cheers WWW.CHEERSNORTHEAST.CO.UK // NOVEMBER 2017 // ISSUE 75
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 !
UNDERCOVER GUIDED TOUR BEST BOOK THE BREWERY TRIP
THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW MICROPUB IN EXCELLENT NICK
GOLDEN PROMISE
THE WORLD’S FIRST PILSNER HITS 175
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WELCOME We’ve just gone through what is termed Stoptober where misguided (but no doubt wellmeaning) organisations try and persuade us to give up things like alcohol for a month. Fairly soon they’ll be calling for Dry January when even more pressure will be laid at the pub door as people “detox” from the festive excesses. So the last thing the pub industry needs right now is a tax hike in this month’s Budget. Figures from the British Beer & Pub Association show sales of beer in Britain’s pubs suffered a worrying 3.6% drop from July to September, the worst third-quarter performance for five years. The news has prompted urgent calls for a halt to yet more beer tax rises in the Budget on November 22. The slump in on-trade sales represents an astonishing 35 million fewer pints sold in our pubs, bars and restaurants. Beer sales were also hit by a 3.9% tax rise in the March Budget yet the Chancellor plans yet another increase this month. Coupled with pressure from sky-high business rates and the “health lobby” the move would see many more pubs closing. We’ve got to admit that it’s tempting on these darker, colder nights to take one look out of the window and decide to not bother with the pub quiz. Shake yourself off and head for great beer, good crack and warm welcomes. Maybe it’s time to be a rebel. Contact your local member of parliament to register your disapproval at Chancellor Hammond’s plans. Sign petitions, be contrary, resist, dissent, and if you can’t exactly take to the streets, take yourself to the pub. 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 16
GOLDEN PROMISE
On November 11, 1842, a revolution in beer first saw the light of day. The world’s first clear golden beer had been brewed five weeks previously on October 5 in Plzen, Bohemia, and the reaction was astonishing. Called Pilsner Urquell (“from the source”), it was fresh, clear and refreshing with a hint of caramel sweetness and a fragrant, balanced hop bitterness. It was a proud moment for the city of Plzen which gave its name to the pilsner style of beer that conquered Europe’s palate then influenced brewing across the globe.
COVER: PILSNER URQUELL IS 175 YEARS OLD. PHOTO: WWW.VISITPILSEN.EU
STEPPING INTO THE VIP BREWHOUSE IS LIKE COMING ACROSS AN OLD BARN AND DISCOVERING A CLASSIC DAIMLER THE GREAT NORTH EAST BREWERY GUIDE
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RAILWAY UP AND RUNNING BOOK THE GUIDED TOUR THE VIEW FROM BOSTON FUN WITH FUN STUFF
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
READY FOR A HAIRRAISING TRIP?
It’s time to get out on your bike. A “winter warmer” Taches & Lashes Country Cruise is set to head off for a ride in aid of the Movember Foundation. It sets off on Sunday December 3 (10am) from Station East in Gateshead, pedalling via the Derwent Walk to the Railway Tavern, Rowlands Gill and taking in another pub or two. There’s an entry fee of £10, all of which will go to the charity – but there are conditions attached. Every rider is invited to grow a moustache and/or beard, but obviously female cyclists will be let off with false eyelashes. The Movember charity raises awarenesss of men’s health issues such as testicular cancer, prostate cancer and suicide. Details/entry forms from Station East staff or the Facebook page @stationeastgateshead
TRUST A BEER TO BENEFIT RUGBY LEGEND Allendale Brewery is donating money from every pint of a new beer sold to a foundation set up in the name of a sporting legend. Former Newcastle Falcons, Scotland and British Lions rugby star Doddie Weir has been diagnosed with motor neuron disease and his supporters have set up a discretionary trust to assist him and his family’s welfare and to raise awareness of the currently incurable condition. “When we heard, we immediately wanted to help,” says Tom Hick at Allendale
Brewery. “We are releasing a special beer and donating 10p from every pint sold. Doddie Weir’5 Golden Ale will be available in cask and is being brewed throughout November and December. Please contact the brewery for more details.” A huge fans’ favourite, Doddie Weir played 97 times for Newcastle Falcons, won 61 caps for Scotland, played for the Borders and was selected for the 1997 British and Irish Lions’ tour of South Africa. For further information on the trust please visit at www. doddieweir5trust.co.uk
Battler: Doddie Weir in his Scotland days
PLOT A PINT AND PICK A PUB Former graphic designer Steve Lovell always liked the design of the London Underground map and a few years ago he decided to see if he could make a similar one of pubs instead of stations that would cover all
of his home town Leeds. He was really pleased with the result and the Orderaround map has proved popular, leading to others covering West Yorkshire, Hull, York and Darlington. Now Newcastle city-centre and the wider area
has had the Orderaround treatment. www.albanydesign.co.uk
NOVEMBER 4th 11th 18th 25th
Dust Town Dogs Somebody’s Cat The Boneshakers The Frogs
8.30PM 8.30PM 8.30PM 8.30PM
DECEMBER 2nd 9th 16th 23rd
101 Giroscope Hair Of the Derg The Whole Hog
8.30PM 8.30PM 8.30PM 8.30PM
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
DOG
FRIENDLY
PUB
NEWS
WARM FAREWELL FOR OLD SHOP
FEATHERS ROASTS THE COMPETITION
Newcastle food and drink emporium mmm… glug… marked its move this month from its Grainger Market home to larger new premises on nearby Grainger Street with a hot event. Lovers of chillies and beer had the opportunity to enjoy the best of both worlds with a spicy beer brewed by North Shields craft brewery Flash House Brewing. The free tasting of Shy Shy bairns: Simone Clarkin and Jack O’Keefe Bairns Get Stout (Six) with Flash House head brewer range of chillies for cooking up great Mexican Jack O’Keefe was held to say recipes. goodbye to the shop first set up in 2008 by “Jack loved the idea of making the sixth stout Simone Clarkin, later joined full-time by her in his Shy Bairns series with ancho, cascabel, husband Ian. chipotle, guajillo, mulato and pasilla chillies to Simone Clarkin said: “Our customers love Flash House’s beers and they also love our huge mark our expansion plans.”
ALL-SINGING, ALL DANCING, ALL FUN The folks at the Tyne Bar in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley are very excited about their upcoming Xmas Fair. Saturday November 25 is the diary entry for a day of entertainment held in the pub’s beer garden under Glasshouse Bridge. The music programme goes something like this: 12.30 Ravenswood Junior School Choir singing carols. 1.30 Rock Choir with choirmaster Rob Slater. 2.30 The Millie-eve
duo. 6.30 Paige Temperley. 9.00 DJ (name to be confirmed). Fifteen quality gift stalls have been booked as well as food traders such as Northumberland Soup Company, The Travelling Bee Company, and The Northumberland Cheese Company, while there will be a gourmet chocolate drinks menu, mulled wines and ciders, and of course, lots of food from the Tyne Bar kitchen – including the chef’s gourmet pies – plus chefs Stefano and Sophie from Tower Cafe with their wood-burning pizza oven.
We know we’re pretty good at things in the North East when it comes to food and drink, but it’s still enormously satisfying to discover the best roast dinner in Britain can be found at a Northumberland pub. The Feathers Inn, Hedley-on-the-Hill, Stocksfield, saw off competition from hundreds of pubs across the country to earn the title. A judging panel led by food critic Charles Campion was impressed by locally-reared beef and quality side-dishes such as braised red cabbage, honey glazed parsnips, cauliflower cheese and parsley and mint glazed carrots. He said: “The roast dinner is a signature dish for the whole nation. At The Feathers they care about their roast dinners and it shows. Yorkshire puddings are like savoury clouds; dark rich gravy; perfectly cooked meat from local farms; and shrapnel roasties. We all deserve a local like The Feathers, and we all deserve a roast dinner this good.” Rhian Cradock, head chef and owner with his wife Helen, said: “It’s a real crowning jewel in the year that The Feathers celebrates its tenth anniversary. Our roast is a real team effort and we’re enormously proud of our talented team for winning this award.”
FOX & HOUNDS 4 Handpulls - 3 Regular & 1 Guest Ale on rotation Sunday Lunch - 12 til sold out Monthly Themed Dining Evenings Live Entertainment Monthly Buskers every Tuesday Weekly inQUIZition every Wednesday including a Free Pie and Peas Supper FOX & HOUNDS WYLAM - Main Road, Wylam NE41 8DL. Tel: 01661 599172 www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 5
NEWS
MICROS SET TO ENHANCE CITY PUB SCENE Newcastle city centre is about to benefit from two new micropubs. The Mean Eyed Cat has been granted a license and planning permission to convert a former newsagents in St Thomas’ Street, opposite the Haymarket Bus Station. Owners Dave and Julie Campbell – renowned for the quality of everything they provide from beer to live music – report that it will take some time to turn the empty shell into a welcoming pub. “We have the contractors on standby ready to start as soon as
possible,” says Julie. Meanwhile The Wobbly Duck (working title) on Forth Street – next door to thriving micropub The Box Social – has been granted a license with planning permission yet to be approved. If it all goes ahead, the pub will be run by Karl Parkin, left, and Jan Coleman who own the Old Fox in Felling, Gateshead, and will be managed by Pete Allen, formerly of Station East, Gateshead. Karl and Jan have built the Old Fox into a real homely gem and plans are well advanced there to install a 50-litre microbrewery.
THEY CALLED, YOU CAME, WE IMPRESSED
Craft Beer Calling, Wylam Brewery’s annual festival of some of the world’s best craft beers, reports another hugely successful event with invited guests such as Basqueland Brewing Project, Vocation Brewery, Mad Hatter, Magic Rock, Beavertown, Stern Craft Brew, Wild Beer Co, Verdant, The Kernel and Deya (with locals Almasty and Box Social plus
hosts Wylam also performing well in this company) all expressing amazement at the sell-out sessions. The atmosphere at all sessions during its three-day run was an electric mix of anticipation, excitement and total satisfaction which shows that when we put our minds to projects of this nature, the North East takes some beating.
DRINK FRESH! BECAUSE WE CAN. wylambrewery.co.uk | 6 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk WYLAM_Cheers_Nov17.indd 1
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NEWS
CAMRA TYNESIDE PUB OF THE YEAR
NO OFFICE SPACE IN PUBS FINAL
CAMRA TYNESIDE CIDER PUB OF THE YEAR
BLOCK & BOTTLE CHARCUTERIE NIGHT AT THE FREE TRADE The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has named the best four pubs in the country in its Pub of the Year 2017 competition – but sadly the North East representative didn’t make the cut. The Office micropub in Morpeth, Northumberland, took the region’s challenge to the last
16 but it was a highly-creditable effort by staff and customers. The Camra finalists are the Weavers Real Ale House, Kidderminster, Worcestershire; The Stanford Arms in Lowestoft, East Anglia; Wigan Central (pictured), Wigan, and The Cricketers, St Helens, Merseyside.
TUESDAY 22 NOV
SCREAM FOR PIZZA QUIZ AND PIZZA NIGHT
EVERY WEDNESDAY PIZZA FROM 5.30 PM
CHARITIES IN LINE FOR 22-GRAND SURPRISE An amazing £22,000 donated to charity at the annual Tynedale Beer Festival has been handed out to good causes across the local area. The highly-popular three-day event, organised by Tynedale Lions in partnership with Tynedale Rugby Club, attracts thousands of beer-lovers every June from all parts of the North East, North Yorkshire and Cumbria. This year’s beneficiaries are the
Calvert Trust Kielder, Marie Curie cancer care, and youth initiatives in Hexham and Corbridge. The amount raised was a record for the festival which is rather appropriate as 2017 is not only the centennial year of Lions International, but the rugby club’s 40th anniversary. Well done all, and a fitting tribute to Andy Deacon, a rugby club stalwart and one of Tynedale Beer Festival’s founding fathers, who passed away earlier this year.
YOUNG BLOODS SHOW THEIR TALENTS
The region’s pub chefs have done well in the latest Young Chef of the Year competition run by the North East Culinary & Trade Association (NECTA) which promotes culinary and service excellence. Winner was Elliott Teasdale from Newcastle-based 21 Hospitality group, while second was Callum
Bell from Pleased to Meet You (Ladhar Leisure) – also Newcastle – with Malachy Rowe, The Feathers Inn, Hedley-on-the-Hill, Stocksfield, Northumberland, taking third spot. NECTA committee chairman Douglas Jordan said: “The standard and skill were extremely high and the North East should be very proud.”
PROUD TO SUPPORT ALL OUR LOCAL NORTH EAST BREWERIES WITH THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE SELECTION OF LOCAL BEERS AVAILABLE ANYWHERE.
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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NEWS FEATURES
GOING DOWN TO THE WOOD TODAY North East brewers have been ageing beer in wooden casks for quite some time now. Ageing in the wood has historical and romantic connotations. One of those with a heavy investment in the process is Durham Brewery and head brewer Steve Gibbs is always eager to explain how he has delved back in time to produce forward-looking beers. “Modern breweries use wood to mature and flavour beer but
8 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
it wasn’t always so,” says Steve. “Right into the 20th Century, brewers used wood because that was all they had. Casks made of wooden staves bound by iron hoops were made by hand by coopers. There was nothing special in this; indeed many commodities were transported in wooden casks, such as flour and meat. “Sizes of casks were standardised, so if a barrel of beer was purchased, the buyer knew he had 36 gallons. Other sizes of
Cask the question: Durham Brewery’s conditioning room cask had their specific designation, for instance, a nine-gallon cask is a firkin. “Some beers were deliberately aged in the wood for a secondary fermentation by brettanomyces (a type of yeast). Porters were aged for up to a year in massive vats, gaining a vinous character much loved by Londoners. New cooperages are making new casks to satisfy the increasing demand from craft brewers, but many brewers obtain previously-
used casks from whisky, wine and rum makers to benefit from their residual flavours. “At Durham Brewery, we use whisky hogsheads – 54 gallons – to mature Temptation, Imperious and Diabolus. Currently, there are six hogsheads of Belgian-style Redemption maturing for next year and six of Bombay 106 Traditional IPA. Imperious has been bottled and should be out for Christmas. “And our World Beer Award winner Diabolus is nearly sold out,”
NEWS FEATURES
HARLEY GIVEN A TROUBLE-FREE RIDE
Love hate: John Taylor and his Harley-Davidson Stables Brewery brewer John Taylor’s Harley-Davidson keeps breaking down. It has caused him endless grief, ruined days out, and cost him a lot of money in repairs – but he loves it to bits. Engine failure is such a regular occurrence that
John says he knows every RAC rescue man by his first name and he doesn’t even have to give them his phone number. He also reckons he has developed Stockholm Syndrome towards his classic motorbike. This condition is named after a six-day siege in Sweden in 1973 when bank employees were held captive by a gang, causing them to develop a psychological alliance with their captors. “I go out on the bike knowing there’s a good chance of me not getting home,” says John. “One good thing about breaking down is it always tends to be near a real
ale pub. The latest was the Lord Crewe Arms in Bamburgh.” Apparently the bike’s big end went kaput outside The King’s Arms in Deptford, Sunderland, but he did once manage to limp home from the Lake District. “I’ve ridden a Moto Guzzi bike through Holland and France without any bother,” says John, “but I can never leave home on the Harley without a toolbag. The thing is though, it’s got style and soul – it’s got that oomph that’s a cross between Tom Waits and Robert Palmer.” So, if you spot a red winecoloured Harley on the roadside with someone scratching his head and about to aim a kick, it’ll be John Taylor. But he knows the name of the mechanic who’s on his way.
HOPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
Our beer of the month is Lervig Oat IPA (7.2% abv) which was originally brewed by the Norwegian brewery’s head brewer to celebrate his 40th birthday. And what a fantastic present he chose for himself. As its name implies, it’s loaded with rolled oats for a full body and tempered with Nelson Sauvin and Hallertau Blanc hops to pull out a grape-like flavour. Superb.
THE BRIDGE TAVERN BREW PUB & EATERY
www.thebridgetavern.com
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BEER NEWS
INN AT THE BEGINNING
Ever since Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves used a dodgy Sat Nav in 1991 to get from the Dover coast to Nottingham Castle via Hadrian’s Wall, visitors from all over the world have made the pilgrimage to see the famous tree in what has now become known as Sycamore Gap, writes Ian Young. Far from being a wilderness, the area around the Wall at Twice Brewed can boast some of the best food and drink the country has to offer – and it’s now getting even better. There’s now a brewery attached to the Twice Brewed Inn to enhance the offer from the
award-winning pub. Andy Smith, former head chef at Langley Castle, and his wife Sue put The Red Lion at Newbrough, Northumberland, on the map and has taken charge of the Twice Brewed Inn. He always had a desire to have his own beer brewed and now – following months of planning and having the foresight to join forces with the highly enthusiastic and innovative brewer Red Kellie – Twice Brewed Brewery is up and steaming. And what was the first beer brewed? Sycamore Gap of course. Head brewer Red Kellie explained that it’s a pale session beer (4.1% abv) brewed with Cascade hops with
Once brewed: Andy Smith, left, and Red Kellie Lemon Drop hops added following fermentation to fill out its citrus characteristics. Other beers available are Ale Caesar Amber Ale (4.2% abv), Twice Brewed Best Bitter (3.8% abv) and Vindolanda Excavation IPA (5.3% abv). Coming soon will be Hit The Wall Extra Special Bitter at 5.2% abv. Andy Smith is committed to his principals of sustainability, using fresh local produce and supporting the local farming and business community. All spent grain from
the brewhouse goes to feed cattle grazing along Hadrian’s Wall and the beef then gets served up in the Twice Brewed Inn restaurant. Local means local, too; the pub has its own spring providing water. Twice Brewed developments include a refurbished bar, restaurant and brewery taproom where there are already bookings for weddings with functions, food and beer matching evenings, and a lot more planned. Maybe Kevin Costner’s Sat Nav wasn’t faulty after all.
THANKS TO ALL WHO ATTENDED CBC17… TILL THE NEXT TIME x craftbeercalling.com 10 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk CBC17_Cheers.indd 1
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BEER NEWS
Meat and drink: Steven Warren and Katie Cullen
UK FIRST IN AWARDS SHORTLISTS
MORE AROMA FROM YOUR HOPS Hops are expensive, there’s no doubt about that, and the brewing process can be wasteful of their precious aroma. However, there is a natural enzyme which helps to break down hops and extract more aroma and flavour – so brewers have to use less, saving money. Ideal for dry hop beers, HopFlower releases more natural linalool, the source of those deeply desirable lavender, citrus and floral notes. In an average brew, brewers only extract 50-60% of hops’ potential flavour, wastefully throwing away
ingredients which have not added all of their goodness. HopFlower can offer an extra 20-30% per cent extra aroma extraction, improving beer as well as finances. NicheSolutions have been giving out free samples to breweries and microbreweries all over the UK and the feedback has been very positive. Steve Dawson at North Yorkshire’s Crooked Brewing Ltd said: “We’ve trialled it in small-scale and largescale brews – and it works really well. HopFlower really adds something to our beers, so we’ll definitely be ordering soon.”
It’s all happening at Block & Bottle, the UK’s first free-range butcher and craft beer bottle shop that occupies a railway arch at the Bridges Quarter of Gateshead. The business, situated at the end of the High Level Bridge, is run by Steven Warren and Katie Cullen has been shortlisted for the Innovation of the Year category at the Butchers Shop of the Year Awards taking place this month. The unusual enterprise – started up barely seven months ago – has also been selected as a finalist in the Taste of England category at the North East England Tourism Awards organised by NewcastleGateshead Initiative in partnership with the Northern Tourism Alliance. Fingers crossed. Block & Bottle has also released a special Canvent Calendar – a pack of 24 beers for the festive season.
www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 11
NEWS
NO TIME GENTLEMEN, PLEASE
GONE BEYOND A JOKE
Regular reader and globetrotter Nick Snaith has been in Ukraine soaking up the local culture – sampling beer being an integral part of that. He passed on this beer label with a few observations. Nick says: “Remisnyche beer is from the Carpathian area of Western Ukraine. At 4.6% abv it’s about average strength, describing itself as ‘pivo svetle’ or light beer. The most popular brands are Obolon and Rogan as well as Lvivska and Chernigivs’kyj, both named after the cities they are brewed in. All retail at about 40p-50p per half-litre. “Beer in Ukraine is widely available on the streets from chiller cabinets as well as in bars and restaurants. Drinking culture is huge with vodka being the favoured spirit. Ivan will go into a bar, order ‘sto gram’ – 100g – of vodka and a similar volume of lemonade or cherry juice. The vodka is sunk first, all in one go, followed in similar fashion by the lemonade, then he walks out. Total time spent in the bar, approximately 45 seconds.”
E ST. 2017
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of tiling with it. We’re pleading to the robber’s Our Pickled Egg cartoonist Cluff (aka sense of contrition (presumably it’s a bloke) John Longstaff) has had one of his and ask him to return it. Ralph has replaced cartoons stolen from his Darlington local. it with another of John’s works – showing a John’s witty comment on the accelerating burly chap in the urinal stealing tiles off the closure of pubs featured in satirical wall. magazine Private Eye and the original was framed Reproduced courtesy of Private Eye and hung in the gents’ toilets in Number Twenty 2 Ale House & Canteen because owner Ralph Wilkinson thought it summed up the situation so well. John tells us that the thief ripped it from the wall with such force that it took a section
R I G G A N D F U R R O W. C O M
The Quayside Exchange 197 High Street East, Sunderland, SR1 2AX Tel: 0191 514 4574 Email: events@quaysideexchange.com www.quaysideexchange.com
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PUB NEWS
THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW There’s no better experience than visiting a rural enterprise, writes Alastair Gilmour, especially when it’s a pub Golden Cocker would know that It would appear that the vast someone who could brew a beer majority of the population of of such exquisiteness would know Rothbury, Northumberland, how to present another brewery’s has been in the nick. Not, we beer on the bar of his own pub. hasten to add, in prison, but the The Narrow Nick majors narrow alleyway that connects a on solid, traditional, good-forresidential part of town with the something ales from the likes of commercial High Street. Wylam and Big Lamp breweries. So, when Paul Johnson Gold Tankard, Galatia, Prince converted a former dress shop into a pub with partner Sarah McWilliams Bishop and Summerhill Stout from adjacent to the lengthy passageway, these two Newcastle outfits are perfect for towns like Rothbury there was no other name to call it which don’t have enough of the than The Narrow Nick. audience for hop-heavy and sour Paul had previously established beers that city-centre drinkers Gun Dog Brewery, then Acton enjoy that entices them to hop from Brewery, and founded a clutch of bar to bar (although there’s enough micropubs around Northumberland of the more traditional being which he no longer owns. The enjoyed to keep everyone happy). Narrow Nick is his latest venture “I go out with my trailer on a – with more in the offing – and 18752 Cheers 1/3 page ad.qxp_PRINT 31/10/2017 13:35 Page 1 Monday morning and pick up what anybody who ever tasted Gun Dog
Winter is Coming… Brinkburn Street Brewery’s ‘Winter Is Coming’ gift sets are the perfect Christmas gifts for that beer lover in your life. Visit the website for retailers: brinkburnbrewery.co.uk
14 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
Thriving: Paul Johnson and Sarah McWilliams at The Narrow Nick I need,” says Paul. “They’re brilliant beers and perfect for a place like this.” During summer months, The Narrow Nick kept six handpulls turning over nicely but with winter around the corner, four will suffice. The pub opened its doors in October 2016 so in business terms, it’s still early doors. Paul says: “It’s going very well, really well.” “Everybody in Rothbury knows the nick,” says Sarah. “It runs
between the pub and the Co-op and there’s a part of it in the middle that narrows a bit so that’s called Fat Man’s Squeeze. We’ve named the gents toilets after that and called the ladies Narrow Knickers.” The Narrow Nick is a former fashion shop with impressively high windows punctuated by stained glass and generous sills ideal for parking backsides. It’s a tastefully-decorated one-room pub featuring tables fashioned from wooden barrels, a counter
PUB NEWS
top salvaged from the Percy Arms at Otterburn, and light fittings that once illuminated the Railway pub at Bedlington Station. Suffice to say, Paul is something of a recycler. A ceiling-high fireplace recess previously covered up by the former occupant has been commandeered into another sitting area, while bookshelves (read one, borrow one, swap one) are set in what would have been a doorway in its townhouse days. A lady from Verona in Italy who owns a house in Rothbury which she visits for the summer months, painted a picture of the pub frontage because she loved the place so much. The delightful watercolour now takes pride of place on one wall. Paul says: “We get a lot of people coming here who wouldn’t go anywhere else. It’s a completely niche market where tourists and locals mix very well, creating a buzz and a lively atmosphere.” It’s notable how many passersby wave at whoever’s behind the
Photo: Jennifer Hanover
bar, with the sort of look that signals “see you later”. Stonking beers and a selection of 36 gins are the attraction. Fat Man’s Squeeze is another story.
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PILSNER AT 175
GOLDEN PROMISE A new beer first saw the light of day 175 years ago this month. Alastair Gilmour relates the story of Pilsner Urquell, one of the world’s greatest beers In Britain put Olympic gold medallists on postage stamps and pay our footballers obscene amounts of money. We promote concert room singers to the realms of royalty while minor celebrities dance their way into national treasure status. But beer, the breweries it’s made in, and the pubs where it’s consumed are considered “add-ons” in this country; something for the masses to get on with while we were building empires and storing up enormous political problems across the globe for hundreds of years to come. We never consider beer, breweries and pubs as woven into the fabric of society with an incalculable influence on commerce, enterprise and history. Thankfully, other nations do. In 1838, a momentous event in Plzen, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic, but then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) saw 36 barrels of bad beer smashed and emptied into the city’s streets. Around 250 burghers had brewing rights in the city but poor quality beer combined with some tavern owners charging higher prices than others (meaning the beer sold slower and turned sour), and the threat of cheaper imported 16 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
beers replacing their own brews was strangling business. Something had to be done. A committee of important townsfolk decided that the answer was to build one new brewery to be run by the city. In January 1839 a plan was agreed upon and work started to build this new enterprise. A young architect named Martin Stelzer was enlisted to build the Burgher’s Brewery, a forerunner to the present-day Pilsner Urquell brewery (Plzensky Prazdroj). Seltzer went off to study the best in brewery design and construction before returning to Plzen with plans for a state-of-theart brewery, choosing a site on the banks of the Radbuza River. The sandstone rock there would be relatively easy to carve out a network of tunnels for cold storage but deeper underground were aquifers to supply the distinctive soft water that would make Plzen’s new beer so special. Josef Groll, visionary Bavarian brewmaster, was hired to brew the beer and he combined new techniques to produce pale malted Moravian barley; he used aromatic Zatec (Saaz) hops; he drew on Plzen’s soft water, and chose a lager yeast. A new beer was born and unlikely heroes created.
PILSNER AT 175
The first batch of Groll’s new beer, Pilsner Urquell (“from the source”) was brewed on October 5 1842. Five weeks later, on November 11, it was presented to drinkers in the town. It was an amazing beer – the world’s first golden lager – and it was fresh, clear and highly quaffable with a hint of caramel sweetness and a fragrant, balanced hop bitterness. It was an immediate success, a sensation, and a proud moment for the city of Plzen which gave its name to the style Pilsner or Pils which then swept across Europe and the rest of the world. Germany, France and Holland soon claimed pilsners as their own – previously most beers had been murkily dark or sulkily brown – but the original source remains supremely important to the Czech psyche. Beer is almost part of their religion, certainly their national economy, and it could be argued it’s in their blood. For example, five years ago, a special 170th anniversary brew was blessed by Plzen’s bishop Frantisek Radkovsky in a ceremony attended by international brewery chiefs and city and national dignitaries, that was broadcast on television to the nation. Pilsner has become a generic term for any bottom-fermented golden beer with around a third of the world’s total light beer production coming under the category Pils or Pilsner. Pilsner Urquell is one of the world’s classic beers which is quite remarkable, given the history of Central Europe since it was first brewed. The First World War brought about the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, giving rise to a new state, Czechoslovakia. Then came the Second World War and the German invasion which was followed by 40 years of Russian rule and communism which resulted in isolation from its Western neighbours. The Velvet Revolution in 1989 split Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but despite this turmoil the passion for beer and the quality of their favourite brew, Pilsner Urquell, never wavered. They had developed one of the world’s greatest beers and they weren’t going to let that one go. And yes, they’ve produced postage stamps in the beer’s honour.
Cold store: The undergound cellars at Pilsner Urquell’s brewery in Plzen. Top: The brewery’s impressive entrance. Photographs: www.visitpilsen.eu
www.pilsnerurquell.com Photographs courtesy of www.visitpilsen.eu With special thanks to Visit Pilsen (www.pilsen.eu/tourist) and CzechTourism UK www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 17
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Charles Bieler and Charles Smith
MEET CHARLES BIELER
A wine innovator, explorer, marathon runner and New York hipster, Charles Bieler has an eye for the creative opportunity, an ability to spot an opening before it materialises, and a knack for combining outrageous propositions into a winner. He got his first big break from his father, who put him in charge of the family estate, Château Routas in France’s Provence region. Charles’ youth and creativity turned the winery around. Today, Charles is one of the most exciting winemakers in America and in 2014 was named in Wine Enthusiasts ‘40 under 40’ list, which salutes the leaders of a new generation of tastemakers Charles continues to innovate across all sectors of the wine market. He produces the eponymous Charles and Charles Wines with his partner Charles Smith, himself a winemaking institution in Washington state, and he is a founder partner of the Three Thieves wine brand. Charles provides the role of the ‘Hustler’, alongside Joel Gott’s ‘Master’ and
Roger Scommegna’s ‘Dreamer’. While he’s firmly based in the US now – splitting time between his home in New York and wineries in California and Washington State – he spent his formative wine business years in Provence, including several years at the renowned Chateau Routas. Cheers Magazine caught up with Charles mid-harvest to find out more about his latest projects and how his career was almost very different HI CHARLES. WE HEARD YOU COULD HAVE HAD A CAREER IN MUSIC, WHAT MADE YOU SWITCH TO WINE? My father, Philippe, pulled me from the music in the mid 90’s, when I was 21. He called me, I was entering my senior year at University of Colorado at Boulder and said, “Listen, kid. I’ve got all this wine we’ve been making.” The winery is in Provence, in Coteaux Varois. The winery is called Routas, making lovely wines. For my dad, who had been in finance, this was a more of a hobby later in life, but he wanted it to be
WINE a proper business. It was making him crazy that it was as hard as it was to sell stuff. He had started the winery in ‘92. I guess he called me, what was it ‘99, for those next years it would just been building inventory more or less. He said, “Hey, listen kid. I just need one year of your life for you to come help me. I’ve never asked anything of you”, this is true, and always supported me, which he had. He said, in another year you can do whatever you want, but I need somebody to help me figure out how to get rid of this stuff. You can sell it wherever you want. Looking back, it was pretty reckless of him of that time – he basically handed me the keys to the business! SO THIS WAS YOUR FIRST FORAY INTO WINE? I honestly had no intention of getting into the wine business, none at all. It was my dad’s thing. I was born in London, but growing up lived in both New York and Montreal. I had an interest in politics and I was a ski racer at the University of Colorado, trying to make the US ski team. I had spent a little time in the winery and in the vineyards, summer breaks and winter breaks, but the wine business was my dad’s. I liked wine, but that was it. IS IT TRUE YOU TRAVELLED THE US IN A PINK CADILLAC? Ha ha, yeah I did! It was at a time when rosé was considered gauche, so I travelled the US in a pink Cadillac to promote the Routas rosé and helped light a fire under the category. My soul hometown is Waterbury Center, Vermont. As I said, I moved around a lot, but that was the one place that was consistent, it’s where my mom still is. Waterbury is known for two guys named Ben and Jerry who started a little ice cream company there. They bought an
Air Stream trailer, painted it cow colours, and went around the country scooping out ice cream and made it a national brand. Here we were making lots of rosé, and were like, okay, they bought an Air Sstream trailer, I can buy an old Cadillac and paint it pink. This is going to be my method to get people to talk about something that made no sense to most people. Actually, pink wine did make sense. It was thought of as a sweet thing for someone who wasn’t sophisticated. TELL US MORE ABOUT THE WINES YOU MAKE WITH CHARLES SMITH UNDER THE CHARLES AND CHARLES BRAND. I’ve had a vision to make world class rosé in the Columbia Valley. So in July 2008 I called Charles, he was the only person with a Washington telephone number that I knew. And I think he’s the most talented winemaker in Washington State so could he either point me towards some great growers or can we do this thing together? When I asked Charles about joining me in this mission to make world-class balanced Provencal style rosé he paused for a second as he had a lot going on, which I did as well, but them gave a confident, “we gotta do this”. So we started with total focus on making world-class rosé in the United States. But as I learned more about the opportunities for making Cabernet, Syrah and other varietals through Charles and his team, we realised we had to make more than just rosé. At this point, we’re dedicated to five wines: rosé, Cabernet blend, Chardonnay, Merlot blend and Riesling.
YOU’RE ALSO PART OF THE THREE THIEVES? This is a project with two friends, Joel Gott and Roger Scommegna. It started about the same time we received the offer on my dad’s winery, Routas. We launched Three Thieves in 2002, and in that first year we came out with a litre jug of Zinfandel. It was a total lark to make fun of the wine industry by putting delicious Zinfandel into a jug. Jug wine was the icon of cheap and bad and we were playing with all of that. It launched this whole series of wines that’s been very exciting. Charles Bieler’s Charles and Charles and Three Thieves wines are available across the North East. Ask your local Bar Staff for more Three Thieves details. 2015 Group Shot www.lanchesterwines.co.uk
MEET CHARLES’ PARTNERS ROGER SCOMMEGNA: THE DREAMER Serial entrepreneur, connoisseur, grape grower and hotelier Roger Scommegna was born to an American mother and immigrant Italian father, learning childhood lessons about hard work and creativity that have shaped his career to this day. Roger has a rare talent for spotting opportunities and giving the public what they want. In 1983, looking to buy his first home and frustrated by the difficulty of finding available houses, Roger started a marketing company that ultimately became Realtor.com, the world’s most trafficked real estate website. He began a new chapter as a winemaker and hotelier in 1999, becoming a partner in the Boonville Hotel and building Signal Ridge vineyard in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley. Other recent projects include upstart beverage companies, Black Dot Vodka and Bite Hard apple cider. JOEL GOTT: THE MASTER A fifth-generation winemaker, he grew up in the business, learning everything he could from his father and grandfather, both legends in California’s wine industry. Joel made his debut at a very early age, helping out in the vineyards and cellars as a little boy. It was no surprise when he became apprenticed to Mike Lee, wine master at Kenwood Vineyards in Sonoma. Joel’s first solo act as winemaker came in 1996 with an intense Zinfandel from Amador County, a show-stopping wine that garnered Joel Gott Wines critical acclaim. In 2003, Joel formed the Three Thieves with fellow wine lovers, Roger Scommegna and Charles Bieler. The trio launched Bandit wines and The Show, amongst other side projects. Food is also on the bill for Joel—he and his brother revamped Taylor’s Automatic Refresher, a legendary St. Helena burger joint, and rechristened it Gott’s Roadside. Today, it’s a destination restaurant with three popular locations.
www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 19
BEER NEWS
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efficiency – and having a good product People who work in the beer to sell – that James Andrews has business often have a canny made such a success out of Champion knack of squeezing efficient Bottle Shop & Taps in Heaton, working areas out of the tiniest Newcastle (pictured above). spaces. Pub landlords can get The tiny off-license has recently maximum efficiency out of been refurbished into the rear garage, particularly small cellars. HEX-06 cheers ad awk.qxp_Hexhamshire Brew cheers ad awk 30/04/2015 08:46 extending storage space and into the It’s partly through these terms of
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PUB NEWS rear garage that now houses the large fridge that keeps six lines of keg beer at optimum temperature. This has left space to reorganise the service area – six beer taps and three draught wines – plus a clever device that shoots CO2 into take-away growlers then fills them up with beer. That way, the beer keeps longer, is fresher and the bottles are more sterile. James has kept the same number of bottles and cans in the four fridges – 250 at a quick calculation – but has arranged them in styles rather than as specific breweries. Customers focused on a particular type of beer find it easier and less confusing. A couple of tables and chairs are ideal for locals popping in after work and having a catch-up over a beer or trying one or two before taking a supply home. A large outdoor bench catches every bit of sunshine and watches the world go by. Eventually there will be room for four more tables out the back, but that’s a work in progress. James says: “It’s getting even busier; people are liking the new layout. The American bottles are going well at the moment and we’re getting interesting beers and ciders in all the time. A popular one is collaboration beer called Pullyu from New Zealand’s Yeastie Boys and Gladstone Vineyard that pushes the boundaries of beer and wine. “We want to keep what we offer as high quality as possible. You can grab any bottle in here and it’ll be a good one.”
THERE’S A TAVERN IN THE TOWN
What’s the best response to a constant moan about not having a pub in your village? Apart from moving to a place where there is one, it’s to open your own. And that’s exactly what Stephen Olver (pictured above) did in Rowlands Gill, Derwentside. The Railway Tavern opened in early October in a glass artist’s former studio. “I had never pulled a pint in my life,” says Stephen. “We were fed up with not having a pub since the Townley Arms closed in 2000.” (Actually, the Vale of Derwent Social Club sits nearby and the café at the Gibside Estate across the river doubles as a pub at weekends.)
The Railway Tavern is bright and cheerful and features original framed historic photographs of Rowlands Gill. Beers on the bar are as local as they could be – Firebrick Brewery from Blaydon; Hadrian Border, Newburn, Newcastle, and the Old Potting Shed at High Spen. There’s also a wellchosen wine list. In keeping with the micro-pub ethos, there are no televisions, background music or gaming machines, although customers are invited to pick up the guitar in the corner and play it. Stephen is pleased with the way the local community has turned out in support – just what you need in a village with a thirst for more.
WINE, DELI, ENOTECA TA S T I N G S a n d E V E N T S
GIFT VOUCHERS and GIFT WRAPPING 3a Elmfield Road | Gosforth | Newcastle upon Tyne | NE3 4AY
Tel 0191 2131818
www.carruthersandkent.com www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 21
EAT DRINK FESTIVAL
CHEERS! Were you there? The region’s first Eat Drink Fest was a treat. Here’s more…
WINNER OF THE BES T INSTAGRAM POST Sophie Smith @sophieksm ith1 For more pictures and videos of the #eatdrinkfestnc l why not follow us on: @appetitemaguk @eatdrinkfestncl
The first Eat Drink Fest at Hoult’s Yard, Newcastle, brought together some of the region’s best food and drink producers, welcomed by 1,800 hungry visitors who did their bit to vacuum up all that was on offer and go home very happy. If you went and didn’t have the chickpea and potato curry from Mivesi, you missed a treat. If you did have one of the amazing wraps from Papa Ganoush, you enjoyed some of the best street food there is. The efforts of these fantastic producers were matched by street food from a host of brilliant vendors including the excellent Greedy Goose, La Petite Crêperie, Longhorns, Lost & Found, Northumberland Sausage Co, Northumbrian Bakehouse, Little Fishy, and the charming Adventures in Aude, all serving up fabulous food inside and outside The Clay Shed at Hoult’s Yard in the Ouseburn, Newcastle. Brought to you by Cheers, our sister magazine appetite, and Festival Concepts, the two-day festival was created to celebrate all that’s good about North East food and drink. It began a few months ago, when a few of us got together to discuss a gin festival. And why not – it’s one of our our favourite tipples, after all. We recruited premium distillers including Durham Gin, Whitley Bay Gin, the excellent Hepple Gin from Northumberland, and for the drivers, the fantastic Temperance Spirits Co, which creates (whisper it) an alcohol-free ‘G’&T, and knew 22 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
we had a winning formula. Then someone mentioned beer, and local brewers came on board, including the excellent Nicola and Tom Smith with their Muckle Beer, new kids on the block Rigg and Furrow, wheat-free specialist Autumn Brewing Co, and Sonnet 43. Then we recruited some of our favourite chefs to put on fascinating demos, including the brilliant Martin Charlton of The Boat House Food Group, the ever-entertaining Bob Arora from Sachins, and Anjana Doshi from Pan Asia. Live music was brought to us by Sour Mash Trio, Kathryn Wales, Richard Sutton and Eliza Lawson, creating a fantastic atmosphere and an event which exceeded all our expectations. So, thank you to all who came. See you next year!
Appetite Zone Adventures in Aude, The Greedy Goose, La Petite Crêperie, Little Fishy, Longhorns, Lost & Found, Mivesi, Northumberland Sausage Co, Northumbrian Bakehouse, Ouseburn Coffee Company, Papa Ganoush, WMH Farm Foods.
Chef keynote speakers Bob Arora, Sachins. Martin Charlton, Boathouse Food Group. Anjana Doshi, Pan Asia. Kitchen provided by NECTA.
Cheers Zone Amble Butchers, Autumn Brewing Co, Box Social Brewing, Champion Bottles and Taps, McColls Brewery, Muckle Brewing, Rigg & Furrow, Sonnet 43.
Spirit Zone Alnwick Gin, Durham Gin, Eden Mill Gin, Hepple Gin, Lakes Distillery, Ludovici, Masons Gin, Newcastle Gin, Poetic License, Temperance Sprit Co, Whitley Bay Gin.
Gin and Cheers speakers Andy Petherick, Alnwick Gin. Steve Brace, Poetic License. Ross Holland, Box Social Brewing.
Bands Sour Mash Trio, Kathryn Wales, Richard Sutton, Eliza Lawson.
Thank you All who came and enjoyed it with us, Hoult’s Yard for hosting our event, NECTA (North East Culinary and Trade Association), London Bar and Kitchen LBK, Fever-Tree.
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NEW RELEASE
SOMETHING’S BREWING OVER 132 PAGES A new book detailing the life and times of North East breweries is published this month by Offstone Publishing, publishers of Cheers North East. Written by Cheers editor Alastair Gilmour with the majority of the photography by Peter Skelton, The Great North East Brewery Guide covers the region’s beer, breweries and the people involved. Here is a flight of tasters to whet your appetite:
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VIP BREWERY, NORTHUMBERLAND “Stepping into the VIP brewhouse is like stumbling across an old barn somewhere remote and discovering a forgotten, classic Daimler. It takes you by surprise. VIP is not exactly remote but you’re greeted inside its huge barn door by a collection of lovely honey-brown, timber-clad brewing vessels – one sitting above another.”
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24 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
NEW RELEASE WHITLEY BAY BREWERY, TYNE & WEAR “Visitors to Whitley Bay can expect to come across a new species of seagull. And it’s flying out of the town’s first microbrewery. Seagull Pale Ale (4.2% abv) was commissioned from Whitley Bay Brewing Company by celebrated author Ann Cleeves, creator of the Vera Stanhope detective novels that have also proved extremely popular in their ITV adaptation,
Vera. The Seagull is the name of the eighth book in the series and is set in Whitley Bay.” BEACON BRAUHAUS NORTHUMBERLAND “When you name your first beer after a song with the lyrics “I’m all right where I am”, it suggests a certain level of brewing confidence. Lady Eleanor Elderflower Pale Ale, the inaugural beer from Beacon Brauhaus “pico-brewery”, was
launched in 2016 at the newlyunveiled Lindisfarne Festival, which was appropriate, given that North East folk-rock legends Lindisfarne were on stage at the time and included Alan Hull’s 1971 song in their set.” *Available from the 35 breweries mentioned and Waterstones bookstores from early December – priced at £15 – it’s a terrific Christmas gift for the beer-lover in your life.
Durham Brewery
Beers from Sonnet 43 Brew House
Consett Ale Works
www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 25
VIEW FROM ABROAD
CLOWNS, MONKS AND IDLE HANDS
In another far-flung beer quest, Ian Brown sets out for Massachusetts It’s autumn and there’s a whiff of wedding anniversary in the air. My wife Carol booked a trip to Boston to commiserate. I was hoping for Boston in Lincolnshire but she had set her heart on Massachusetts. She said: “We’ll be in time for New England in the fall, where the leaves have perfected the art of dying.” And here was me hoping for a few pubs around Lincoln to perfect the art of drinking and falling over. I eventually came round to the idea when I realised that Boston is
the epicentre for craft beers in the US and there’s a Cheers bar, a tour of the Sam Adams brewery – with free beer – shed-loads of pubs and an interesting beer-related history. On September 16, 1620, the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth with about 100 passengers and barrels and barrels of beer, which was a much safer option than water and sustained the crew and passengers on their transatlantic journey. In beer making, any bugs are destroyed by heat and the alcohol acts as a preservative. Essentially, beer was a way to
hydrate without catching dysentery from water. However, upon landing – and having to drink water because they had exhausted their beer supplies – the Pilgrim Fathers discovered that barley and hops were not the easiest ingredients to come by so many beers were brewed with innovative flavouring agents such as oats, wheat, pumpkin, parsnips, and popularly, spruce. In 1637, Robert Sedgewick began operating the first brewery in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A lot more came and went. The
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Boston Beer Company was founded in 1828, chartered and incorporated by an act of the Massachusetts Legislature, followed by 27 others. Boston Beer Company lasted until 1958, but it was on Patriot’s Day in April 1985, that Jim Kotch unveiled Samuel
VIEW FROM ABROAD
Hymn and beer: A brother monk checks a sample at Spencer Brewery, Boston Adams, to characterise the modern American craft beer renaissance, and revived the Boston Beer Company name. Sam Adams is now the second-largest craft brewer in the nation, producing in excess of 4.1 million barrels and employing over 1,500 people.
Boston has been the heart of (arguably) two of the US’s most important revolutions: the American Revolution and the craft beer revolution. It’s apparent all over the city with historic sights and an abundance of craft breweries and taverns.
The following is just a selection: Boston Beer Works is the largest chain of brewpubs in the state. Starting up their Fenway location in 1992, each outlet has at least 20 beers on tap. Clown Shoes was founded in 2009 and known for strong ales, fanciful label art and creative naming of getting on for 100 brews (Space Cake, The Undead Party Crasher). Clown Shoes was taken over by Harpoon Brewery on October 31. Idle Hands Craft Ales was founded as the “first Boston area nano-brewery” in 2010, their focus on old-world barrel-aged offerings. Jack’s Abbey is a lager-only brewery, founded in 2011, and has been creating some of the most distinctive lager variants ever seen. Mayflower Brewing (Plymouth), a ten-yearold brewery known for its variety of IPAs, spot-on English Porter and small batch specialties. Mystic Brewery. In existence since 2011, this barrel-focused brewer makes some killer Saisons, which make up roughly half regular
production – also specialising in wild/sour ales, barley wines, and double IPAs. Top Notch Brewing has focused specifically on well-crafted session ales since 2010, with none of their beers ever topping 4.5% abv. Spencer Brewery produces America’s first and only certified Trappist beer and is brewed by the monks of St Joseph’s Abbey (pictured). The brother monks set out across Europe for two years to learn the original craft from their brethren. They’ve been operating since 2013 and have now created five styles; two classic Belgian and three American. My favourite beer was Sam Adams Seasonal Octoberfest, which has a rich, deep golden amber hue, blending four roasts of barley and German hops to create a delicious harmony of sweet flavours that include caramel and toffee. It pitches in at 5.4% abv. *Ian Brown also visited Cheers bar in Boston where he left copies of Cheers for the regulars’ amusement (and education).
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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 www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 27
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GN Packaging
Units B&C, Smarden Business Estate, Monks Hill, SMarden, Kent TN27 8QL Search GNPackaging@takeoutbeerhoppers
Specialists in Beer Books, Postcards, Posters & Signs Our product range covers material from England, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany and the U.S.A. They will be of interest to beer drinkers, memorabilia lovers, brewers, publicans, bar designers plus many more beer enthusiasts. We deliver by mail order and can also ship abroad.
Beer-Inn Print (Est 1997) Long High Top, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX& 7PF Tel: 01422 844437 Email: beerinnprint@gmail.com order online at: www.beerinnprint.co.uk
AWAY WITH YOU
This month we have an all-female selection of photos posted by readers. What an amazing lot you are! Louise Reeves sent us this one of her reading Cheers while scuba diving in Crete. Carol Brown and her husband Ian took a trip to Boston – so where did they take copies of Cheers? None other than the city’s Cheers bar, made famous on the television series. Ian’s report on Boston breweries is on page 26. And Trish Thompson was spotted with the best of reading matter in Birmingham en-route to see Leeds-based indie-band CUD. Let’s see if the “boys” can come up with an equally varied selection – you’re invited to come and have a go if you think you’re Cheers enough. Trish Tompson in Birmingham
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Louise Reeves under the Mediterranean off Crete
three kings Advert.pdf
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Scotia Welding & Fabrication
Micro Brewery equipment from individual components to a turnkey application. All aspects of brewing consultancy if required. admin@scotiawelding.co.uk | www.scotiawelding.co.uk | 01578 722 696 www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 29
FUN STUFF
SIGN OF THE TIMES We’re always amazed at signwriters who can’t spell. One out of two for this Bigg Market, Newcastle, shop.
THE DIRTY DOZEN TWELVE BRAINTEASERS THAT WILL MAKE YOU THINK WHILE YOU DRINK
1 In the Simon & Garfunkel song Mrs Robinson, what was her original name before it was used in The Graduate? 2 In Indian cuisine, what ingredient is known as “the fragrant one”? 3 Whose last movie was the 1976 The Shootist? 4 Which European city is built on 14 islands?
A DOG WALKS INTO A BAR… …AND SAYS, “DO YOU HAVE ANY JOBS GOING?” THE BARMAN LOOKS ON IN AMAZEMENT AND SAYS, “I’LL GET YOU ONE SINGING AT THE BUSKERS’ NIGHT ON MONDAY. WE COULD MAKE A FORTUNE GOING ROUND THE BARS.” “THAT’S NO GOOD TO ME,” SAYS THE DOG. “I’M A PLUMBER.”
5 The name of which boardgame means “sparrow”? 6 What is the only country to host the Olympics and not win a gold medal? 7 When would you use the word “kanpai” in Japan? 8 Which Irish actor was nominated for an Oscar a record eight times and never one? 9 Which street reference translated literally means “arse of a bag”? 10 YouTube made its debut in which year?
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11 The Irrawadday is the longest river in which country?
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12 Name the only four-time winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
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EEH! NUMBERS
465
The amount in millions of hectolitres of beer that China brews in a year (the world’s biggest producer) The number of the Sustrans cycle route that connects Llanhilleth with Brynmawr via Abertillery The J-465 is a sixperson Jacuzzi hot-tub with illuminated waterfall and audio system.
QUOTE “IF YOU ARE SITTING IN THE BAR AND YOU ARE ORDERING 28 BEERS AND THEN SUDDENLY SOME OF YOUR COLLEAGUES ARE LEAVING WITHOUT PAYING, THAT IS NOT FEASIBLE. THEY HAVE TO PAY. THEY HAVE TO PAY.” JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION (ON THE STUTTERING BREXIT NEGOTIATIONS)
QUIZ ANSWERS: 1 Mrs Roosevelt. 2 Basmati rice. 3 John Wayne. 4 Stockholm. 5 Mahjong. 6 Canada (Montreal 1976). 7 As a toast such as Cheers. 8 Peter O’Toole. 9 Cul-de-sac. 10 2005 (February). 11 Myanmar (Burma). 12 The International Committee of the Red Cross.
30 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk
www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 31
FESTIVE BREW
now available
Enjoy this seasonal beer at a bar near you this festive season!
A uniquely brewed porter with a big flavour bill, brown in colour with notes of brandy, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and finished with an added twist of spiced pear.