Cheers North East magazine #76 - December 2017 / January 2018

cheers WWW.CHEERSNORTHEAST.CO.UK // DEC 2017/JAN 2018 // ISSUE 76

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WELCOME At this time of year we tend to reflect on what’s gone before, while tentatively looking forward to what will be. Many of us have had a great year, some of us have had a brilliant year, yet there always seems to be an air of constant struggle.

Let’s hope 2018 will be the year when all the hard work pays off and the penny finally drops with those who set tax levels and business rates that the pub is the hub of the community and deserves their support.

At Cheers, we’ve covered as many pub subjects over the past 12 months as there are topics of conversation – from live music to politics to art in pubs to food to… well, we could make a rather lengthy list but you get the drift.

But whatever the subject matter, it always comes down to pubs. Pubs are the lifeblood of the nation and a source of inspiration (certainly for us) and our microbrewery sector is as healthy as any region in the country.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our various contributors and our brilliant advertisers who know the power of a great medium and without whom we simply could not exist.

Then there is you, dear reader. Thank you for your continued loyal support and your positive messages – the odd note of criticism doesn’t go unheeded either – it’s all very much appreciated.

Have a happy and safe festive season. 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 24

JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVERAGE

Late in 2017 we published The Great North East Brewery Guide, a 128-page lowdown and insight into 35 breweries in the region related through a superb collection of fine writing and brilliant photography. Each are different in their own way through individual specialities and unique characters who undoubtedly influence the beer we enjoy at the end of the process (in the pub).

Priced £15, it’s available from the breweries featured, plus pubs, independent bookshops and Waterstones stores around the North East.

COVER: THEO AND PIPPA HOWIE, RIGG & FURROW BREWERY. PHOTO: PETER SKELTON

I RECKON THERE’S CERTAINLY A PLACE IN THE CHINESE MARKET FOR US ROSS HOLLAND BOX SOCIAL BREWING

ADVERTISING

Emma Howe 07854 011 704 01661 844 115 emma@offstonepublishing.co.uk

@cheers_ne @cheersnortheast @cheersmagazine_ne

While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for omissions and errors. All material in this publication is strictly copyright and all rights reserved.

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LATEST NEWS BREAD OF HEAVEN CHINA IN THEIR HANDS THE ART OF THE PUB

PUBLISHED BY: Publishers: Jane Pikett & Gary Ramsay Unit One, Bearl Farm Stocksfield Northumberland NE43 7AL Email: enquiries@offstonepublishing.co.uk Website: www.offstonepublishing.co.uk Twitter: @offstonepublish

When you have finished with this magazine please recycle it

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BEST BOOK THE TOUR HANGOVERS EXPLAINED GIFTS ARE FOR GIVING 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

WARM UP YOUR DECEMBER WILD AND WONDERFUL BEERS A specialist course in wild and natural fermentation has been formulated to provide brewers with the knowledge and skills to produce beers using novel ingredients and unusual processes.

A two-day session at Brewlab, the brewing training and analysis centre in Sunderland, is aimed at breweries looking to expand their portfolios.

Diversification into additional products is a valuable means of building on existing brands and reputation while opening new markets. The course provides an introduction to additional fermentations with a focus on the microbiology and production requirements - including isolating and managing wild yeast and bacteria - of cider and fruit wines, sour beers, Kombucha tea ferments, low alcohol and glutenfree beer production, and even growing edible mushrooms on spent grain. Additional attention will be paid to flavour assessment, recipe formulation, quality assurance, costs and finances. www.brewlab.co.uk

Fans of folk-rock giants Lindisfarne have a unique opportunity to see the band play in an intimate charity setting as they warm up for their legendary Newcastle City Hall Christmas shows.

The band will perform a special live set at The Cluny in the Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle, in aid of Future Fund which supports groundbreaking research into children’s cancers at Newcastle University.

Lindisfarne will also give the charity their full backing at their City Hall shows, which they have done for the past three years. The band has been as busy as ever with 2017 seeing them criss-cross the UK playing to packed houses at festivals.

Founding member and songwriter Rod Clements plays alongside Lindisfarne stalwarts Charlie Harcourt, Dave Hull-Denholm, Ian Thomson, Steve Daggett and former Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson.

CARL RICHIE VOCALIST & GUITARIST Available for all occasions

Recently returned from a number of London events.

Now available to perform in the area.

Some December and January dates still available.

Typical Pub gig: 50 mins / 10 mins break / 50 mins Contact Carl now on: 07950463145 carlrichiegatesheaduk@hotmail.com @carlrichie.gateshead.uk www.youtube.com/channel/UCQc4vpw-Z7k0f7HqcxXagmA 4 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

The Newcastle City Hall Christmas shows are on December 22 and 23, and The Cluny warmup gig - including a few musical surprises - is on December 12. Tickets: www.thecluny.com and www.thetheatreroyal.co.uk/whats-on/lindisfarne

Lindisfarne

NEWS

STOUT PERFORMANCE FROM CITY BREWERY Tyne Bank Brewery has received a SALSA (Safe And Local Supplier Approval) accreditation, the food-safety standard which reflects the legal requirements of producers and the enhanced expectations of “best practice” for food buyers.

In other words, it’s a great achievement and should open new doors for the Walker, Newcastle-based business.

On the beer front, Tyne Bank’s Silver Dollar keg (4.9% abv) is now available at Miller & Carter and Browns in Newcastle plus Vintage Inns throughout the North East, while Crème Caramel (5.7% abv) is back by popular demand for the festive season. It’s a rich, dark and luxurious ale - “crème brûlée in a glass” say some.

Brewery owner Julia Austin reports that the

SWEARY CHEF THE BUTT OF CRITICISM Gordon Ramsay has been given a taste of his own medicine after promoting a beer described in social media posts as “the world’s worst”.

Ramsay regularly berates participants on his television shows for their poor sense of taste and has seen his own tastebuds called into question after he appeared on a South Korean television advert describing Cass, a widely sold but often derided lager, as “great beer” and “bloody fresh”.

In South Korea filming an episode of a

Tyne Bank taproom is developing nicely with beer tasting and market events, gigs and DJ nights proving popular. December 9 sees a Christmasthemed market, with a Christmas party on December 23 and New Year’s Eve celebrations on December 31.

new series, Ramsay said he was far from embarrassed, declaring that Cass was “the beer of the people,” unpretentious, affordable and the perfect accompaniment to spicy Korean food.

South Korea’s mass-market beers have often been compared unfavourably with North Korean Taedonggang lager by Daniel Tudor, a British journalist who co-owns a craft beer pub in Seoul.

When asked about Tudor’s comments, Ramsay is reported to have said he wouldn’t worry too much about what the journalist said, “but when I do meet him I will kick him in the arse.”

BENEFIT ACTION FOR BREWERIES Rural enterprises in Northumberland including three microbreweries - have been successful in attracting a share of more than £600,000 in development funding.

The Northumberland Uplands Local Action Group, supported by grants from the Gillian Dickinson Trust, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Northumbrian Water, has awarded Twice Brewed Brew House £69,500 in establishment and growth money. Also receiving much-needed growth and job creation funds are the First & Last Brewery at the Bird In Bush pub at Elsdon, created by Red Kellie and her husband Sam (£16,000).

Red is head brewer at Twice Brewed and is heavily involved in Europe’s first studentrun brewery, Stu Brew, at Newcastle University. Hexhamshire Brewery, based at the Dipton Mill Inn near Hexham, is set to receive £13,000 The Northumberland Uplands Action Group uses the Northumberland County Council LEADER programme to provide grants to small businesses, farmers, foresters and communities for projects that create jobs and grow the rural economy.

Andy Smith, general manager and Red Kellie, head brewer at Twice Brewed

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 5

NEWS

MINIMUM PRICING GETS THE VOTE Scotland is set to become the first country in the world to have a minimum price for alcohol but the decision is not without its critics and doubters.

The Scottish parliament first passed legislation in 2012 which enforced minimum alcohol pricing. However, the matter has been embroiled in court challenges ever since, with the Scotch Whisky Association at the forefront of the battle against it.

Scottish ministers have said that a minimum price of 50p per unit would help tackle Scotland’s “unhealthy relationship with drink” by raising the price of cheap, high-strength alcohol.

On giving the judgement, Lord Mance said: “The 2012 Act does not breach EU law. Minimum pricing is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”.

Tom Stainer, Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) head of communication, said: “While we recognise the Supreme Court decision, Camra does not support minimum pricing as we believe it penalises moderate and responsible drinkers while doing little to support those who have issues with alcohol abuse.”

STAY, IT’S NOT FAR FROM BAR TO BED

Stop over: The Angel, Corbridge, one of those listed in Stay In A Pub The pulling power of pubs might be a longestablished phenomenon, but some people have just woken up to the idea. National tourism groups VisitBritain and VisitEngland have now placed links on their websites to the online guide, Stay In A Pub. The action was taken after their research, which stated that one of the top three places tourists wish to visit is a British pub, was quoted back to them.

Previously, there was no mention of pubs on the VisitBritain and VisitEngland websites. VisitWales has now also agreed to create the link and a Stay In A Pub initiative is being considered by VisitScotland.

VisitBritain has gone even further and

promised to use its 22 overseas hubs to promote pub accommodation.

The interest from foreign tourism is borne out by the fact that 13% of all enquiries to the Stay In A Pub website (www.stayinapub.co.uk) come from abroad, a figure which covers 100 different countries each month. With the devalued pound there is a strong attraction for people to visit Britain and the Government has promised this will be one of the key areas for support post-Brexit.

Stay In A Pub - a sister company to Cask Marque - lists 1,640 pubs with accommodation, many of them in the North East, which have benefited from more than three million views on the website.

Star-spangled getaways at Battlesteads Hotel Looking for a weekend away with a difference?

An observatory break at Battlesteads Hotel is perfect for anyone interested in discovering Britain’s beautiful night skies.

Located on the edge of Northumberland National Park, Battleteads’ observatory is an official Dark Sky Discovery site, where on a clear night the Milky Way can be seen with the naked eye.

One-night breaks at Battlesteads Hotel & Observatory start from £80 per person, including observatory tickets and breakfast. www.battlesteads.com info@battlesteads.com +44 (0)1434 230 209 @Battlesteads 6 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

NEWS

BUDGET LIFTS SOME WINTER GLOOM

Corks were popping up and down the country after chancellor Philip Hammond announced a tax freeze on beer, wine, cider and spirits just in time for Christmas. The £1,000 business rate relief for most pubs in England was also extended.

But not everyone in the industry is happy after hearing the Autumn Budget 2017.

Infamous high-alcohol budget drinks such as white cider got a bit of a kicking, with taxes on those set to rise in 2019.

On the subject of beer duty, The Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) national chairman Colin Valentine said: “Freezing beer duty will help arrest rising beer prices and keep the British pub-going tradition affordable. Now, to make a real, lasting difference we hope that this move represents the first step towards a longterm freeze. Camra is calling on brewers to match the chancellor’s support by holding beer prices so that local pubs benefit.

“The rate relief for another year shows that Government is alive to the threats facing English pubs, although more needs to be done. Camra is calling for further action to secure a thriving pub sector and would like this relief to be made permanent and increased to £5,000 a year. We would also like to see a wholesale review of

the business rates regime, which unfairly penalises pubs and rewards online retailers.”

The Society for Independent Brewers (SIBA) also praised the beer tax freeze for “recognising the important role of the Great British pub”, but put pressure on Philip Hammond to keep the policy in place for as long as the Tories stay in government.

“We’d now like to see the Chancellor go further and commit to a freeze in beer duty across the entire parliament,” said SIBA chief Mike Benner. “While news for our sector has been positive from the Chancellor, brewers and pubs still face a tough trading period ahead with uncertainty around Brexit and worsening growth and productivity figures.”

First step: Pubs like The Dun Cow in Sunderland will benefit from the Budget tax-freeze

PUB CAT’S LEGACY LIVES ON As we all know, Geordie humour knows no bounds. The flyer announcing a charity collection of cat food and treats in the name of Craig David, the Free Trade Inn’s much-missed pub cat, is a brilliant pastiche of the I, Daniel Blake film poster. It was designed by John Dyer. Bring your cat treats and pop them in the special bin at the Byker, Newcastle pub.

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 7

NEWS

ANCIENT METHOD IS NEW TO CITY

The tanks are gathering. Not to worry, it’s not a military coup or revolution (yet) but a distinctive method of storing beer ready for drinking.

The Botanist in Newcastle has installed two Budweiser Budvar tanks in much the same way that beer is delivered to pubs and restaurants in the Czech Republic. As the only venue in Newcastle to serve Budweiser Budvar Tankové Pivo (tank beer), the legendary lager joins an extensive list already on offer at the New World Trading Company pub within its Anthology of Ales section.

The Botanist’s two large tanks can be found to the left of the main bar, delivering fine-tuned pints of Budvar poured in just 10 seconds which is in marked contrast to the beer’s production period of 102 days.

This no shortcuts attitude to brewing is owed to the fact that the brewery is run by brewers, not accountants.

Brewed in České Budějovice (Budweis in German), a simple combination of ingredients including whole cone Saaz

hops, Moravian malt and Ice-Age soft water form the pale, smooth unpasteurised lager, giving it a full-flavoured and fresh taste.

Simon George, managing director, Budweiser Budvar UK, said: “We have had a great response to Budweiser Budvar Tankové Pivo in the New World Trading Company pubs around the country so we’re excited to introduce tank beer here.

“The tanks will be familiar to those who have visited the brewery in České Budějovice as they are scale replicas of the tanks in our cellars where we mature Budvar for 90 days. The freshness and flavour of Tankové Pivo is like drinking from the brewery tanks themselves.”

Budweiser Budvar (5.0% abv) is unique in that it is wholly owned by the people of the Czech Republic which has led to countless - and ongoing - worldwide territory rights over the name between it and the American Budweiser. It is the Czech Republic’s second-largest brewery (behind Pilsner Urquell).

Seasons Greetings & Happy New Year from all at The Bridge Tavern www.TheBridgeTavern.com 8 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

NEWS

IS IT GLUTEN-FREE OR GLUTEN-REDUCED?

There’s a steadily growing market for gluten-free beer, which allows everyone with an allergy or intolerance to wheat products to enjoy a perfect pint of craft ale. But what do we mean by “gluten-free” and should some beers carrying that tag actually be referred to as “gluten-reduced”?

People with coeliac disease - a reaction of the immune system to gluten, the protein found in many grains - and others who are allergic to wheat, barley and rye can still enjoy good beer, but there is a difference in how they are produced.

A gluten-free beer uses grains which are naturally free of gluten in the fermentation process – for example, sorghum or brown rice.

In that way, the beer does not have any gluten in it from start to finish. A gluten-removed beer uses wheat, barley, or rye to ferment and make the beer, which then undergoes a process to remove the gluten using enzymes to break it down into smaller fragments which theoretically would not induce an immune response in the person who drinks it.

Co Durham-based Autumn Brewing was the first brewing company in the UK to brew all its beers and lagers domestically using only naturally gluten-free grain brewing malts containing rice, millet and buckwheat, plus quinoa. It has won several awards for its pioneering glutenfree work.

Many breweries are adding gluten-reduced options to their range - not just to satisfy the demands of this group of beer lovers, but also because it’s a fairly simple process to remove gluten while the brew is clarifying.

Brewers are always looking at efficient and cost-effective products to use which offer greatly reduced gluten content as an extra benefit. SE Brew Clear from NicheSolutions (NicheSolutionsGB.co.uk) is one of a number of ways of clarifying beer without affecting its flavour or aroma.

As an added service, the company can also arrange for a sample of a particular brew to be tested by international medical diagnostics provider Synlab, with a certificate of UKAS accreditation.

Yo Ho Ho Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!

All The Best for 2018 To You & Yours From All At The Town Wall x Find us on Pink Lane, NE1 5HX www.TheTownWall.com @TheTownWallPub

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 9

BREAD OF HEAVEN

GREAT BEER BAKE-OFF

A Newcastle bakery is working closely with breweries, writes Alastair Gilmour

Beer is often called “liquid bread”.

In the early stages they’re similar products, using grains, water and yeast to produce the simplest of pleasures. They go their own way when the grain is milled into flour for bread and when hops are added (with a lot more water) to produce beer.

One Newcastle company, however, is combining the two by baking bread from brewers’ spent grains - still full of nutritional value and sending waste bread to brewers for them to make beer from.

Artisan Baking Community was

set up in 2013 as The Earth Doctors who started off a community bakery in Wylam at the local village fair.

“We are now baking real bread in communities across the North East and have changed our name to reflect this,” says the project’s founder Andy Haddon.

Artisan Community Bakery has relocated to premises at The Biscuit Factory contemporary art gallery in Shieldfield, Newcastle, and now has a full-time baker in Nick Metcalfe, former bar manager at Close House.

It continues to reach out into local communities such as Swalwell,

Gateshead; Walker, Newcastle; and Meadowell in North Shields where enthusiasts from every age group and discipline gather to knead, stretch and shape dough.

Andy says: “We have them from two years old to 102 – he’s a gentleman with dementia living in a care home and he loves it. Some have gone off to be bakers elsewhere.

“We don’t go in and say ‘let’s make some rosemary sourdough’ but start them off making stotties to get them interested and develop their skills and the practical side. Some of them are autistic and others have particular difficulties.”

Andy, a former home-brewer, was always keen to introduce a beer aspect, knowing that some beers can contain up to seven different malted grains which otherwise go into animal feed.

“They’re the best, they’ve got more texture,” he says. “We’ve been using wet spelt grain for making loaves which have a really solid crust.

Arch 2 Brewpub & Kitchen hollow them out and use them as soup bowls – then you can eat the bowl.

It’s a real collaboration with brewers.”

Artisan also uses grains which produce Newcastle Brewing Red Ale, Northern Alchemy’s Imperial Russian Stout and Cherry Stout from Tyne Bank Brewery.

“We want to demonstrate that artisanal products are not just for the affluent, they should be affordable,” says Andy. “You have to make it real for people, make it relevant.”

Allendale Brewery owner Tom Hick is a champion of Artisan and sees the collaboration developing.

He says: “We sent some spent grains to the bakery via Andy Nicholson at the Crown Posada in Newcastle. We love experimenting and trying new things, so we’re also looking forward to making a bread beer, which will present its own challenges, but I know [head brewer] Neil Thomas has some ideas up his sleeve.”

Andy was recently named North East & Cumbria Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year at the National Entrepreneur Festival 2017.

He continually emphasises the benefits of making bread, some of them not immediately obvious.

“Shaping loaves is also quite therapeutic,” he says. “You just get into the zone. It’s magical.”

DARLINGTON’S FIRST MICROPUB WILL BE OPENING IN DECEMBER 2017.

THE ORB MICROPUB - ALE AND WHISKY HOUSE WILL BE FOCUSSING ON PROVIDING THE HIGHEST QUALITY LOCAL REAL ALES, CRAFT BEERS AND A WIDE RANGE OF SINGLE MALT WHISKIES.

OPENING EARLY DECEMBER ORB MICROPUB, ALE & WHISKY HOUSE 28 CONISCLIFFE ROAD, DARLINGTON DL3 7RG TEL: 07903237246 | @ORBMICROPUB 10 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

A canny gift for a Wild Spirit this Christmas!

Independent Small Batch Distillery

GIFT PACKS

also available

AVAIL ABLE TO BUY AT

W W W. P O E T I C L I C E N S E D I S T I L L E RY. C O . U K www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 11

BOOKS

READ ALL ABOUT IT

HISTORIC COACHING INNS OF THE GREAT NORTH ROAD

BY ROGER PROTZ The Great North Road is part of British folklore; it’s our Route 66, though perhaps there hasn’t been a Chuck Berry song written about it. The magnificent coaching inns built at intervals on or near it, however, are part of the nation’s living history.

Roger Protz’s informative travellers’ guide takes you on a journey from London to Edinburgh from the days of mail coaches and highwaymen right through

PROUD TO SUPPORT ALL OUR LOCAL NORTH EAST BREWERIES WITH THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE SELECTION OF LOCAL BEERS AVAILABLE ANYWHERE.

to the A1M passing Little Chefs and Costas.

In the North East, Roger stops off at Shincliffe, Durham (The Seven Stars); The Old George in Newcastle and The County in Gosforth; The White Swan and Queen’s Head in Alnwick and Berwick’s Brown Bear.

(Camra Books, £12.99) THE YORKSHIRE BEER BIBLE

BY SIMON JENKINS This entertaining trip around Yorkshire lists every brewer the author could think of - more than

THE NARROW NICK

Paul and Sarah would like to thank all of our customers and the people of Rothbury for their support.

We look forward to many more happy years 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

@CENTRALEBEER

E MAIL: CONTACT@CENTRALEBEER.COM PHONE: 0191-2618468 WWW.CENTRALEBEER.COM (COMING SOON)

12 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

A warm friendly micro pub situated in the heart of Northumberland’s town of Rothbury, serving quality local cask ales, beers, wines and spirits.

Mon - Fri 5.00pm - 10.30pm Sat - Sun 2.00 - 10.30pm HIGH ST, ROTHBURY, MORPETH NE65

07707 703182

BOOKS about some fascinating styles.

The pen-and-ink drawings tend to overwhelm what might otherwise have been a must-have book.

(Eight Books, £12.99)

much more about many of the 170 - and features many of his places, but there’s no room at the favourite beers and the places to inn, so to speak. drink them in. In that regard, it’s a (Great Northern Books, £11.99) very personal journey from slate Yorkshire squares to the brewery THE SEVEN MOODS OF established in the (disused) toilets CRAFT BEER of a rugby league stadium. Trouble

BY ADRIAN TIERNEY-JONES is, this should really have been A book listing 350 craft beers from a18793 four-parter, a bit like Yorkshire Cheers 1/3 page ad Dec/Jan.qxp_PRINT 29/11/2017 13:12 Page 1 around the world is a Tierneyitself, as you really want to know

Jones speciality. He is adept at taking beer and telling us what’s in it, where it’s from and how good it is.

Unfortunately, due to space and ambition (little of the former and bags of the latter), it reads a little bit like the back labels of bottles and, again, you die for him to expand and explain more

UNUSUAL PUBS BY BOOT, BIKE AND BOAT

BY BOB BARTON Leisure travellers are well catered for in Bob Barton’s guide with waterways, trails and cycle tracks wending their way to pubs across the country.

How he managed to visit them all inside three years and delve into their provenance is anybody’s guess, but there are a few surprises and some of the usual suspects. Locally, The Mountain Daisy in Sunderland and The Ritz in Wallsend rub shoulders with Newcastle’s Crown Posada, Free Trade Inn, Hop & Cleaver and Red House. He makes few personal observations, simply letting the visitor form his or her own.

(Halsgrove, £16.00) *Reviews: Alastair Gilmour

Winter Is Coming…

Brinkburn Street Brewery’s ‘Winter Is Coming’ gift sets are the perfect gift for that beer lover in your life.

Visit the website for retailers: brinkburnbrewery.co.uk

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 13

EXPORT OPPORTUNITY

CHINA IN THEIR HANDS

The heat might be on for the UK to confirm trade deals with the rest of the world following the decision to leave the EU, but international business dealings have gone on forever and the North East hasn’t been slow in doing its exporting bit for the country.

A delegation of drinks producers recently returned from a mission to sell the region’s alcohol produce to the Chinese market, organised by the Department for International Trade and supported by the China-

Britain Business Council (CBBC).

A team of North East brewers and distillers set up their stalls at the Shanghai International Expo Centre where importers, traders and businesspeople flocked to see what we have to offer. Here are their impressions: YOUSEF DOUBOONI, CAMERONS BREWERY “It was great to understand the Chinese market and we believe there is a big opportunity for us there. We have already gained a listing with 40-plus Wellcome

Supermarkets in Hong Kong for the Röad Crew beer we did in collaboration with rockers Mötorhead off the back of our visit. We have a couple of

importers agreed in China now which should hopefully see us gain listings for the keg and bottled Röad Crew in both the offand on-trade.”

STATION EAST hills street Gateshead

OPEN MIC NIGHT EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT 8PM

PUB QUIZ

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14 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

MOVEMBER TASHES & LASHES CHARITY BIKE RIDE DEC3 10:30AM ARCH REMARKS POETRY & COMEDY DEC27 BIG QUIZ OF THE YEAR DEC28 Keep up to date with unscheduled events via social media!

EXPORT OPPORTUNITY Campfire Porter. It was interesting to find out that the Chinese market is still very much focused on 330ml bottles for premium craft beers.

They do not like cans or 500ml bottles at all. I think off the back of this trip we should be doing some business with China in the next 12 months, which is fantastic.

Local beer over there is still very much Tsingtao and Bud, but we visited a few fantastic craft beer places which had huge selections of beer from all over the world, yet we found it was very much lacking in the UK section. Hopefully, this is where we’ll fit in nicely. I reckon there’s certainly a place in the Chinese market for us.”

Grand stand: Andy Burrows, left, with Steve, Ross and Nicky Holland from Box Social Brewing ROSS HOLLAND, BOX SOCIAL BREWING “The trip was certainly useful.

Reaction to our beers was great, especially the Kaffir Lime Leaf and

showcased our products, hosted a beer festival, and Yousef Doubooni and I did a Q&A with Lin Lin, who works for a craft brewery in Shanghai, about craft beer in the UK. It was streamed to more than 1m people.”

LUKE SMITH, POETIC LICENSE DISTILLERY “Shanghai was such an experience and it was great to be there among

other names in the drink industry from the region. The support from UK Trade & Industry and CBBC was fantastic. I was representing Sonnet 43 Brew House and Sunderland’s Poetic License Distillery and it looks to have been a very fruitful trip. The Chinese liked what we had to offer and we already have some export deals in place. Both brands will be on Chinese shores by February 2018.”

Light fantastic: Shanghai is China’s largest port

ANDY BURROWS, HADRIAN BORDER BREWERY “Taking 20 hours to get there and having jet-lag, it was a challenge manning the trade stand for three days. However, there are lots of useful leads to follow up and we met the British consulate general from Shanghai, so I’m sure we’ll be doing some business there.

We also visited retail outlets,

SEASONS GREETINGS FROM ALL AT WYLAM BREWERY WE WISH YOU GREAT HEALTH & HAPPINESS FOR 2018 WYLAMBREWERY.CO.UK

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 15

THE ART OF PUBS

UNDERSTANDING LIFE THROUGH BEER Two major art shows in the region have links with the world of pubs, writes Alastair Gilmour

An exhibition at the new Mining Art Gallery in Bishop Auckland, Co Durham, goes under the title of Understanding Life Through Art. If we couple that with Pioneers Of Pop at the newly refurbished Hatton Gallery at Newcastle University, we could place them under an umbrella called Understanding Life Through Beer.

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The Mining Art Gallery explores the development of underground workers’ self-expression, highlighting their unique place within British art history.

The gallery reveals how miners from the Great Northern Coalfield responded to their experiences through art, from the conditions they endured underground to the pit communities they returned

Robert Olley, The Last Drop, ©Gemini Collection, Zurbarán Trust.

THE ART OF PUBS home to – and to the people they encountered in pubs.

Artists include Tom McGuinness, Ted Holloway, Tom Lamb and Bob Olley. They evoke the claustrophobia and fear of life underground, while works by Norman Cornish, Jimmy Floyd and David Venables reveal the spirit and energy of the community.

Norman Cornish is undoubtedly the most celebrated mining artist and one of the most sought-after

contemporary painters in the country.

For more than 50 years his images of miners’ working lives and his observation of social activities have intrigued audiences.

Cornish, who died in 2015 aged 94, was the last surviving member of the ‘pitman’s academy’ at the Spennymoor Settlement where art, music and literature were discussed, disseminated and digested. A former miner, he was

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THE ART OF PUBS

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known for his depictions of life around Spennymoor, particularly pub and club life, including sketches of bar-rooms and drinkers with all the accoutrements of North East life – darts, dominoes, pints and whippets.

Meanwhile, in Newcastle, Pioneers of Pop includes some 100 works by some of the leading British artists associated with both Pop and abstract art. They include Eduardo Paolozzi, David Hockney, Richard Smith, Ian Stephenson, RB Kitaj, Joe Tilson and Richard Hamilton, who, during his time teaching at Newcastle University (1953-1956) firmly positioned Newcastle as the birthplace of Pop Art, particularly with his landmark collage Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing.

In 1957, five years before Andy Warhol’s much-celebrated forays into the genre with his iconic Campbell’s soup can and Marilyn Monroe portraits, Hamilton said: “Pop Art is popular, transient, expendable, low-cost, mass-produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous, and big business”. Pioneers of Pop aims to capture the excitement,

experimentation and opportunity of that time through the prism of Newcastle and its art school.

Julie Milne, chief curator at Hatton Gallery, said: “Many people think

THE ART OF PUBS Norman Cornish, Crowded Bar, ©Gemini Collection, Zurbarán Trust.

Pop Art started in the USA with Andy Warhol, but in reality, a lot of the thinking and work behind it was happening in the UK, and not just in London, but also Newcastle.

With the important redevelopment of the Hatton Gallery and Richard Hamilton’s strong association with the gallery, Pioneers of Pop presents the opportunity to explore

Newcastle’s role in the origin of this pivotal art movement.”

Relaxing after class in Newcastle’s pubs was seen as part of the creative process and there’s even a chapter in the exhibition catalogue called a Pint of Exhibition.

Inspiration is a two-way street – as a new set of beers from the Edinburgh Beer Factory will testify.

This time it comes from Leith-born Eduardo Paolozzi, one of the first developers of Pop Art and visiting lecturer at Newcastle University, who believed in transforming the massproduced, trashy and throwaway into something special, calling it “the sublime in the everyday”.

In 1952, Paolozzi delivered his BUNK! Lecture at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London presenting “undervalued, underrated and misunderstood” materials from popular culture such as collages, blurring the lines between high and low art forever.

Edinburgh Beer factory’s new beers are Edinburgh Brown (6.0% abv), Smoky Wheat (5.0% abv) and Cherry Saison (6.5% abv) which celebrate the BUNK! sublime

tradition. Edinburgh Brown has upped the American version of a traditional English Brown Ale. It’s a silky textured, malt-rich, hop-fresh beer which has already been voted the world’s best American Brown Ale at the World Beer Awards.

Smoky Wheat references the late David Bowie and his Starman lyric “hazy cosmic jive”. German banana notes are given a smouldering, smoky subtext, dancing bubbles and superb head.

Cherry Saison glams up the traditional Belgian farmhouse style with juicy Montmorency cherries for a hint of sweet and sour and a real tastebud tingler. *Pioneers of Pop is at the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University, until January 20, 2018. The Mining Art Gallery is part of a major regeneration of Bishop Auckland

by The Auckland Project, centred around the restored Auckland Castle, once home to the Prince Bishops of Durham, which includes developing Auckland Tower, a visitor destination of international significance, Spanish Art Gallery, Deer Park, Walled Garden and Faith Museum.

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 19

TRYANUARY

LET’S TRY NOT TO BE DRY A nationwide drive is under way to persuade people not to give in to temptation – and we in the North East are right behind it.

Dry January, the well-meaning initiative that invites us to give up alcohol for a spell following the excesses of the festive period, does enormous harm to the licensed trade.

Pubs are under enough pressure without another block on their business, so we’re fighting back with Tryanuary - a UK-wide campaign which aims to inspire people to seek out and try new beers. Finding new beers in new places, and familiar beers in favourite haunts, provides crucial revenue to an industry of independent businesses in a historically quiet month.

Founded in January 2015 by Andy Heggs, Tryanuary began as a way to support a nation of fantastic,Christmas hard1600 Theakston working, independent businesses.

For the January 2018 campaign, the event has come under the wing of Tom Stapley of Craft Beer Hour and a trusted army of volunteers championing their local areas.

Tom says: “By using the hashtag #Tryanuary on social media, the campaign aims to promote conversations about new and interesting beers and in turn inspire people to venture out to support local pubs, bars, bottle shops and eateries.

“For 2018, the decision was made to throw the campaign open to volunteers - our local champions - to help spread the word about what’s happening in their area.”

The North East list of Tryanuary offering 25% discount off selected series of evenings to encourage local champions includes Dean bottled beers while your local will people to give new breweries and Marriner, Dave Jeffery, Paul Frost, also be running initiatives to invite beers a try with Meet the Brewer Zack Nolan and Daisy Turnell, each you to join them – and enjoy yourself sessions confirmed with McColl’s representing individual areas of the at the same time. It certainly makes Brewery, Flash House Brewing Co region. Events and offers are already sense to us at Cheers North East. 12:08 and Credence Brewing, plus more to 135mm being organised for example,1 23/11/2017 1600 THK Brewery Tap Ad x 92mm.pdf 1 23/11/2017 Mail order 135mm x- 92mm.pdf 12:04 www.tryanuary.com follow. The Head of Steam bars are Coppers in Gosforth is running a

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Gibside Pub

Come along to Gibside Pub every Friday and Saturday evening for real ale, lipsmacking pizzas and on the first Friday of each month, live music.

When you visit, donate, volunteer or join the National Trust, your support helps us to look after special places in the North East such as Gibside, Washington Old Hall and Penshaw Monument for ever, for everyone.

nationaltrust.org.uk/gibside

Š National Trust 2017. The National Trust is an independent registered charity, number 205846.

Photography Š National Trust Images\John Millar.

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THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS One of the first beers Hawkshead Brewery produced in its original former milking parlour premises was Lakeland Gold (4.4% abv) - a superb, grainy, refreshing hop-sturdy golden ale with complex fruit flavours from blending the English hop First Gold with the outrageously fruity American hop Cascade.

Fifteen years later, it’s still a prime seller - but something has changed.

“It was pushing the boundaries for its time,” says Hawkshead founder Alex Brodie.

“But compared with what we’re doing these days it’s a pussy-

cat. It’s still a great beer but the revolution has moved on.”

Hawkshead Brewery, based at Staveley in Cumbria, has been operating - and developing - since 2002, beginning life in a barn at Town End Farm just outside the village of Hawkshead. Beers were brewed on a second-hand seven-barrel brew plant which came from the Border Brewery at Berwickupon-Tweed (now Hadrian Border Brewery, Newcastle).

Hawkshead Brewery now sits beside the River Kent in Mill Yard, Staveley where in 2010 it further expanded into the glass-fronted building next

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Open from 5pm and last orders at 10:30pm. @TheBoxWoodTap on Facebook and Twitter

HAWKSHEAD AT 15 door, increasing brewing capacity and creating The Beer Hall brewery tap. Full production capacity is 220 barrels per week (63,360 pints).

“We brew distinctive, flavourful, modern beers,” says Alex Brodie, a former BBC foreign correspondent. “We’ve brewed juniper beers with Norwegians, 10% abv Imperial Stouts with Floridians, and sour IPAs with Californians.

We’ve watched hundreds of breweries open - all of us producing beers which would have been inconceivable when we started out. Our beer is full of flavour, handmade, crafted, bold and personal.”

Hawkshead has been variously described as a microbrewery, local brewery, beer factory, small independent, small regional, new-wave brewery, craft brewery and artisan brewery.

“We are always learning and improving,” says Alex. “We brew what we would like to drink. We never design a beer by cost.”

Moving into 2018,

Hawkshead has signed a farreaching investment deal with the UK’s largest independent drinks company, Halewood Wines & Spirits.

Under the deal, Hawkshead will build a new brewery, expand production, and gain new routes to market for its popular craft beers, while Halewood will enter the brewing industry to complement its other drinks businesses Willow Water, Liverpool Gin distillery and North Wales whisky distillery Aber Falls.

Alex says: “We have gone about as far as we can on our own; demand for our beers exceeds our supply. This partnership will allow us to grow and fulfil our potential.”

He will continue as managing director and his existing team will carry on running Hawkshead as a stand-alone business, producing the more experimental beers at Staveley.

“Halewood sees small, craft and premium as the future,” says Alex. “And they are northern. I like that.”

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www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 23

THE GREAT NORTH EAST BREWERY GUIDE

BEST BOOK THE TOUR We’ve produced the indispensable guide to the region’s breweries. Now all you have to do is drink them dry We’re delighted to announce the publication of our first book, The Great North East Brewery Guide - a 128-page roam around the region’s beer producers from Allendale to Wylam and all points in between.

Each brewery featured in the book is unique in its own way, even though the process of making beer is common to them.

At it’s most basic, this process is putting together water, malted barley, hops and yeast and enjoying what comes out at the other end. Simple, yet not so simple. Beer has to be treated with devotion at every stage. Brew it from the finest ingredients possible on the best equipment available with heaps of inventive muscle and brains and the results will speak for themselves. Craft brewers are fanatical about their choice of hops, their malt, their mashing-in regime, the conditioning, the ageing and attention to every detail. It’s what makes great beer – and here in the North East of England we have some of the most inventive, knowledgeable and skilful brewers in the nation, working on gleaming kit that wouldn’t look out of place in a sci-fi movie.

Our breweries range from cramped units and shipping containers to huge, impressive structures lined with Italian marble. The process of making beer is much the same in all of them, but honesty and flamboyance come out at the other end – and that’s beer’s beauty.

The region’s brewers are a dedicated lot, charismatic people with individual traits that influence the beer they brew. And we don’t half brew good beer here, and that’s what The Great North East Brewery Guide celebrates.

For example, Jack O’Keefe at Flash House Brewing Co brews the-same-but-different beer as Danny McColl at McColl’s Brewery. Ben 24 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

Wilkinson at Wylam produces an astonishing array of contemporary styles while admiring what Neil Thomas at Allendale does in similar fashion, and vice-versa.

High House Farm Brewery and Rigg & Furrow brew in traditional agricultural landscapes. They make astonishing beers with a sense of place - what the French call “terroir” - which makes it difficult for others to define where to do it best. Industrial units, pub cellars, old dairies, turkey farms, we’ve got them all, and they’re nicely bubbling away producing great beer for an admittedly very competitive marketplace.

There are now more than 2,000 breweries operating in the UK, around 60 of them in our region, taking the growth of breweries in the past five years to 64%. The North East has enjoyed a similar percentage rise in craft brewery start-ups, many of them by former home-brewers inspired by public demand for adventurous flavours.

We’re all benefiting from better quality beer and more choice, plus the altruistic notion that we’re each in our small way contributing to a fiercely independent movement and doing our bit for the growth of the local economy.

Beer can be as simple or as sophisticated as we wish it to be. Breweries produce it, but never forget, it’s people who make it and people who drink it.

The Great North East Brewery Guide (Offstone Publishing, £15) is available from the 35 breweries featured in the book plus pubs, off-licences, bottle shops, independent bookshops, Waterstones and Amazon

Main photo and below: Alastair Gilmour and some of the region’s finest brewers at the launch of The Great North East Brewery Guide at the Free Trade Inn, Newcastle

Alastair Gilmour admires his work

THE GREAT NORTH EAST BREWERY GUIDE

Pippa and Theo Howie

RIGG & FURROW TAPS INTO SUCCESS

From the book: Tom and Lucy Hick with head brewer Neil Thomas and the Allendale Brewery team

Rigg & Furrow Farmhouse Brewery - one of the 35 breweries featured in The Great North East Brewery Guide - was only founded in early 2017, but a mere four brews later there were more than 40 pubs in Northumberland and Newcastle on its delivery sheet.

Such is the confidence in what they brew, that owners Theo and Pippa Howie (along with Robert and Louise Howie) have opened a tasting room and shop at their converted farm base near Acklington, Northumberland.

Rigg & Furrow operates on two floors of a former milking parlour. The 10-barrel brewhouse is fed by gravity from the malt store upstairs in much the same way as the dairy cattle were before the bottom fell out of that particular market. Next door there are fermentation and cold rooms and beyond those is a new brewery tap, tasting room and shop. Bottling and mini-kegs are the next step, so it’s fortunate that plenty of expansion room comes with buildings on 350-acre farms in Northumberland.

From the book: Simon and Dawn Miles with the Anarchy Brew Co. team

From the book: Bill and Anna Scantlebury with assistant brewer Sean Hardy at Cullercoats Brewery www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 25

HANGOVERS

OH MY HEAD Alastair Gilmour searches for a hangover cure

What’s yours? This is not an invitation to have another drink at my expense (as if...), but an enquiry about hangover cures.

In all truth, the only way to avoid a hangover is to abstain from alcohol.

Forget all this stuff about drinking small amounts of olive oil before a hefty session, or downing pints of milk to line your stomach - if you’re going to drink too much, you’re going to suffer. Simple.

It’s funny how a hangover is always caused by a “bad pint” or a “bad pie” - never too much alcohol, is it? Hangovers are often painful reminders of sessions we’d rather forget. Yes, it was great at the time - life and soul you were - never

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knew you could be so witty. Tell us again what you said to the managing director’s wife - and how could you remember all the words to I’ve Got A Brand New Combine Harvester? With the Dorset accent, too.

But, once you’ve got a hangover, how to you get rid of it? There is nothing quite like the artery-clogging fried breakfast to banish the extra heartbeat in your head. Serious lard intake is the only tried-and-tested route to feeling fine after one too many. Greasy egg, sausage, black pudding and fried bread poked around the plate by a large sweaty tomato will do nicely, though a double bacon and egg McMuffin comes fairly close in the speed-of-action stakes.

HANGOVERS And don’t ever examine what you’re shovelling down your neck. It’s a bit like looking at yourself in the mirror next morning - the sight of bloodshot eyes and Axminsterdry lips will have you retching within seconds. I have tested the McDonald’s magical powers on many an occasion but couldn’t tell you what it consists of - it’s in a bun and that’s all I know. Eating style is simply head down, stare at the Formica table top, swig the accompanying coffee, and devour in as few seconds as possible. Mind you, a hair of the dog an hour or so later will complete the course.

A 16th Century hangover cure involved a mixture of raw eels and almonds, ground into a paste and forced down with chunks of bread. This was probably referred to as Ye Olde Faste Foode (with free Minions toy).

A traditional Welsh hangover breakfast is roast pig’s lung, which is supposed to have them squealing with delight in The Valleys, while trust Scandinavians to swear by a sauna and a massage. An old Wild West story suggests quaffing hot water mixed with jackrabbit droppings, but give me the plip-plip of two Alka-Seltzer any day.

The ancient Greeks were convinced of the restorative powers of eating cabbage. And it’s customary in Australia after a particularly heavy session to have a couple of steak

The

pies lashed with tomato sauce and downed with ice-cold Coca-Cola. In Puerto Rico, the astringent properties of lemons and limes are supposed to revive sagging spirits. So what do Puerto Rican’s do with them? They rub the juice under their armpits.

Kingsley Amis, in his book, On Drink, insists there is no more pleasurable or effective hangover cure than to make love, “vigorously and passionately”. The late great wine expert Keith Floyd suggested a brisk walk in your favourite anorak with its pockets filled with apples and pears. As you walk, take in deep breaths, inhaling for five steps, holding for five steps, and exhaling for five steps. He neglected to explain the significance of the fruit.

Hangovers usually bring on bouts of heartburn or hiccups, which multiply the misery. There are reckoned - by the eminent doctor James Le Fanu - to be 100 “cures” for hiccups, such as drinking out of the “wrong” side of a glass, holding one’s breath, etc. In a research paper some years ago, he related the eye-watering tale of a young man whose hiccupping had lasted for 72 hours.

“Rectal massage was then attempted,” he wrote. “The frequency of the hiccups began to slow and terminated within 30 seconds.”

McMuffin and regular fries, please.

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ALL THE BEST FROM THE REGION The North East Tourism Awards celebrate some of the region’s most progressive companies - and a clutch of beery businesses took home gold in the most recent competition.

Battlesteads Hotel & Restaurant in Wark, Northumberland, was named Hotel of the Year at the event at The Boiler Shop in Newcastle.

Also among the prizewinners from the initiative that rewards the very best tourism businesses in the region are Block & Bottle, Gateshead - the organic butchers and bottle shop (and a bit more) which won gold in the Taste of

England category - while Tourism Pub of the Year is The Apple Inn, Lucker, Northumberland.

Sustainable hotel, restaurant and observatory Battlesteads was also shortlisted in the Best Small Attraction and Dog Friendly Business categories and will now go on to represent the North East at the Visit England Awards for Excellence in 2018 – as will Block & Bottle and The Apple Inn. Katie Meyrick-Scott, general manager of Battlesteads Hotel and Restaurant, said: “We are thrilled to be named Hotel of the Year, in a category where we were up against three other really fantastic businesses –

AWARDS at the Butchers Shop awards.

“We still can’t quite believe it,” said Steven. “We’re thrilled and so excited.”

The Apple Inn is a dogfriendly gastropub near Belford which has two guest rooms, and contemporary bar and dining areas with menus that would not look out of place in the city.

The North East England Meat and drink: Steven Warren and Katie Cullen

Smiley happy people: Winners from the North East Tourism Awards the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Hotel du Vin in Newcastle and Seaham Hall in County Durham.

Battlesteads is a proud champion of the tourism industry in the North East, and we are looking forward to representing the region next year.”

Block & Bottle was founded earlier this year in the railway arches at the south end of the High Level Bridge by Steven Warren and Katie Cullen and this latest success followed a recent Innovation of the Year award

ABLE L I A V A NOW R THE FO ON S A E IVE S T S E F

Tourism Awards are organised and delivered by NewcastleGateshead Initiative (NGI) in partnership with the Northern Tourism Alliance. The winner of each category is automatically entered into the annual VisitEngland Awards for Excellence, which will take place in April 2018.

Sarah Stewart, chief executive at destination management and marketing organisation NGI, said: “Huge congratulations to all of our winners. It’s been another brilliant year and we received a high standard of entrants across all categories.

“The tourism sector in the North East continues to thrive, from our buzzing city centres to our beautiful coastline and varied countryside. Next year promises to be another exciting one for the region as we welcome the Great Exhibition of the North which will have a major impact on our visitor and wider economy.”

Full results at www. newcastlegateshead.com/ tourism-awards

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BOTTLE SHOPS

STATION MASTER HAS THE BOTTLE

There’s hardly a major transport hub now that doesn’t have a branch of Boots, M&S, Sainsbury’s or WH Smith.

Costa and KFC are everywhere.

The local scene isn’t ignored at Newcastle Central Station, though. For the past six months, CentrAle bottle shop has been consistently picking up its share of travelling custom.

The small outlet facing Platform 12 is a beer emporium stacked with all manner of goodies in can and bottle, run by husband-and-wife team Bruce and Donna Renwick.

“It’s going canny; we’re getting a lot of regular travellers and return visitors,” says Bruce. “We still get a

30 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

lot of people heading for the ticket office or the toilets who say they never knew we were here.

“Everybody tells us there’s no pattern to trade in the station.

For example, one week for some reason we had four very quiet days and by the Thursday we were wondering what was going on.

Then it picked right up and we were rushed off our feet – and missed having our best week since we started by £2.31.”

CentrAle is a home from home for North East beers in particular - bottles and cans are arranged in geographic order in sections marked Co Durham, Northumberland and Newcastle,

followed by sizeable national and international sections and a couple of fridges stocked predominantly with ready-chilled cans.

Anything with the slightest hint of music about it sits on a separate section – Rōadcrew from Camerons Brewery which celebrates the mighty Motōrhead; Tyger Blood from Box Social Brewing which was specially brewed for North East rockers

Tygers of Pan Tang, and Penny Lane, a Triple IPA from Mad Hatter Brewing.

Clearly, selling great beer to an appreciative audience can have an effect on the way one thinks, as Bruce admits. He says: “Before we opened this, Donna only drank Carling Extra Cold. Now she’s right into her beers and loves BrewDog Punk IPA and Fell Tinderbox. And I’ve become a right train spotter.”

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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

FOX & HOUNDS Nigel & Patsy would like to wish all our customers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 4 Handpulls - 3 Regular & 1 Guest Ale on rotation Sunday Lunch - 12 til sold out Monthly Themed Dining Evenings Live Entertainment Monthly Buskers nights Weekly inQUIZition every Wednesday including a Pie and Chips Supper

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GIFTS

cheers

HADRIAN BORDER BREWERY Hadrian Border’s Mince Pie Christmas Beer Gift Packs include three bottles of dark amber festive ale, which packs in a light touch of cinnamon, a tickle of orange and a raisin finish in a malty bottle of Christmas cheer.

Relax and sit back, toast your toes by the fire and let the night gently slide past with these mince pies in a glass. Five-litre mini kegs are also available with the option of Tyneside Blonde, Mince Pie or Farne Island. For stockists see social media or contact the brewery www.hadrian-border-brewery.co.uk

SHOPPING GUIDE BRINKBURN STREET BREWERY Brinkburn St Brewery’s Winter Is Coming gift sets are the perfect Christmas gift for the beer lover in your life. Available with two 750ml sharing bottles and two glasses (for sharing with your loved one) or three 750ml bottles and one glass (for the non-sharing type), there are three winter beers to choose from: The House Of The Rising Sun (abv 7.2%), a decadent and luxuriant chocolate raspberry porter; Festive Hop Gremlin (abv 5.6%), an ultra-hoppy and fruity winter IPA; a dedication to the pioneers of beer making, Homage to Mesopotamia (abv 5.2%), a porter which includes late additions of Shiraz grape juice and honey in the Mesopotamian style. Available from good bottle shops in the Newcastle area including Fenwick Food Hall, Glugg and CentrAle tel 0191 260 0688, www.brinkburnbrewery.co.uk

CHAMPION BOTTLE & TAPS Champion Bottles and Taps has a range of present ideas, including bespoke three-can/bottle gift boxes to suit your own taste as well as a range of special large sharing/gift bottles including sours, stouts and barrel-aged goodies. You can also pick up one of the counter pressurefilled 1-litre Growlers, which stay fresh for four weeks - meaning you can get someone fresh draft beer to drink on Christmas day.

Gift cards are available from £5+ and merchandise including T-shirts and shopper bags are available to buy online. 2018 tasting evenings and ‘Introduction to...’ dates will also be announced throughout December with tickets available to buy online. https://championbottlesandtaps.co.uk THE PIE SHOP Pick up a Pie Tea Voucher at The Pie Shop in North Shields and treat your favourite person to a Geordie afternoon tea. Sample a selection of the North’s favourite products, from a doorstop slice of gammon to a quirky pease pudding, a trio of mini pies and sides of flavoured mashed potato, steepy mushy peas and a boat of beef gravy. For pudding, there’s sweet sticky toffee pudding, apple pie and a clotted cream scone - all served with custard or cream. www.geordiepieandmash.co.uk

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GIFTS CENTRALE Head to CentrAle in Newcastle Central Station for all your festive beer and spirit needs. Fill a unique gift box with your choice of beers from the biggest range of North East beers to be found anywhere, plus selected national and continental beers. CentrAle is also home to the finest spirits produced in the North East and currently stocks 16 local gins, vodka and the Alnwick Rum range. There are also wines which can’t be found anywhere else locally, including English wine from Ryedale, North Yorkshire and a French wine from the Domain de Palejay estate, run by an expat Geordie. Add something from the locally produced snack range and a couple of Fentimans mixers and soft drinks from Hexham. www.facebook.com/centralebeer

BATTLESTEADS Try something a bit different at Battlesteads with Dark Sky Observatory vouchers. At the heart of the picturesque village of Wark in Northumberland, the Battlesteads Pub, Hotel and Restaurant offers a warm and friendly welcome, a place to unwind and and attentive service in luxurious surroundings as well as a range of Experience Days and events including a night in its Dark Sky Observatory. Vouchers, available to the value of adult, concession and family tickets prices, are avaialble at www.battlesteads.com/observatory FIREBRICK Firebrick Brewery will be at Newcastle’s Christmas Market under Grey’s Monument, December 11-17 with Tyne 9, Year in Beer and Pick-n-mix gift packs on offer. There will aslo be eight-pint mini-kegs, single bottles, Tyne 9 glasses, Christmas themes cotton gift bags and more. www.firebrickbrewery.com

BLOCK & BOTTLE Block & Bottle, the multi-award winning butchers and craft beer shop in Gateshead, has everything you need for Christmas, from presents to your free-range Christmas dinner. You can order free-range bronze turkeys, geese, rare-breed aged beef, pigs in blankets and more to make your Christmas dinner extra special now. Meanwhile, p resent ideas available at Block & Bottle include: • Butchery class vouchers • #CANVENT - Beer advent calendar • Shop gift vouchers - available from £5+ • Beer gift packs – choose from 150 different beers in bottles and cans • A growler of fresh draught beer available in 1-litre or 1.89-litre branded reusable glass growlers • Block & Bottle merchandise Find out more about Block & Bottle and visit the online shop at www.blocknbottle.com

THEAKSTONS Another collection of ‘Peculierly’ delightful gifts are available from Theakston Brewery, Masham, North Yorkshire. From Backward clocks to Peculier Socks, Theakston has the perfect gift for everyone.

Old Peculier is available on a plate as well as in a pint glass thanks to the brewery’s range of Peculier preserves, Christmas puddings, cheeses and chocolates served on oak cheeseboards handcrafted by the Theakston Cooper.

Peculier Gift Boxes are new for 2017, and if you can’t decide on which Theakston gift to select, a tailored hamper may be the perfect answer. Each hamper contains a selection of unique Yorkshire goodies, Theakston merchandise and fine Theakston ales, which makes them the ideal solution.

Shopping with Theakstons couldn’t be easier and everything can be delivered straight to your door. Go to www.theakstons.co.uk/shop and order online or call the gift shop, tel 01765 684 333. www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 33

WINE

FESTIVE FIZZ

Nothing beats toasting a celebration with a glass of bubbly. A flute of fizz signals a special occasion, whether a wedding, Christening or even a day out with friends.

And who doesn’t love celebrating ‘Fizz Friday’ at their favourite pub or bar? But are Prosecco and Champagne your only options for a glass of fizz this Christmas and New Year? Charles Elliott from Lanchester Wines offers the following must-read guide to fizz for every taste...

PROSECCO AND CHAMPAGNE Prosecco and Champagne are ‘controlled destination of origin’ products, meaning they can only be made in specific areas from specific grapes.

• Champagne comes from the Champagne region of France around the city of Reims about 80 miles (130 km) nort east of Paris. It is made with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes, and is produced using the costly ‘Traditional Method’ • Prosecco is made in the Veneto region of Italy around the city of Treviso about 15 miles (24 km) north of Venice. It is made with Glera grapes using the more affordable Tank Method. Prosecco can be spumante (sparkling wine), frizzante (semi-sparkling wine), or tranquillo (still wine) But these two styles of wine are not our only options when it comes to sparkling wine. Here are a few options for drinkers looking to be more adventurous with their effervescence.

CAVA Produced in Spain, Cava’s taste is closer to Champagne than Prosecco and is even made in the same way as Champagne, but with different grapes. Importantly, Cava is usually a fraction of the price of Champagne.

Cava is primarily made with Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel·lo grapes, which are all white grapes. It may also be made with Chardonnay (white), Pinot Noir (red), Garnacha 34 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

(red) and Monastrell (red). These grapes create a balanced fruity sparkling wine which is less sweet than Prosecco but not as nutty as Vintage Champagne.

Cava DO (denominacion de origen) is the official classification of Cava.

It can be produced throughout Spain but most Cava is made in Penedes (next to Barcelona) and in the Ebro River valley (in Rioja).

Try Castell d’Olderdola Cava Reserva Brut or Castell d’Olderdola Cava Brut Rosado ENGLISH SPARKLING WINE Did you know, the terroir in the English wine growing regions is the same as the terroir in Champagne? The same seam of chalk runs under the Channel and informs the terroir of both the Champagne region and the South of England (Kent, East Sussex, and bits of Hampshire) and, thanks to climate change, it’s now warm enough in these areas to grow grapes good enough for wine production.

Champagne is made with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes, which are also grown in England and used to make English sparkling wines. However, English wine isn’t governed by the same strict regulations as Champagne meaning there’s more flexibility for new grape combinations and flavour profiles.

Try Bolney Bubbly, Bolney Cuvée Rosé or Nyetimber Classic AUSTRALIAN SPARKLING As with England, Australian vineyards also grow the Champagne grapes of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. In the 80s, the Champagne producer Moët & Chandon

started scouting for a location in Australia to start making its own fine Australian sparkling wine, settling in the cool climate region of Victoria (the home state of Melbourne). The calibre of Australian sparkling wine today is higher than I have ever seen before, thanks to the resilience and sheer determination of Australia’s vineyards and wineries.

Definitely a wine style to try!

Try McPherson Chardonnay Pinot Noir SPARKLING REDS Looking for something different and guaranteed to make an impact? Why not try a sparkling red?

Sparkling reds are not as rare as you think and can be a welcome change at any celebration. The three main styles include Australian Sparkling Shiraz, Italian Lambrusco and Brachetto d’Acqui, and some fantastic sparkling reds are also coming out of South America, including Argentina and Chile. And, of course, don’t forget the English sparkling!

Try Bolney Cuvee Noir or Gouguenheim Sparkling Malbec The sparkling wines mentioned in this article are available across the North East through Lanchester Wines. Ask your local bar staff for more details.

NEW FACES

A GREAT BUSINESS TO BE IN THE PIE SHOP NORTH SHIELDS Pies. Beer. Two of the loveliest words in the English language, second only to beer and pies. It’s what’s on offer at The Pie Shop in North Shields, a family-run business headed by the enthusiastic Stephen Bones, who used to run a highly regarded pie shop in Benwell, Newcastle.

Stephen, also a former joiner, says the concept of serving pie “dinnas” with a selection of local beers in the West Percy Street shop is “going mental”. So mental in fact, that they have just made the decision to close on Mondays so they can catch up with things that need to be done, or else as he puts it, “you end up being a busy fool”.

Although he’s owned it for two years, The Pie Shop eventually opened properly in March with

the idea that it shouldn’t just be a takeaway shop but also a place where customers can sit in and enjoy one of his four types of “dinna” accompanied by “just good old-fashioned hearty Geordie food and hospitality”.

“The combination of pies and beer don’t take much thinking about,” says Stephen. “We got the licence about two months ago and have two handpulls as well as shelves full of bottles. We’re trying to keep it as local as we can for now, working with Flash House, Three Kings and Mordue breweries from North Shields, as well as Whitley Bay Brewing and Brinkburn St from Newcastle. But we’ll expand on that.”

The four meal styles on the menu are The Oversized Dinna – one pie, two scoops of mash, peas and gravy), The Clammin’ Dinna (two

Not all corporate events are boring Plus, you get to enjoy a beer on work time!

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Engage staff with challenges to draft their own beer recipes, conduct a brew on our micro brewing kits, bottle the product and compare for character and quality.

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BEER NEWS pies, three mash, peas and gravy), the Not That Hungry Or If You’re a Bairn which is smaller portions, and Nee Pie, which is exactly that.

“We get a lot of little kids in with their parents so they might just want mash, peas and gravy all mixed in without the pie,” he says. “It’s now a talking point – a pie shop with nee pie.” www.geordiepieandmash.co.uk BREW STORIES Rich Rogerson and Dean Marriner are The Chaps, beer bloggers and video producers at Brew Stories who admit that when they started up their project they knew next to nothing about craft beer. Both are graphic designers working for branding company Infinite Design in Newcastle, while in their “20% down-time” they blog and produce videos on YouTube featuring North East beer, breweries and events and also have a very entertaining Facebook page.

“We’re really passionate about craft beer and now know an awful lot more than when we started,” says Rich. “We’ve been going a year and

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Rich Rogerson and Dean Marriner of Brew Stories have grown Brew Stories quite a bit - it’s not like a wine snobbery thing - doing one video a week, attracting a lot of friends and building a community of craft beer drinkers.” www.facebook.com/brewstories ORB MICROPUB, ALE & WHISKY HOUSE, DARLINGTON Ian Clough’s interest in brewing started three years ago when he

was thinking about how to occupy himself when he retired. His son bought him a home-brew kit for Christmas and he was so hooked he took a course at Brewlab, the brewing training and analysis centre in Sunderland, and founded Orchard Road Brewery. “My plan at the time was to establish a brewery in about four or five years’ time,” says Ian. “However, through my research I

changed my plans and brought them forward a couple of years.”

Ian has opened Orb Micropub Ale & Whisky House on Coniscliffe Road in Darlington, which has in recent years undergone a mighty change with a proliferation of cocktail bars, gin bars and a brewhouse.

Sensibly, he is hoping to offer something different.

He says: “The micropub, a former hairdressers, is quite small with a capacity of around 60 that has the hallmarks of a micropub – no television, no loud music, a place to relax, talk and meet new friends with a glass of exceptional quality ale, beer, cider, or whisky.

I aim to have six handpulls, the majority from North East breweries with the odd exception, providing a good range of styles and changing regularly. I would like to get to understand what my customers prefer and keep a few returning regulars on the pumps.”

Ian is also passionate about single malt whisky and plans to develop an extensive range of styles and ages with tastings and distillery evenings. www.facebook.com/orbmicropub

BEER NEWS

OPEN ARMS

The renowned Barrasford Arms is under new ownership and looks set to continue its reputation for championing great local food and ales.

Michael and Victoria Eames took over from long-time landlord Tony Binks in June and are setting their sights on building on the pub’s reputation as a hub of local produce.

They’re also set on building its name as a hotel in fantastic surroundings, within a stone’s throw of the North Tyne’s salmon and trout fishing grounds.

“We couldn’t have picked a better place to take on,” says chef Michael - who grew up in Whitfield, Northumberland and has worked in pubs, small restaurants and hotels across the North East and Scotland.

“We want to be as local as possible – from growing vegetables and herbs in our polytunnels to using my links with the local farmers I grew up with and with the shoots my friends take part in, to working with Northumberland brewers including Allendale, High House Farm at Matfen, and Wylam and gin distilleries like Hepple, Poetic License and Alnwick.”

“We always wanted to build on what Tony Binks created and have added our touches here and there while keeping the traditional elements of the country pub which people like,” adds Victoria – who met Michael while they were both working at The Fisherman’s Lodge in Jesmond Dene, Newcastle.

Victoria and Michael Eames The bar and rooms have had a makeover, with each one themed around one of the Border Reiver families, and the couple are planning to develop the pub further.

“We’ve got a really friendly pub as well as some great produce on our doorstep – what more could you want?” adds Michael.

“We’re planning to be here for a long time and want to give people a great experience - it’s going to be exciting,” says Victoria. The couple

are already three-time winners at the Hospitality and Tourism Awards - Highly Commended in Taste and Boutique Guest Accommodation and a bronze winner in the North East Pub of the Year, as well as being listed in the Michelin Guide and gaining an AA Rosette. The changes have also been brought to the pub’s regular events - with monthly ladies lunches, folk nights with local musicians and more. www.barrasfordarms.co.uk

WINE, DELI, ENOTECA TA S T I N G S a n d E V E N T S

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38 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

12 ALES OF CHRISTMAS

THE

12 Ales Of Christmas

MUCKLE BREWERY

Muckle Berry (4.5% abv) A rich winter fireside red ale, brewed with Crystal malt and First Gold hops. Muckle Berry balances the dark fruit flavours of raisins and plums with hints of caramel and layers of bitter spiced oranges. www.mucklebrewing.co.uk

HADRIAN BORDER BREWERY

Mince Pie Christmas Beer (4.5% abv) This dark amber festive-ale has a light touch of cinnamon and tickle of orange with a raisin finish.

Mellow and malty Christmas cheer. www.hadrian-border-brewery.co.uk

CULLERCOATS BREWERY

FIREBRICK BREWERY

GREAT NORTH EASTERN BREWING CO

DURHAM BREWERY

Royal Sovereign Barley Wine (11% abv), vintage Feb15 All-English vintage barley wine. Rich plum and fruit flavours, treacley caramel warmth and masses of hop flavour from Challenger, East Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross. The beer is one to sip and savour, or lay down to mature further www.cullercoatsbrewery.co.uk

Rudolph’s Ruin (4.4% abv)

Fireglow (4.1% abv) A sweet spiced dark ale – black cardamom, allspice berries and cinnamon bark join a complex malt mix in the mash. British, German and Czech Republic hops complement the spice in this winter seasonal from Firebrick’s Year in Beer Mystical range. www.firebrickbrewery.com

Imperious (12% abv)

A limited-edition whisky cask-aged imperial stout, this features a strong bourbon aroma with oily coffee, liquorice and dark chocolate flavours in the massive vanilla body. Matured for over nine months in whisky hogsheads, creating a long rich and warming finish with a hint of brown sugar. Available from usual stockists or direct from the brewery shop in Bowburn, North Ind Est, DH6 5PF. Gift boxes also available.

Rudolph’s Ruby Ale is a deep ruby coloured ale with robust rich malts dominating this great Christmas ale with a sweet hop finish.

www.durhambrewery.com

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BRINKBURN STREET BREWERY

THEAKSTON’S BREWERY

ALLENDALE BREWERY

ROOSTERS

KESWICK BREWERY

RIGG & FURROW

Homage to Mesopotamia (5.2% abv) Homage to Mesopotamia is a luxuriant porter (available in 750ml ‘sharing’ bottles) with late additions of Shiraz grape juice and honey to balance the chocolate malt. Dedicated to the pioneers of beer making, The Women of Mesopotamia, the label shows an image of Ninkasi, the Sumerian Goddess of Fermentation. A perfect beer for a night in, on a cold winter’s night, with the beer lover in your life. www.brinkburnbrewery.co.uk

Christmas Ale (7.0% abv) A variety of roasted malts give a sweet biscuity flavour with hints of cinder toffee. Generous amounts of English Goldings hops bring flavours of Seville orange marmalade and a floral aroma. www.allendalebrewery.com

Thirst Noel (6.0% abv) Thirst Noel is a dark rich malty Christmas ale made using a combination of five malts and a blend of traditional and spicy hops. Also available in bottles. www.keswickbrewery.co.uk

Old Peculier (5.6% abv) Brewed using a generous blend of finest pale, crystal and roasted barley malts along with the majestic Fuggle hop to create a wonderful, full-bodied flavour a distinctive banana, blackcherry aroma leading to a magnificent Christmas kaleidoscope of flavour. Rich, smooth and sweet. www.theakstons.co.uk

Little Donkey (4.1% abv) Little Donkey, a cask-only limited-edition beer is essentially Christmas cake in a pint glass. Raisins, cherries, orange peel and a hint of brandy are evident in this brown ale which has been brewed using a blend of Topaz, Admiral and Phoenix hops. www.roosters.co.uk

Ginger Bread Brown Ale (4.3% abv)

Brewed in partnership with mmm... and glug...’s delicious gingerbread spice mix, Gingerbread is a spiced brown ale perfect for the winter months. With aromas of ginger and cinnamon and a full bodied bready and malty finish, Gingerbread is a lightly spiced dark brown ale with a warming ginger undertone, made for cold nights spent by the fire. www.riggandfurrow.com www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 39

BEER NEWS

ALL IN A DAY’S LEGWORK A Northumberland pub has raised more than £2,000 for charity following a walk across the county. Staff and regulars from the Anchor Inn at Whittonstall trekked from Waskerley Station to Holy Island Causeway in aid of the Breast Cancer Now campaign.

Dan Flory, Anchor manager, has been collecting to help breast cancer awareness for 10 years. He was joined by pub owners Karen and Gavin Reay, other staff and a squad of locals - 14 of them plus three dogs - who all wanted to pitch in.

Dan said: This year we made the fundraising more community based, so we got regulars involved.”

NEW BREWERY SWEEPS IN

Lake District brewery Hawkshead has agreed a deal with the global German manufacturer Krones to build a new state-of-the-art brewery as part of a £3m two-site expansion scheme.

Krones will install a turnkey 40-barrel (6,500-litre) rapid-batch brewhouse capable of multiple brews per day on a site in south Cumbria, near the existing brewery which is in Staveley, near Kendal.

As mentioned in our feature on pages 22-23, Hawkshead’s existing brewery will continue to concentrate on small batch specialist and limited-edition beers.

It currently produces 7,000 barrels (11,500 hectolitres) per year.

Head brewer Matt Clarke said: “Our current 20-barrel plant is the perfect size for innovation and experimentation, but we also need more volume. By adding the new Krones-Steinecker

brewhouse - the best in the business - we will free up space at Staveley for more small-batch projects, including our barrel-ageing programme. For the first time, we will have space to breathe and space to grow.”

The new brewery will be built on a site owned by Hawkshead’s new parent company, Halewood International.

THE GREAT NORTH EASTERN BREWING COMPANY LTD Brewery Shop

Tap Now Open

Wishing all our customers a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Great. North Eastern. Brewing Contract House, Wellington Road, NE11 9HS Dunston, Gateshead, Tel: 0191 4474462 email: gneb@mail.com 40 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

BEER NEWS

TIES LOOSENING BUT ONLY JUST

Belting: Sophie Burton in judo action

PRACTISING THE MARTIAL ARTS

she represents Great Britain British Judo Council You wouldn’t want to argue with any of the staff in the 40th International Den Helder open Judo at Tyne Bank Brewery; there are one or two at Championships in Holland. the Walker, Newcastle premises who can handle Ryan now holds the World United Martial Arts themselves. Admin apprentice Sophie Burton and brewer Ryan Maughan have had a fantastic year in Federation Northern Area under-80kg title in kickboxing. What a talented lot! So, let’s hear about your contact sport between them. exceptional staff – we at Cheers love the human touch Sophie has recently won a gold medal in the HEX-06 cheers ad awk.qxp_Hexhamshire Brew cheers ad awk 30/04/2015 08:46 to beer and pubs.

Judo BJC Nationals and is hoping for another when

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Dipton Mill Road, Hexham NE46 1YA

Every pint ordered and supped gives a lift to the nation’s booming brewing industry and helps to create jobs and keep local pubs open. So says the newly published Cask Report, the annual dissemination of the nation’s beer-drinking habits, and passed on by Ewan McCann at Three Kings Brewery in case we hadn’t noticed. And it demonstrates the power of the consumer – each job in brewing generates 18 in pubs, one in agriculture, one in the supply chain and one in shops.

Did you know that in 2010, 59% of pubs were managed or leased (tied) and only 41% were free houses? But in 2016 (latest figures available) the times they had a’changed with 49% tied & 51% being free.

Winners of this years Taste of England Award and Innovation of the Year award, Block & Bottle is the UKs first butchers and craft beer shop, selling locally sourced, free-range meat and over 150 different beers to drink in, or take away.

Order everything you need for a delicious Christmas and New Years Dinner from beer gift boxes and growlers to free-range turkeys, geese, beef and everything in between, Usual Opening Hours: Tues 8am-6pm, Wed - Sat 8am-8pm, Sun 10am-4pm Christmas Opening Hours: 24 December 8am-12pm, 25-28 December Closed 29-31 December Open as usual, 1-9 January Closed

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@blocknbottle www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 41

NEW FACES

READY TO ORDER

CAPS OFF BOTTLE SHOP BISHOP AUCKLAND If licensed trade experience is anything to go by, Caps Off Bottle Shop should do very well indeed. Situated in the former ticket office at Bishop Auckland Station, it’s run by Alastair Wild and his partner Chloe Sudders.

Alastair’s background in beer and pubs is impeccable, having managed Wetherspoons’ outlets throughout the North East from Richmond to Alnwick, following hospitatlity management at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC. “I got myself around,” he says. “We opened Caps Off in the summer with a temporary events licence and have just got the full licence now. That was a fun experience.

“The premises had been lying empty for 18 months, since the ticket office moved, and had

to be completely rewired and thoroughly refurbished. We’ll eventually turn the bottle-shop into a micropub as well. We’ve been concentrating on North East beers since we opened, but aim to have a 50-50 split between local and national and international beers - the bigger the variety the better. It’s been brilliant so far, nice and steady business.”

The couple are also looking at inviting street food traders outside on Fridays and Saturdays as the station end of town apparently goes quite quiet in the evenings.

The shop/micropub features an open bar with five keg lines and two cask ales, a display fridge, 10 vodkas and 30plus gins. Three high-topped tables, one in each window, supply the comfort. “There’s a

ON-LIN E SHOP & BEER HAMPE RS

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NEW FACES

lot crammed into a little space,” says Alastair. “We also have a little room at the back with a banqueting-style table seating 20-25.” www.capsoff.co.uk VIXEL DESIGNS Graphic designers like to get noticed - after all, it’s what they do for clients. Vicky Luciano’s

company, Bishop Aucklandbased Vixel Designs, is part vixen, part Vicky and a chunk of pixel, which is rather clever.

And designers have to be clever to stand out. Vicky is looking to break into the pub and brewery market, offering full branding services, logos, brochures and leaflets, plus a lot more

in bespoke print and digital services. She has previously worked with Lanchester Wines and Greencroft Bottling in Co Durham as a packaging designer and is looking to build a good, local client base. “At Vixel Designs we provide the glasses to see your branding vision through,” says Vicky.

Glasses and beer are what pubs and breweries are about, so she is already halfway there. www.vixeldesigns.com LANTERNE ROUGE What do Luke Rowe (Team Sky 2017) and Pink Lane Coffee Shop have in common? The answer is Lanterne Rouge

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NEW FACES

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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

(Red Light), the award given to the competitor who finishes last in a cycle race, such as the Tour de France - and also a Belgian beer café popping up in Newcastle in December.

Following a hugely successful event at Flat Caps Coffee Shop in 2016, this year Lanterne Rouge will be based in the stylish Pink Lane Coffee Shop.

“The space will be transformed each night into a fully working Belgian-style bar completed with draught and bottled beers, and Belgian-style bar snacks,” says Mick Potts, landlord of the award-winning Free Trade Inn, whose idea this is.

The beer selection includes revered Belgian classics such as Chimay, Duvel, Boon and Westvleteren, alongside modern Belgian brewers like Fantome, De la Senne and Alvinne. There will be British-brewed Belgian-style beers that include Aberdeen’s Six Degrees North and Burning Sky from Sussex and even Belgian-style beers from Denmark and the US. Mick says: “We’ve been working with Newcastle University’s Stu Brew, which has brewed a house beer for the event - a Belgian-style saison using a classic Belgian yeast strain. Food comes in the style of classic Belgian tapas and light snacks, including boudin noir (blood sausage), cured sausages and of course, gouda with celery salt. The Lanterne Rouge will be open 7pm-11.30pm Thursday-Saturday from December 1-23. www.pinklanecoffee.co.uk FOX AND HOUNDS, WYLAM Wylam in Northumberland has a range of brilliant pubs that’s difficult to top in any village. But that doesn’t faze Patsy Schroeder and Nigel Shell, the new(ish)

CHEERS ON TOUR

When your dad is the photographer on Cheers North East you sometimes get the chance to appear in print. Here we have Peter Skelton’s son Dylan and daughter Chloe enjoying the magazine. Or at least pretending to. The dog knows better though.

44 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

licensees of The Fox & Hounds - in fact, it spurs them on.

“We’re doing very well,” says Patsy. “We’ve been here for five months after working in Bamburgh at The Lord Crewe Arms and the Castle Hotel. We always intended to have our own place, though.”

On the counter are Marstons 61 Deep, Jennings Cumberland Ale and Thwaites Wainwright with a fourth handpull going on at weekends.

“They’re great beers,” says Patsy, “and so popular in the pub. We’ve also just installed Warsteiner Premium Lager and are building up our gin and rum selection.

“For the moment we offer Sunday lunches which are going well and eventually we hope to expand on that, but there’s been so much to sort out since we took over - lots to do behind the scenes - and there are only the two of us at the moment.” www. facebook.com/The-fox-and-houndswylam-618226298261923

AND TO FOLLOW…

HAVE YOUR CAKE AND DRINK IT

There’s a surprising amount of uses beer can be put to - skin and hair treatments and slug traps among them - so it’s only natural that somebody (Christine Gibbs from Durham Brewery in this instance) should come up with a recipe for a cake.

DURHAM TEMPTATION AND CHOCOLATE CAKE Ingredients: For the cake, 200ml Durham Temptation Imperial Stout, 4oz butter, 9oz soft brown sugar, 6oz self-raising flour, 2oz cocoa powder, 2 eggs For the topping: 2oz cocoa powder, 2oz butter, 4oz icing sugar, 3 tblsp Temptation Utensils: 2x8ins sandwich tins, greased and lined

Method: Preheart oven to 180C/ Gas4. Cream butter and sugar in a large basin. Beat eggs together and add to creamed mixture.

Mix flour with cocoa powder and sift into mixture alternately with the Temptation until a soft dropping consistency is achieved. Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 30-40 mins or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed and a skewer comes out clean. Reserve 3 tbsp of the bottle of Temptation for the topping and drink the rest. Let the cake rest for 10 minutes before turning it out of the tin, then cool completely on a rack. For the topping, beat the butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder and Temptation together and use to fill and ice the cake.

Rowlands Gill’s new Micro Pub OPENING TIMES:

Mon - Fri 12.00pm - 9.30pm Sat - Sun 12.00pm - 10.00pm 34 Station Rd, Rowlands Gill NE39 1PZ Tel 01207 438400

MANUFACTURERS & DISTRIBUTORS OF STEAM BOILERS & ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT

Complete Steam Solutions • Boiler ranges from 128 – 55,000 kg/hr • Steam, electric and hot water boilers • Ancillary equipment • Fully packaged plant rooms INDUSTRY-LEADING DESIGN, INSTALLATION, MAINTENANCE AND ENERGY SAVING SERVICES

T: 01255 224500 E: boilersales@steamboilers.co.uk www.steamboilers.co.uk www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 45

FUN STUFF

SIGN OF THE TIMES Sent by reader Chris Brewis. Spotted at City of Liverpool FC’s TDP Solicitors Stadium during a North West Counties League Premier Division match.

THE DIRTY DOZEN TWELVE POSERS TO TRY ON YOUR FRIENDS 1 How many colours are there in the Google logo?

2 In 1994, 49 million tickets were sold for which UK event?

3 On November 11 2017, which football club became the first in Britain to go 20 home games without winning?

4 Poona was the original name for what popular sport?

5 In which year did the CD become commercially available?

6 The name Helvetia appears on the coins and stamps of which country?

DAVID HASSELHOFF WALKS INTO A BAR… …AND THE BARMAN SAYS: “HOW ARE YOU DOING, MR HASSELHOFF?” DAVID HASSELHOFF SAYS: “FROM NOW ON I’M JUST THE HOFF.” SO THE BARMAN SAYS: “NO HASSLE, THEN.”

EEH! NUMBERS

1995

7 Laurent Blanc was the first footballer to do what in 1998?

8 What is the iron-rich protein in blood that gives it its colour?

9 True or false? The Latin word for the sickness brought on by excessive eating and drinking is ‘crapula’.

10 What fish is most eaten by humans?

11 What country has the world’s smallest birth rate?

12 What is edelweiss?

•The year Jack Charlton was elected Beer Drinker of the Year by the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group.

•The year the internet entered public consciousness.

•The Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 set out the rules for the killing of animals for private consumption elsewhere than in slaughterhouses.

QUOTE

“THERE WAS JUST SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED IN OUR REHEARSAL IN A PUB.” SLADE FOUNDER MEMBER DAVE HILL FOLLOWING NODDY HOLDER’S SUCCESSFUL AUDITION FOR THE BAND.

QUIZ ANSWERS: 1 Four (blue, red, yellow, green). 2 The first National Lottery draw. 3 Sunderland AFC. 4 Badminton (from the Indian city of Poona, now called Pune). 5 1982 (October). 6 Switzerland. 7 Scored a ‘golden goal’ that ended extra time (against Paraguay in the 1998 World Cup finals). 8 Haemoglobin.

9 True. 10 Herring. 11 Vatican City. 12 A white mountain flower.

46 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS

Filled with Sonnet 43

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