Swale Ale Winter 2017/18

SWALE ALE

WINTER 2017/18 THE FREE MAGAZINE OF SWALE CAMRA

A Taste of Cornwall CAMRA & Drinker’s Voice Is Craft Beer a Good Thing?

HOP FESTIVAL VISIT FOR ROGER PROTZ

2018

CHAIRMAN’S CHOW To say that we are in the midst of “interesting times” as CAMRA members is a bit of an understatement with discussions rampant both for and against the campaigns involvement both financially and in print regarding drinkers’ voice (who have branded the Governments alcohol guidelines as dead in the water following the alcohol industries decision to take them off labels), especially in the current climate where at National level there are various cost cutting measures being thrown around to save money. One of the more contentious of these is currently being implemented with the suggestion that only sending ‘what’s brewing’ out in digital form will save around £80,000. I have heard many people express their dismay at this as whilst the world is fast becoming totally digital, there are a number of us that take comfort that we can see a physical copy of WB and can peruse it at our leisure, whether it is on the train heading to or from work or as I like to do, sit quietly at home with a coffee taking an hour or so out from the strains of everyday life to have some ‘me’ time. Call me old fashioned but I still see the need for a hard copy that I can touch and browse.

Watch out in December as you will only get a paper copy should you not have registered an e mail address with your membership! Head office are also e mailing all members with the publication schedule for 2018 WB editions.

Locally, Swale life is moving on apace. I am extremely proud to announce that The Harrow at Stockbury has been awarded the 2017 CAMRA community Pub Saving Award for the whole of the UK. A superb achievement from Chris Porter and everyone involved at The Harrow. See Paul Irving’s reports in Swale Ale on the regeneration of this lovely

KEEP IN TOUCH

village pub. We shall also be holding a branch meeting at the venue on March 14th next year.

All are welcome. Elsewhere, good reports are coming from the refurbished and relaunched Dover Castle at Teynham, The Marstons chain in October opened “The Gunpowder Mill” next to Macknade farm shop and as we are about to go to press Donna’s Ale House, the new micropub for Sittingbourne led by with Donna-Marie Hartridge is due to open on December 21st. Donna is an ex Wetherspoons and Marstons employee looking to bring her brand of drinking establishment to the town centre.

For those of you that love your ales these are good times in respect of the quality and variety of cask ale although the “new kid on the block” so to speak, in the shape of keykeg is making an enormous impact (whether you are a fan of it or not) into the real ale market.

Take a look at the articles by Peter Moynihan, a former chairman of Swale Branch and the Brewery History Society whose book Kentish Brewers and the Brewers of Kent is seen as the ‘bible’ of anything Kent beer related. In this edition also an article on Drinkers Voice.

Discussion rages on about this subject, another example of these “interesting times” some would say. If any of the items give you the urge to put pen to paper, whatever your views, then feel free to do so, e mail it to Swaleale@gmail.com. Whatever ones thoughts are on any of the subjects I have touched on here just remember why you are a real ale drinker, order another pint, enjoy the rest of this copy of Swale Ale and then have a safe journey to your onward destination.

Have a peaceful winter and here’s to 2018.

John Sissons

CAMRAswale

Swale Ale © Winter 2017 Published by the Swale Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale Ltd (CAMRA) Circulation: 2,250 Editorial Committee and Contributors: Gary Holness, Paul Irving, Matt Deller, Steve Bennion, Tony Tippins, Mary Cross, Andy Kitney, James Cousins Advertising: Matt Deller All correspondence to: Les Bailey, 58 Wallers Road, Faversham, Kent, ME13 7PL Email: swaleale@gmail.com www.camra-swale.org.uk www.issuu.com/swaleale Twitter: @CAMRAswale Facebook: CAMRAswale Telephone: 01795 538824

Any opinions expressed within these pages are those of the individual authors only and do not represent those of CAMRA or any of its officials. The existence of this publication in a particular outlet does not imply an endorsement of it by Swale CAMRA. Design & Layout: Ascent Creative Printed by: Abbey Print, Faversham Branch Details Chairman: John Sissons Secretary: Linda Gates Social Secretary: Rachel Collier Treasurer: Les Bailey Pubs Officer: Andrew Kitney Press and Publicity Officer: Matt Deller Membership Officer: Alex Earl

SWALE BREWERY NEWS SHEPHERD NEAME

I made a quick visit to the brewery earlier in Community Ad Web Ltd October to try St Erik’s Midnight Sun (4.5%).

1st Floor · 6-7 Cecil Square · Margate · Kent CT9 1BD This had been created for the Wetherspoon’s Beer Festival. It was brewed in conjunction tel 01843 834160 with Jessica Heinrich of the St Erik’s Brewery of Arlanda, just north of Stockholm, Sweden. email info@communityad.co.uk It is a very unusual beer inasmuch that there were no hops added to the boil until the very www.communityad.co.uk end, just before it was pumped out of the copper.

Wade

ne

OPY FOR YOUR APPROVAL Many more (Citra) were added in the fermentation vessel as dry hops. This is a very unusual method of brewing and in this case was highly successful as it gives the beer a very crisp, clean taste. I found that it had good bitterness and want to try it again.

I was also fortunate to taste the last of the Green Hop Ale (4.5%) on this visit. It had held up well and still possessed the fruity smooth flavour of the unkilned hops.

The company spent £24.8M to purchase 14 new pubs. They invested £10.7M into their existing pub estate. 87% of which is made up of Freeholds. There are 253 Tenanted or Leased pubs and 66 Managed houses along with 8 that are free of tie. Over the last five years they have acquired 22 pubs and sold 49.

Bob Thompson CAMRA Brewery Liaison Officer for Shepherd Neame

I attended the company’s AGM last week and it reflected on a very successful year.

TRADING

Award Winning Local Brewery

Wantsum Brewery makes and sells great beers using only the finest ingredients Christmas gifts now available in our shop, open 9-4 Mon to Fri and when the Taproom is open The Brewery Tap opens at weekends and when we are doing brewery tours. Current Tap opening hours are Friday 4-9 and Sat/Sun 2-7 but check first!

Beers are also available in bottles, takeout jugs and polypins.

Visit us at: Kent Barn, St Nicholas Court Farm, Court Rd, St Nicholas At Wade, CT7 0PT 01227 910135 | info@wantsumbrewery.co.uk

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STANDARDS If you believe that you have been treated unfairly in a local pub or bar you can report it to Kent County Council Trading Standards by calling 03454 040506.

Sign up to receive alerts www.kent.gov.uk/tradingstandards Like ‘Public Protection’ on Facebook Follow Public Protection on Twitter @kentprotect

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MADCAT

BOUTILLIERS

Purring ahead of all other ales at the Spa Valley Railway was Mad Cat’s Red Ale (3.9%).

Voted Gold for “Beer of the Festival” at the Spa Valley Railway’s 7th CAMRA Real Ale and Cider Gala in October. Needless to say we felt a small Wooh, Wooh, Chuffed, Chuffed moment when we got the news! Thanks to all the voters for voting for us.

After a variety of problems with canning, the brewery is now happy to report 3 beers in can - Kölsch (5.1%), Smoked Extra Stout (7.1%) and Session Pale Ale (4.5%).

Ben joined the team in October as the new brewer and is bringing some fresh ideas to the brewery. Ben is an experienced brewer, and passionate about good real ales. So we are looking forward to him developing new, exciting beers with Peter. Ben’s first brand new beer that will be out in the New Year is called Emotional Blackmail (4.5%) and is a ruby rye ale, with a spicy peppery flavour.

Over the Christmas period a number of exciting beers were released including:

This will be followed in February by Ninth Life (5%), an India Pale Ale brewed with Cascade and Columbus hops.

Regular ales: 3.9% Red Ale. Chestnut brown Bitter.

4.0% Crispin Amber Bitter.

4.0% Crispin Pale Ale. 4.2% Platinum Blonde. Very Pale English Ale. 4.2% Golden IPA. Also Available for delivery from Mad Cat Brewery: 20ltr Kentish Pip Ciders: 5-6% Craftsman Cider 6% Vintage Pip Cider 4% Wild Summer: Elderflower Cider 4.0% Forager Hedgerow Cider 4.0% Firespice Ginger Cider

The brewery had a stall at the popular Faversham Christmas lights turn on in November.

Ghost of Christmas Future (10.4%) - a repeat of last year’s big, beautiful barley wine, perfect for laying down for Christmas 2018 (or beyond).

Ghost of Christmas Past (5.7%) - a resurrection of a historic recipe from 1872; a double brown stout, perfect for fireside sipping. Available in limited numbers of bottles as well as a small number of casks.

Ghost of Christmas Present (4.6%) - a fresh, hoppy, hazy pale ale, perfect for drinking this Christmas. Available in very limited numbers of bottles as well as limited numbers of casks.

BRANCH DIARY Wed 10 January, 8pm Ship On Shore, Isle of Sheppey Wed 14 February, 8pm The Dover Castle, Teynham Wed 14 March, 8pm The Harrow, Stockbury Wed 11 April, 8pm The Chequers, Doddington Wed 9 May, 8pm Golden Hope, Sittingbourne

www.camra-swale.org.uk

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THE BERRY WALMER Multi-award Winning Pub Where You Will Find: Real Ale, Real Cider and a Real Fire!

Up to 11 Cask Ales Plus 6 Key Keg Ales. Always 6 Ciders Available Also serving “Si’s Pies,” Delicious Hand Made Pork Pies and Scotch Eggs Follow us on Facebook and Twitter www.theberrywalmer.co.uk Tel: 01304362411 23 Canada Road, Walmer, Kent CT14 7EQ 14

10 years at the Berry!

Upcoming Events You are invited to our Quiz Nights: 2nd Friday of each month Opening Times: Mon: 11:00 - 23:30 Tues: 14:00 - 23:30 Wed: 11:00 - 23:30 Thurs: 12:00 - 23:30 Fri-Sat: 11:00 - 23:30 Sun: 11:30 - 23:00

CAMRA & DRINKERS’ VOICES

ONE AND THE SAME? Debate rolls on about Drinkers voice, (DV) which was established on September 17th 2017 with the aim, in the words of former director Tim Page, as “an organisation which is looking to campaign and lobby beyond the remit of CAMRA, representing anybody who is involved with, whilst likes to, drink responsibly and in moderation, in the debate regarding alcohol and health and wellbeing.”

That’s as maybe but do we the public actually know who they are and what’s more where they fit in within the remit of CAMRA? More so when we as members are being constantly reminded that the movement faces a period of austerity, why is it that the national executive wish to commit thousands of our hard-earned pounds into the “new kid on the block?” You may know that CAMRA has pledged £12,000 seed funding to help get DV off the ground. This when paired with the many individual pledges and donations made to date means that as of November 2017, DV have been able to raise a still increasing total of £22,000. Why has this donation been made and who or what are Drinkers Voice? The most obvious answer to this is that we need to get some background into who the faces are and where they have come from.

With a brief background of their history Drinkers Voice was set up by the following people.

Byron Davies. (Chairman) In May 2011 Byron was elected to the National Assembly for Wales as the regional member for South Wales West, where he served until May 2015 when he was elected to Westminster as the first Conservative MP for Gower until June 2017. An avid supporter of the beer industry, Byron was Vice Chair of the Westminster Parliamentary Beer Group and campaigned actively in favour of responsible drinking and support for the British pub industry John Duffy who has vast experience in the world of statistics and alcohol. He was a non-clinical scientist in the Medical Research Council Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry and also a lecturer (later senior lecturer) in Statistics in the University of Edinburgh before taking on a director role in the Alcohol Research Group

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in the Department of Psychiatry University of Edinburgh. He has since worked in the Scottish Department of Health as research manager in the Chief Scientist Office, with responsibility for four research units and the responsive finding stream in health services research and the statistical consultancy service (STATLAB) of the University of Edinburgh with clients from industry, the UK public sector and the European Commission.

Richard Harding, graduated in chemistry and food science. After a period of research in the food industry, he moved into government service as a scientific advisor on food matters. In the mid-1990s he was head of unit responsible for human nutrition in the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and in that capacity, was a member of the Inter-Departmental Working Party that produced the Sensible Drinking report in 1995.

This led to the revision of the UK public health message on alcohol. In 2000 he moved to the Food Standards Agency at its creation, and left government service in 2006. He maintained his interest in the public health aspects of alcohol, and in 2011 gave evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology on the evidence underpinning the public health message on alcohol.

Dr. William McCrae, a Consultant Cardiologist and Consultant Physician since 1994, Dr McCrea is particularly interested in the diagnosis and treatment of fainting, blackouts and dizzy spells. He has expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of viral and bacterial infections of the heart and is interested in the diagnosis and treatment of palpitations (cardiac arrhythmias). With extensive experience in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac muscle diseases (cardiomyopathy), he has a further interest in the diagnosis of endocrine causes of disease of the cardiovascular system particularly those because of thyroid and adrenal gland disorders. He also has extensive experience in the management of diagnosis and pharmacological treatment of heart attacks and angina.

Colin Valentine, is a 56-year-old career civil servant based in Edinburgh. He joined

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CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, in 1988 and has been active in the organization ever since. In 1995 he was elected to the post of Scottish and Northern Irish Director and in 2000 he joined CAMRA’s board of directors. He is still a member of the board and in February 2010 was elected National Chairman, a post he still holds in 2017. He has written extensively in defence of moderate drinking and held the anti-alcohol lobby to account over the years he has been CAMRA Chairman. It was under Colin’s watch as CAMRA Chairman that CAMRA worked with Oxford University to publish a report ‘Friends on Tap.’ It found that those who visit their local pub tend to have happier, healthier lives, more friends, and are more embedded in their community.

Tim Page, who is currently chief executive of CAMRA has, as of November 14th, 2017 resigned from the board of Drinkers Voice, but has confirmed that he has not stepped down from his position within CAMRA. Drinkers’ Voice was launched on the simple premise that the conversation about alcohol consumption and health has become dominated by those who say that drinking is ‘unsafe’ and that alcohol is ‘evil’ much in the same way as temperance societies claimed to do in the Victorian era and into the early twentieth century. The anti-alcohol lobby has monopolized the debate in recent years, with little room for the moderate drinker to have a say. In an attempt to introduce a commonsense approach to talking about alcohol, Drinkers Voice has been set up to speak for the average drinker, those who may enjoy a pint of beer or a glass of wine at the end of a hard day’s work. The organization seems to have made an immediate impact – with national newspapers, TV and radio looking to welcome the arrival of a body representative of those who class themselves as ‘normal drinkers’, but where does this fit in with the objectives of CAMRA and why are their membership being encouraged to support Drinkers Voice so fervently both vocally and financially.

Drinkers’ Voice has four simple objectives: 1.

To provoke a more balanced debate about alcohol, health and wellbeing

2.

To enable drinkers to have access to all the evidence – not just that which illustrates the effects of excessive drinking

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3.

To recognize and promote the many health and wellbeing benefits that result from moderate alcohol consumption

4.

To support targeted intervention for those who misuse alcohol. It is obvious that a blanket ban approach is simply not a solution to those who are vulnerable to alcohol abuse.

The organization will speak for all drinkers, irrespective of their choice of tipple, and challenge what is becoming seen and accepted by many as ‘normal’. It is Drinkers’ Voice’s policy that they will not accept funding from organizations that make their money from the production or sale of alcoholic drinks. The Campaign for Real Ale has thrown its full support behind this initiative, as it fights a cause that resonates with our 190,000 beer-loving members across the UK. Drinkers’ Voice can challenge the antialcohol lobby effectively because it represents men and women across the UK who drink responsibly, and whose freedom to do so is threatened by the increasingly influential anti-alcohol lobby. It does this in a way that CAMRA would never be able to on its own due it’s very nature being the campaign for real ale - and simply that.

CAMRA on the other hand, according to their web site has this to say about their key aims and objectives “CAMRA’s core aims, to promote real ale and pubs, as well as acting as the consumer’s champion in relation to the UK and European beer and drinks industry, remain to this day.

CAMRA also supports the growing interest in real cider and Perry.

CAMRA members include not simply real ale enthusiasts and regular pub-goers, but also sociable members, who want to meet likeminded individuals, often at CAMRA festivals.

We also represent those who wish to learn more about beers and brewing and those value-seekers who appreciate the discounts and special offers we can provide.”

Whilst I can see that both organizations have some areas where their principles overlap, the two should not, in my opinion be seen to be part and parcel of each other. CAMRA’s stance is now that after the initial excitement of seeing DV as a kind of ‘new partner’ they are now giving the impression of distancing themselves from it stating they are not linked, however with both Colin Valentine and Tim Page instrumental in the setting up of the

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new company it is inevitable that the general public and indeed many CAMRA members will have seen the high degree of promotion, through publications such as ‘what’s brewing’, and will quite probably draw the conclusion that DV is an offshoot of it’s more prestigious elder statesman. According to the What’s Brewing edition of September 17th 2017 CAMRA was instrumental in the establishment of Drinkers’ Voice initiative. In helping launch DV it was felt important that the new campaign appealed to and represented all drinkers of alcohol – not just real ale, cider and Perry – so the organization has been set up to function independently from the Campaign for Real Ale. This though I feel, is where the link is formed between the two organizations and why we as members are being asked to contribute. CAMRA chairman Colin Valentine said he had already donated and urged all other members to give money to support Drinkers’ Voice. Chairman Byron Davies sums up the venture as such. “I am equally heartened by the support of CAMRA,

which has made this organization possible by offering key advice and seed funding to get us off the ground. That is why I snapped up the opportunity to go forward as chair.

However, like any new initiative, we are working on a tight purse string, and are now relying on kind donations from those of you who believe this is a cause which is necessary to stop the overpowering, well-funded antialcohol lobbyists.”

Where are you donating your hard-earned cash? CAMRA, DV or both? Draw your own conclusions from here and wherever else you choose to look. Members voting and acting on revitalization proposals should focus more on real ale than on future ventures or we may potentially see a grey area in CAMRA’s future.

From my own personal point of view, it is a very ‘interesting’ period of time in our history as CAMRA and its members as we have grown to know it.

John Sissons Chairman, Swale Branch

OPENING JANUARY

IRON

PIER BREWERY & TAPROOM

GRAVESEND, KENT

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SWALE PUB NEWS As reported in this edition, The Harrow at Stockbury has re-opened as a community pub. A recent visit found St Austell Tribute and a house beer, Tonbridge “The Harrow”, available.

In Sittingbourne, the key-keg lines recently installed in the Paper Mill are proving popular with some unusual beers available.

Goacher’s Mild remains an infrequent guest, although there is usually a dark beer available.

The Long Hop on London Road has been recruiting for staff and we anticipate it will be fully open shortly.

A new micropub, Donna’s Alehouse (pictured below) has opened by the Golden Hope on the HighStreet.ThemicrowillfocusonKentrealaleandis thebrainchildofaformermanageroftheSummoner Wetherspoons. We wish them success.

Also on Sittingbourne High Street, the Old

Bull pub will shortly open as a Mexican restaurant whilst the Summoner remains closed. The Vineyard continues to offer a range of beers with a CAMRA discount scheme in place. The Fountain of Ale has a CAMRA discount and is serving up to four real ales.

In Faversham, the new Marston’s pub – the Gunpowder Works - has now opened at Macknade’s serving two or three standard Marston’s beers. In Teynham, the Dover Castle has now re-opened and The Swan was recently serving ales from Canterbury Ales.

A recent visit to The Sun at Bredgar found three real

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alesavailablefromtheEnterpriserangeongoodform; whilst The Plough and Harrow at Oad Street, currentlyaGreekTaverna,isreportedupforsaleasa pub.

On Sheppey, the Admiral’s Arm has achieved a major milestone in celebrating their first year and continues to see good cask and key-keg sales. To date they have raised a significant sum for the RNLI. The Flying Dutchman hosted a CAMRA meeting recently and members enjoyed the Gadd’s and Mad Cat beers available and the Company of the pub’s parrot who played an active role in the meeting.

Lots of further detail on Swale pubs can be found on www.whatpub.com. If you notice anything that is out of date or have any pub news please let us know.

w w w. s p i t f i r e a l e . c o . u k

GOLDEN ALE & pine aromas

/s p i t f i r e a l e

Tropical fruit, citrus S W E E T M A LT B A S E

Challenger, Centennial SOFT BITTER FINISH

and Saaz hops 4 .1 %

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE

OR OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS There is a current trend among young people and Universities which involves a process of mutual inspection. I suppose it has arisen from the fact that students have to pay enormous fees to the institution so they want to ensure their time there is going to be good, and of course the university is selective, as they always have been, about the calibre of student that they acquire. The first part of this process results in an interesting exercise of attending University Open Days.

Recently I have been involved in this process having a daughter who aspires to further education. Faced with this challenge, it became an opportunity.

Off to Durham on the train. Buffet car open, bottle of 4% ‘Hop on Board’ Golden Ale brewed for Virgin Trains (by Rudgate) very pleasant.

Arrived Durham late afternoon and found our accommodation.

Evening meal at one of the impressive colleges then having done my homework involving a copy of the Good Beer Guide and google maps ventured off into town to find some beer.

of town (Market Place) a regular in the GBG I’m told. An excellent start warm welcome and a choice of five cask ales. I tried the Double Maxim a real brown ale at 4.7% from the Maxim Brewery , then Red Dust at 4.5% from Consett Brewery Works – both local and in excellent condition.

My reference had been the GBG ’17 so I then tried to find the Bishop Langley, Framwellgate Bridge in the city centre. Unfortunately this was closed and I note that it does not appear in the ’18 GBG. Not to be discouraged, I walked up the (rather steep) hill the western side of the river to find Ye Old Elm Tree. Featuring in GBG ’17 and ’18 - a traditional pub, very busy and a choice of six cask ales. Here I enjoyed the Rudgate Innovation Ales Brew No.1, a vanilla mild at 3.6%, then Durham Brewery Red Vienna at 4.9%. I note here that the toilets (the ladies anyway) were excellent.

First stop, The Market Tavern in the centre

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A couple of weeks later Exeter beckoned. The University having a good reputation – so off to the West Country.

We had booked into a Young’s hotel pub in the city centre. The accommodation and food were excellent.

Continued overleaf...

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Guided tours of Belgium by coach picking up in Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford & elsewhere in Essex & Kent by arrangement.

Beer & Battlefıelds 1918 Spring Offensive Anniversary Tour 16 –21 March 2018 Belgian Beer from the Wood 3–8 May 2018 Beer on the Waterfront 2–7 August 2018 www.podgebeer.co.uk ring 01245 354677 for details with beautiful gothic architecture. Nearby I found the Beer Cellar, a small craft beer bar.

They offer cask, key-keg and bottled beers from the UK and around the world. I tried Beer Nouveau (Manchester) Mittelfruhr, a melon IPA at 6.3% which was refreshing and deceptive and Chapter 3 Deadmans First, a porter at 5.5%. Camra discount is given here and the staff were very knowledgeable. The beer I had was excellent.

These trips have been enjoyable and informative. Still not sure where the daughter will be studying - so we’ve both got more homework to do.

Unfortunately the beer was not at its best.

However, again I had done some homework and found two GBG ‘17 pubs within easy walking distance. I now note that to my surprise neither of these feature in the 2018 GBG – whether this is due to local Camra politics or that they are spoilt for choice I do not know.

Mary Cross

The Mill on the Exe has a lovely location by the riverside. There were five cask ales available, four from St Austell brewery and one from Bays (Torbay). I had two St Austell beers, HSD (5%) and Proper Job (4.5%). The beer was in good condition. Thinking ‘local’ I should have tried the Bays offering, but I had more research to do.

So I then walked on up to the Cathedral, more properly known as The Cathedral Church of St Peter at Exeter. Dating from the 12th century

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CRAFT BEER IS A GOOD THING ... OR IS IT? There are, of course, pros and cons to craft beer, but am I the only person who is beginning to wonder whether the cons, real or perceived, are in grave danger of becoming lost or ignored in the euphoria of the craft beer boom? Before considering this issue we must ask ourselves just what craft beer is, or is not. Everybody seems to think they know, but it isn’t an easy question to answer.

The brewing industry hasn’t been able to do it, although in 2013 BrewDog suggested that it should be defined as “beer brewed by a craft brewer in a craft brewery” on the basis that “craft brewer” and “craft brewery” might be easier to define! The Oxford Dictionary states “craft beer, NOUN, a beer made in a traditional or non-mechanized way by a small brewery”. Put simply then, craft beer would appear to be beer that is “crafted” by a small, traditional brewery rather than “manufactured” by a large, possibly multinational, brewer. The self-titled craft beer brewers tell us that their products are brewed with care, in small batches, from the finest of ingredients and that all of this is very expensive. No doubt this is true to a greater or lesser extent but we in CAMRA must be aware of what craft beer is not – it is NOT all real ale, and this becomes a problem when a respected figure within the Campaign, whilst visiting Swale, stated to the Press that CAMRA must embrace craft beer!

CAMRA’s definition of real ale states that “Real ale is a beer brewed from traditional ingredients (malted barley, hops, water and yeast), matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide”. From this we can see that for craft beer to also be real ale it must firstly be made from CAMRA-acceptable ingredients, secondly it must not be brewery conditioned,

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and lastly it must be dispensed in a CAMRAacceptable manner. The dedication, or otherwise, of the brewer and the size and nature of the brewery have no relevance.

So let’s deal with the traditional ingredients first. Water, or liquor as it is known in the brewing industry, is the main ingredient of any beer; the mineral content varies from place to place but it can be easily treated (Burtonised) to make it suitable for the type of beer being produced. Hops (Humulus Lupulus) give beer the distinctive bitter flavour and act as a preservative; their many varieties help to give brewers a palette of floral and citrus tastes and aromas to balance the sweetness of the malted barley. Malt provides the sugars (mainly maltose) which the yeast feeds upon to produce alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide (C02). Malt is dried in a kiln to halt the germination process and, depending upon the degree to which it is kilned, its colour will darken and the flavour will vary from biscuit (think Horlicks) through to roasty, with coffee and bitter chocolate overtones. Finally yeast, a top-fermenting variety for ale (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae), is a living unicellular organism, essentially a fungus, which feeds on the sugars released from the malt at the mashing stage; it can have a major effect upon the beer’s flavour.

We have seen that the two main by-products of fermentation are ethanol and C02, but many other complex flavour compounds are released. Fusel alcohols produce winey flavours, whilst esters tend to produce fruity flavours; isoamyl acetate tastes like bananas, ethyl acetate like nail polish remover, whilst ethyl caprylate gives us apples and pears.

Wild yeasts (typically Brettanomyces) can infect beer and produce “horse blanket” and “wet dog” flavours although this is encouraged in some Belgian beers (Geuze

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and Lambic) and is now being used by some craft brewers (Brett beers). The skill of the brewer therefore, what used to be called “the art and mystery of brewing”, is to manage all of these variables to produce the range of tasty ales which we know and love.

Craft brewers have a growing reputation for experimentation and pushing the taste envelope; at a beer festival last year I tasted a craft beer brewed to reproduce the taste of a Vietnamese pork roll! We have all seen, and possibly tasted, their “four malts and seven hop varieties” creations, and more power to their mash paddles for doing so. But, much as their experimentation with traditional ingredients is to be lauded, what of the other ingredients which are finding their way into modern beers? I would contend that brewing a beer with a “mango” taste derived from hop varieties, provided that all of the other criteria are met, can be a real ale. But I would also contend that a beer brewed with real mangos added can never be a real ale, according to the CAMRA definition, because mangos are patently NOT a traditional ingredient!

Likewise, the “Coffee & Doughnut Stout” brewed recently with real coffee and real doughnuts added, as interesting and as tasty as it might be, will never be real ale. I have heard these beers, as well as flavoured ciders and gin, the current fad drink, described as “grown up drinks for the alcopop generation” and I have some sympathy with this view.

Let’s look at dispense methods now.

Traditionally real ale has been dispensed at the point of sale by gravity, straight from the cask, or by handpump. Over the years a number of other methods have come and gone; notably C02 top pressure and air pressure, both rejected by the Campaign as they negatively affected the beer. CAMRA came about because brewers were putting pasteurised and filtered beers into kegs and using CO2 pressure to deliver it to the glass.

The method was foolproof, required no skill, and increased the brewer’s profit margins despite the necessity to increase advertising budgets to persuade the punters to drink it.

But what it did not do is deliver good beer!

Fortunately, drinkers with a taste and love for cask-conditioned ale rebelled, CAMRA was formed, and the rest is history – so cask (real) ale good, keg beer bad.

Now we have the miracle of KeyKeg, but is that real ale? Or is it keg beer in the old sense? Its proponents tell us that using KeyKeg enables pubs to offer a greater range of beers, and that they will keep almost www.camra-swale.org.uk

indefinitely if sales are slow. So how is this possible? The KeyKeg system was developed in the Netherlands, a country not noted for cask-conditioned ales. It is marketed as a one-way, lightweight and cheap alternative to conventional stainless steel, aluminium, or polyethylene containers; think of it as a kiddie’s helium balloon inside a PET fizzy drink bottle inside a cardboard box. The beer, or wine, cider, milk – whatever, is filled into a flexible plastic bladder which has an aluminium foil coating to prevent migration of gasses through the permeable plastic.

By applying air pressure into the outer PET vessel the beer is pushed from the bladder up to the point of dispense. Unlike a cask breather and floating widgets the system uses no extraneous C02 and the air pressure is separated from the liquid. Simple, foolproof, requires no skill, and cheap – sound familiar?

KeyKeg marketing material is all about costcutting and recycling not about product quality, and where beer is mentioned it is brewery conditioned. This “bag-in-a-box” technology has been used for many years for wine, but only for cheap wine; you won’t find Chateau Lafitte in what the Australians call a “goon bag”! I wonder why?

If a beer is pasteurised and/or filtered to remove the yeast, then filled into KeyKeg it is NOT, despite the use of no extraneous C02, a real ale according to CAMRA’s definition.

The yeast has been killed and/or removed so the beer cannot be “matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed”, so it isn’t real ale. A real ale in cask will have finings added which will drop down through the beer as it undergoes the secondary fermentation process, taking the debris down into the bulge of the cask (known as dropping bright). Any excess C02 is vented to atmosphere by skilful use of porous and non-porous pegs (soft and hard spiles) in order to maintain the correct amount of condition (sparkle) in the beer. So how is this process handled with real ale in a KeyKeg? Well basically, it isn’t; the condition of the beer remains stable within the bladder so either the brewer has to condition his beer to a greater or lesser extent before filling and have it served with a yeast haze or risk the customer getting a glass of yeast soup! If the brewery conditioning results in a bright beer from the KeyKeg then it is debatable at which point the beer ceases to be considered real ale. I guess that many of us have had “bright beer” for parties and events

swaleale@gmail.com

Continued overleaf...

CAMRAswale

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The Street, Selling, Near Faversham ME13 9RQ A traditional village pub offering real ale, good wine and delicious food in a beautiful country-side location We are a Shepherd Neame house serving Masterbrew, Spitfire Gold and a regularly changing guest ale from our lovingly cared-for cellar, alongside a good selection of wines, spirits and soft drinks The White Lion is family and dog friendly, with a large garden. Perry Wood is just minutes away and we have lots of attractive walks nearby. Food is served 7 days a week, both lunchtimes and evenings For winter months we have large inglenooks in the bars, with log fires burning and a wood-stove in Goldings, our function room — perfect to relax with board games on the table and beer in hand We also have regular events including a quiz night on the 2nd Wednesday of each month and live music on the 3rd Saturday www.whitelionselling.co.uk 01795 383100 Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @whitelionkent

but it isn’t strictly real ale, not being matured in the container from which it is served.

So, does CAMRA have a policy on KeyKeg dispense? The Campaign’s website tells us that “CAMRA’s technical experts agreed several years ago that beers served from key keg/cask under certain circumstances (my italics) qualified as real ale”. But how is the drinker to know whether those circumstances (sufficient yeast cells in the KeyKeg to allow secondary fermentation and no extraneous C02) have been met?

Real ale in bottle (RAIB) has long been accepted, indeed promoted, by CAMRA. Craft brewers seem to prefer to put their products into cans, stating that they do so to protect their beer from spoilage by light. Beer may indeed deteriorate due to exposure to light (become lightstruck), that is the reason why beer is sold in brown bottles. A cynic might suspect that their reasoning may have something to do with cans being cheaper and having more room for branding than bottles.

A craft brewer, who puts 65% of production into cans, 30% into keg and only 5% into cask, in a recent interview in the trade Press, stated that “We reach a wider audience through our canned products…. we get better feedback on social media through them. We are constantly looking at how we can push the medium of beer forward, either through new ingredients and techniques or looking at how we present the packaging…” That sounds less like craft to me, and more like a business model!

Social media is important to craft brewers; one Kentish brewer claims to have been the brewer of the “best beer in Kent” for the last two or three years, as listed on the Ratebeer app, despite producing NO cask conditioned beer at all!

The big brewers are ever on the lookout for a new angle and their marketing departments weren’t slow to latch on to the beer drinking public’s interest in the craft beer movement, with the result that successful craft brewers are being snapped up by large multinationals who seem to be somewhat reticent about informing their customers of the fact! So we now have concerns which, on the face of it are microbrewers, or craft brewers, whose beers are brewery conditioned and sent out in true kegs for C02 dispense. This has posed a problem for the Small Independent Brewers Association (SIBA), who have found that some of their members are no longer small, and no longer independent! Craft brewers have their own organisation – United Craft Brewers. Also we are now seeing firms originally established as cask microbrewers www.camra-swale.org.uk

who have grown so large and successful that they can no longer be bothered to send out their beers in cask conditioned form. In order to survive in the business all brewers, of course, have to be part brewer and part businessman; it would seem that if the latter is more prevalent then the drive to grow the business and to improve profit margins result in the cask microbrewery becoming a craft brewery. The craft brewer quoted above stated in his interview that “The price point of cask beer is too low…. the ingredients we use, the heavy hopping rates, and the raw material costs... (make it) quite difficult for us to achieve the price we need to sustain our business in the cask beer market”. This could be interpreted to mean that they make what they want but the punters won’t pay for it!

Even relatively small brewers are now moving away from cask ale; recently one stated that they will only fill two casks with a new beer, then it will be all keg. Craft beer has now become a marketing term, created by the microbrewer with heart, and usurped by brewing businesses, large and small, who have spotted a new angle to drive sales. The average beer drinker, who neither knows nor cares about the niceties, probably already think that craft beer is real ale and vice versa. One microbrewer recently changed his branding to include the word “crafted” – craft sells!

So today the real ale drinker has to be ever-vigilant when they visit the pub; best to stick to the local micropub because they only serve real ale, don’t they….? A craft beer enthusiast said to me recently that “Anything that gets young people drinking real ale must be a good thing, surely?” On the face of it, this would seem to be true, but only if those young people can recognise whether they are drinking real ale or not. Perhaps what CAMRA needs to be doing is to seek to educate those young drinkers in the niceties so that they can make an informed decision as to whether they drink real ale. Unfortunately there may well be a good few within the Campaign who need to be educated first.

Given the choice between a KeyKeg “Mango & Chocolate Crème Brulée Triple Hop Black IPA” and a boring, reasonably priced, coppercoloured best bitter with a fine balance of biscuity malt and refreshing bitterness, I know which one this old beer buff would choose! © Peter Moynihan Quakers Hill, NSW peter.moynihan.oz@gmail.com

swaleale@gmail.com

CAMRAswale

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BLACK SHEEP BREWERY: STEAK & RIGGWELTER PIE Serves 4 persons

Method

Good wholesome fare from the world-renowned Black Sheep Brewery (www.blacksheepbrewery.com)

1.

Pre-heat the oven to 180̊C.

2.

In an oven-proof casserole dish, melt the butter with a drop of rape seed oil.

3.

While this is melting put the hand diced local beef in seasoned flour.

4.

Brown the beef in the butter/oil.

5.

Take out and leave to cool on a plate.

6.

Add the diced carrot, swede, celery and onion.

7.

Sweat the vegetables off and then take them out.

8.

Pour the Riggwelter into the pan and reduce by half.

9.

Put the meat back in the pan and add the beef stock, bay leaves, thyme, garlic puree (optional) and tomato paste.

The Bistro at the Black Sheep Brewery Visitor Centre serves a wide range of dishes, featuring the Brewery’s award-winning beers. Riggwelter Ale takes its name from a local Yorkshire Dales farming term which has Norse roots; “rygg” meaning back, and “velte” meaning to overturn. A sheep is said to be rigged or ‘riggwelted’ when it has rolled onto its back and is unable to get back up without assistance. What better name for a strong beer from the Black Sheep Brewery in Yorkshire? Riggwelter is available in cask and bottle.

Ingredients 4oz butter Drop of rape seed oil Seasoned flour 1kg hand diced local beef (ask your butcher to do this) 6oz diced carrot 6oz diced swede 6oz diced celery Half a diced onion A Bottle of Black Sheep Riggwelter Ale Pint of beef stock Two bay leaves Two tea spoons of thyme (fresh or dried) One tablespoon of garlic puree (optional) Three tablespoons of tomato paste Short crust pastry to top

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10. Add the vegetables that were sweated off earlier, then put the lid on the casserole and put in the oven for about 1½ - 2 hours. The meat should be nice and tender and still holding together and the gravy reduced.

11. Additionally, you can add a tablespoon of corn starch mixed with a drop of water or beer at this point if you wish to thicken it slightly.

12. Transfer all into a large pie dish or several small pie dishes and top with short crust pastry.

13. Egg wash and bake for a further 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

swaleale@gmail.com

CAMRAswale

FAVERSHAM

HOP FESTIVAL Members from both Swale and Canterbury Camra branches ran the usual popular Beer Tent at the recent Faversham Hop Festival held over the weekend 2nd & 3rd September.

All the beers and Ciders were from local Kent Breweries/Cider producers and we would like to thank all the good folk that visited the Festival for their thirsty support!

Saturday always the busiest day but the weather was very good and we had run out of our 12 Firkins by 5pm and nearly all the cider!!!

Also on the Saturday we had a very special Camra VIP visit to the tent –Mr Roger Protz, beer writer and editor of the Good Beer Guide who kindly posed for photographs and chatted to members.

Sunday’s weather not so nice but custom was steady and we sold the remainder of the beer and cider. Both branches would like to acknowledge thanks to Tony Prins from Hopdeamon Brewery for allowing us to use

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his cold room to store the beer, Tony Hayes for the loan of his van to collect and distribute the beer and stall, Jim Rogers for staying dry through out to be our driver and finally to the committee team and members who helped serve the customers over the 2 days.

swaleale@gmail.com

Lin Gates CAMRAswale

OPEN FOR BUSINESS THE HARROW, STOCKBURY In the last edition of Swale Ale I reported on the sale of the 200 year old Harrow in Stockbury and the subsequent purchase by the local community.

I’m pleased to report the pub has now re-opened. As a reminder, the community in Stockbury came together and raised enough to open the pub as a community hub. I recently visited to see how much progress had been made.

The formal handover from Shepheard Neame to the community was on 30th August with Jonathan Neame and Helen Whately (MP) attending. The Harrow is now fully opened and a tenant has been appointed.

I spoke to the new tenant, Sam, who explained his background in as a chef and his keenness in running a pub.

Food is proving popular and the pub’s dart team is back and playing in a local league. On my visit two real ales were available including a house beer from Tonbridge.

Regular meetings of the organising community are taking place to review performance – to ensure that the pub thrives.

Recent press coverage, including on radio and in What’s Brewing have promoted the pub and I would encourage people to visit and support this community hub.

BEER STYLE: BARLEY WINE Barley Wine has a very ancient lineage dating back to Ancient Greece. In Ancient Greece they didn’t tend to use hops so, if you could find one, it would taste completely different to a modern Barley Wine. The reason for the use of the term “wine” denotes the alcoholic content rather than use of grapes.

In recent years two different styles have emerged with some American brewers, such as Anchor, tending to use more hops and as a result the Barley Wine has a more bitter taste. I tend to find British Barley Wines much sweeter and also darker in colour. There is a discussion over the different between and

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Old Ale and a Barley Wine. In truth there is probably very little difference. For example, one of our local brewers – Goacher’s – produces Old 1066 Ale (6.7%). Is this an Old Ale or a Barley Wine? Is there a difference?

I will let you decide on that. I know I will be drinking it sometime soon and may even mix it with a mild.

One of my favourite Devon brewers, Hanlons, do a “Brewer’s Special Reserve” which comes in at 12.9%. I find it a nice sweet beer and enjoyed it at the recent CAMRA East London and City Pig’s Ear Beer Festival. It’s a beer that is worth seeking out.

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CAMRAswale

SWALE CAMRA AT THE

GREAT BRITISH BEER FESTIVAL Promoted by CAMRA as the World’s Largest “Pub” the Great British Beer Festival impressed many thousands of real ale, cider and continental lager followers from all four corners of the UK and from across the waters.

The festival caters for all needs, tastes and age groups. Obviously the 900+ ales is always a plus point but to complement this there is always a good attendance from some of the long standing UK breweries, food stalls, CAMRA merchandise, live music and bands throughout the five day extravaganza.

It is always one of the favourites on Swale CAMRA member’s beer festival calendar because of the gathering with friends and colleagues at the event. If you have yet to visit this annual festival you must do so, if nothing else it will certainly be an experience.

www.camra-swale.org.uk

CHAMPION BEERS Mild Category: Ruby Mild - Rudgate Bitter Category: Goats Milk - Church End Best Bitter Category: Cwtch - Tiny Rebel Golden Ale Category: Infinity - Blue Monkey Strong Bitter Category: Afghan Pale Ale - Greytrees Speciality Category: Triple Chocolate - Saltaire

swaleale@gmail.com

Supreme Winner 2017: Goats Milk - Church End

CAMRAswale

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13th BEXLEY BEER FESTIVAL 3rd – 5th May 2018 Old Dartfordians Sports Club War Memorial Club House Bourne Road, Bexley, Kent DA5 1LW

90+ Beers & Ciders

Souvenir glass, Hot & Cold Meals, (snacks & soft drinks available at Club bar) Updates available nearer the date on www.bexley.camra.org.uk, https://www.facebook.com/camrabexleybranch/ https://twitter.com/bexleycamra

Thursday 3rd May Friday 4th May Saturday 5th May

2pm-11pm 11am-11pm 11am-8pm

CAMRA members and under 26s (with proof of ID) FREE, Non CAMRA £3 Nearest Bus routes to Hartford Road Bus Stop (J,H) 132, 229, 492, B12 Nearest Railway Station, Bexley

All rights of admission reserved

REFLECTIONS ON THE SWINDON BEER FESTIVAL Another year passes at Swindon Beer Festival set in the fabulous Steam venue, the railway museum in Swindon. For me, the venue is part of the attraction. Compared to its near neighbours Oxford and Bath, Swindon has a limited heritage, but the railway museum and the great workshop buildings that surround it, would once have harboured a momentous industry supplying railroad stock and engines to the railways in the South West. So at Steam, you are within touching distance of the town’s industrial past.

As for the festival, well done to Swindon CAMRA for putting on yet another great event. Most CAMRA run beer festivals are well oiled machines and everyone knows what they are doing and this was no different. I was also delighted to meet many old friends from the branch who all made me feel most welcome. Swindon seems to have a solid core of enthusiastic volunteers all of whom are intent on making sure both they and their festival goers have a good time.

The beer festival itself is an event for showcasing the best beers, with some music featuring in a supporting role rather than one of the main protagonists. There are over 100 beers plus ciders on show attracting in excess of 2,000 visitors across the three-day event.

What Swindon do well is to limit the glass size to the half pint (lined at a third). This promotes trial of lots of different beers rather than pint glasses which can lead to problems associated with over indulgence!

The festival has changed little over the years, bar an extended food area. Yes, it would be great if they could showcase keg/craft beers as well, but I am realistic enough to know the latter bring a technical services challenge that

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the volunteers won’t have the necessary skills or equipment to overcome. I think for many regional beer festivals, showcasing craft keg is a step too far without the support of CAMRA head office.

I attended with my day job as St Austell Brewery and we are always popular guests.

Our beers for the event included well-known brands like Tribute and Proper Job, along with the perennial favourite at this event, Bucket of Blood - it is Halloween of course! We always try to feature a couple of new beers and were delighted to have a wonderful beer called Dear Boy, brewed to commemorate St Austell’s BLO from Cornwall, Gerry Bazin, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Dear Boy, as Gerry would refer to people, sold very well indeed and there were many requests for St Austell to bottle this or make it a permanent part of the portfolio.

We also had Mocha Choca Lotta, a 6% milk stout. This split the room, some loved it, others less sure. Not a beer for me, the coffee flavour was a little dominant. However there is always a place for beers that challenge the conventional at beer festivals, it should be an environment where customers can taste beers that they would just not see in their local pub.

I’d say to anyone thinking of attending a beer festival, please go along and give it a try.

By their very nature, a lot of small brewers benefit as there are fewer well-known brands on show so you are supporting grass roots brewing and business. Swindon CAMRA and Steam set a high bench mark with their organisation so if other regional events can match that you would be in for an enjoyable visit.

Marc Bishop Beer Sommelier

swaleale@gmail.com

CAMRAswale

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www.thethreetunsrestaurant.co.uk

Traditional Kentish Country Inn Quality food prepared daily from the finest local produce served in a warm and friendly atmosphere and welcoming open fire.

Kentish Ales & Ciders always available.

The Street, Lower Halstow, Sittingbourne, Kent.

ME9 7DY 01795 842840 info@thethreetunsrestaurant.co.uk

BRANCH MEMBERS SURVIVE THE CHRISTMAS CRAWL Saturday December 16th saw the annual Swale branch festive jolly, this time taking in both Canterbury and Faversham. A hardy group of about 15 met up at Sittingbourne Station at 11am, all bright eyed and bushy tailed and boarded the train – next stop Canterbury East!

Our first port of call was an old favourite, The Unicorn just up from Westgate towers.

Some seasoned drinkers us, halves all round to start. Beers were standard fayre and whilst the service was efficient a smile was not forthcoming!! Moving on we went a touch off piste, well it would be rude to just walk past ‘The Goods Shed’ without popping in to the bottle shop for a quick half and a bit of smoked cheese. Rachel had a peanut butter milk stout from California based Belching Beaver. It was smooth, creamy and like satay without the chicken, a popular hit with many.

Onwards to the TT or Thomas Tallis Alehouse for the uninitiated. Three casks and an incredible choice of twelve kegs. At this time a few of us had to admit that out I.T. skills were not as good as we thought as we struggled to get past the wi-fi code to log into untapped to check in our beers! A lovely log burner was heating the place and proudly boasted a health and safety sign. Two more halves and then a few of us enjoyed a cheeky little pork pie fest with the residue of the cheese from the goods shed happily taken out of the pocket and consumed. Some remained at the TT whilst others moved onto The Parrot.

Remembered by many as Simple Simons back in the day this is now a Sheps house and five of their finest were on handpump with Hogs Back T.E.A bringing up the sixth wicket. Full of students enjoying their own company we www.camra-swale.org.uk

conversed about dogs, skiing and other stuff whilst a decent quality half slipped down.

At this point we suffered a small setback.

A mutiny no less!! A small faction led by (Miami) vice chairman Paul moved off to the New Inn (a cunning plan) whilst the remainder continued to the final scheduled venue on the first leg, The Foundry where we had hoped to take in food. Drinks were ordered and gratefully received thanks to Howard Gates however despite having got approval some 3-4 weeks back that we would be fed we are flippantly told that there would be no food for two hours as it was busy. We waited for the others to return from the New Inn which occurred some hour and a half later.

Back to Canterbury East via the chippy for lunch plan ‘B’ and off to Faversham. The Elephant, a haven of warmth with a roaring log fire plus Jim’s selection of superbly kept beers. Difficult to prise us out of here. We met up with Les Bailey who, despite being on antibiotics had ventured out to join us for a pint of coke. A feature of the beers on offer was the Adnams Tally Ho Ho Ho, normally at 7%, this one had been in the cellar for a year and was nearer an 8% strength. Our next stop, the Corner tap offered a smart choice of cask and keg all happily consumed and a vote of thanks to Gary for his round. We lost a few here but the eight or so remainders all trotted down the road keenly wondering what the final pub the Furlongs would have to offer. An excellent choice here as well, all beers in great fettle. After a couple of beers here a few more were flagging somewhat so we dispersed at different intervals blending into the chilly night. The end of an excellent day with great company, generally good beer and lots of seasonal memories.

John Sissons

swaleale@gmail.com

CAMRAswale

27

CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL Craft Ales & Ciders Live Music All Afternoon & Evening BBQ, Ladies Tent Sat 26th & Sun 27th May CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

The Sun Inn. The Street. Bredgar. Nr Sittingbourne. Kent ME9 8EY 01622 884221.

Thesuninn.co.uk www.camra-swale.org.uk swaleale@gmail.com CAMRAswale

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THE BEAR Faversham

The Bear Inn, 3 Market Place, Faversham, Kent ME13 7AG, Tel 01795 532668

Chris & Marie Annand and staff welcome you to this historic 15th Century inn in the heart of Faversham.

Immaculately kept Shepherd Neame beers Traditional home made lunches served every day Join us for our popular Quiz Night held on the last Wednesday of every month Find us on Facebook

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A TASTE OF CORNWALL Swale CAMRA members and residents of the Isle of Sheppey were treated to an evening of Cornish beer tasting, presented by St Austell Brewery and hosted by the Admirals Arm micropub in Queenborough.

Trade Marketing Manager and Beer Sommelier Marc Bishop travelled across the country to present a selection of interesting popular and new beers to an audience of forty eager drinkers, together with a number of Cornish cheese pairings.

Before starting, Marc commented that he sits on the St Austell brewing taste panel that meets every Friday. The panel is responsible for tasting all beer brewed and packaged that week to ensure the beer is as it should be – what a job!

The evening kicked off with a number of familiar beers all featuring St Austell’s newly launched bottle branding and as each beer passed a little more of the brewery’s history was told.

Tribute 4.2% This is a very commercial beer in terms of flavour, its nearest competitor being Sharps Doombar. It is a hop driven beer but more delicate using a combination of American and Slovenian Hops. One of its hops, the Willamette hop is used in the brewing of Budweiser.

Marc commented that this beer pays everyone’s mortgage at St Austell and accounts for between 60-70% of the entire brewery volume, keeping the brewery operational and allowing for the fun stuff such as the establishment of the small batch brewery.

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Proper Job 5.5% A hop driven beer that uses the Chinook hop, giving slight pineapple flavour. Marc explained that US hops give more of a citrus punch than British hops which is why we often see these being used in modern crafty beers.

This beer matches with spicy foods and some sweeter desserts.

Hicks 6% (Formerly HSD) This was a fuller, sweet, malt driven beer. The bottled version is now 6% and the good thing about lifting the ABV is that it has hugely improved the beer from its original 5%. Marc explained that it now replicates the draft version (5%) much better than the previous bottle.

Hicks is St Austell’s oldest recipe beer dating back to 1975 when it was designed as a highly drinkable beer. It uses Goldings hops and is described as something of hidden gem for St Austell, as it’s not often seen in pubs or supermarkets.

Ruby Jack 4.6% (a new beer) Named after legendry Cornish boxer Bob Fitzsimmons (nickname Ruby Jack) this beer has replaced Admirals Ale which has come to the end of its life.

An easy drinking Red beer, this is less challenging than Admirals Ale and offers tastes of dark fruits with a touch of prune! The beer has recently been launched on Keg.

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CAMRAswale

Offering a wide range of real ale in all styles Plus World Beers - Cider - Perry

Tuesday Wednesday

20th Members Preview 17:30 - 22:30 21st - Saturday 24th 12:00 - 22:30

Free Entry For CAMRA Members

BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE

winter.gbbf.org.uk/tickets

The Halls, St Andrews Plain, Norwich NR3 1AU GBBFWinter GreatBritishBeerFestivalWinter www.camra-swale.org.uk swaleale@gmail.com

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THE GOLDEN HOPE

1 Park Road, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 1DR TEL: 01795 476791

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THE BELLE AND LION

22–24 High Street, Sheerness, Kent, ME12 1NL TEL: 01795 665486

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THE LEADING LIGHT

20–22 Preston Street, Sheerness, Faversham, ME13 8NZ TEL: 01795 535075

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CAMRAswale

Mena Dhu 4.5% Based on an original Cornish recipe Mena Dhu means black hill named after the farm that was owned by Walter Hicks, the founder of St Austell Brewery.

This stout offers tastes of dark chocolate and liquorice with a smoky nose.

Eureka 4.9% The first of the brewery’s Small Batch Brews, Eureka has now become one of its regular beers. Brewed in the style of the American Pale Ales from West Coast USA that inspired a brewing generation. Eureka is a single-hopped APA that offers interesting notes of wild garlic and onion. It is very much a craft style beer which means the flavour will be more challenging. It’s a big flavour beer.

Big Job 7.2% An award winning double-IPA that uses Citra and Centennial hops. This is sweet hopped rather than bitter hopped beer, with a powerful flavour driven by the centennial hop, which offers a hint of Turkish delight.

This is a great bear but could ruin you if you drink too much of it, or it could make your night!

There are two breweries at St Austell. The main one, a 180-barrel plant, produces the core range of beers but the brewers found that when they wanted carry out new product development, the brewery did not offer the flexibility to brew smaller batches.

So, it introduced a smaller ten barrel plant which is now responsible for producing some exciting new beers that challenge beer in terms of its ingredients, flavours, ABV and style. They have also introduced a Small Batch Brewery Club consisting of 40 local pubs that receive a new beer each week.

Sayzon 5.9% This Cornish interpretation, ‘Sayzon’, is brewed with a blend of barley, wheat and oat malts, then gently spiced with ginger, lemon and lime zest. It has a hint of cinnamon and is fermented with a special strain of ‘saison’ yeast to deliver a beer that is assertive but refreshing with a peppery spice and a refreshing citrus finish.

Bad Habit 8.2% A little like Leffe, this is a Cornish brewed Abbey Tripel.

Pouring hazy gold this beer delivers layers of flavour. Spice flavours dominate. At 8.2%, this is a big beer not to be messed with but an easier beer to drink than Big Job.

Cardinal Syn 7.8% A Dubel style beer, brewed with Belgian Abbey ale yeast with dark malts, brown sugar and spiced with a gentle hand. This is a strong, mouth coating beer.

Black Square 12% Launched at GBBF this was developed in collaboration with New Riga’s brewery of Moscow as a contemporary interpretation of the classic porter originally shipped to the Russian court during the Imperial era. The beer has been matured over a period of several months spending time in both oak casks and steel tanks.

Following these excellent beers, we were then introduced to four exciting beers, brewed in St Austell’s small batch brewery.

www.camra-swale.org.uk

If any of these beers tickle your fancy then look out for some in your nearest supermarket or better still visit the brewery online store and grab a selection – you won’t be disappointed.

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CAMRAswale

33

THE GOOD BEER GUIDE SELECTION CRITERIA With the 2018 edition of the Good Beer Guide recently launched, have you wondered how CAMRA selects pubs for the Guide?

Each CAMRA branch is responsible for the entries in its area within the county and each listed pub must consistently serve real ale (and real cider if offered) of good quality.

To help us do this, we collect beer quality information through CAMRA’s National Beer Scoring System (NBSS) in which members are asked to contribute scores for pubs throughout the year.

It is easy to score your beers in NBSS. Log in to CAMRA’s online pub guide, WhatPub (www.whatpub.com) using your membership number and the same password that you use to enter the CAMRA national website. Search for the pub and enter a score for each beer that you drank in the Submit Beer Scores panel on the right of the screen.

There is plenty of help and information about NBSS on the Beer Scoring tab. WhatPub is optimised for use on a smart phone and a downloadable app is planned, so you can score your beer in the pub while you drink it!

for paper forms and we will enter your scores for you.

Having collected thousands of beer scores over the year, we generate a report in January giving the average, best and worst scores for each pub and a confidence factor based on the number of scores received. The Branch Committee uses these data to draw up a list of eligible pubs with the highest average score, supplemented by other sources of information, and then visits them to update the pub details ahead of a selection meeting in February. All branch members are invited to that meeting at which we select our quota for the next Good Beer Guide.

To make this work better, we need many more members to enter their scores. We value the opinions of all members whether active or not and we need as many opinions as possible for as many pints in as many pubs as possible. This is so we can have confidence in the statistics. We ask members to score the pubs continually not just once or twice.

NBSS works across the country not just in our branch. If you are not a member but would like your opinions of beer quality.

If you don’t have online access at all, then ask your NBSS Coordinator at a branch meeting

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Get your hands on a copy of CAMRA’s 45th edition of the Good Beer Guide and hunt out the best pubs in Britain, with the help and guidance of CAMRA’s 180,000+ members.

Complete the form below and discover the indispensable guide for beer and pub lovers young and old. By buying the book directly from CAMRA you’re helping support and protect real ale, real cider & real perry, and pubs & pub-goers. The new guide is published in September 2017 you can order a copy now (details below).

How To Order* Post: Complete the form on this page and send to: CAMRA, 230 Hatfield Road, St Albans AL1 4LW Phone: To order by credit card please phone 01727 867201 during office hours.

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ON BEING MOUSTACHED AND WHIFFLED Greetings Gentle Reader. Since time immemorial people have been enjoying the effects of a few pints of good ale and consequently there have been terms for the state they have ended up in. In this piece I shall delve into the depths of the OED and describe a few of my favourites. Some of these terms are more colourful than others so in the interests of not making Granny Spillage blush I have left out the more obvious rural examples often used in common parlance.

meaning behind the phrases. It turns out that nippitaty is derived from the word ‘nippitate’ which meant a particularly good strong ale although exactly where it comes from is lost in an alcoholic fog of time. Tippled is derived from a retailer of ale or tavern keeper who was known as a Tippler, so to have partaken of too much of his fare rendered the person ‘Tippled’. The noun is still with us in phrases such as ‘fancy a tipple Obadiah? (Don’t mind if I do, thanks).

The idea for this piece came from a chance find I made the other day. I was perusing the shelves of the library in the west wing of Spillage Towers in search of a diverting tome in which to immerse myself whilst getting on the outside of a couple of pints of Futtocks Old Horizontal when I chanced upon a diary of one of my ancestors. Now to be quite frank I was surprised that they could read at all let alone write however the diary belonged to my great (times seven or eight, give or take) grandfather Nathaniel Spillage who appeared to be a minor noble during the reign of Elizabeth I. The extract read as follows:

During Elizabethan times there were a number of other excellent terms for drinking and drunkenness I particularly like Quaff-tide which was a word meaning ‘the season for drinking’ and a ‘shotclog’ is a person who is tolerated because they pay for the drinks

“Funday the Feventh of Fetember 1574. Woke thif morning feeling ruff (I think that was an Elizabethan joke, don’t give up the day job Nat!) owing to the fact that myfelf and a few fellowf went out and quaffed ale all night at the Frog in a Doublet and became nippitaty and fo tippled that on the way home Raphe De Malmsey fell in the nearby duck pond” What caught my attention were the terms ‘nippitaty and ‘tippled’ so I decided that I should consult that well know fount of all knowledge Professor O’Google to find out the

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Moving away from the Tudors, one of the stranger expressions I came across for being drunk is ‘moustached’. Whilst the exact derivation of this term seems to be lost I would like to think that it may emanate from a time when ‘Woosterish’ young blades like my relative Cecil Spillage known by cohorts as ‘Chunder’ Spillage (can’t think why!) would shave of half the moustache of a slumbering fellow member of their club who has had too much of the ‘Oh Be Joyful’ and fallen asleep at the dining table. It probably doesn’t mean this but it was the sort of thing the young Chunder would have done!

Another of my numerous tribe, Captain Ahab Spillage, informs me that many of the terms for being drunk stem from the maritime world.

As he is a drunken old sea dog himself, he is a bit of an expert on these matters.

swaleale@gmail.com

Continued overleaf...

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O

Being Two or Three Sheets to the Wind generally indicates the level of drunkenness of the cove concerned. A sheet, apparently, is a nautical term for a rope which is used for, among other things, securing sails to the craft they are supposed to be propelling. If the sheets become loose the sail will flap.

Two loose sheets the sail will flap moderately and way will be lost. Three sheets down and flappage becomes much increased and momentum much less. You get the picture as to how this relates to drunkenness. The opposite of these terms, by the way, is ‘Under Full Sail’, whereby the inebriated person will be sounding forth with gusto to anyone who will listen with no apparent lack of verbiage.

Let us turn to being ‘Groggy’. We have all been there! It’s that point when you know what you want to say but just can’t find the words to express it and honestly can’t be bothered to think any harder about finding them. The term comes from drinking too much ‘grog’. What is ‘grog’? I hear you ask. To answer I need to take you back to the West Indies in the 1740’s. Britannia ruled the waves at that time, however Vice Admiral Edward Vernon was concerned that the sailors under his command were getting drunk on the rum

ration with some saving many days worth and consuming it all in one go. This was not to the liking of the erstwhile Vice Admiral so he introduced watering down the ration. This reduced the drunkenness on his ships (but probably increased the crankiness of their crews). Vernon wore a coat made of Grogram, a course fibered cloth for which he was nicknamed ‘Old Grog’ hence the naming of the watered-down spirit.

Now according to Susi Dent (her of Dictionary Corner fame) there are over 3000 words in English for being drunk, so I think we shall leave the last ones here to the incomparable P G Wodehouse. “Stewed to the gills” and “Tanked to the uvula” I find particularly descriptive whilst in the novel Meet Mr Mulliner we find the excellent term ‘Whiffled’…. ‘Intoxicated? The word did not express it by a mile. He was oiled, boiled, fried, whiffled, sozzled, and blotto’.

‘Til next time, I’m off to get moustached – Toodle Pip

Obidiah Spillage

Furlong's Ale House

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swaleale@gmail.com

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39

“There’s more in the barrel”

KENT BEERS!!

Musket Brewery is a family owned, Maidstone-based Micro Brewery located at Loddington Farm, Linton, brewing premium REAL ALE at realistic prices. The Musket brewers are CAMRA members, who provide these carefully brewed ales for your enjoyment.

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