Cruise Bike Ride attracted cyclists of all ages and abilities on the 25-mile charity round-trip from The Schooner in Gateshead to The Boathouse in Wylam. Eighty-five were counted out and 84 counted back in (one poor chap “popped” his knee on the first long stretch). Northumberland charity Daft As A Brush – which provides muchneeded transport for cancer patients attending hospital appointments – will benefit to a very tidy sum once the sponsorship pledges are added to the £1,000 already counted. The ride visited Hadrian Border Brewery (free beer!) and The Boathouse and Keelman in Newburn, before reaching the halfway stage at The Boathouse in Wylam. Then it was back in the saddle to the Black Bull, Blaydon, and the Staiths Café, Dunston, before a well-deserved pint and barbecue back at The Schooner.
BAR AND DELI Real Ales, Craft Beer, Artisan Cheese, Quality Wines and Spirits. Enjoy a range of cheese and meat boards to eat in, or take out cheese, crackers, chutney and drinks!’ Check out our facebook for regular event info. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday: 2-9, Tuesday: Closed, Thursday, Friday, Saturday: 12-11 11 Tower Street, Hartlepool | contact.hopsandcheese@gmail.com @HopsandCheese
/HopsandCheese www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 7
NEWS
DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF BROWN (ALE)
American beer website craftbeer.com produced this graphic for beer drinkers to track the solar eclipse that crossed the US last month through various time zones. It pinpointed ten breweries along the axis, beginning at Gilamen Brewing in Salem, Oregon at 10.15am (1min 54sec totality) and ending at 2.46pm at Revelry Brew Co in Charlestown, South Carolina, with 1min 33sec totality. All the breweries put on special events for the great space show.
BREWER HITS THE RÖAD IN STYLE Camerons Brewery is to open its latest Head of Steam venue this month – number 11 – in the centre of Liverpool. At the site formerly trading as The Abbey, The Head of Steam, which is renowned for its array of great beers, will have 34 keg lines featuring a selection of rotating craft beers from UK and world brewers, plus 10 cask ale handpulls, real cider, premium cocktails, spirits and soft drinks served from an island bar. The food offering is similar to the menus the Hartlepool brewer has introduced at its Sheffield and Newcastle Quayside pubs with a focus on fresh, local ingredients. Camerons has also secured a new national supermarket listing for its Motörhead collaboration beer Röad Crew, featuring in 300 Morrisons supermarkets from this month. This follows the brewers
successful limited-edition Röad Crew gift tins sold by the supermarket giant for Father’s Day. Camerons worked closely with former band members Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee to develop the beer with both attending the brewer’s launches in London and Newcastle earlier this year. Phil Campbell said: “Thank you
to the fans for loving the beer and showing what true rock’n’roll is all about. We are the Röad Crew!” Yousef Doubooni, Camerons’ head of marketing, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the response for this beer. We knew it would prove popular given the passionate Motörhead fan base, but demand has still taken us by surprise.”
SIR JOHN FITZGERALD - purveyors of quality cask ales -
SJF has long been a name synonymous with serving only the finest Cask Ales Even our Great Food venues serve a range of fantastic local Ales, so no matter whether you visit us in the heart of the city, the rolling Northumberland countryside or at the coast, there’s a well-kept beer waiting for you peruse our venues at
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NEWS
Four of the Three Peakers sip to success at the summit of Ben Nevis
SEVEN GO ON A MOUNTAIN WHEEZE A team from Gateshead-based PG&A chartered surveyors completed the legendary Three Peaks Challenge which involves climbing Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell Pike, the three highest mountains in Scotland, Wales and England, inside 24 hours.
Amongst the money raised for Macmillan Cancer Support was a generous donation from Hadrian Border Brewery – in exchange for drinking its beer at the summit of each peak. The gang of seven set out to raise £10,000 for the charity – and achieved their target. The
PUB GROWTH NOT YET STATIONARY The latest micropub to be transformed from a former business (to our knowledge at least) is the Railway Tavern in Rowlands Gill, Tyne & Wear, a glass artist’s former studio. The village has no other pub, although the nearby Derwent View Social Club has its following, and with a fish-andchip shop, barbers and betting shop as neighbours, plus the proximity of the Gibside Estate and its weekend pub and pizza attraction, it could do very well.
challenge not only included some foul weather but 26 miles of walking and climbing a total of 9,800 feet, but a regular transfusion of Tyneside Blonde helped ease the pain – especially at the finish when the remainder disappeared very quickly.
DRINK FRESH! BECAUSE WE CAN. RELEASE DATE 18.09.17 wylambrewery.co.uk | WYLAM_Cheers_Aug17.indd 1
wylambrewery www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 9 31/08/2017 12:30
BREWLAB
SUNDERLAND BREEDS INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS Probably the best brewing techniques courses in the world. Brewlab in Sunderland has earned that reputation by developing graduates from all corners of the globe to go out and brew great beer. This summer, ten international students enrolled on the nineweek British Brewing Technology course, gaining not only hands-on experience but an insight into how to start their own business with guidance on finance, sales, food safety and packaging – with a bit of engineering and electricals thrown in for good measure – or get a job in a brewery using the
skills they have acquired. They’ve also been shown how to plan a social media strategy, how to analyse competition and the key elements of a business plan, to work out the resources they’ll need to get started, including the costs of equipment, labour and distribution. The course centres around Brewlab’s modern, 3.5-barrel brewery and 100-litre trial kit with its own kegging and bottling facilities. The ten students were: Tristan Brosseau from Canada; Gabe Phillips-Kress, US; Javier Cataldo, Chile; Isabella Wang, Indonesia;
Rodrigo de Jesus Braga, Brazil; Michael Pollard, UK; Weems Pennington, US; Toby Andrews, US; Charlotte Freeston, UK, and Nitika Jindal from India. Generally, most of the graduates aim for jobs, getting a couple of years’ experience under their belts, then head off on their own. It starts at Brewlab where they all go out on placements to breweries around the region – the likes of Northern Alchemy, Maxim and The Stables – to get a taste of practical brewing, working under pressure in a realworld experience, plus have the
opportunity to “enjoy” a good old North East summer. They all have their favourite styles they want to develop, the vast majority have been home-brewers for years, but they all land in Sunderland to study traditional British brewing
S C H O O N E R T U N E Ss
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
SUN 03 BREAKFAST CLUB 4.30PM SAT 09 ANDY GUNN 8.30PM SUN 10 RUBY & THE MYSTERY CATS 4.30PM SAT 16 KING SIZED VOODOO TRAVELLER 8.30PM SUN 17 NO TIME FOR JIVE 4.30PM SAT 23 PALOMINOS 8.30PM SUN 24 SKY WALKERS 4.30PM SAT 30 HAPPY CATS 8.30PM
SUN 01 ARCHIE BROWN & I SISTER 4.30PM SUN 08 THE REMOVAL MEN 4.30PM
ON WEDNESDAYS WE QUIZ FROM 8PM
South Shore Road, Gateshead, NE8 3AF 0191 477 7404 | www.theschooner.co.uk
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BREWLAB
New brew: Brewlab students left to right, Toby Andrews, Nitika Jindal and Gabe Phillips-Kress techniques and practices because they love our ale and its culture. For example, Gabe Phillips-Kress was keen to explore the world of wild beers, fermented from the natural yeasts in the atmosphere. He and his French wife are
something of globetrotters and he’d like to get four or five years’ experience working in an established brewery before striking out on his own. That could be somewhere in Northern England he says “but not near the North Sea”.
Weems Pennington from South Carolina – another home-brewer – wanted to learn how to do it properly. “I’ve been learning so much more than I thought I would,” he says. “I’m very impressed with the course and the facilities.” Rodrigo de Jesus Braga, from Brazilia – the first student Brewlab has had from Brazil – intends to start his own brewery back home with a business partner. “IPA is very popular in Brazil, although craft beer is a very new development, starting four or five years ago,” he says. “We’ll start with a brewery of about 500 litres. It’s very exciting.” At the end of the course, the fledgling brewers get to see their beers in Sunderland pubs such as Fitzgeralds. Local drinkers aren’t slow to pass comment, either – but if you’re heading back to Canada, South Carolina or Chile with a diploma tucked under your arm, a little bit of North East bar banter isn’t a bad way to start.
NEW DIRECTION FOR NEWCASTLE PUB
A once hugely-popular Newcastle pub is being renamed after being taken over. The Brandling in Jesmond’s Brandling Village closed earlier this year, but is set to reopen after Pub Culture, which operates three pubs in Sunderland, took over the building. Pub Culture, backed by highly-respected North East businessman Paul Callaghan, along with Ian High, Richard Buckley and Andrew Burnett, will refurbish the bar before it launches as The Dun Cow at Jesmond sometime this month. Paul Callaghan said: “Jesmond is a vibrant, exciting part of Newcastle, and we see huge potential for this latest venue, which we are delighted to add to our portfolio. “We have named the pub after one of our other venues, which has a traditional feel to it and will deliver a similar proposition to its customers – a fantastic selection of real ale, great food and a programme of live music, comedy nights and other excellent cultural entertainment.” Pub Culture currently runs The Dun Cow, The Peacock and The Old Fire Station in Sunderland.
CRAFT BEER CALLING
INTERNATIONAL BEER FESTIVAL
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HEX-06 cheers ad awk.qxp_Hexhamshire Brew cheers ad awk 30/04/2015 08:46
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CAMRA TYNESIDE PUB OF THE YEAR
There comes a time when creative people simply have to be let loose. The opportunity to develop his own recipes was a big decider in Michael Harker’s decision to leave the Northumberland brewery he had worked in for nine years. That was five years ago and now the nascent business he joined – Sonnet 43 Brewhouse – has developed into one of the North East’s most successful and
enterprising breweries. Sonnet 43 Brew House was named after one of Victorian poet Elizabeth Barratt Browning’s most recognisable verses – aka How Do I Love Thee? – because she was born and raised at Coxhoe Hall, near the brewery in County Durham. Remarkably, the former MoT testing station and garage doesn’t look a lot different after five years, save for an extra vessel or two shoehorned in and the original
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Six from 43: Left to right, Thom Marley, Micheal Harker, Robert Crick,, Alan Brown, Owen McGowan and Shawn Trewitt. Photo: Peter Skelton fermenters extended upwards, and it’s amazing how the team manages to brew enough beer to support the pumpclips you see everywhere. “It’s the classic tight fit,” says Michael Harker. “We’re brewing five times a week – and more sometimes. We’ve got a big area out the back where we can expand into and virtually treble the size of what we have now. “We can’t keep up with the
demand for some of our beers, especially Yellow Cab, our easygoing lager. It’s certainly been a good five years for us where we’ve had to learn a lot.” There are also four pubs under the Sonnet 43 branding, which certainly helps brewery production, plus a hotel, two restaurants and a gin distillery, all part of the Tavistock Leisure group. Its chief executive Mark Hird is a chef by
profession who took a brewing course to understand a bit more than the basics, so he has an instinctive feel for what people want to eat and drink. Sonnet 43 brewery manager Alan Brown says: “We’re known for the high standard of our beers. We’ve got the ‘crowd pleasers’, but our experimental range has been really good for us. Our Rogue range gave us the opportunity to
go along the hop character US route. “Michael would never let a poor beer out the door and in our time we’ve had 59 awards from Camra, SIBA and the Guild of Fine Food. Now we’re pushing on and expanding with bold, flavour-led recipes for cask, keg, bottle and can – but in some ways it still feels like it was at the beginning. “And there will always be a cheaper brewery, even a better one, but we stick to our fundamental principles, like other North East brewers Almasty and Allendale, etc, do.” As a measure of the Sonnet 43 reputation and working practices, new brewer Robert Crick had offers from several companies on graduating from Brewlab in Sunderland, but he chose to work with Michael Harker and the good, honest practices where quality is everything. Elizabeth Barret Browning was strong willed and outspoken, refusing to conform to societal norms or to follow the crowd. Five years – How Do I Love Thee?
Do you have the bottle to brew? Give it a try, you’ll have a tun of fun Our Brew Crew Days are for individuals interested in a ½ day of brewing and include: a brewing session, beer tasting and light refreshments. With support from the experienced Darwin Brewery and Brewlab staff, you will be provided with the ingredients, equipment and recipes to create a brew which will be available to pick up a few weeks later. Plus, you will even get to name your beer! Brew Crew Days are held on selected weekends throughout the year.
Contact us today for further details or to book your place on +44 (0) 191 543 6820 or email us at info@brewlab.co.uk
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WINE - IN ASSOCIATION WITH LANCHESTER WINES
LISTEN TO YOUR TASTEBUDS A pub-goer’s guide to wine by Vincent Zeller
Wine can be scary. It’s an area that a lot of us feel uncomfortable being around – what with the meaning of terms like maceration, cuvée, terroir or grand cru; which country is in vogue, or how the sniffy waiter hovers while you choose from a list, desperately scanning for something that won’t break the bank, yet expensive enough to impress Mr Sniffy as well the company you’re with. In short, when it comes to wine we don’t want to look ridiculous in a bar, restaurant, or at the dinner table at home. But you know what… all it takes is a little understanding and a modicum of common sense. Sheer unadulterated, face-on bravado never comes in wrong, either. Wine is made to be enjoyed, it’s probably the most sociable drink in the world, but unfortunately there are too many people put off by the mystique and snobbery that surrounds it. We are all familiar with the phrase: “I don’t know much about wine, but I know what I like” and to a certain extent there’s never been a dozen words better put – apart from the fact that you know far 14 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
more than you let on. You’ve tried a Cabernet Sauvignon and tested a Chardonnay, so you know roughly what you prefer and if it tastes good to you, it is good. You can never be wrong. Never let anybody tell you you’ve got no taste because you like a certain wine or style. If we all dressed the same and drove identical cars, the world would be a pretty boring place. They’re your tastebuds and if a wine sends you into raptures or makes you shudder, pat yourself on the back for being right. To break this down, listen to those tastebuds. Can you remember your first gulp of beer? Bet you hated it – but now you probably can’t get enough cask, keg, unfiltered or bottom-fermented examples of the stuff. Olives? Sardines? You know you like cabbage and hate broccoli; sirloin steak might hit the spot but mackerel… yeuch. It’s the same with wine; you know basically if you’re a red or white person (let’s leave rosé aside for now), so the most important question to ask yourself is, “Am I enjoying this?”
Wine can taste of tobacco or tropical fruits, it can have palatecoating ripeness or be bone dry and fresh but sooner or later we will all find a wine that suits us down to the ground (but if it’s masses of oak you’re after, chew a pencil). Seriously, it’s fun to experiment with oak-ageing, sweetness and alcohol level, and as for country of origin, here are a few pointers:
Germany: Terrific Reisling in sweet and dry versions Italy: Oh ho, Tuscany as a region and Chianti Classico, plus a wonderful white from Fruili New Zealand: Pinot Gris fights the white corner, while there are some well-priced Pinot Noirs for the red lover
Argentina: Juicy Malbec is a bit of a speciality and plummy Barbera is generally good value
Portugal: The Douro Valley produces some characterful reds while Arinto de Bucelas does the same with white
Australia: Look out for anything from Frankland River and Limestone Coast regions
South Africa: Stellenbosch from the Coastal Region (reds) and Sauvignon Blanc from Breede River
Austria: Classic whites from Reisling and Grüner Veltliner
Spain: The many shades of Rioja and a wide range (fresh whites to full reds) from Penèdes
Chile: Spice-tinged Carmenère is best blended with Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot France: You’re talking Wine here, but Côtes du Rhône reds and those from the Languedoc-Roussillon plus anything white from Alsace are great value
US: Washington State Cabernet and Merlot make a change from Californian offerings (decent though the French-influenced ones are). Most of that lot will take a lifetime to unravel and enjoy. Wine’s great, isn’t it?
WINE
LANCHESTER WINES
Anyone living or working in the North East will have heard the name Lanchester Wines. The business has been around since 1980 and, with its sister company Greencroft Bottling, is one of the biggest employers in West County Durham. Unless you work anywhere that sells wine, you may not have had direct dealings with Lanchester Wines – they only sell to the trade. But, if you’ve ever bought a glass or bottle of wine at a pub, bar, restaurant or hotel in the North East, you’ve probably drunk more than one of its wines, which include multi-award winning Nika Tiki, Waters Edge, Founders Stone, Luccello, The Brand, to name a few. “Landlords, restaurateurs and hoteliers simply don’t have the time to travel the world to find the best wines, which is where companies such as ours can use their expertise to bring together a relevant wine list,” explains Lanchester Wines’ head of sales, Mark Roberts. “We can source, ship, develop, bottle and deliver exclusive wines for venues across the North East, the rest of the UK and even internationally. “We’re an extra support for landlords and venue owners, who we work closely with to make sure we’re able to provide the wines their customers want, at the best price possible.” The history of Lanchester Wines is as interesting as the business itself. Established in 1980 by Tony and Veronica Cleary, the business has grown from its first home in the Clearys’ living room, through to offices in the village of Lanchester (hence the name) and finally at the
at its current home near Stanley. Lanchester Wines and its sister companies Greencroft Bottling and Lanchester Gifts now employ nearly 400 people, including Tony and Veronica’s three children. Over its 37 years, the company has obviously seen a lot of changes, both in our region and the wine industry – from changes in wine styles, to changes in the types of pubs and bars we visit. “As with anything in life, styles and trends change. We pride ourselves in being able to adapt and continually make sure we’re at the forefront of global wine markets. This allows us to make sure we offer the North East’s wine drinkers the best wines possible. “If you met Lanchester Wines five, 10 or 15 years ago, we were a different business, suited to the style of the times. But our family business ethos and honest approach has never changed since day one. “And, sustainability is at the heart of the business. The first thing you notice on driving in to Lanchester Wines are three enormous wind turbines that not only provide all the energy for the businesses on the estate, but the local area too. Any energy we don’t use is supplied back in to the National Grid to supply the local area with clean, green electricity. “There’s also solar panels, a fourth turbine in Northumberland and the UK’s second largest open loop water source heat pump system. Lanchester Wines can stand out as the only carbon neutral wine operator in the UK.” Another great example of the North East leading the way!
www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 15
NEWS
RED AND YELLOW AND PINK… The International Rainbow Project, now in its fifth year, pairs seven of the top breweries in the UK with seven of the best from a chosen country or region each year. Each pairing is randomly drawn a colour of the rainbow which is used to inspire a collaborative brew. Cumbria’s Hawkshead Brewery is regularly included in the scheme and this year has been paired with Modern Times from San Diego, California, with both drawing green. The resultant brews are launched on draught keg at the Staveley Beer Hall (near Kendal) on September 8. There’s a slight twist to this year’s competition with a second colour being drawn – intended to inspire a barrel-aged beer for release in 2018. Underlining its international outlook, Hawkshead Brewery served its beer at Norway’s oldest craft beer festival, Grünerløkka Mikrobryggerifestival, held at Grunerløkka Brygghus in Oslo last month. Hawkshead was one of two British breweries to be invited (including Wild Beer Co) alongside 20 others that featured Lervig, Nøgne Ø, Lindheim Ølkompani, Ballast Point and Toccalmatto.
The Beer Monkey Brew Co. Skipton North Yorkshire BD23 2TZ Tel: 01756 701289 beermonkeybrewco.com
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SMOKE GETS IN YOUR PRIZE smoked, being carefully monitored by assistant The Stables Brewery, based at Beamish Hall, brewer Peter Diehl who is, incidentally, German. County Durham, launched a new smoked beer, a German speciality, at the Durham Beer German beech malt was used to create the subtle flavour and reddish hue, leading John to remark, “it Festival. Head brewer John Taylor is confident of its success – not least because a Facebook reminded me a little of Craster kippers”. competition to find a name for it attracted 15,000 views and 300 entries. “It was an amazing response,” says John. “We chose the name Beamish Rauchig Red which was put forward by Susan Blenkinsopp. She will be getting a mini-cask and a brewery tour as a prize. Rauchig Red Here we go: Stables Bar waitress Jess Lynn (4.5% abv) is not passes a pint to off-duty supervisor Conor Walton overwhelmingly
Beer Monkey brews aren’t just for primates, they’re for all your mates.
30/08/2017 13:48
BREWERY NEWS
NEWCASTLE CITY CENTRE’S NEWEST BOTTLE SHOP. IN THE HEART OF THE CENTRAL STATION (NEXT TO SAINSBURY’S)
Gardeners’ world: Nicola and Tom Smith
SOMETHING BIG BREWING
A Scottish homily goes: “Mony a mickle maks a muckle” which means something like “a lot of little things make something big”. The phrase is probably not confined to north of the border (although Langholm in Dumfries & Galloway is known as The Muckle Toun), but basically the muckle part refers to something that’s good. Muckle Brewing, nestled in deepest in Northumberland, two miles south of Haltwhistle, began production some 12 months ago and has quickly gained a reputation for beers of muckle quality. The 1.3-barrel system (about as small as you can get commercially) operates in Tom and Nicola Smith’s garden shed (pictured above), but is a
gear change up from Tom’s longstanding home-brewing hobby. “We supply local pubs, B&Bs and shops with cask and bottled real ale, in addition to manning a stall at Hexham Farmers Market,” says Nicola Smith. “Our bottled ales have recently become available in Newcastle in Glug in the Grainger Market and Centr-Ale at Central Station and we’re delighted to be supplying The Sill, the Northumberland National Park’s exciting new visitor development. We brew five real ales, and plan two new Muckles in September, plus a beer for Christmas.” Muckle Brewing brews, bottles, labels, packages and distributes everything from the Smith’s garden. Clearly it’s a muckle one. www.mucklebrewing.co.uk
LOCAL ALES – CRAFT BEERS CHILLED TRAIN BEERS LOCAL SPIRITS – ENGLISH WINE AMBIENCE – AND MORE FIND US AT: UNIT 11, PLATFORM 12, CENTRAL STATION. @CENTR_ALE
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AIN’T NOTHING LIKE A HOUNDED DOG Craft brewer BrewDog looks set to lose one of its premium products after the company lost a lengthy legal battle with the estate of Elvis Presley. BrewDog named one of their beers Elvis Juice in 2016, but with Elvis Presley’s estate being fiercely protective of anything associated with The King, it wasn’t long before lawyers contacted owners James Watt and Martin Dickie to demand they change its name. www.brewdog.com/ lowdown/blog/hello-my-name-is-elvis” The two founders reportedly responded by changing their own names by deed poll to Elvis to try and show that the name Elvis is not exclusive to the star. Elvis Juice, a grapefruit-infused American IPA, is described by BrewDog itself as having “a bitter edge”. Never a truer word…
FRESH FOOD // CRAFT BEER // GIN // WHISKEY LIVE MUSIC // COMEDY QUIZZES // TASTING EVENINGS // JAZZ CAFE
DOG FRIENDLY // CAMRA MEMBERS DISCOUNT
www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 17
RUN FOR HOME
HASH TAGS THIRSTY GREAT NORTH RUNNERS It’s that time again for runners who like a pint and for beer drinkers who enjoy a run. Every year for the past 20, Newcastle Hash House Harriers have provided a beer stop at the 10.5mile stage of the annual Great North Run. This month – Sunday September 10 – celebrates GNR number 36 which has seen a fun run from Newcastle to South Shields develop into the world’s biggest halfmarathon. And a contingent of Hash House Harriers will be there to dole out beer to many of the 57,000 thirsty participants. Hashingthree is a form nonkingsofAdvert.pdf 1 competitive cross-country running
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with the main objective to work up a decent thirst (they coin themselves “a drinking club with a running problem”). Great emphasis is placed on the social aspects – particularly the refreshment session at the aprés-hash. It’s a fun activity and must not be taken at all seriously. The Hash generally meets at a pub chosen by the hares (those who have set the trail) and the hounds, or pack, and set off along a clearly defined trail (chalk marks or blobs of sawdust). Hash runs are usually between four and seven miles long and are designed to last between an hour and an hour-and-a-half. Revelries 30/10/2014 18:33 in the pub after the run are up to
the individual but it has been known for some sweaty hashers to be turned out of the pub at closing time. Newcastle club Beer station: Newcastle Hash House committee member Keith Harriers man the pumps Hudson says: “Over the years we have become wonderful, but we’re always looking an institution on the Great for a small donation of beer to hand North Run and last year managed out on the day. We are trying to beat to serve over 2,000 people with a our record of last year and every small measure of ale three miles from the finish line. We have always little helps.” Get in touch with Keith at www. had great support from local breweries and display their banners nhhh.co.uk or on 07985 160 125. Newcastle Hash House Harriers adjacent to our site. “We have our usual commitment are also combining a run with beer at the Berwick Beer Festival at the from Hadrian Border, Tyne Bank beginning of September. and Camerons breweries which is
The Quayside Exchange 197 High Street East, Sunderland, SR1 2AX Tel: 0191 514 4574 Email: events@quaysideexchange.com www.quaysideexchange.com
www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 19
COVER FEATURE
MY BAR-UTIFUL LAUNDERETTE Imagination cuts clean through a pub venture in Durham, as Alastair Gilmour discovers A late-evening call to a Durham launderette came as a surprise, regardless of it being a business that could be described as idiosyncratic. The nearby Ramside Hall Hotel asked if proprietor Kathy Turner could do the necessary with stage costumes belonging to The Jacksons who had been performing at a local festival. To complicate matters, however, there was a musician playing to an enthusiastic audience in front of the tumble driers. “We were asked if we were still open”, says Kathy’s husband Richard, who was responsible for booking the renowned Martin Stephenson for a gig. “We had to get shot of him – not easy if you know Martin – so we could get Jermain, Tito, Jackie and Marlon’s spangly costumes cleaned.” Perhaps this isn’t an everyday tale of laundry folks, but The Old Cinema Launderette & Bar in Durham’s Gilesgate is no everyday business, but you’d realise that when you saw a looped washing line of bras in the window. It opened as a launderette six years ago in the former Rex Cinema but more recently, Richard – aka Mr Wishy Washy – had the bright idea of inviting musicians to play when the place wasn’t doing anything after the machines had cooled down. Why not press the space into service? Now going one step further, the Turner family has installed a bar complete with four 20 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
keg taps in the premises, which can only be described as the quirkiest launderette in the nation. Richard Turner says: “The bar grew as an idea and we had always talked about doing something – opening it up for something else. It was when we were in Nice on holiday away from all the stress at home, drinking Provençal Rosé, that we came up with the pub idea.” By day, Richard is a mental health nurse working for the NHS in the Durham communities, while Kathy (“it’s always a soap opera in here”) and niece Becca handle the laundry, dry cleaning and ironing. “I keep it all separate,” says Richard. “My job is very different to what I do behind the bar, but in some ways it’s the same. The Old Cinema Launderette & Bar is a bar and a launderette – you can still get your clothes done here during the day and have a drink at night. “We looked around different pubs for ideas – my favourites are the Free Trade Inn, Crown Posada and Cumberland Arms in Newcastle; they’re so relaxed and you
don’t feel as though you have to get dressed which is what we wanted here. “We also looked at the best of what’s around in beer; no cask, it’s all keg, mainly because we have no cellar and there’s very little room behind the counter. We’re still learning about beer and listen to what customers are saying about the local breweries, so we started off with Box Social Brewing Face Melter (3.9% abv), Sonnet 43 Yellow Cab Lager (4.1% abv), Panda Frog Blonde IPA (4.9% abv) and Brinkburn Street Mango Dipper (8.2% abv). “We even brought a piano in from home and the funeral director from just along the road popped in and started playing Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside. I said ‘that was great, just don’t give me a lift home’. And neighbours keep on bringing things in, like a lovely old mangle.” The bar/launderette is done out in pale blues and wan greens, very much washing colours. Retro washing powder packs – Tide, Persil, Omo, Lux Flakes – sit on every surface, bought from ebay or while on holiday in Greece where the old packaging and branding is still commonplace. The ladies’ toilet, entered via pulledback, theatre-style drapes is straight out of a French courtesan’s dressing room – red flocked wallpaper, nightie on coathanger, plus tonguein-cheek feminist illustrations by Kathy Turner. Cinema lobby posters continue The Rex theme featuring classic movies such as An
COVER FEATURE American In Paris, Singing In The Rain and 12 Angry Men. The whole place is lit by 1950s florally-decorated circular glass bowls. It’s amazing. The four washers aren’t numbered but have small monochrome photographs attached of Douglas Fairbanks, Bette Davis, Grace Kelly and Cary Grant who represent the four decades the picture house was operating, while long-time projectionist Tommy Atkinson smiles in appreciation from a framed photograph – and inevitably, a signed photograph of Dot Cotton in her EastEnders role as a launderette manager. Back behind the bar is a collection of gins – Hendrix, Edinburgh, Brooklyn and Hepple from Northumberland, plus a fridge full of bottled and canned beers. “We’ve been invited by the Gala Theatre in Durham to put on some Launderette Sesions, so this month we’ve got The Blockheads, Blue Rose Code, The Lake Poets and Thea Gilmore appearing,” says Richard. “We’ve already got people saying the Old Cinema Launderette & Bar their local, which is really nice. We’ll open every day if people want to come, rather than the Fridays and Saturdays with gigs on Thursdays at the moment. We’re very family focused – it’s very much a family business. Gilesgate is on the up, people want to chill out, relax – and we’ve got lovely customers, I love seeing them.” Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Cinema. *The Old Cinema Launderette & Bar, Durham DH1 2HX. Tel: 0191 384 1412.
THE REX CINEMA
Main photo: Becca Turner takes a break from dry-cleaning. Opposite: Richard Turner and the Ladies’. Top: The bar itself and hard-working washers. Add Photo: Peter Skelton
The tiny Crescent Cinema at Gilesgate Moor, Durham, was opened in 1928 with a capacity of 320 seats. In 1941, under new management, it changed its name to the Rex and closed in January 1958. The last film to grace the screen was the action-packed, 1942 war movie Eagle Squadron which starred Robert Stack, Diana Barrymore and John Loder. Richard Turner says: “If you remember the old Rex, we want to hear your stories. It was a big part of the history of the area, and we hope we can be too.”
www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 21
BACK TO THE FUTURE
WOOD-AGED ALE IS PARLOUR MADE
Cask another: Wylam Brewery’s Ben Wilkinson, left, and James Scrimgeour from Blackfriars Wooden casks were the traditional method for conditioning and storing beer, but inevitably took a back seat to metal and plastic, but a revival has been gaining pace for several years, led by the Society for the Preservation of Beer on Wood (SPBW).
of mine to offer beer from the wood.” Matt Boyle, director at Wylam Brewery, said: “It’s a real pleasure to see Wylam ales being served like this. It really showcases our Heritage beers in their most pure form, directly from wooden casks, which is a very rare occurrence indeed.” The Parlour Bar will be open for every Newcastle United match at St James’ Park this season. Blackfriars has also opened a Tasting Room, hosting up to 36 guests, located in what was originally the Crafts Guilds meeting area which features antique 19th century seating used by the guilds of the city. The room will offer a number of events chosen from a range of options for private events, corporate groups, and parties. These include wine, whisky and cheese matching.
SILVER
INDEPENDENT BEER AWARDS 2017
INDEPENDENT BEER AWARDS 2017
BRONZE
A selection of beer conditioned in wood is now permanently on tap in one of Newcastle’s oldest buildings. Blackfriars Parlour Bar has taken delivery of two brand-new, six-and-a-half gallon oak casks, filled with Wylam and Hadrian Border beers.
Today there is a big interest in wooden casks dispensers of beer, with an upsurge that has led to many UK brewers using oak barrels for premium products and, as a result, helping preserve the ancient craft of the cooper, or barrel-maker. The ales, suggest the SPBW, benefit from a week or two in wood before being dispensed directly from the cask in their natural state. Andy Hook, owner of Blackfriars Restaurant and Banqueting Hall, who opened the Parlour Bar in April this year, said: “Serving craft beer straight from a wooden barrel is about as traditional as you can get. It harks back to when Blackfriars was first established in the 13th century, when ale would have been made on site and provided to the Black Friars of Newcastle who would have consumed up to a gallon a day. It’s been an aspiration
REGIONAL CASK
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REGIONAL CASK
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INDEPENDENT BEER AWARDS 2017
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Award Winning Cask & Bottle Conditioned Ales Championing British Hops and Malt Over £33,000 raised for
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NEWS
ARCH TO ARCH IN ONE QUICK MOVE A microbrewery edged out of its original railway arch home because the building needed serious remedial work and was classed as unsafe for occupation has found a new home – in a railway arch. Errant Brewery has moved only a short distance from its original Newcastle base, but the new, plasticcladded facility has allowed owners Tom Meads and Martyn Stockley to develop what they had always wanted anyway, a brewery and taproom where guests can sit and drink and see how beer is made.
“We kitted it out ourselves, but we began thinking about what we were going to do while we were still at the old place, rather than do it when we got here,” says Martyn Stockley. “It’s essentially the same kit except for a new 2.5-barrel fermenter which will be used for our double IPA.” It’s refreshing to hear Martyn declare that it’s not everybody who wants to drink Errant beers, so the taproom features two “guests” – Newcastle University’s Stu Brew True Wisdom and Marble Brewery Pilsner for starters – among the
PRAISE WHERE PRAISE IS DUE Errant co-owner Martyn Stockley (back) and Hanne Stang with two taproom customers eight Errant beers on the counter that include Tusk, Crystal Skull and Comanche. The bar has a corrugated iron frontage which rather handily came from Tom’s dad’s garden shed – amazingly exactly the right size. The whole shebang makes for a comfortable space, very bright and tidy with a long pew along one wall, some comfy chairs with the brewing magic bubbling away just over a small wall. The Errant taproom will be open Thursday to Saturday to begin with until demand is fully gauged.
We’ve just come across a note scribbled on a Fenwicks receipt with comments by a reader praising a North East pub. Apologies to Gordon Bond of Durham for not publishing this sooner, but the piece of paper disappeared after his phone call. Gordon contacted us to highlight the helpfulness of staff at the New Coach Inn in Killingworth, Northumberland – particularly the pub’s chef – for going out of their way to provide a Sunday meal after the kitchen had officially closed. The Browns had been taking their daughter to the Percy Hedley Centre in Newcastle, got a bit lost and anxious, and said the pub’s attitude was absolutely first-class.
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OBITUARIES
TOAST TO ABSENT FRIENDS This summer saw the passing of two significant figures from the North East pub and beer world. It’s no exaggeration to describe John Holland and John Sands as giants of the region, such was their influence and legacy JOHN HOLLAND After a number of months of ill health, John Holland appeared to be bouncing back, once again attending Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) meetings and events, writes Martin Ellis. He had planned future trips and holidays, so the news of his passing in July was somewhat unexpected. John was from Low Fell, Gateshead and regularly visited many Tyneside and North East
real ale pubs. He had an incredible memory and an encyclopedic knowledge of the region’s pubs and breweries. When John joined Camra it was almost impossible to drink real ale on Tyneside – to the extent that when celebrating a birthday with friends in the late 1970s, he had to resort to drinking glasses of Madeira in a wine bar. “Miserable” is how he described the situation. John had been a stalwart of the Tyneside & Northumberland
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Much admired: John Holland, former Camra regional director branch of Camra since the late 1970s. In the 1980s he was branch chairman before becoming regional director for the North East. From 1998 to 2007 he was on Camra’s national executive – essentially a company director, but after stepping down he continued chairing the clubs committee and was on several other national committees. Camra and real ale were John’s
life and most people thought he didn’t have other interests, so it came as a surprise to learn at his funeral that he was keen on ornithology and philately. His funeral was attended by a large contingent of local, regional and national Camra members. John was superb company; he enjoyed lively conversation and banter and will be missed as a campaigner and friend.Cheers
OBITUARIES in 2006 co-founded Wear Inns, which owns pubs across the region, with his colleague, the late John Weir. At Pubmaster, he headed the £1.3bn deal that triggered its takeover by Punch Taverns, though lost out on a £2.5bn bid to buy 1,400 pubs from Scottish & Newcastle. His brother Peter, a former editor of The Northern Echo, said John was the ultimate people person. He said: “His huge success JOHN SANDS in business came from a deepTributes have been paid to rooted understanding that it was popular North East pub boss people who made a difference, and John Sands who passed away he always put them first.” in August. He was a giant of “He taught me a lot about the pub industry, having been business and about life, and it is a former managing director at John I have to thank for taking me Camerons Brewery in Hartlepool to my first Newcastle United game and chief executive and in 1964 and all the joy that that chairman of Pubmaster which has entailed since. I will miss him operated more than 3,000 pubs terribly.” nationwide. Originally from Whitley Bay, During a long career, he John and his wife Susan had was also managing director of Tollemache and Cobbold brewery in four children, Heather, Kevin, Kathryn and Jonathan, plus Ipswich and Brent Walker Inns, he nine grandchildren and a great was awarded East Business 1-4North Page_Ad.pdf 1 31/08/2017 13:45 grandson. Executive of the Year in 2002, and editor Alastair Gilmour adds: It was always a pleasure to bump into John Holland in the pub and at beer festivals. He was always great company and will be remembered not only for his passion and dedication to real ale which he helped in no small way to achieving mass consumption, but for his infectious laugh. As one Camra member puts it: “I hope someone somewhere has recorded it.”
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NEWS
EAT, DRINK...BE MERRY! The best food. Check. Fantastic local beer, gin, wine. Check. Live music. Check. It’s all under one roof at the big Eat Drink Festival, brought to you by Cheers and our sister paper appetite. Here’s more… We’re gluttons for, well, everything, here at Cheers and our sister magazine Appetite – the publication devoted to all things food – and we’re putting on what promises to be one of the biggest food and drink festivals of the year in Newcastle in October. Eat Drink Festival brings together leading food and drink producers offering up food, wine, spirits, and beer with exclusive tastings alongside chef and brewer demos, live music and shopping. The festival lands at Hoult’s Yard in Newcastle on October 13 and 14, with two evening and one daytime session, each of them different in atmosphere, all of them showcasing a unique mix of premium local produce under one roof. Food demos and drinks masterclasses will create a unique theme for each session over three zones – food, beer, wine and spirits – and 26 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
their talent and share their secrets. We also have some of the region’s leading drinks experts to demonstrate skills including cocktail making and the secrets of the hop.
our exhibitors will be offering free tastings, helped along with great live music. The event will include a dedicated kitchen manned by leading chefs who will showcase
EXHIBITORS Our exhibitors represent the region’s brightest and most innovative food and drink producers, chefs and bar tenders. Here are some of them: Beer: Box Social, gluten-free beer specialist Autumn Brewing, Sonnet 43, beer and cheese pairing specialist Hops and Cheese, Anarchy Brewery, new boys Rigg & Furrow and many more. Gin: Poetic License, Lakes Distillery, Durham Gin, Alnwick Gin, Temperance, Hepple Gin and more, plus a range of fantastic mixers from Fever Tree. Food: Street food from Papa Ganoush, famous meat pies from The Amble Butcher, local
NEWS
produce from Riverford Organics, street food from The Log Fire Pizza Company, the best produce from Blagdon Farm Shop and many more. THE ZONES Appetite Zone: More than 20 of the region’s finest food specialists offering a great taste of the region. Cheers Zone: The region’s premium cask and bottled ale makers assembled under one roof offering up tastings, talks, and meet the brewer events. Spirit Zone: A bar showcasing more than 80 gins alongside stands and tastings from 10 distilleries offering small batch premium gin tasting and sampling. THE DETAILS When: October 13 and 14, 2017
Where: Hoult’s Yard, Walker Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 2HL Sessions: Friday 6.30pm-10.30pm; Saturday 1.30pm-5.30pm; Saturday 6.30pm-10.30pm Tickets: £10pp per session (Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night) includes a free drink of your choice, a commemorative festival glass, free Fever Tree mixers with spirits, free tastings from exhibitors, free chef and bar tender demos, free brewer and distiller presentations, access to exclusive special offers in the festival shop. Facilities: Specialist bar with more than 100 different gins, beers and wines to purchase by the glass; chef, brewer and distiller demos and talks; food, beer and spirit zones; live music; festival gift shop stocked with special editions and unusual goods.
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CHEERS ON TOUR
HELLO FROM HERE TO OVER THERE
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A vintage selection of Readers’ photos showing Cheers North East in glorious Technicolor. 1 Ian Wilson sent us this photo of Monty the beagle from the Boathouse in Wylam, Northumberland. “One of our favourite pubs,” he says. Ian agrees. 2 Mark Brooker from Hexhamshire Brewery and Dipton Mill Inn admits he managed to sneak away to Kos for a week’s holiday while the brewhouse electricity was being upgraded. He says: “I met Constantinos Hatzipavlis who owns Zero Café-Bar, the only craft beer bar on the island. I just happened to have a copy
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UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT • Accommodation – Single occupancy £59.95, Double Rooms £89.95 • Set Price menu 3 courses £15 • Steak night, 2 Bistros Rump Steaks, Two standard drinks £25 • A la carte and pub classics menus available • Quiz night Tuesday Wheatsheaf Hotel, St Helens Street, Corbridge NE45 5HE Telephone: 01434 632020 info@wheatsheafhotelcorbridge.co.uk 28 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
of Cheers with me.” Thankfully, all survived a subsequent earthquake. 3 Cheers editor Alastair Gilmour bumped into a family from Lima, Peru, touring the UK and dropping into the Crown
CHEERS ON TOUR the summer climbing in Norway and managed to regain enough breath to unfurl the magazine at the summit of Brenthovd which is 1,243m above sea level. 5 Phil Thompson from Winlaton Mill, Tyne & Wear, took
a copy of Cheers on a cider break to Hereford. This could be Dunkertons if only he could remember. 6 Martyn Pickering, originally from Sunderland, has lived in Chicago for 16 years and was
coerced into posing with Cheers at Goose Island Brewery by his dad Mick who packed a copy on a family visit. Thanks to all, you’re such an enthusiastic and adventurous lot – keep them coming.
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4 Posada in Newcastle. Here he is, left, with Armando Coz who was particularly partial to the pub’s award-winning Allendale Brewery Pennine Pale. 4 Mike Greatbach from the Ouseburn Trust spent some of
5
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DA DO RUM RUM
RUM DO IN CITY SUBURB While the huge interest in gin is showing little sign of flattening, there is another spirit racing hard on its heels with the history, heritage and versatility to overtake it in the popularity stakes. Rum. Rum is one of the world’s oldest spirits and is steeped in tradition with a colourful (though not always honourable) past. That is rum’s mystery and fascination; its production in the likes of Cuba, Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Martinique, St Lucia and Guadeloupe traces the Caribbean through slavery, piracy, smuggling, enterprise, music and the arts and the corporate wheeling and dealing that helped create capitalism and colonisation – and influenced prohibition. “Rum can put a great big, stupid grin on your face,” says spirits writer Dave Broom. He’s right, of course, and one of the best places in the North East to experience that
30 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
is Rehills of Jesmond, Newcastle, a specialist food and drink merchant offering in the region of 170 different rums alongside 200 whiskies from Scotland and 100-plus from Ireland and elsewhere, such as India, England and Japan. Then there are a similar number of gins competing for houseroom with shelves full of interesting wines and specialty liqueurs and eau-de-vie in support. “We’re constantly adding to and changing our rum selection,” says Tony Rehill, who runs the family emporium with brother Sonny and sister Manjit. “They all go well and there are always new ones coming out. Twenty years ago we started off with Captain Morgan and Cockspur on one shelf then it just grew and grew.” Now we can gawp at the wonders present in Bundaberg, Mezan, Caroni, La Mauny, Blackwell, Trois Rivieres, Clairin Sajous, Wild Tiger, Ron Abuelo and Ron de Jeremy, in every expression
Spirit specialist: Tony Rehill Photo: Peter Skelton from spiced and flavoured to singleplantation, pot still, column still and multi-island blends in a price range that varies from virtual pocket money to one at £239. Counting rum bottles is easy compared to gauging the Rehills beer selection. It’s enormous – fixtures and chillers full of local, national and world beers measuring a total of 20x2 metres with shelving stacked six high. That’s a lot of beer. The Rehill family has big plans in store with a couple of licensing applications submitted to Newcastle City Council. These are to cover several options and ideas, however, with nothing settled and fluidity the key word. As for rum, it’s the most versatile spirit in the world with nothing to match its diversity – or its ability to create a big, stupid grin.
“RUM IS SEDUCTIVE. NO OTHER SPIRIT CAN MAKE YOU QUITE SO HAPPY IN JUST BEING ALIVE. ALL HUMAN LIFE IS CONTAINED, GENIE-LIKE, WITHIN THAT BOTTLE IN FRONT OF YOU. ONE SNIFF AND YOU ARE TRANSPORTED INTO A NEW, SWEETER DIMENSION FILLED WITH SPICES, HONEY, CITRUS AND TROPICAL FRUITS.” DAVE BROOM, RUM (MITCHELL BEAZLEY)
BEER FESTIVAL
BEER FESTIVAL WITH THE COMMUNITY IN MIND Charities and social enterprises have constantly to put their minds to creating funds and raising profiles, so a beer festival is an obvious choice, particularly when one of your senior staff is a former bar manager. Joseph Harrop is now centre manager at Gosforth Civic Theatre – formerly the city council-run Civic Hall – bringing an admirable range of skills to Liberdade Community Development Trust, the social enterprise that operates the arts venue. Its vision is to create a wholly inclusive centre that breaks down misconceptions about learning disability and demonstrates that learning disabled individuals are able, skilled and valuable members of society. Joseph’s career has included stints at The Cumberland Arms in Byker along with dAtbAr and Bierrex in Newcastle, so organising a beer festival is second nature. However,
This way: Joseph Harrop has organised Gosforth Civic Theatre’s beer festival Photo: Peter Skelton
seeking local investment is a tough call when austerity measures loom at every turn. “We’re looking at funding which is a big driver at the moment,” says Joseph. “Libraries are shutting – the local one is open only three-and-ahalf days – so we have playgroups sessions working with the disabled community in a relaxed, supportive environment. “We get 35 work-experience placements a week involved in hospitality for people with disabilities and try and fix them up with permanent positions.” Joseph and his team – including those on work-experience placements – have arranged for 30 cask and keg beers with at least six ciders to sit on the beer festival bars (September 8-10) with supporting street food, music performers, film shows, DJs and family entertainment. “We’re featuring half local and half
national beers,” he says. “The first beer festival we held last year was all local beers but we’re very lucky to have a lot of great pubs around us who serve that market well. We do all we can in that direction, but also acknowledge the national scene. “One hundred per cent of the beer festival proceeds go straight back to the charity. We’re keen to repeat last year’s family day which was a great success. We’ve got a bubble-ologist coming with a market and craft stalls and a community family cinema on the Saturday. 'On the Friday night we’re showing Prince’s Sign O’ The Times and Talking Heads and on the Sunday there’s a free half-pint for anybody who comes in with a Great North Run medal.” Social enterprise Liberdade isn’t content with one beer festival
WOULD YOU LIKE A TRADE STAND @ EAT DRINK FESTIVAL? This October, the Cheers, Appetite and Spirit of Northumbria “Eat Drink Festival” at Hoults Yard will bring together the best of the region’s food and drink under one roof. If you’re interested in showcasing your product amongst the finest beers, ales and brewing delights from across Northumbria contact emma@offstonepublishing.co.uk for more details.
– there’s a full year of events to schedule. Joseph Harrop has been in Edinburgh viewing five performances a day at the Fringe Festival. “We’ll look at everything from comedy to queer and family entertainment,” he says. The charity work at Gosforth Civic Theatre is impressive, affecting none other than film director Ken Loach last year on attending a screening of his film, The Spirit of 45. He said: “We are social animals, we need places to meet, to talk, to have a drink, to have a laugh. This looks like a good place where people can be that.” *Gosforth Civic Theatre, Regent Farm Road, Gosforth, Newcastle NE3 3HD (beside the Regent Centre station on the Tyne & Wear Metro and on major bus routes). Beer Festival September 8-10. Details: 0191 284 3700.
eat DRINK FESTIVAL at
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walker road, newcastle, ne6 2hl w w w . eat dr in k f est . co . u k
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www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 31
BEER NEWS
AND THERE GOSE PASSIONFRUIT
An alert from Hawkshead Brewery, Staveley, Cumbria, highlights the pressure on the 21st-Century brewer – a never-ending series of new recipes and refreshing tweaks. Passionfruit Gose (4.5% abv) is a highly refreshing tart and fruity beer with a hint of salt. Available in keg and limited cask. The most recent version of Session IPA (4.7%) is hopped with Jester, Citra, Mosaic and Centennial, whereas – a little touch less strong – the latest cask session series brew is a returning favourite, XPA Extra Pale Ale (3.5% abv) with a new hop blend.
The
REFLECTIONS ON A GLASS OF BEER Regular Cheers reader Ian Young writes: Northern Alchemy Brewery – based at the Cumberland Arms in Byker, Newcastle – has collaborated with Gosforth’s Hop Secret bottle shop and tasting room to create a beer that they wanted to represent the shifting boundaries of the burgeoning craft beer market. Paul Frost from Hop Secret said the resulting Pineapple IPA reflected the sense of adventure in the beers they had sold over the years (initially at next-door Coppers) and what customers had taken home with them, plus what the business was all about. “A pineapple-infused beer seemed to reflect that,” he said. “It had to be an IPA, it had to have bite, and it had to have a high alcohol content. The beer created by the guys from Northern Alchemy
Fruity: The Hop Secret crowd gets a shot of pineapple is all about what Coppers and Hop Secret has been built on and it’s exactly what the brief asked for.” Pineapple IPA (6.7% abv) was unusual in that it was the first time Northern Alchemy brewer Andy Aitchison had achieved exactly what he wanted first time around and explained to the gathering how
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difficult developing a new brew is, getting the ingredients right and how long it takes. The Northern Alchemy team also gave a highly entertaining and informative talk on origins of the brewery and also answered questions on brewing (in a former shipping container) and their own brewing experiences.
NEW BUSINESS
MORE FUN THAN SELLING FLOWERS
Scandi dandy: Nick Talbot and Gemma Lindsay Photo: Peter Skelton The word Nord is used in several European languages to mean North. It’s the same in French, Danish, German, Italian, Norwegian and Swedish – even Catalan – but there’s something
appropriate about saying it in Whitley Bay-ese. Nord. It sits well and it fits a new bottle shop and tasting room on the town’s Park View. “It has a bit of a Scandinavian vibe,”
says Nord co-owner Nick Talbot who runs the business alongside partner Gemma Lindsay. “It suits us and the way we’ve done the place out.” A very attractive corner shop, previously a florist’s and retaining its high, handsome glazing, Nord is quite stark in true Scandi manner. Pine table tops echo the polished timber flooring which blends with raw MDF shelving, counter front and back bar in a “work in progress” fashion. Large slabs of dark green and black contrast the piney edge. Six keg taps serve a variety of beers which most visitors sip while searching through the three fridges stacked high with colourful bottles and cans, matching mood to beer and vice-versa. Then they might take another glass into the rear tasting room to do a bit more studying. “The local businesses and residents have been very positive about us being here and see us as another reason to come to Whitley Bay,” says Nick. “Everyone who has visited has been really good, really positive.
“Our customers come from a wide range of ages – 25 to 75. In fact one older chap comes in every couple of days and has a drink.” Nick and Gemma were hit by that classic ailment that strikes most people, regardless of their employment. “We were sick of working for other people,” says Nick, who was in the digital sector while Gemma worked in recruitment. “We wanted to do something with our interest in beer – and we’re really glad we did it.” The word Nord slips off the tongue easily – which is perhaps why Nick and Gemma cornered the name for a beer shop in the first place.
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WHAT’S ON
FR LOCEAE DELI L VERY
@COPPERS DISCOVER THE FINEST INTERNATIONAL & LOCALLY CRAFTED ALES & BEERS FROM THE BEST INDEPENDENT BREWERIES ACROSS OUR REGION HERE AT COPPERS
JOIN US FOR THE LAUNCH OF THE CHEERS MAGAZINE WINE SECTION IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LANCHESTER WINES TUESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER FROM 6:30PM
MEET JO NASH, THE MULTI AWARD-WINNING WINEMAKER FROM MCPHERSON WINE CO IN VICTORIA, SOUTH EASTER AUSTRALIA A RELAXED EVENING, IN TRUE AUSSIE STYLE. JO WILL HOST HOURLY TALKS AND TAKE Q&AS AS YOU ENJOY WINE AND FOOD PAIRINGS IN COPPERS PRIVATE TASTING LOUNGE.
Gigs ’N’ Festivals SEPTEMBER 20-23
YORK BEER & CIDER FESTIVAL York Beer & Cider Festival (CAMRA) Knavesmire, Tadcaster Road, York, YO24 1DJ An amazing 500-plus beers and 100 ciders on offer. www.yorkbeerfestival.org.uk/
SEPTEMBER 28-30
TYNEMOUTH BEER FESTIVAL Tynemouth Cicket Club, Tynemouth, Tyne & Wear Featuring 60 beers, 20 of which are local – with a twist. It’s expected they’ll all be collaboration beers each produced between two breweries or more which will include Tyne Bank, Two by Two, Errant, Wylam, Box Social, Cullercoats, Almasty and Dog & Rabbit breweries. The collab beers will also be available in local pubs. More details in the July/August issue of Cheers.
OCTOBER 12-14
SUNDERLAND OCTOBERFEST The Point, Holmeside, Sunderland SR1 3HY Forty real ales and ciders. Thursday and Friday, noon-11pm; Saturday, noon-7pm. www.camra-angle.co.uk/
OCTOBER 12-14
SCARBOROUGH REAL ALE, CIDER AND ARTS FESTIVAL Old Parcels Office, Platform 1, Scarborough Railway Station, Scarborough More than 65 real ales plus 20 ciders. Hot and cold food with live music to entertain further. scarboroughbeerfestival.camra.org.uk/
HOP SECRET TURNS ONE CELEBRATE THE FIRST BIRTHDAY OF COPPERS PRIVATE TASTING LOUNGE. ALL INFO WILL BE AVAILABLE ON OUR FACEBOOK AND TWITTER PAGES SOON 17 PRINCES ROAD GOSFORTH NE3 5TT TEL 0191 217 0043 FOLLOW US @COPPERSGOSFORTH AND FIND US ON FACEBOOK REFER TO FACEBOOK FOR OUR OPENING TIMES.
WE STOCK LOCAL SO YOU CAN SHOP LOCAL
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34 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
OCTOBER 26-28
CRAFT BEER CALLING INTERNATIONAL BEER FESTIVAL Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park. Newcastle The cream of the world’s leading craft brewers assembled under one roof for one weekend only. Gin palace, cider cellar, sumptuous street food market, top-class DJs, break-out events for special tastings… what more do you need? Breweries involved include Basqueland Brewing Project, Beavertown, Cloudwater, Wild Beer Co, Verdant Brewing Co, Buxton, The Kernel, Magic Rock, Northern Monk, Siren Craft and, of course, Wylam. The invited breweries run their own bars which means more taps running at the same time and an opportunity to interact with visiting staff to get to know more about their beers. www.craftbeercalling.com
AWARDS
PODIUM PLACES APLENTY PROMOTES PERFECTION IN PINTS
It’s been a bit of a whirlwind few weeks for beer competitions – and here we pay tribute to the brewers from the region who are now jingling with medals and attempting to find space on their walls for framed certificates. Brew York and Rooster’s came home with the two top awards in the SIBA North East Independent Beer Awards. As far as SIBA (the Society of Independent Brewers) is concerned, the North East includes the whole of Yorkshire, Humberside, Cleveland, Durham, Tyne & Wear and Northumberland. Brew York Brewery took the overall Gold in the cask ale category with Keras American Pale Ale, whereas Rooster’s from
Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, was named overall small pack (bottle and can) winner for Twenty-FourSeven Session IPA. Elsewhere, it was a good day at the tasting bench for Cullercoats Brewery (Tyne & Wear) as Fortification won Gold, its best-selling Shuggy Boat Blonde took Silver, while Rocket Brigade IPA and Dry Hop Project #23 Ernest both gained Bronze. At the British Bottlers’ Institute competition, Durham Brewery Bede’s Chalice took the gold medal in the strong ales class, while Black Bishop was awarded a diploma. The World Beer Awards also unveiled some well-deserved
Arms full: Bill Scantlebury and daughter Olivia success for Durham, along with Northumberland’s Anarchy Brew Co and Allendale Brewery plus Black Sheep from North Yorkshire. Durham Diabolus Oak-Aged Russian Stout was named Country Winner in the Wood-Aged category, while Allendale Brewery Pennine Pale was also a Country Winner in the Session IPA class. Anarchy Brew Co’s Urban Assault (Country Winner, Pale Ale) and Anti-Venom IPA (Country
Winner, IPA) made it a nice double for the Morpeth-based brewery. At Black Sheep, Riggwelter took Gold in Strong Beers; Choc & Orange Stout was Country Winner for Sweet/Milk/Oatmeal Stouts. Black Sheep Ale (Silver, Pale Beer), and My Generation (Bronze, Pale Ale) were also something shout about. All country winners progress to the global awards. The final list of World’s Best Beers is scheduled to be announced on September 21.
www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 35
PUB NEWS
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COUNTER CULTURE Tyneside’s pub scene is vibrant and shows no sign of slowing down with new initiatives putting us up there with anything, anywhere. Alastair Gilmour reports to achieve for a long NEWCASTLE TAP Stylish: Newcastle Tap time. Beer lovers in “I’ve finally got the Newcastle city wall space to do it,” centre have been he says. further spoiled by Further wall the opening of the coverings display a Newcastle Tap on clever use of timber Neville Street. The and paint with a pub completes a trio trawler, fishing net of great places to and its fishy catch drink and eat within removing any notion a few paces opposite of getting too serious Central Station, about drinking beer. slipping snugly The American theme between The Head is underscored by of Steam and Central swivelling barstools Oven & Shaker. (and no brass foot Decidedly and rail, but a foot-high unashamedly long length of plain American in style – grey concrete) while large and functional up in the rafters, with design features exposed service based in practicality ducts, trunking and steelwork do their jobs. And rather than decoration for decoration’s sake – you’d expect to see yellow and black stripes on Newcastle Tap features 24 beers (on tap, of the pillars of a multi-story car park rather than course) with sixteen US and European craft in a slick pub, but it’s a clever way of bringing keg offerings and eight cask ales, all gravity-fed essential load-bearing structures into play. to stylish taps from an upstairs cellar visible The counter surface and table tops are through a huge glass panel. finished in highly desirable West African Aruba Food is simple – pizzas in either “classic” wood. form or “tapped creations” freshly made and Beers and descriptions are displayed on a cooked at a designated station on one end of railway destination-style illuminated board – the long bar. Thornbridge Magic Rock, Primator, Bernard The pub marks the seventh in the Tapped and Celtic Marches are numbered like station Brew Co portfolio, a business set up by platforms. Derbyshire railway engineering colleagues Collectively, it all works beautifully. Jamie Hawksworth and Jonathon Holdsworth which includes venues in London, York, THE CHILLINGHAM, NEWCASTLE Harrogate Leeds, and the magnificent Sheffield Tap takeovers are now commonplace in pubs. Tap, the former Edwardian first-class dining They’re a chance for breweries to show off their room on the city’s railway station. The Leeds latest creations, they create excitement in the and Sheffield outlets have their own, custompub, and drinkers get a chance to try something built brewhouses, combining traditional English they perhaps haven’t been able to before. and Czech brewing techniques to procuce The trouble is, blink and you’ll miss them – beers which are also available to the group’s tap takeovers are so popular the beers have other pubs. generally disappeared within a day or two, or One whole wall is covered in a mesh of over a holiday weekend. staves from wooden casks, knitted intricately Anarchy Brew Co’s current initiative at The together in a mesmerising pattern that pub Chillingham in Heaton, Newcastle, couldn’t designer Simon McIlwraith from Newcastlebe more different. We’re now into the second based Collective Design admits he had wanted
PUB NEWS and Exhibition Park where Wylam Brewery are Road, Newcastle, doing so well. Newcastle match-days mean the had been in the pub’s full all day and we’re expecting to build a doldrums for midweek following with people staying around too long but its here rather than going into town. It’s trial and potential was error to begin with.” fairly obvious Beers will be on a local revolving programme – and that’s with Brinkburn Street Byker Blonde and what tempted Brown Ale first up followed by the likes of Box two Heineken Social Brewing’s Gentleman’s Nectar and Tyne employees Bank Silver Dollar. Lagunitas IPA is on keg working in London alongside Terrace Pale, brewed in Edinburgh to take it on. on Caledonian Brewery’s pilot plant which is Elliott Fulton Chillingham general manager Micky Conroy, right, normally reserved for experimentation. Amstel and Keir Carnie, with customer Dennis McLean. Photo: Peter Skelton Lager and Red Stripe complete the lager offer trading as Locked while the caffeine buzz is courtesy of Tynemouth Inns, have now Coffee Company. month of sampling the full range of the Morpeth, thrown the pub’s doors open following a The former sealed-up front door is open – the significant investment by Star Pubs & Bars, Northumberland, company’s beers. And there North Terrace is starting to fulfill that potential. Heineken UK’s leased pubs business. “Thrown are a lot of them to taste, from Boot Boys, open” quite literally as the main front Sublime Chaos, Blonde Star and Strait Jacket to door had been blocked up for as long Anti-Venom and Live Free… Or Die. as anybody could remember while The Chillingham’s long-serving general previous ownerships preferred to use manager Micky Conroy explains the reasoning a side door. behind a two-month brewery takeover as Physically, the place is opposed to one of two days. recognisable, apart from the tasteful “We’ve found it’s better for our customers décor that Elliott and Keir insisted on and for the brewery to get to know the brand a hands-on approach at every stage, thoroughly,” he says. “We have people come fearing that a pub group “clone” in all the time and ask for the beer we had might be in the designers’ minds. on a day or two ago and it’s gone. Holding a They needn’t have worried, and built tap take-over over two months rather than a a good working relationship with weekend like most pubs, means we get great each other. support which works well for everybody.” Distressed paintwork, exposed The Chillingham, owned by the Sir John Success story: The Old Fox, Felling, Gateshead brick and white tiling come together Fitzgerald group, underwent a refurbishment THE OLD FOX, GATESHEAD well with an open kitchen – pizzas and salads all last November and the large-fronted pub is as We all love a good, old-fashioned success story, the way – showing every ingredient is fresh and sparkling as it’s ever been since it was built in particularly where pubs are involved. The first seasonal where possible. 1882 as the East End Hotel (becoming The anniversary of the reopening of The Old Fox in “It’s our first experience of running a pub,” Chillingham Hotel in 1907). Felling, Gateshead, passed during the summer says Elliott (originally from Tynemouth). “Nothing “You have to know who your customers are,” and those 12 months couldn’t have been better prepares you for it. Being a beer rep is says Micky. “We’ve for partners Karl Parkin and Jan Colman. easy by comparison. kept one room as a Elliott Fulton, North Terrace The pub has been transformed from standing “We’re really pleased with the way traditional bar with a Photo: still into a five hand-pull real ale, craft beer things are going, but we’ll know better pool table and juke-box, Peter and music venue. Beers include Fyne Ales when the students and lecturers get back. we’ve got a comedy Skelton Jarl, Double Maxim and White Rat from Rat It’s a great location, next to Newcastle club and have a University, the RVI (Royal Victoria Infirmary) & Ratchet. Refurbishment remains a work function room upstairs in progress – which tends fitted out for corporate to happen when you do bookings and training everything yourselves – with courses. And you’ve yet another phase, such as a got to see my wall of new beer garden, surprising whisky; I love it and even the most regular of am planning to make it regulars. even bigger. Karl Parkin says: “We “We offer a flight of still have a lot more we three different whiskies and want to achieve with this stock everything including pub. We have some amazing Glenfiddich Project XX which customers who deserve the tastes of summer fruits and best we can give them. candy floss.” Live bands play every Saturday night, a full band THE NORTH TERRACE, of buskers turns up every NEWCASTLE Well designed: The North Terrace, Newcastle Monday and a quiz answers The North Terrace, facing Photo: Peter Skelton Thursday entertainment. the Town Moor on Claremont www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 37
FUN STUFF
SIGN OF THE TIMES A real classic, this one. An open-ended notice taped to the shutters of La Casa Spanish delicatessen in the Grainger Market, Newcastle, says all – yet nothing. (The shop is well worth the wait, by the way.)
THE DIRTY DOZEN TWELVE TEASING TESTERS FOR THE GREY MATTER
1 What was Louis Glass and William S Arnold’s 1890 invention, often found in pubs? 2 In the Tour De France, who or what is Le Lanterne Rouge? 3 How long is a French president elected for? 4 Movie actor, writer and director Allen Stewart Konigsberg is better known as whom?
A MAN WALKS INTO A BAR… …AND THE BARMAN SAYS: “YOU LOOK A BIT ANNOYED TODAY, WHAT’S WRONG?” THE MAN SAYS: “I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE UPSET. I PAID A LOT OF MONEY FOR A PRETENDERS GIG LAST NIGHT AND WAS SO LOOKING FORWARD TO IT. BUT IT TURNS OUT IT WAS A TRIBUTE BAND.”
EEH! NUMBERS
1513
5 Which day is Domingo in Spanish? 6 How many strings does a mandolin have? 7 How many boxing matches did Muhammed Ali lose? 8 Erik de Rode discovered which country? 9 The horribly disfigured John Merrick was given which nickname? 10 What do you get when you cross a female donkey with a male horse? 11 The Canary Islands are named after which animals? 12 What would you be performing by doing an Eastern Cut-Off?
The date of the Battle of Flodden, North Northumberland (September 9). Nearest pub, The Red Lion Inn, Milfield NE71 6JD. Biscayne Bay 1513 MDXIII Golden Ale (4.3% abv) brewed to celebrate the year explorer Juan Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for the Spanish crown. The number on Russell Cave Road, Lexington, Kentucky, of the Plaza Bottle Shop off-license.
QUOTE “WE BEGAN WITH ‘BREAKFAST’ ON THE TRAIN. BREAKFAST DID NOT INVOLVE FOOD, BUT WAS INSTEAD THE TERM, THE CODE, WE USED FOR VODKA AND ORANGE – THE SCREWDRIVER THAT GOT EVERYTHING WORKING FIRST THING IN THE MORNING.” KEITH FLOYD, FROM HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY STIRRED BUT NOT SHAKEN
QUIZ ANSWERS: 1 The jukebox. 2 The last cyclist. 3 Seven years. 4 Woody Allen. 5 Sunday. 6 Eight. 7 Five (to Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick). 8 Greenland. 9 Elephant Man. 10 A hinny. 11 Dogs. 12 It’s a high-jump technique.
38 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
NEW to the core range
13.5g of American hops per litre
A compendium of some of the most aromatic American hops deliver punchy aroma and tropical, lychee flavours followed by a strong but highly drinkable bitterness.
www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 39
eat DRINK FESTIVAL at
hoults yard
walker road, newcastle, ne6 2hl w w w . eat dr in k f est . co . u k
october 1 3 - 1 4 , 2 0 1 7
THREE FESTIVALS. TWO DAYS. ONE VENUE. Appetite Zone - over 20 of our region’s finest food specialists offering a great taste of the region. Cheers Zone - the region’s premium cask and bottled ale distilleries assembled for your delight. Spirit Zone - the very best of our Northern heritage with over 80 gins on our bar and 10 distilleries offering small batch premium gin tasting and sampling.
GREAT LIVE MUSIC - FOOD DEMOS - DRINKS MASTERCLASSES
to buy tickets visit www.eastdrinkfest.co.uk @eatdrinkfestncl
eatdrinkfest