Cheers North East magazine #94 - October 2019

cheers WWW.CHEERSNORTHEAST.CO.UK // OCTOBER 2019 // ISSUE 94

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BEER LABELS MEET SCISSORS ARTWORK WITH JEWEL PURPOSE

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DARK TALE OF LUST AND GIN THRILLER SET IN NEWCASTLE

PEEL ME A GRAPE URBAN WINERY IN ITS TEAM VALLEY FINERY

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GREY HORSE CONSETT

‘TOP HOUSE’ Pitmatic: The public house at the top of the street.

Or in our case – The middle of the street, but at the top of our game… and proudly your CAMRA Regional Pub of the year.

Though, we’ve got a lot more to shout about than just our beer.

So we’d like to invite you to our own ‘Top House’ on November 2nd from 2pm.

We’re unveiling our smart new identity, commissioned just for us, by highly acclaimed local artist Robert ‘Bob’ Olley.

We’ll be launching a new celebratory ale, fresh from our onsite Brewery.

And of course receiving our CAMRA award as well…

Come and see what makes us the ‘Top House’ in the North East by joining us in celebration.

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THE HOME OF CONSETT ALE WORKS The Grey Horse 115 Sherburn Terrace, Consett, Co. Durham, DH8 6NE. Telephone: 01207 591 540 www.consettaleworks.co.uk FIND OUT MORE ON

WELCOME Autumn is a season to embrace fully with its mists and mellow fruitfulness but this year October has an extra agenda. In previous years we’ve had wrist-slapping campaigns called Go Sober For October, Sober October and Stoptover, the cease smoking campaign – all which are gaining traction with every passing year. There’s nothing wrong with being sober; we’d never advocate anything else, but some sections of society seem to enjoy taking a stab at those of us who enjoy the company of fellow pub-goers and that it might be beneficial for our wellbeing to mix and mingle and laugh and debate. And, just as all the fun seems to take place in the kitchen at parties, there’s possibly something to envy about the group outside the pub that shares tobacco smoke, anecdotes, secrets and – inevitably – the odd wheezy cough.

However, 2019 is different.

This year is scary. This year, on October 31 (at the time of writing) we are due to plummet out of the European Union and that is not a good outcome in anybody’s book. OK, Brexit sermon over.

But there’s actually an awful lot to be confident about – and that can be found in our pubs. There’s innovation and enterprise topped with a heady layer of positivity and customer satisfaction so let’s drink to what autumn is all about.

Sober October be damned.

Go For October – how much better does that sound?

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 16

GRAPE EXPECTATIONS

An urban winery based in Gateshead would seem to be an unlikely scenario.

But Laneberg Wine is crushing every misconception about the subject.

Grapes grown in English vineyards are being gently squeezed for their juice and fermented into astonishing wine within sight of the A1 Western Bypass by a family firm headed by a chemist who has the best wine-making qualifications the country can supply.

Now, that’s something for the North East to crow about, isn’t it?

COVER: ELISE LANE AT LANEBERG WINE, GATESHEAD. PHOTO: PETER SKELTON

I MAKE HOMEBREW BASED ON BEERS, BOOKS, TELEVISION SHOWS AND VIDEO GAMES

PAUL CROWTHER, THE MAD BREWER

ADVERTISING

Gillian Corney 07903 500 401 01661 844 115 gillian@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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HOMEBREW MADNESS

CLOCK SAYS IT’S BEER TIME

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

Ale art: Simon Turner, left, and Dave Cook at Owa' the Road, Swalwell

SWALWELL PUB IS A BIG DRAW

It’s been a terrific twelve months for one Gateshead pub since it opened in September 2018. Swalwell establishment Owa’ The Road is featured in the 2020 Good Beer Guide while owner Dave Cook’s other pub, The Sun Inn (sitting owa’ the road), is something of a regular in the annual Camra publication.

The one-year anniversary was marked by the presentation of a fabulous illustration of Owa’ The Road by artist and designer Simon Turner. Simon produced the piece on an iPad – which for all the world looks like a charcoal drawing – which he uses extensively for his work.

He and writer/poet Christine Frazer are collaborating on several projects for Big Local Gateshead, a community development programme based in the Teams area of the town. Its overall aim is to improve the lives of local people and make the area an even better place to live through health initiatives for all ages and improving the built environment while also organising community events and festivals.

Simon’s imagery and Christine’s poetry can be viewed on the Dunston Staiths riverside walk next to The Staiths Café.

More at www.ourgateshead.org/biglocal

4 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

Tome from home: Ian Lee, Tyneside & Northumberland Camra branch chairman, launches the new Good Beer Guide at Newcastle's Head of Steam

THE GOOD BOOK REVEALS ALL

Which newly-released book is 3.5cm thick, weighs 1.1 kilos, has 1,060 pages with a foreword by Professor Brian Cox? It’s not a science manual or a detailed survey into outer space, but the Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) Good Beer Guide 2020.

The Good Beer Guide reviews over 4,500 pubs across the UK and is described as the definitive beer drinkers’ guide to the best pints in a variety of styles of pubs to suit individual tastes. Compiled by thousands of Camra volunteers, it helps identify significant trends and themes locally and nationally.

Ultimately, of course, there are those who agree and disagree on which pub is “in” this year and which ones have been dropped.

The publication always causes controversy (and why use a considerably iffy photo of the Dun Cow in Sunderland – very fine pub as it is – when the space could be used by six or seven more entries?).

One of the new entries is Tynemouth Social Club, having attempted for years to

get customers interested in real ale, now has a rotating guest beer policy which has stimulated demand.

Club steward Michael Bell says: “We’re over the moon to be in the guide, it’s quite an achievement and great for the club, its members and the local area.”

The club also features local beers which have been matured in oak casks and has a fine relationship with the Society for the Preservation of Beer in Wood (SPBW) which Michael reckons has helped its profile enormously.

As for the North East as a whole, the Grey Horse in Consett, County Durham, has been named one of the best pubs in the UK, making its way to the next stage of the competition in the nationwide search for Camra’s Pub of the Year. It will now compete in the next super-regional round of the competition, hoping to be named one of four finalists – and stay in with a chance of becoming the overall winner which will be revealed in February 2020.

NEWS

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CALL TO BAR FAKE REVIEWS

Popular review site TripAdvisor has claimed it stopped more than a million fake reviews during 2018 before being published, saying it is “far from complacent” in dealing with fraud protection.

But one of the posts missed by the platform was an entirely bogus one purporting to be a review of the Rat Inn at Anick, near Hexham.

A particularly defamatory review was accompanied recently by totally fake images which led owner Karen Errington to take the matter up with TripAdvisor – not a straightforward task.

“Eventually I was able to get the photos taken down,” says Karen, who runs the award-winning pub and restaurant with partner Phil Mason. “However, I was informed that the review ‘met guidelines’ as TripAdvisor believes ‘censorship is detrimental to our platform’. In other

FORECAST DRY FOR JAPAN

Biting back: The Rat Inn, Anick, near Hexham

words, it is only interested in volume of traffic to its site.

“How can a review that featured photos not even taken in our pub be viewed as trustworthy?

"Leaving the review up confirms they encourage disingenuous

contributors. Anyone found to be uploading fraudulent content should be automatically barred from the site.”

The Rat Inn was placed earlier this year at number 17 in Britain’s Top 50 Gastropubs.

Oganisers of the Rugby world Cup in Japan which continues until November 2, have raised fears that bars and restaurants in host cities could run out of beer as fans celebrate their wins or drown their sorrows. The organising committee has been urging operators to order enough beer to avoid upsetting travelling supporters – expected to number some 400,000 from abroad – and wholesalers have acknowledged that beer shortages were “a realistic problem”, particularly as many Japanese restaurants offer all-youcan-drink packages.

A historic pub at the heart of the Haymarket The best place in town for great beer and sport

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NEWS

Long running: Hashers from all over the world visited Newcastle for a special anniversary run

A HIDDEN GEM Traditional village pub serving real ales, home cooked food and comfy accommodation!

Food served every day from 12 noon Beer garden, family and dog friendly!

BOOKINGS BEING TAKEN FOR CHRISTMAS FAYRE available from 30th November - 24th and Christmas Day! Private functions and Christmas Parties catered for in our Oak Room Restaurant Telephone 01207 255545 for further details or to book Check our website for up and coming events www.thepunchbowlinn.co.uk The Punchbowl Inn, Edmunbyers, County Durham, DH8 9NL

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GREAT NORTH BEER RUN

The Great North Run 2019 produced yet more recordbreaking performances from the likes of Mo Farah – his seventh GNR title – and Brigid Kosgei, who smashed the women’s time by over a minute, also recording the world’s fastest half-marathon. They certainly flashed past the Beer Stop, an annual institution organised by Newcastle Hash House Harriers (NHHH) – “a drinking club with a running problem” – where measures of beer are offered to weary and thirsty participants.

“We handed out 480 pints among 3,800 runners,” says NHHH founder Keith Hudson.

“Once again, the first to take a beer was Conrad from Gateshead Harriers. Ally Dixon also joined in in her record run dressed as Wonder Woman. We worked hard for over two hours until all the beer went, with some runners sprinting to get the last few measures.

“We had a lot of our club taking part in the run this year as well as Hashers from all over the country.

One family, Garry, Beccy, Ryan and Grant who live near the Beer Stop not only stored some of the beer for us overnight, but also helped out on the day.

“There was also the post-run run from the Sundial at South

Shields for anyone mad or thirsty enough to take part – actually a gentle jog between a number of Shields’ best hostelries.

“Huge thanks to our brewery contributors, Camerons, Tyne Bank, Out There, Hexhamshire, Durham, Hadrian Border, S43, Twice Brewed and Anarchy, and to our volunteers but also to all those Great North Runners.”

In August, Newcastle HHH were involved in the bi-annual Nash Hash event in Kelso where 900 runners from all over Britain and from abroad came together.

Newcastle HHH set a trail around the Borders town of Jedburgh with 102 Hashers taking part, covering a six-mile run through stunning countryside.

This was followed by the club’s 25th anniversary on August 28 with a run from the Quayside Head of Steam, Newcastle, with 31 Hashers, including Americans, New Zealanders and Canadians on their way home from Kelso.

Keith Hudson also reports that the NHHH Annual General Beer Tasting Meeting was held at Bar Loco in Newcastle where awards for the year were handed out – Best Pub Award going to The Waiting Room on Durham Station, while the Enigma Tap, Brinkburn St Brewery, The Punch Bowl Hotel and Left Luggage Room were among the nominations.

NEWS

Clean sweep: Wylam Brewery tap takeover at The Cluny, Newcastle

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ON TAP OF THE WORLD

There are tap takeovers and tap takeovers – some with perhaps four out of six handpulls and keg fonts devoted to a particular brewery, but a recent event at The Cluny, Newcastle certainly took the biscuit.

Wylam Brewery swamped the whole Ouseburn bar with some of the most astonishing beers produced in the North East this year.

Along with the almost everyday offerings such as Hickey The Rake, Galatia and Cascade, came the likes of Wylam/Old Chimneys Summon Up The Blood Coconut & Vanilla Imperial Stout (13.5% abv) in an exclusive first pour on cask and keg with monster notes of cinder toffee, worn leather, dark cocoa, toasted coconut and Madagascan vanilla.

Then there was El Topo Mexican Oatmeal Stout (7.2% abv), The Anatomy Of Taverns Export Stout (6.3% abv) on keg and cask and another exclusive first pour of cask Wylam Impex Imperial Best (8.7% abv).

This was first brewed for De Molen Borefts Festival in the

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Netherlands who requested a traditional ale from our region.

So they got a supercharged Newcastle Exhibition Ale in homage to Wylam Brewery being housed in the last remaining building from the 1928 Great North Exhibition.

The Daddy for some, however, was the last-ever keg of Old Chimneys Good King Henry (10% abv), an Imperial Stout brewed by master brewer Alan Thomson who is closing the Suffolk brewery and taking time out to collaborate with other breweries.

This is a busy period for the Wylam team as they have a full representation at Indy Man Beer Convention in Manchester early this month followed by their very own Craft Beer Calling festival at the Palace of Arts in Exhibition Park, Newcastle, Thursday October 24 – Saturday 26. It’s three days dedicated to introducing an assembly of some of the world’s leading craft breweries under one roof, plus there’s a gin palace, wine cellar, great music, a sumptuous street food market and an artisan cider cellar. www.craftbeercalling.com www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 7

BREWERY NEWS

STORMING NORMAL

A long search for a suitable home reached a conclusion earlier this year when Black Storm Brewery moved into premises previously occupied by Blackhill Brewery which had been run by former coalminer Chris Graham and his wife Sue. The brewing world moves fast, so now we find former Tyne Bank Brewery brewer Adam Brewer has taken over the reins at the unit near Chester le Street, County Durham. Adam had left the industry to go into teacher training. He found it didn’t suit him, and had hankerings to get back into making beer.

He has been at Black Storm since late August, so he’s still getting to grips with the brewhouse and fine-tuning the kit to his demanding ways.

And, talk about going in at the deep end – Adam has been working with Darwin Brewery in Sunderland on a wheat beer with touches of cinnamon; the latest 12 beers in 12 months project that began in January which involves collaborative brews across the UK highlighted by talented illustrators who get the best design work out of a can.

“It’s the first one I’ve been involved with and it

Old hand: Adam Brewer at Black Storm Brewery had all been set up before I came here but it went really well,” says Adam.

“It’s really interesting to see how other brewers work and I enjoy that side of things. I’m working on my own at the moment but this brewhouse with its four-barrel kit and 2.5-barrel equipment is very manageable for one person.”

Black Storm beers had been previously contracted out to Hadrian Border Brewery in Newburn, Newcastle, and Adam is initially concentrating on the core beers in the range before approaching anything more experimental.

They’re fairly traditional beers but very good ones: Porter (5.2% abv), IPA (5.5% abv), Blonde (4.0%), Gold (4.3% abv), Tropical Storm (4.2% abv), Pilsner (5.2% abv) plus Original Cider (4.5% abv).

Black Storm founder Paul Hughes says: “The recruitment of such a beer focused and talented commercial brewer such as Adam has allowed us to continue on our focus of delivering quality and consistency of classic real ale, along with the opportunity to continue to innovate in some of our newer seasonal and collaboration brews.

“This marks a line in the sand where we move from working in partnership with some great regional partners such as Castle Eden and Brewlab, and continue to be immensely grateful to Andy, Shona and the whole Hadrian Border team for the support and guidance they provided during our initial growth period.

“As we look to the future, we are firmly committed to showing we are not just a brand but a brewery, being able to consistently brew award-winning beers served in our award winning venues and across the country to our ever growing family of storm chasers.”

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NEWS

HERE’S TO WIT AND WISDOM A North East beer has made its way to a Belgian museum, writes Sheilagh Matheson

A Belgian-style beer brewed in Blaydon has taken a “Coals To Newcastle” approach by being available in Belgium.

Little Belgium is a Witbier, also known as Belgian White, a style of wheat beer that’s generally pale and opaque with a crisp wheat character and refreshing citrus flavour of orange peel and coriander.

When Corbridge-based Cheers reader Chris Roberts heard about Little Belgium, he offered to take samples to Belgium’s National Hop Museum in Poperinge, near Ypres. He spends two weeks every year on a working holiday at Talbot House, a WWI museum, close to the hop museum which features 2,300 bottles of beer all brewed in Belgium.

He said: “Taking beer to Belgium is like bringing coals to Newcastle, but I was sure the Hop Museum would be interested in a North East witbier. They were very welcoming and tasted it straight away. It was great seeing a Blaydon beer standing among the classic beers of Belgium.

Little Belgium thoroughly impressed Peter Cleenewerck who runs the museum and has

encyclopaedic knowledge of each exhibit. Poperinge is the centre of hop growing in Belgium, with 18 farms in the vicinity which have been growing hops for generations.

Peter said: “Firebrick’s witbier is a very good example of this Belgian style of beer. It is the only British beer we have ever received.

“It tastes a little more bitter than our witbier, but maybe that’s because normally we would drink it more chilled, at 3-5ºC, often with a glass that’s been in the freezer.”

Firebrick Little Belgium (4.7% abv) is the latest in its Heritage range of beers and is a tribute to 3,000 Belgian refugees and exservicemen who fled German occupation in 1915 to a purpose-built township – Elisabethville – built alongside Birtley, Gateshead.

They worked in the local munitions factory producing shells and cartridge cases for the British Army. Elisabethville was named

Taste test: Poperinge Hop Museum director Peter Cleenewerck, right, samples Little Belgium under the scrutiny of Chris Roberts after the Queen of the Belgians, but it became known locally as Little Belgium, with the occupants subsequently called the Birtley Belgians.

To truly test Little Belgium,

Peter Cleenewerck plans to include it in a blind tasting evening this month. And does he have any advice for Firebrick?

He said: “The only recommendation I would make is that they use Belgian hops in future.”

Traditional Country Pub Local Craft Beer - including on site First & Last Brewery!

Home cooked food - Regular live music Accommodation - Families welcome - Dog friendly Opening Times: Monday Closed Tues - Thurs open 5pm to 10pm Friday, Sat & Sun Bar open 11.30pm to 11pm Bar Menu

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PUB NEWS

MICROPUB FOXING CLEVER

“Just be careful with the stairs” is probably the most oft-used phrase in one Northumberland micropub. That, and “another one of those please”.

The Foxes Den in Felton sits in what was once the cellar of The Widdrington Arms. Upstairs is The Running Fox café and bakery and both are destination points for villagers and wide-ranging travellers alike.

The original idea three-and-ahalf years ago was that the pub would open for evening trade when the café shut for the day, but that hit practicality buffers.

“I had to come in to see what the potential was,” says Andrea Johnson, who also runs awardwinning micropb The Office in Morpeth. “When we saw what was here, the cellar had no ceiling, no floors, no electricity or water, but I said, ‘right, I’ll take this – it suits

me fine’. Now it’s bedlam in here sometimes.”

The Foxes Den is small – some might describe it as “intimate” – a mix of original stonework and brick

where it has been knocked through over the years for more cellar space. It’s the “distressed” interior design vision that creative people spend weeks working on and

25

10 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

clients pay a fortune for – but here it’s what it is.

Casks, kegs and wine waiting their turn are stored under box seating – it’s like an Ikea room setting where every available space is maximised for practicality.

The pub’s own cellar is cleverly boxed off behind the bar.

“We need every bit of space,” says Andrea. “When we change a cask we shout ‘beer’s off, move’. I love doing shifts here, particularly Wednesday quiz night. It’s amazing how many people we can get in.

“There’s a very strong community sense here. We have cheese nights, pie nights, cake nights – the whole village cooks and I get fed all night. We had a treasure hunt for charity which was very competitive.

“We simply can’t get any more tables in, even though we need them. The Office and here have

Small but perfectly formed: The Foxes Den, Felton

completely different drinking habits, it’s more traditional here and customers prefer their beers around the four percent mark, but I’m trying to bring more unfiltered, unpasteurised beers in and they’re gradually taking to them. But

PUB NEWS

my downfall is The Running Fox upstairs – I’m never out of it.”

The fox theme is wrung out at every opportunity in cushions, pictures, ornaments and nick-nacks.

It’s a very welcoming room with that comforting feel you instinctively

know is right and you imagine buzzes incessantly with conversation and rings with laughter.

Beers are fiercely local with Rigg & Furrow Brewery permanently represented.

Andrea says: “Every month we get a bus for a Rigg & Furrow tap visit – and they come here.

We’ve even walked the three miles.

It gets both places together.”

Hunt it out, it’s by Felton’s old bridge over the Coquet. But be careful with the stairs.

vv

NEW CRAFT BAR FOR CITY? A proposal for a new basement pub in Old Eldon Square has been submitted to Newcastle City Council. Plans to open The Wobbly Duck have been put forward by Karl Parkin, who owns The Old Fox in Felling, Gateshead, and co-owns Beer Street in Newcastle.

The plan is to expand on the success of both pubs and to offer something different but still within the cask and craft beer range, working with the best of regional and national brewers and suppliers.

Karl Parkin hopes the council will approve plans to have an outside seating area, although he is well aware they are keen not to have people drinking on the green of the historic and popular square.

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BREWERY NEWS

TRAVEL THE CIRCLE LINE

A new brewing site – plus – is about to open in Newcastle. Alastair Gilmour looks it square in the eye It’s sitting silent as we write this, but by mid November, an enormous warehouse in Newcastle will be humming with brewing activity, ringing with filling machines, and bouncing with enthusiasm. Following a two-year search for premises that had to match his ambition, Ben Cleary has ensured that

Full Circle Brew Co is about to happen at Hoults Yard in the east of the city.

It’s not enough to invest in solely a brewhouse these days if you want to build something that will be attractive enough for people will come; you have to incorporate features such as a public taproom, a corporate area, events space,

Ramping up: Ben Cleary at the Full Circle Brewery product development unit kitchen, live music stage, outdoor areas and retail premises.

You need to conduct educational tours and host promotions, while beer-wise the attractions of collaborations with like-minded

companies and contract brewing for others are too good to miss. The opportunities are endless.

“We’re ramping up for the beginning of October when the construction contractors move in,”

South Causey Inn

Tap Room & Distillery

SOUTH CAUSEY INN WINTER BEER & GIN CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL FRIDAY 29TH NOVEMBER 2019

Welcome, Gin and Beer Lovers! Be part of history and join us for the FIRST Causey Winter Beer and Gin Christmas festival.

On arrival, you will be given your very own engraved glass and a token for your choice of one our Causey Gins which are all distilled on-site.

A Street Food Feast will be served in the heated and covered Durham Courtyard from our very own Tuc- Tuc Pizza Van with a genuine Italian wood-burning oven. “Make your own Pizza” and “Pimp your Burger BBQ” along with Marinated Chicken, Veggie Sausages and Skewers with Chimichurri Sauce. £25 per person including Entry, Engraved Glass, Token, Street Food Feast, and Entertainment!

BREW CLUB TOURS & TALKS

• Thursday 3rd October, 7pm - Beer flavours and training your taste buds • Thursday 7th November, 7pm - What is the difference between Yeast and a Microbe?

Tap Room Tours available, please contact South Causey Inn on 01207 235555 for more information.

Beamish Burn Road, Stanley, Co. Durham. DH9 0LS

For more information and to book please contact us on 01207 235555! www.southcausey.co.uk 12 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

BREWERY NEWS

says Ben, who already owns The Pip Stop, a highly successful beer wine and spirits outlet at Maiden Law, County Durham. The business is a satellite of the Lanchester Group owned by his parents Tony

and Veronica Cleary.

“It’s pretty much full-on now. The brew kit is well on its way and we’ve even got Christmas parties booked in. It’ll be one of a kind in Newcastle; a 30-hectolitre brewery, a fourvessel, semi-automated brewhouse with eight fermentation vessels and two double-sized vessels.

There’s space left for up to another six for when we can fit them in.

“A new canning line is on its way from China – it’s on the water now – which is capable of filling 100 cans a minute.”

Ben has recruited award-winning home-brewer Alex Redpath as head brewer. The pair have known each other for years and have

produced several well constructed beers in their experimental unit at Lanchester. Two further brewers are champing at the bit which should take the starting line-up to 15 employees.

“We’ve been brewing on our small kit so we know what we’re working with,” says Ben. “We’ll start with a Session Pale Ale, an American Pale and an IPA before starting on seasonals and specials. Then we can collaborate with others brewers and also contract brew for other people. We hope to have seven or eight beers available for when we open.

“I take pride in keeping beer just at the right temperature. It’s got to be better than good – it’s got

to be excellent. Scream For Pizza are coming in for a year with their Neapolitan-style pizzas and The Pip Stop is also moving in.

“Full Circle Brew Co is a great venue with great beer and it’ll be great. Collective Design have come back with some amazing design work. Our policy is simple; we don’t do things by halves.

“Hoults Yard is within easy reach of the city centre and there’s a real buzz about the place. There are a growing number of great breweries in and around the Byker/Walker/ Ouseburn area making it a bit of a beer lovers’ hub and we’re looking to create something special which captures the hearts, minds and – most importantly – the taste buds of the local community.”

With his parents having built up a wine supply, bottling, packaging and quality gifts operation over the last 40 years, and his wife’s folks being from a pub-owning background, Ben Cleary feels brewing is a really neat fit. It’s come Full Circle, you might say.

FESTIVE MENU REVEALED...

YOUR CHRISTMAS PARTY IN THE HEART OF THE CITY VISIT THEBRIDGETAVERN.COM FOR FURTHER DETAILS

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 13

CREATIVITY

Debut novel: Author AM Stirling (aka Mike Golding) at the Bacchus in Newcastle. Photo: Vincent Zeller

NOVEL IDEA IS MAGIC TALE A new book set on Tyneside has alcohol and lust at its core. Alastair Gilmour meets its author

When a book is described as “a sexy, transgressive and very promising debut novel” it should spark interest in the casual reader. When you’re told that the principal characters have a taste for alcohol, you’re tempted to give it a go. Then when you find that it’s set in Newcastle and the main character’s favourite bar is the Bacchus, you’re right in there.

Bad Magic is a suspense thriller written by Newcastle-based author AM Stirling. Set in the art world against the backdrop of postindustrial Tyneside, where gleaming office blocks and hotels arise from the ashes of former industrial sites, the novel explores a number of themes that include sexual obsession, suspicions of murder, and masculinity.

Its main character, Richard Waverley, is a Newcastle art gallery owner who isn’t making much money.

Actually, he’s losing money and is being nagged by artists who haven’t been paid for sales and haunted by general unpaid bills, plus he’s 14 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

getting involved with an unscrupulous property developer. He is constantly asking his grandmother to fund his lifestyle, using his “puppy dog face” to sweet talk her into reaching for her chequebook.

AM Stirling is the pen-name of Mike Golding, an “adopted Geordie”, former a freelance photographer, an artist with several national and international exhibitions to his name, and an academic. After harbouring an ambition to write fiction for far too long, he completed an MA in creative writing at Newcastle University in 2012.

Bad Magic is his first published novel; it’s populated with readily identifiable characters who follow their own agendas involving the hapless Richard (who had been abused as a teenager by his older cousin Amanda). They tend to drink a lot – particularly gin and wine – and fight over an inheritance.

Mike says: “I’ve visualised the art gallery somewhere like Shakespeare Street in Newcastle. The Bacchus

on neighbouring High Bridge is Richard’s local.”

Frustrated at not getting his book published, Mike eventually went down the self-publishing route through an Amazon scheme.

“It took two years to write and your attitude changes when you’re writing,” he says. “It’s quite a dark novel. I don’t know how many I’ll sell; it’s difficult to gauge what the response will be as at the moment it’s just a file on a computer.” (It’s now in recognisable book form.)

Using the pseudonym was not only a way for Mike to distance himself from his previous career and start something new but was also a method of researching his family history and keeping it alive.

He says: “RM Stirling is Alexander Marshall Stirling, one of my mother’s brothers. He was a miner in Auchinleck in East Ayrshire and fought with the Chindits in the Far East during the war. He’s buried in an unmarked grave.

“He was a hard drinker, on the verge of alcoholism. My mother was very fond of him; he was her favourite, but she hated his drinking. When she developed Alzheimer’s, she used to talk about him a lot.

He once sent her a picture of himself in his football strip inscribed ‘All’s well in Auchinleck but still on the bottle’.”

Bad Magic is laced with fastmoving situations – many of them racy – and invariably punctuated with phrases such as “Catherine mixed him a gin and tonic”, “her drink in her hand”, “they agreed on a bottle of Chianti”, “they touched glasses”, which change the pace and allow the reader to catch up (and perhaps reach for a glass themselves).

It’s a compelling and enthralling tale of kissing ousins with the fact that it’s set on familiar territory giving it that extra edge – dark novel or not. *Available as an eBook and a paperback, Bad Magic goes live on Amazon on October 1. A book launch will be held at the Lit & Phil in Newcastle on Thursday October 24 at 7.00 pm.

, d e l l i h c e v r e S over ice or as a mixer

WINE

PEEL ME A GRAPE Wine making is normally the preserve of a warm climate, not the chill North East of England.

Alastair Gilmour learns about grapes and enterprise A Gateshead company has set out not only to produce a brilliant product, but to change people’s perceptions in the process. Team Valley-based Laneberg Wine is the first urban winery on Tyneside and the furthest north in England. Gateshead?

Wine?

The company, set up two years ago by Elise Lane, produces high-quality wine using English grapes grown in Leicestershire and won medals in major competitions for its very first 2018 vintage. Gateshead? Wine? Leicestershire?

Medals?

“Last year, 2018, was fabulous for English grapes and they were beautifully ripe when they arrived,” says Elise. “Eleven tonnes were carried though our large double doors in plastic crates of 20 kilos each. They are packed so as they don’t get crushed and stay intact else they could start fermenting – which you don’t want at this stage.

“All the family helped, plus friends of my dad’s who he goes to the football with. They’re mostly retired and we had all these older Geordie blokes saying ‘I never thought I’d ever be making wine’.”

So if you can round up a gang of footballmad blokes and get them interested in wine – and wine of such quality it’s going to win industry gongs – that’s your out-of-date preconceptions blown away for good.

“We want people to get the same joy from 16 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

wine that we do,” says Elise. “We are here for the seasoned wine aficionados and for eager learners and nervous wine novices in the North East.”

Laneberg Wine is run by Elise Lane, with help from husband Nick, father Ray, mother Ruth, sister Laura, brother-in-law Ash, and as many of the family and friends she can rope in.

She grew up in Newcastle and moved away in 1999 to study chemistry at Oxford (where, with the combination of her maiden name Steinberg and her Geordie accent, one fellow student spent the first term thinking she was German).

She then moved to London and worked in corporate finance where she met Nick, who is from Gosport in Hampshire.

While there she did a couple of winerelated qualifications at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) which she walked by every day on the way to work and got intrigued through a curiosity that combined flavour compounds and chemistry.

After their first son Max (who is now six) was born she quit her job and studied winemaking at Plumpton College in East Sussex, later working as assistant winemaker in their commercial winery.

The pair moved the family back to the North East in 2017 and set up the business while Elise was pregnant with their second son Reuben (now 18 months old).

“Wine making had been niggling at me for five years,” says Elise. “I loved my job in corporate finance but hadn’t found my passion – and I didn’t want to be away from Max until I was doing something I was really passionate about.

“The wine course was a bit academic but it made me want to get hands-on with wine making. But if you went to a winery to learn you’d spend the first year cleaning barrels and crates, not really learning much about how to make it.

“When we moved back to the North East I thought what on earth are we going to do, then thought why don’t we have a crack at an urban winery?

“At the moment, we make all-English wines from grapes grown in English vineyards, particularly the Bacchus variety which we see as a challenger to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Sparkling: Elise Lane in urban winery Laneberg Wine.

Photo: Peter Skelton

We could source grapes from the Loire Valley in France but they machine harvest there rather than doing it by hand which pulls the grapes off the stalks then pack them into much bigger crates so by the time they reach Gateshead they might have started fermenting – and you don’t want that at that stage.

“We’re all about quality wine here. We don’t get the sugar levels in English grapes that they do in Australia, Italy, France and Spain because of the colder temperatures but it means we don’t have to acidify them because the acids are already high.

“Everything is hands-on from unloading eleven tonnes through to bottling and labelling.

You don’t need a gym membership for this job.”

Her urban winery could be mistaken for a brewery with similar-looking stainless steel vessels in a variety of sizes from 1,000 litres to 2,500 litres – except for the giant grape press

and cafetière-like plunger. It’s done gently at first, adding more pressure so the seeds and skins loosen without unnecessary damage – most of the flavour comes from the skins.

The juices flow down through holes then is eventually pumped into fermenters as the pulp settles into solids and yeast is added to the clear juices.

“It’s a brilliant feeling when fermentation starts,” says Elise. “We leave it for ten to fourteen days after fermentation to let the yeast settle out then rack it into another tank. We don’t add finings to clear it, it’s all done by gravity which will take three weeks.

“You’re always tasting it looking for fruity aromatics. We’ll bottle our rosé in December – Fenwicks have an order in for Valentine’s Day.” Laneberg Wine has been working with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers to bring in a £35,000 investment

from the EU which, as well as supporting the production of a wider range on wines for 2020, will also enable it to recruit and train a wine-making apprentice. Elise’s cousin Liam Steinberg is already helping out and he’s keen to learn more.

Elise Lane has plans to produce her first red and sparkling wine and to introduce the winemaking process to the public with tastings and sampling sessions in a bar setting.

She says: “We want people to come, a bit like a Wylam Brewery, but we might have to move more centrally for that.”

The 2019 vintage grapes will arrive shortly on Team Valley – and there’s a group of retired Geordies flexing their muscles, every one of them eager to help make superb wine and drink it. It’s wine education at ground level.

Preconceptions? Gateshead? www.lanebergwine.com www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 17

PUB NEWS

ALL MANOR OF CHANGES

David and Natasha Corney knew the pub they were taking over three months ago had a bright future. Potential was high on their list of “likes”, but even they have been taken by surprise at the upturn in trade at The Manor House Inn, Carterway Heads, on the County Durham and Northumberland border.

The surge in business, goodwill and returning custom has them excited.

“We love it here, we’re really chuffed at the way it’s going,” says Natasha.

She is from a nursing and care background while David has spent his working life as a chef.

“I’ve known the place and people all my life,” says David, who was a pot-washer at 14 when his mother Gillian was manageress.

“My dad was a policeman, this was his area, and it’s really nice to meet 18 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

people I’ve never seen for ten or twenty years.”

Changes in front-of-house personnel and tweaks around the bar and menu have made most of the immediate difference – the idea being to start with the basics to get the best out of the business.

“We’ve got to keep on building on that and put the passion back into the place,” says David. “You have to have love and passion in this trade, then keep on pumping and pumping it.

“Custom comes from all around; Consett, Corbridge, Hexham, Muggleswick, Shotley Bridge and Whittonstall, right across to Gateshead.

Many of the old regulars are coming back in and there’s a lot of passing trade, particularly people going back and forward to Scotland – for food, accommodation and the crack at the bar – plus the caravan

PUB NEWS

The Manor House Inn, Carterway Heads. Below: The dining room and a stunning view from the car park

site next door has helped a lot.

“Fresh ideas are putting the place back on the map. Everything is home-made, including the bread, and all using local suppliers. It’s just amazing, lovely food on a plate, that’s the whole point, it’s what I’ve always done.

The 18th Century Manor House is the quintessential coaching inn, sitting on the undulating A68 at the head of the Derwent Reservoir, the noted watersports and wild fishing centre.

It’s an inn in the old-fashioned sense – two-foot thick sandstone walls wrap around an absolute delight whether it’s a meal, a few

drinks, a short break to admire the glorious North Pennines scenery, or a night or two’s homely accommodation.

The public bar’s enormous stone fireplace is an immediate focus but equally alluring is a large window onto the pub cellar where its functional innards are exposed to all and sundry – ale casks, plastic piping, junction boxes, pumpclips, wine bottles and boxes – which is a clever way of introducing a very tidy and well organised operation. If the rest of the pub functions as efficiently as this appears to, chances are it’s a polished operation.

David and Natasha rent the building from Enterprise Inns but the lease is set to transfer to the Stonegate Pub Company in February, so there’s likely to be a change in beer offer. At the moment it’s cask Thwaites Wainright, Timothy Taylor Landlord, Courage Directors and Old Rosie Cider – that’ll do nicely.

The menu is still finding its feet as the main dining room is being refurbished. Specials include Steak Night Monday, Burger Thursday and all-day Friday fish and chips (which a group of ramblers voted the area’s best).

“And so many people have pitched up on a Sunday we’ve had to use the private dining room,” says Natasha.

“It’s a wonderful little place, it just needs looking after.”

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BEST IN SHOW

Tony Cleary, who founded Lanchester Wines with his wife Veronica in their front room in 1978 – and developed into The Lanchester Group spanning different areas of expertise within the UK wine sector and its supporting industries – has been named Entrepreneur of the Year by North East business organisation The Entrepreneurs’ Forum.

Cheers featured Tony in the July/ August 2019 issue, so it’s huge congratulations from all the team. www.lanchestergroup.com

THE

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A GREAT SELECTION OF DRAUGHT BEERS

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ENTERPRISE

Can do: Brewery jewellery by Clare Moore

WEAR YOUR BEER WITH PRIDE

A North Tyneside woman has discovered a way for beer lovers to display their devotion to a brand while looking stylish. Clare Moore’s Brewery Jewellery is also great for initiating conversation.

Clare fashions every style of jewellery imaginable – pendants, earrings, badges, brooches, cufflinks and rings – out of beer cans and bottle labels from her home in Seaton Burn. It’s more of a hobby for now but it’s going so well she’s expecting it to become a full-time business.

“The irony of it all is I don’t drink,” says Clare. “I have mental health issues. It’s something I don’t shy away from saying and anyway I have a daily cocktail of drugs that would play havoc if I had a drink.

“The idea for jewellery started with me going with my partner Ian to Hop Secret at Coppers in Brunton Park (Gosforth, Newcastle). He and his friends would be drinking out of cans with beautiful labelling while I was drinking coffee.

“I got thinking about all the artistic effort that has gone into them just going in the bin – the very thing that attracts you to drinking the beer in

20 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

the first place seems to be the least appreciated.

“I peeled off a couple of labels and started wondering about what I could do with them. Then got the idea of making jewellery. I started doing it last September, so it’s been a year now and it’s going really well.

“You’ve no idea how much jewellery is being bought by women who didn’t know what craft beer was – but they just like the art.”

Clare put a display of her work in Coppers and took samples to craft fairs. She set up an Instagram page which also gathered a lot of attention and took her wares to last year’s Christmas Fair at Tyne Bank Brewery in Newcastle (despite one of her conditions being agoraphobia which leaves her suffering from huge anxiety and panic attacks).

She previously worked in adult education, mentoring and supporting the long-term unemployed and those with few skills. She was able to identify with people, like herself, who had debilitating mental health issues, but that became too stressful for her and she needed something more calming to work on.

She says: “’The Fear’ takes over

and paralyses you. It’s infuriating.

Ian comes with me to all the fairs and beer festivals because I couldn’t do them on my own. I even have to stand with my back to the wall.

Sometimes it’s all about how my head’s working that day.”

Clare has developed an encyclopedic knowledge of beer styles, breweries, artwork and designers. From tiny earring samples she can rattle off the name of the brewery, the head brewer and the artist who created some of the astonishing work.

“The artists and breweries have been brilliant and don’t mind me at all using their work,” she says. “In fact, they really encourage it. Lee Renforth at Brinkburn St Brewery has also been a great supporter and invited me to take a stall at one of their beer festivals.

“Steam Machine have some of the most devoted supporters, they come and buy a lot.”

Clare works with labels from breweries as diverse as Magic Rock, Credence, Wylam, Anarchy, Errant and Hawkshead. A growing list of outlets she supplies includes CentrAle, Coppers, Flash House

Brewery and the Dog & Rabbit micropub. Her tools are scissors, tape, rulers, glue, brushes and an assortment of variously-shaped templates – circles, ovals, squares and rectangles – which she uses nimbly to identify appropriate pieces of artwork to create her jewellery.

“It depends on how you manipulate the template to see how best it looks,” she says. “Sometimes a geometric shape looks better in a circle than in a square. The labels from a Stu Brew and Flash House collaboration gave me so many ideas to play with, while Anarchy even said it was OK for me to use their logo on pieces – and Twice Brewed Brewery love my work. Verdant Flight Of The Falcon is my favourite label ever.

Every article is unique, you couldn’t ever duplicate it, so everybbody is getting something different.

“This is my way of appreciating the design that someone has created to put on a beer can. And because he helps me set up my stall, Ian gets in free to beer festivals…” *For further details and Clare Moore’s invaluable advice on mental health from her perspective, visit www.breweryjewellery.com

WHAT’S COOL FOR CATS AND PAWS LIKE MILK? OUR MILKSHAKE ONE

Ready for one of hop’s much-loved seadogs? our dank one

Imagine biting into a piece of fruit right off a Tree, now close your eyes and take a sip of this

Right, Who’s up for being transported to a hop field?

BEER NEWS

MICRO PUB AND BOTTLE SHOP WITH AN EVER CHANGING SELECTION OF CRAFT BEERS AND REAL ALES AND OVER 150 BOTTLES AND CANS OPEN FROM 2PM WEEK DAYS AND 12NOON FRI TO SUN 41A WARTON TERRACE, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE NE6 5LS @THEHEATONTAP @TAPHEATON

COLLAB BECOMING A RITUAL Three years ago, enduring rock band Tygers of Pan Tang released Tyger Blood a specially-commissioned beer, in collaboration with Newcastle-based Box Social Brewing. At the end of this month the five-strong group, formed in Whitley Bay in 1978 and possibly more popular than ever across Europe and the Americas, is heading a similar project – this time with Brinkburn St Brewery.

“It will coincide with the release of their latest album,”

says Brinkburn St owner Lee Renforth. “Both the album and the beer are called Ritual and the can will carry an image of the cover. It’s a US West Coast Pale at 4.8% abv and will be launched at the end of October.”

The Tygers’ album will released at the end of November and will headline the Nordic Noise Festival on Saturday November 23, which is coming to Newcastle (Think Tank?, Times Square) for the first time. www.tygersofpantang.com

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YES CHEF REBECCA

RECENTLY RE-OPENED WITH NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM

New menu boasting superb value and quality. Fresh and home cooked food.

Family friendly - Sky Sports - Outstanding Beer Garden - Pool table Darts Board Private functions - Dog Friendly areas - Live music/musicians Themed days and nights as well as specials board.

MONDAY CLUB - £2.50 - Fosters, Coors and John Smiths.

WEDNESDAY - 20% off wine, steak night two steaks and bottle of wine £25.

Six of the North East’s most talented young chefs competed for the title North East Culinary Trades Association (NECTA) Young Chef of the Year in a competition that started with a 30-minute knife skills class, followed by 60 minutes when the competitors had to prepare, cook and present a two-course menu for two covers using guinea fowl in the main course and apples in the dessert. The menu also had to complement local produce.

In an extremely close competition, Rebecca Jackson from the County Hotel in Newcastle won the title with Robson Young (21 Group, Newcastle) coming second and Connor Marley (Leila Lilys, Newcastle) third.

Other finalists were: Carl Blackley, Peace & Loaf, Newcastle; Ryan Podd, 21 Group, and Katie Robson, Newcastle College.

THURSDAY - Buy one get one free on all burgers FRIDAY - Fizz and Fishy Friday. £9.99 for bottle of Prosecco and 2 fish n chips for £14.99 SUNDAY - Roast - We offer a collection and delivery service

Bank Top, Crawcrook, Ryton NE40 4EE Tel: 0191 649 0873 www.crawcrookrisingsun.co.uk 22 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

DIVERSION IN FERRYHILL

The team at Yard of Ale brewery (Susan and Alan Hogg) has been awarded Best Keg Beer at Camra Durham’s recent beer festival.

“We’re very proud, given we're very

new to the keg sector,” says Alan, whose also operates the adjacent Surtees Arms in Ferryhill, County Durham. “We intend to milk it for all it’s worth.”

BREWERY NEWS

YEAST WRANGLER REVEALS PLANS

An American brewer is about to mark his first year in the North East. Alex Rattray, senior craft brewer (and selfstyled Yeast Wrangler) at S43 in Coxhoe, County Durham, sets out his ideas for the coming months.

“It’s been a big year of change for us, going in a completely new direction of beer styles, techniques and ingredients while also still producing our cask beer range along with lots of new seasonal cask beers as well.

I’m really excited about the next couple of canned beer releases that will cap off 2019. We’re changing things a bit for our next beer and finally doing a big, boozy dark one.

“One of my other passions beyond craft beer is coffee, so I’m really pumped that for this beer we’re working with a North East coffee roaster.

It’s a vast departure from our previous canned releases but it should be a perfect beer for

“I’m also working on some small batch keg-only beers. We recently put out an American Light Lager and are just releasing a Nelson Sauvin Pale Ale. These are one-time-only beers and will give us another avenue for the fans of our new brewing style.

“We’ve also got some collaborations coming up, working with Fortnight Brewing – based in North Carolina – doing a riff on one of their great IPAs. That will be getting released towards the end of the year in tandem with another hopforward beer to cap off 2019, plus we’re hoping to be able to get in one or two collaborations with other breweries in the region.

“We’re hard at work planning for 2020 and hopefully the gloves will come off and we can really keep pushing ourselves creatively and technically to produce even better beers in the future.”

2020 vision: Alex Rattray, S43’s senior craft brewer.

Photo: Peter Skelton

the chillier weather and gives me a chance to combine two of my favourite things. We’ll also be releasing a hop-forward beer – I was really happy with how our Fat White Milk Shake IPA came out and so and we’ll be revisiting that style for our other new can, but with totally different hops and fruit additions.

Fine ales, great atmosphere, honest food.

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Cask and craft Ales including Bass • Fine Lagers and Stouts • Regular Live Entertainment • All sports shown Quiz Nights • Pool • Great Juke Box • Discount for CAMRA members Look out for Firebrick Brewery’s Little Belgium (4.7% abv) Witbier (white or wheat) named in honour of the ‘Birtley Belgians’

Durham Road, Birtley • Tel: 0191 4102582 Mon to Thurs 11-11 • Fri & Sat 11 – Midnight • Sun 11.30 -11

www.railwayhotelbirtley.co.uk www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 23

BREWING NEWS

POTTERING AROUND WITH BUTTERBEER

A homebrewer aims to prove that fiction is better than fact, writes Alastair Gilmour Homebrewer Paul Crowther doesn’t half set himself a challenge. He makes beer based on references in books, television shows and video games. And extraordinarily good they are, too.

The inspiration might come from anywhere; he collects recipes and makes notes to see what a

beer be like under self-imposed circumstances.

“I like coming up with an idea and making things through to the finish,” says Paul. “I bring them into the real world.”

He is a fan of The Geeky Chef, who is similarly inspired by the media that surrounds us, creating real-life recipes from fictional

Table beer: Paul Crowther with a selection of his amazing homebrew

S C H O O N E R T U N E Ss

REAL ALES - LIVE MUSIC - GREAT FOOD OCTOBER GIGS Thursday 3rd - Jam with the band - from 8.00pm with Michael Rolf & friends Friday 4th - The Straits, Dire Straits Tribute Saturday 5th - Rigid Digits SLF Sunday 6th - Get Carter Thursday 10th - Jam with the Band - from 8.00pm with Michael Rolf & friends Friday 11th - 1977 Saturday 12th - Wam Bam Thank You Mam (Bowie Tribute) Sun 13th - Tubesnake Thursday 17th - Jam with the band - from 8.00pm with Michael Rolf & friends Friday 18th - The Wonderful Hatti Saturday 19th - Heartbreaker One of England’s most haunted pubs

Open Monday to Saturday 12 noon till 11 pm & Sunday 12 noon till 10.30 pM

Sunday 20th - Russ - Tippins Band Thursday 24th - Jam with the band - from 8.00pm with Michael Rolf & friends Friday 25th - Marty Craggs Little Jam Band Sunday 27th - Prism Pink Floyd at 5 pm followed by Dan Crazyfingers Gray at 7 pm Thursday 30th - Jam with the band - from 8.00pm with Michael Rolf & friends

Now booking for Christmas parties

NOVEMBER Saturday 2nd - STAN

Please check out our afternoon menu

REGULAR EVENTS Every Tuesday from 8pm 3 original bands showcase Quiz Night - Every Wednesday 8:15pm - All new format run by Paul Smith

Open 9am to 12pm 7 days for breakfast and hot sandwiches.

Christmas fayre menu from 25th November to 24th December

Still some availability for Christmas Day! all meals £5 - 7 days a week 12pm - 5pm

South Shore Road, Gateshead, NE8 3AF 0191 477 7404 www.theschooner.co.uk

24 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

BREWING NEWS

characters – Lembas Bread from Lord of the Rings, for example. Paul has been a homebrewer for fiveand-a-half years but has specialised in fictional beers for three.

“The first one I did was Butterbeer from Harry Potter,” he says. “I thought, I could brew that, but the first version had too much cinnamon so I’ve tweaked since.

“Mudder’s Milk from sci-fi television series Firefly is another.

I’ve brewed about 35 beers like this with another 30 on the way.

Some recipes you come back to and some don’t come off like you wanted them to.

“I brew five gallons at a time, whenever I find time. My kit consists of a huge pan with a cool box as a mash tun. I like things being manual.

“I do late-night brews finishing at midnight and if I’m starting a shift at three o’clock in the afternoon I can squeeze in seven hours for a brew before I start work.

“I hope to do one-off brews with local microbreweries – I’ve

got something in the pipeline with Out There Brewing at Ouseburn, Newcastle. There are so many paths to go down; cuckoo brewing, writing books, but I haven’t got the mental space to scribble it all down at the moment.”

Paul recently Tweeted about some rice wine he was brewing. “I had the idea for ages to use alpha amylase to break down the starch instead of using the month-long process of making sake using koji.

I’m mashing a kilogram of flaked rice for one hour with a five gram packet of enzymes. After the mash, the wort tasted quite sweet so I’d say the alpha amylase did its job. It’s gonna be strong.”

Sharp-eyed readers might recall the name Paul Crowther. He is the chap who doused Nigel Farage in milkshake in a Newcastle street in a spur-of-the moment gesture. He subsequently lost his job with Sky and was ordered by magistrates court to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and was told to pay £520 to Farage for distress, suit

cleaning and damage to his lapel microphone.

He says: “I’m not going to escape that for a while; it’s following me around a bit. It didn’t make my life any better at all. If I could go back I’d not do it. Being arrested is not fun and being in front of a judge is not a nice experience.”

Paul now works at craft beer retail outlet Yard House in Tynemouth and also Lush, the handmade vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics company.

“There are very different opinions on the matter,” he says. “A lot of them were a bit extreme, mentioning

me in the same breath as Jo Cox’s killer. I’m not a hero either, that’s not me. I made a mistake and I paid for it. It was very bizarre.

“The first couple of nights were very frightening, worried that people would do something. It affected my wife and whole family.”

Paul is a very gentle, extremely likeable and, by his own admission, a very reasonable person, probably the last in the group to get into trouble. One of these days – soon – he will be far better known for the likes of BioShock Columbia Lager than a £5.25 banana and salted caramel milkshake.

vv

PAUL CROWTHER’S BEER Harry Potter Butterbeer (5.5% abv) is a lovely rouge colour with allspice, honey and fruit flavours combined with vanilla notes. (At first the Cheers tasters detected rhubarb.)

Firefly Mudder’s Milk (15.1% abv) is a mighty barley wine, dark and shadowy tasting of liquorice, coffee and ripe fruit doused with a measure of vodka.

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 25

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

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The Perfect Accompaniment to Any Pint!

INSIGHT NORTHERN

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INSIGHT

The Business and Leisure Magazine for the North East Region

For advertising and editorial enquiries contact Michael Grahamslaw on mjgrahamslaw@outlook.com or visit the website www.northern-insight.co.uk

26 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

IT’S ALL ABOUT TIMING

There’s an old nautical saying that sailors had to wait for the sun to rise over the yardarm before they could have their morning drink. Nowadays we call the occasion “beer o’clock”, “wine o’clock”, “gin o’clock” or whatever the favourite tipple is.

The times can also vary but one man is making sure the clock is always right. Furniture designer Nick James has created handsome oak clocks with the relevant words marking the appointed hour. Nick not only owns James Design at the Mushroom Works in Ouseburn, Newcastle, but he operates the building that houses designers, artists and all manner of creative there and at Brighton Road Studios in Gateshead plus the Brick Works in Byker, Newcastle.

The idea came from his practice of winding up early on a Friday afternoon with his team, Adam and Joe. There’s a lot of tidying and sweeping up to do in a high quality furniture workshop but often they’ll pluck an idea out of the air and work on it until it’s time to retire to the pub (usually the neighbouring Free Trade Inn).

“It’s normally something daft made out of a piece of wood,” says Nick. “It can give us new skills and perhaps the start of a new product development – but I call in ‘fun’. We were always looking at our watches wondering ‘is it beer o’clock yet?’ so we decided to make a clock to avoid any confusion.”

This developed into other drink o’clocks and people started to buy them from the James Design workshop and website.

Staff at Byker Post Office remarked on the number of boxes going out nationwide and internationally then all ended up buying them.

“They were also available on Not On The High Street,” says Nick, “but I was in the Lake District with the family when they put it on their Facebook page. I couldn’t get a phone signal there but eventually got one days later when we were in Keswick and saw the clocks had been given 95,000 ‘likes’ in three days.

“We ended up selling 3,000 from that. They went to Australia, Argentina, the US and all over the place. It was a completely different

DESIGN way of working for us.”

The Nick James philosophy stems from traditional working practices: “A machine can’t pick up a piece of wood, study the flow of the grain, or make a decision about how to use it.”

But a simple machine can tell you what time it is. www.jamesdesign.co.uk

*The Mushroom Works Studios & Gallery hosts a preview evening on Friday November 22 (6pm-8pm) to celebrate opening five new attic studios, followed by Open Studios Days on Saturday November 23 (10am-5pm) and Sunday November 24 (10am-5pm). It’s a rare opportunity to meet artists and designers in their own workspaces.

ANNIVERSRAERWYEIN RY THE NEW B

FRIDAY 1ST NOVEMBER 2019 LIVE MUSIC FROM:

CRASHED OUT / DEATH TO INDIE FOOD FROM

Rib & Rub BBQ

Join the Facebook event for more info

0191 3897580 | AnarchyBrewCo.com Unit A1, Benfield Business Park, Benfield Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE6 4NQ

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vv

PRECIOUS GLASSES, SO DON'T DROP ONE

A Belgian brewery has taken the revolutionary decision to allow its customers to change the name of it biggest selling beer.

Customers rarely referred to De Koninck as such – the actual name of the brewery in Antwerp. It was always “Bolleke”, derived from the bowl-shaped chalice in which the legendary ambercoloured pale ale is served.

Their dogged persistence has paid off, as the city’s brewery has thrown in the towel and joined its loyal customers in the new name.

Bolleke (5.2% abv) is traditionally brewed using water, yeast, malt and hops. Only natural barley is used and no maize or brewing sugar is added. The beer owes its gently bitter backbone to its Saaz hops, but the main character is a pleasing speciality beer with rich, warm flavours.

The De Koninck Brewery is an amazing conglomeration of cheese shop, bakery, chocolatier, cycling shop, butcher’s, a barbecue-style eatery and Michelin starred restaurant. And that’s before you get to the visitor centre with its ten interactive rooms revealing the history of the brewery and its umbilical connection with the city.

So, be careful. If you’re handed a precious glass, don’t drop it. www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 27

GUEST COLUMNIST

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Singer/songwriter Simma previews an upcoming theatre production

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28 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

Prolific: Ed Waugh, writer of some terrific North East plays Theatre and music lovers in the North East will be familiar with playwright Ed Waugh, not least for the brilliantly controversial Maggie’s End, written with Trevor Wood, which delighted and incensed in equal measure. Maggie’s End predicted the effect that the death of Margaret Thatcher would have on one Sunderland family.

More recently his sell-out shows celebrating the songwriting of Geordie pioneer Joe Wilson and world champion boxer Glenn McCrory played to packed houses and rave reviews.

I was delighted to find out that Ed’s latest production, The Great Geordie Songbook, honours the work of other North-East songwriters, delving into the past for some familiar works, as well as unearthing unjustly forgotten gems. The motivation behind this show is, for me, what makes it special.

“It’s like Punk,” he says. “I want young people to see it and realise that they can grab a guitar, perform these songs and write their own.”

Listening to Ed Waugh enthuse about the preservation of working-class culture is a joy. He rightly points out that many of the political songs in the show – even pieces from the late 1800s – still hold relevance today. In his previous shows, some songs were performed that hadn’t been heard in over 160 years.

The songs of struggle, triumph and day-to-day working-class life are extremely pertinent to a world in which working people are increasingly questioning those in power.

Ed’s shows have always been politically slanted and The Great Geordie Songbook is no exception. “It’s about preserving North East culture,” he says.

He’s particularly enthused by young people identifying as working class again. “It’s a renaissance. People who come to my shows know what they’re getting, they know it’s going to be absolutely anti-establishment.”

The Great Geordie Songbook features songs

by Joe Wilson, Ned Corven and Geordie Ridley, among many others. If those names aren’t familiar, I can guarantee you’ve heard their songs. To paraphrase an old Crowded House advert; you know more Ned Corvan songs than you think you do.

The cast boasts some of the best and brightest in northern theatre – Mickey Cochrane, fresh from playing Joe Wilson, and Rachel McShane who many music lovers will recognise from legendary folk collective Bellowhead.

Having hugely enjoyed The Great Joe Wilson, I am personally very much looking forward to this next piece, not least for Cochrane’s performance. Even in a cast of huge talent, his turn as Wilson shone through, and I’m convinced that he is a star in waiting.

The Great Geordie Songbook has two performances on November 3 in Hall 2 at The Sage Gateshead, (4pm and 8pm).

Tickets are £20 from The Sage and www. wisecrackproductions.co.uk www.simma.co.uk

BEER NEWS

SOME BEER LOVERS CAN’T STOMACH IT Cheers reader Ian Ross was recently diagnosed with coeliac disease and is coming to terms with the restrictions that imposes on his diet. Coeliac disease is a common digestive condition where the small intestine becomes inflamed and unable to absorb nutrients.

It can cause a range of symptoms and is caused by an adverse reaction to gluten, the dietary protein found in three types of cereal: wheat, barley and rye.

Ian says: “As a lover of cask real ales one of the real challenges I am finding is the lack of availability of gluten-free beers on tap in any of the pubs I regularly frequent. Sometimes there are six or eight cask options, but it is very rare than any of them are gluten-free and when they are they are only available for two or three days until the cask is empty.

“The coeliac issue is something I now have to live with for the rest of my life. This looks like a growing trend and I would love to think brewers and pubs are aware of it and increase the availability of gluten-free beers.”

Ian cites Durham Magus which has a popularity going well beyond coeliacs or irritable bowel syndrome sufferers who can also be intolerant to certain foodstuffs.

Hadrian Border Grainger Ale is another. plus there’s a range of Alt Beers from Black Storm.

“I would love to see the day when each pub that has six or eight cask ales on the bar makes sure that at least one of them is gluten-free,” says Ian. Cheers hopes to publish regular articles highlighting the problem, but for now, here are a couple of beers from Anarchy Brewery and Brew York to seek out.

CHEERS ON THE ROAD

Darlington-based Cheers – and beer – enthusiast Ian Jackson has contributed another photo from a recent visit to Germany.

He visited Dūsseldorf and Köln, enjoying the native Altbier and Kölsch along with the rather hot weather.

Ian says: “The photo with the caricatures of the old people was taken in the Brauerei Zum Uerige on Bergerstrasse in Dusseldorf.

Incidentally, one of the backrooms at the Zum Uerige was used briefly in filming one of the early episodes of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. “I read about it in a guidebook as opposed to being told about it. I did explain to one of the waiters about people regularly taking copies of Cheers with them on holiday to take a photo – which he found rather amusing.”

Set in the original ladies waiting room is a homely bar; serving a variety of drinks, sandwiches and treats, available to sit in or take-away.

Opening Hours

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 29

FUN STUFF

SIGN OF THE TIMES

THE DIRTY DOZEN

SIX OF ONE AND HALF-A-DOZEN OF THE OTHER TO TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE 1. In 1970, Barry Stoller composed a television theme tune that has become one of the most successful ever. What is the programme?

If there was ever any advice that shouts “buyer beware” it’s this one.

A MAN WALKS INTO A BAR… …AND ORDERS A PINT FOR HIMSELF AND A WHITE COFFEE FOR HIS WIFE – BUT NOT WITH CREAM. THE BARMAN SAYS: “SORRY SIR, WE HAVEN’T ANY CREAM SO YOU’LL HAVE TO TAKE IT WITHOUT MILK.”

2. You would probably be lost without the system that engineer and inventor Bradford Parkinson developed. What is it?

3. What cool invention did Willis Haviland Carrier create in 1902?

4. Who is older – and by how much – musician Gary Numan or actor Gary Oldman?

5. What does the word circumpotatio mean?

6. In the Wild West how was Henry McCarty better known?

7. What is sciophobia a fear of?

8. In which US state was Barack Obama born?

9. How many stones did David take with him for his fight with Goliath?

10. What is produced in a ginnery?

11. In a set of playing cards, which is the only King without a moustache?

12. According to the Bible, how many of each animal did Moses take on board the Ark?

EEH! NUMBERS 80

80/- Ale: A term for a premium ale in the old Scottish “shilling” system of beer grading. Sometimes referred to as “export”.

80-20: T he Pareto Principle that states for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Audi 80: The precursor to the Audi A4.

BB King & Friends: 8 0: An album released in 2005 to celebrate the bluesman’s 80th birthday. It features duos with the likes of Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler and Gloria Estefan.

QUOTE

“ONLY IRISH COFFEE PROVIDES IN A SINGLE GLASS ALL FOUR ESSENTIAL FOOD GROUPS: ALCOHOL, CAFFEINE, SUGAR AND FAT” ALEX LEVIN

QUIZ ANSWERS: 1 Match of the Day. 2 GPS (Global Positioning System). 3 Air conditioning. 4 Gary Numan is 13 days older than Gary Oldman (born March 8, 1958 and March 21, 1958 respectively). 5 Passing drinks around a company, such as a drinking cup at a funeral. 6 Billy The Kid. 7 Shadows. 8 Hawaii. 9 Five.

10 Cotton material. 11 King of Hearts. 12 None. It was Noah (who took two of each).

30 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

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Abba Disco Wonderland

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Happy Mondays

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Gatecrasher Classical ft. Sonique, Scott Bond, John Kelly

Sat 5th Oct • 11pm

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The Doors Alive

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Heels of Hell

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Slade: The Rockin’ Home for Christmas Tour 2019

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Giggs

Fri 27th Dec • 5.30pm

MoStack

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+ Stone Broken + Wayward Sons

Sat 23rd Nov • 6.30pm

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Sigrid

The Wedding Present

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Scouting for Girls

Casual

Thur 5th Dec • 6pm

ft DJ Dean Paul Walton, DJ Rob Orton

The Wonder Stuff

Sun 27th Oct

performing ‘The Eight Legged Groove Machine’ & ‘HUP’ in full

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Fri 8th Nov • 6.30pm

Antarctic Monkeys + The Midnight Drive + Aaron Potter Fri 8th Nov • 6.30pm

Y&T

Fri 6th Dec • 6.30pm

From The Jam + The Wainstones + The Good Souls Fri 6th Dec

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Shed Seven + The Twang

Sat 9th Nov • 6.30pm

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The Macc Lads

D Block Europe

Sat 9th Nov • 6.30pm

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Bowling For Soup + Simple Plan + Not Ur Girl Frenz Wed 12th Feb 2020

Steel Panther

Fri 20th Dec • 6.30pm

+ Eddie Vedder Solo Tribute

Sat 12th Oct • 10pm

Tue 11th Feb 2020

Christmas Rocks Day 1 Novana (Nirvana Tribute), Green Days, Rage Against A Machine (A Tribute to Rage Against The Machine), Pop Punk Disaster Sat 28th Dec • 5.30pm

Christmas Rocks Day 2 AC/DC GB…A Tribute to AC/DC, Alice Cooper’s Nightmare, Blakk Sabbath, Deep Purple in Rock: A Tribute to Deep Purple Sun 29th Dec • 5.30pm

Christmas Rocks Day 3

Bon Jovi Forever, We Are Champion (A Tribute to Queen), Hysteria (A Tribute to Def Leppard), Lovehunter Whitesnake (A Tribute To Whitesnake)

Sat 15th Feb 2020 • 6.30pm

Prince Tribute Endorphinmachine Fri 21st Feb 2020 • 6.30pm

Flash: Tribute to Queen Sat 22nd Feb 2020 • 6.30pm

The Dead South Sun 24th Feb 2020

Supergrass Sat 29th Feb 2020 • 6.30pm

The Marley Revival + UB40 Tribute Set

Sat 29th Feb 2020 • 11pm

Casual ft QFX

Thur 12th Mar 2020

The Subways Fri 13th Mar 2020

Michael Kiwanuka Sat 14th Mar 2020 • 6.30pm

Sex Pistols Experience Fri 27th Mar 2020 • 6.30pm

Fri 10th Jan 2020 • SOLD OUT

Bad Manners

Fontaines D.C.

Sat 28th Mar 2020 • 6.30pm

Roachford Chase Rice: The Pint Of Sat 11th Apr 2020 • 6.30pm The Rezillos Anything Tour Tue 14th Jan 2020

Mon 27 Jan 2020

Bombay Bicycle Club Tue 28 Jan 2020

Thu 16th Apr 2020 Fri 17th Apr 2020

Elbow

The Wildhearts & Backyard Babies

Tue 28 Apr 2020

A Tribute To The 80s Fri 13th Dec • 6.30pm

Fri 31st Jan 2020

Fleetingwood Mac

The Fillers The Killers Tribute Sat 14th Dec

The Darkness + Rews

Miz Cracker’s American Woman Sat 1st Feb 2020 • 6.30pm

Guns 2 Roses + MOTLEY CRUED

Craig David TS5 Sat 16th May 2020 • 6.30pm

Fri 23rd Oct 2020 • 6.30pm

Cock Sparrer Sat 21st Nov 2020

The Skids

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