BAE 161

Issue 161 | October - November

Peterborough & District Branch of CAMRA | www.peterborough-camra.org.uk

Beer Around ’Ere

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Must be the Beer Fest! photo diary inside....

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Peterborough Branch Website |www.real-ale.org.uk

Now that the 34th Peterborough BeerFestival has faded into history and thevarious criticisms and plaudits have

emerged, we can settle down to analysing theoutcome. One thing I can re-assure regularfollowers of the PBF is that some major changeswill certainly take place before next year’s festival.With yet another fall in attendance numbers, we need to look at the main reasons why this ishappening – and we are well aware of what theyare! All the stats and results of the championbeers are in this edition so I do not have toramble on any more about the event. I wouldlike to say a big thank you to all the people whocame along to support us this year.

Yet again our dopey politicians are penalisingthe minority so that they can be ‘seen to bedoing something’ about alcohol abuse. HMRevenue & Customs will bring in anotherincrease in beer duty for beers of over 7.5%. HighStrength Beer Duty (HSBD) will mean anaverage rise of 25% in the cost of making beer.HSBD will for example see duty rise from 80pto £1 per pint for a 7.6% beer with higher strengthbeers even more.

Many of these beers are high quality authentictraditional ales brewed by brewers who still wishto hold on to their roots from the 18th and 19thcentury when these beer styles were in fashion.Familiar names such as Parish Baz’s BonceBlower (12%), Robinsons Old Tom (8.5%),Thornbridge St Petersburg (7.7%), Fullers VintageAle (8.5%), Woodfordes Norfolk Nip (8%) are buta few of the beers that will be victims of thisunjust increase. These are not what one of ourorganisations leading lights Roger Protz labels‘park bench’ beers, meaning the strong lagersthat are one of the targets. So whilst the serious alcoholics will simply tradedown to cheaper nasty alternatives, the morediscerning enthusiast of old ales will still be clobbered for enjoying the delights of these beersin the comfort of our homes.

Most current brewers of high - strength beersseem reluctant to reduce their levels of alcohol inspite of the duty increases. Drinkers will have topay higher prices. The concern is that HSBDwill deter other brewers from producing barleywines, old ales and strong stouts. So next timeyou see somebody necking a can of Special Brewon a park bench remember that’s who our rulersare supposed to be stopping abusing themselveswith drink. The rest of us acting in a responsiblemanner just get dragged along with them.

I would like to welcome as part of our branchcommittee the new editor of BAE. Jane Flewagreed some weeks ago to take on the task ofthe editor of our bi-monthly newsletter. Some ofyou may have met Jane this year at PBF, as shehelped out on the Membership and Informationstand. We wish Jane all the success in her newrole, and hope you all give her the support sheneeds.

Finally my ever grateful thanks go to our loyalgroup of unpaid volunteers who made this year’sPBF a great event again. Without them wewould not be able to hold what is still one of thebest festivals in the land.

Cheers Folks

David Murray - Branch Chairman.

Chairman’s Corner | 3

Chairman’s Corner

ARE YOU MISSING OUT?Only the beer-stained copy left?

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for 1st Class cheque/PO payable to

“Peterborough CAMRA” and your address to:-

Daryl Ling, 19 Lidgate Close, OrtonLongueville Peterborough PE2 7ZA

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4 | Please support our advertisers

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Despite the sullen mood of the nation, theongoing recession and minor rioting else-where in the country, there is some good

news on the pubs front.

They tell me there isless money about thesedays and people aretending to venture outless than they mighthave done a few yearsago. This may be true

but some pub owners are confident enough torefurbish their pubs or even reopen old ones. Forstarters The Elm Tree Tavern in Garton End Rdhas undergone a bit of a transformation. AlthoughI haven’t visited recently the new signage looksgood and the overall persona of the pub is a tadmore welcoming. Just in case you don’t know theyhave a quiz every week and a restaurant which isbecoming very popular, so it must be worth avisit. Real ale is available but as to what breed it isI don’t know.

The Burghley Square Club at the Park Rd endof Burghley Rd is about to reopen. I for one neverthought it would open its doors again but neversay never as the saying goes. The early suggestionis that it will be a private club upstairs and aregular pub for regular folks downstairs. We watchwith interest.

The Drum & Monkey in Stamford is under-going a bit of building work to create a restaurant.New licensees Mark Bryan and Sarah Lount arebracing themselves for the official launch inSeptember.

The London Inn in Stamford continues to beworked upon and will be open by late Septemberor early October. The Danish Invader, also in

Stamford continues to have builders attacking theplace and we assume that this will also be finishedin the near future.

The William Cecil in High St, St Martin’s inStamford, formerly known as the Lady Anne’sHotel has been reopened as a “quirky boutiquehotel” whatever that means. The refurbishment isby the same company who masterminded thetransformation of the nearby Bull & Swan soexpect good things. The new Olympic Bar hastwo handpumps, at least one of which is in usebut as to which beer it serves only a visit will tell.

New peopleThe King’s Head in Apethorpe now has newlicensees Simon Forbes and Charlotte Bussey incharge. The village pub has had a lick of paint andwill no doubt be popular with the villagers as wellas with those from outside.

The Five Horseshoes in Barholm now hasEmma and Matt behind the bar and there arenew people at the Collyweston Slater inCollyweston. The Slater is an Everard’s pub andhas a guest ale on offer. My pub spy for that areatells me that the pub is a friendly one and thebeer is worth trying.

The closed pub guideIdeally the sign of work being done on a closedpub would be good news but in today's climateof pubs being put to other uses it can spell theend of the life of a once popular local. After whatseems like a generation of disuse the appearanceof builders at the once popular Dog in a Doubleton North Bank may mark the end of this land-mark public house. There were rumours floatingaround recently that someone had purchased itand would be reopening before too long. I now

Pub News

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Pub News| 5

Continued Overleaf

Elm Tree Tavern

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6 |Pub News Continued

suspect that the rumours were unfounded andthat the pub will become housing of some kind.

Meanwhile the White Hart in Fletton remainson the market. The pub has had difficulties inthe past but there is no reason that with theright refurbishment and enthusiastic landlord thepub could be a winner. There are several reasonswhy the pub should be sought after by prospec-tive purchasers not least the fact that there areno other pubs in the area.

The Scotgate in Stamford has now closed itsdoors permanently. Unable to make a decentliving out of the place the last incumbent threwin the towel a few months ago. The building willnow become offices.

To complete our brief guide I can add theSpade & Shovel in Eye, the Royal Oak inWalton, the Durham Ox in Star Rd and theSilver Jubilee in Bretton. All are boarded up andawaiting something to happen.

A gong for a great pubWhen a couple work as hard as Dick and FionaMorgan of Ye Olde Dun Cow in Cowbit do, it’snice to see them receive an award for their efforts.The South Holland food and drinks awards for2011 placed the pub as overall winner for the BestPublic House. As many will already know thepub serves some superb ales and it was only afew years ago that we gave them a Gold Award.Dick and Fiona have only recently finishedclearing up from their rather excellent beer festival

and family day which proved to be the massivesuccess it always is (quite where they find somany ‘big lads’ for the tug of war teams I’ll neverknow!). Food is one of the main attractions atthe pub and most of the produce is sourcedlocally including the wide range of steaks. Onedish that is guaranteed to waylay the most rabidmeat eater will probably be the Dunnies MegaMixed Grill which weighs in at a frightening 60 ozof meat. This probably accounts for the size ofthe tug of war teams! Smaller meals are of courseavailable and if you happen to be in the area youshould nip in and say hi, it’ll be worth it. Seetheir website for more details www.yeoldeduncow.com

Bass flowing wellI seem to have neglected a few pubs recently soto make amends I’d like to mention the JohnClare in Paston. This once troubled establish-ment has taken on a new lease of life over the lastcouple of years under the guidance of SimonKing, a real ale fan if ever there was one. On myoccasional visits the place has been busy with agood atmosphere which is a world away from itsprevious incarnation. The pub has three hand-pumps with Bass as a regular, complimented byan Oakham Ale and something else. I’ve heardcomments that the Bass is probably the bestaround but you’ll have to visit to find out.

A Rose by any other nameJust a quick mention of the Rose pub inBurghley Rd. The Rose is not necessarily knownfor its wide range of real ales but there is usuallyone on the go most of the time. Trade is prima-rily food led and the pub caters for those whoenjoy their life with a little spice in it. The pubhas been chosen as the venue for the first beerand food pairing event which will see about 30people sit down to a 5 course meal with 4Hopshackle beers to compliment them. This isthe brain child of our Membership SecretarySteve Saldana who believes that Afro-Caribbeanfood works well with Hopshackle’s superb rangeof bottled beers. Who am I to doubt him? Lookout for similar events in the future.

Ye Olde Dun Cow

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Pub News continued | 7

Pub News ShortsI am reliably informed that the Star Inn on StarRoad has reopened. I haven’t had chance to visityet but I’m told they are keeping a real ale on atall times.

The Woolpack Inn Stanground deserve a bigwell done for their charity day held in July. Stalls,games, tombolas and the landlady in the stocks!They managed to raise an impressive £1940 forAir Ambulance and Magpas.

And finallyI was casually reading a few lines about the wayother countries celebrate their innate patriotism.I then considered that we tend not to bother inthis country because it’s probably too muchtrouble or we’re unsure of our roots. I supposewe're quite happy to go along with other culturesand join in with gusto during St Patrick’s Day. A day when many a pub in the city will be flowingwith socially confused and dribbling blokesdowning Guinness as if it was going out offashion, but St George’s Day? With the exceptionof the Hand & Heart and its St George’sWeekend Beer Festival I saw little or no action inlocal boozers. Are we afraid to exert our patri-otism for fear of offending others? Do we need totake a leaf out of other countries’ books? Howabout the French, they have Bastille Day on 14thJuly and take to the streets in celebration. I thinkit’s fair to say that some drinking would occurduring the festivities. The Americans tend to dothings in a big way and Independence Day is oneof the biggest. Is it fair to say that the bars fromNew York to San Francisco will be full to over-flowing with patriotic citizens celebrating the factthat they aren’t part of Dear Old Blightyanymore? Do bars and restaurants offer deals ona big pitcher of wishy washy Bud, a hot dogwrapped in the Stars & Stripes with a compli-mentary red, white and blue waffle? You betcha!

So what are we going to do? I know it’s a bitpremature for St George’s Day but we probablyneed a good 9 months to gain a groundswell ofsupport. For starters local pubs should be morepro-active. Sometimes our local pubs don’t push

themselves where they should with manyclaiming that ‘trade has been a bit slow since weopened’, despite them not actually letting anyoneknow that they were open in the first place (a tiphere would be to let me know so I can mention itin this column!). Secondly, we as CAMRA can doa bit of a campaign and encourage pubs topromote St George’s Day in style. How aboutthemed food? Make the most of English cuisineand promote local beers along with it. Howabout a St George’s Pub Trail? I'm sure there aremany other ideas out there and I know of a fewlocal pubs who will be staging beer festivalsaround this time but we need to do more to celebrate our patron saint and his day. Betterstill, lets make it a week long celebration. I’ll behaving a chat with the Committee at the nextmeeting to see if we can start the ball rolling butin the meantime watch this space.

Steve WilliamsPubs Officer

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Real traditional ale house in the heart of the city

North Street, behind Westgate House, Peterborough Tel: 01733 746370www.facebook.com/ostrichinn

5 Regularly Rotating AlesOpening Times :- 11am -11pm Monday to Thursday, 11am -1am Friday to

Saturday, 12 - 11pm Sunday,

Live Music Fridays and Saturdays - ring or check facebook for details!

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As another drunken and mixed successseason draws to a close the CAMRAcricket team makes a new record by using

only 60 players in the first XI. By the end ofAugust 31 fixtures had been played with 17 wins,one draw and 13 losses. As usual skipper NickBradbury leads the batting, bowling, catches andmaking the best tea! In the race for the leadingrun scorer Nick leads Alan McLean 836 to 537. In the race for leading wicket taker Nick leadsPeter Jex, 35 to 24. Alan is leading the race for themost runs. In the bowling 35 wickets comparedwith next best Peter Jex with 24. Alan McLean isleading the race for the duck bat with three 0’s sofar and Matt Mace is leading the dropped catcheswith seven. This season ends with a trip toBourne to play Motley Crew and a possible visitto the Smiths pub for a couple!! You can keep upto date with the latest developments on thePeterborough CAMRA Cricket group on ECB’sPlay Cricket website. If you want to join usplease call Matt Mace on 07809629241.

Peterborough CAMRA Cricket Club – Leeds Tour 2011Arguably Peterborough’s best pub teamdescended on Leeds for this year’s tour between1st and 4th July. The fifteen members left oursponsors (Coalheavers Arms) early on Fridayminus bacon rolls so we had to stop off atMcDonalds half way up the A1. Once in Leeds welocated our hotel in the most desolate and rundown of areas with recently demolished factoriesall around. Our first game was an afternoon20Twenty game against Kirkstall Educational,who won the toss and elected to bat. Theirprofessional batting line up punished our bowlersrecording 165 for 5. Although McLean, Bradburyand Owens all retired on 30 CAMRA fell 16 shorton 149 for 4.

On Saturday CAMRA played out at SilcoatesSchool against Bradford Telegraph & Argus forthe PACT Cup. The toss was won by Bradfordwho elected to bowl. CAMRA put on 194 for 4with skipper Nick Bradbury retiring on 50. Inreply Bradford started well with 60 coming off thefirst ten overs without a wicket. However, goodbowling (including a hat-trick for Pete Jex)reduced the side to 125 all out. Next yearBradford will be visiting Peterborough in anattempt to win the PACT Cup back. On theSunday the home team Ledsham fielded first andrestricted CAMRA to 185 for 9 off 40 overs. Inreply the home side easily reached the required186 losing only two wickets with opener with ABaron retiring on 101.

The team are now preparing for next year’s tourto Prague!!!

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Pub News | 9

Peterborough CAMRACricket Team

Photo of Matt Mace Celebrating his four wicket haul against Kirkstall.

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~ Eye ~Blue Boar

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Apleasant summer evening at the Elgoodsbrewery in Wisbech was the perfectsetting for a joint group of visitors from

the Peterborough branch of CAMRA andmembers of Kettering football club. The visit,which took place on Friday 15 July, was a sold outevent, an indication of just how strong the historicNorth Brink Brewery is held in local affection.

Upon arrival we were greeted by Alan Pateman,Paul Marshall and Marcus Beecher. Judging bythe smiles all round it was evident that many ofthe group had been here before!

To begin with we were first invited to enjoy a drinkat the brewery bar with choices from the usual arrayof regulars including Cambridge, Golden Newt andBlack Dog. Shortly afterwards head brewer Alanoffered a guided tour of the brewhouse which, Ithought, after the recent outings at Fullers andOakham, might help to satisfy my growing quest forknowledge of the brewing process.

Fair to say Alan did not disappoint. An excellenttutor of hops and master of malts he gave a greatentertaining tour and I certainly learnt a thing ortwo along the way. Given the grandeur of theimposing exterior of the Elgoods frontage I wasstruck by the rather diminutive size of the innerbrewhouse. However looks can be deceiving andthe productivity of the operation as a wholecannot be denied. Along the route of the tour wewere accompanied by the two friendly cats that

are a feature of the Elgoods family. In a metaphor-ical sense that is. Employed to reside in thebrewhouse and keep a watchful eye out for anypesky rodents that may infiltrate the all importantingredients (save the water I would expect) theykept our group entertained with their feline anticsalong the way. After the tour and back at the bararea we were treated to a fine BBQ and buffetcourtesy of Paul Marshall whom, I gather, hascatered for several previous group visits to cap hisculinary career!

Of course no visit to Elgoods would becomplete without a walk around the fantasticgardens. I took the opportunity to top up myglass and go for a stroll, taking in the landscapedscenery, an impressive 100 year old stag’s hornfern plant and, obviously, the maze which Icouldn’t resist getting myself lost in.

The conclusion to the evening was a few wordsof thanks from John Hunt, social secretary ofPeterborough CAMRA, followed by appreciationon behalf of Kettering FC. We were reminded ofthe forthcoming Elgoods Beer Festival takingplace during 22– 24 September and indeed acouple of tonight’s guests kindly volunteered forthe event.

All in all another enjoyable social and its nothard to see why the Elgoods events are always apopular feature in the CAMRA tour diary.

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Brewery Visit | 11

An Evening Out At Elgoods

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You know how it is. You have a few beers,then a few more....and before you know ita kebab is called for! This may be the

standard mantra in cities all around the countryon any given Saturday night but the idea of foodwith a beer as a main event and not as an after-thought is something gaining popularity all overthe beer drinking world. The United States isprobably leading the way in this area with tutored‘beer and food pairing’ events occurring in craftbeer circles all over America. In the UK we’ve notreally given it much thought, after all the usualconversation is what wine will go with which food,but this is slowly changing. It was some monthsago that a small contingent of Peterborough beerdrinkers signed themselves up for a beer and foodpairing event in London. The beers were all fromBrew Dog and the various ales were matchedwith a variety of foods. The day was apparently asuccess and a couple of our participants thought,if London can do it, so can we!

A series of discussions with a local restaurant, afriendly chat with a local brewer and a few argu-ments amongst themselves and an idea was born(or more correctly stolen!).

On a fairly busy Tuesday at the Rose pub inBurghley Rd, three intrepid beer enthusiasts gath-ered to decide on which combinations of beer andfood would make a good base for Peterborough'sFirst Beer and Food Pairing event.

The brewery of choice was Hopshackle ofMarket Deeping whose extensive range of bottledconditioned beers would form the backbone ofthe tasting. Hopshackle was founded back in2006 and the beers have created a bit of afollowing ever since. Nigel bottles many of hisbeers and they range from the fairly pleasant andlight Hopshackle Golden Ale at 4.3% to therespectably lethal VF at 9.8%. There are many in

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12 | Food and ale pairing

Food Around Ere

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between which would give our adventurers awide spectrum to choose from.

The Rose pub is a bit of an anomaly inPeterborough in as much it offers real ale andAfro-Caribbean food, a complex combination inanyone’s books. The Rose is also known as theEmbe Restaurant as it was this name thatgained the chef, Nick Rutta a loyal fan base atthe previous venue of the Thorpe Lodge Hotelin Thorpe Rd. When the opportunity of takingover the old Glass Onion came along, Nickdecided that the move was one he couldn’tafford to miss. With a bigger kitchen, a morespacious venue and a beer garden to die for hecould expand and develop the business. Thebeer and food pairing is just another step in thisprocess.

Our tasters gathered at the bar and the antici-pation was obvious on their faces. A couple ofquick halves of Digfield Fool’s Nook to clear thedust were ordered and a brief chat with Nick tofinalize the evening’s three courses and it was fullsteam ahead.

As this was just a testing the beers had alreadybeen arranged and the 3 ales and a BohemianLager fresh from the fridge had been brought totheir table. The first course was a spicy prawnsalad and the beer that had been chosen wasthe Shackler’s Best. Was it going to complimentthe salad? No… but the second choice ofShackler’s Gold proved a perfect match. It wasn’tlong before course number two arrived, RamiroPeppers. It is a superb combination of a pepperstuffed with meat and Scotch Bonnet chilies andis one of Nick’s better known dishes. The beerchoice here was the Bohemian Lager mainlybecause it was thought that the sharpness of thelager would cut through the spiciness of the dish. As it turned out a Bohemian Lager has lesssharpness to it than what might be thought anda fuller malty overtone was present. This didhowever prove to be an excellent choice but forthe wrong reasons! The third course was theJambalaya, a classic dish from the southernUnited States. For those who are not familiar itis a combination of rice, chicken, chorizo and a

few other secret ingredients includingchristophene, a rarely encountered squash.Nick's version is a spicy revelation apparentlyand is one of the most popular dishes on hismenu. A beer that would go with this just had tobe full of flavour, heavy in alcohol and with apunch that would make Mike Tyson cry like ababy. Hopshackle's Double Momentum at 7%turned out to be just the job. A big awkwardbloke of a beer loaded with malt, fruit and hopswhich proved to be the perfect drinkingcompanion for the spicy third course.

As the evening wore on and Nick had finishedfor the evening he took his place amongst ourdiners and commented that the DoubleMomentum was a beer that could quite possiblybe part of his range of beers. No doubt suitablewordage would find its way onto the menu‘Jambalaya, perfect with a Hopshackle DoubleMomentum’.

The goal of the event is to open the eyes of thePeterborian beer drinkers to the gastronomicdelights that can occur while pairing food andale. With this event being the first of its kind,nerves are high, but so are the expectations!Hopshackle Brewery and Embe restaurant is amatch made in heaven, and for this one night,we hope to have a little heaven on earth.By the time this goes to print the official event

will have taken place on the 15th of September.Make sure you pick up the next edition of BAEfor the full review on how our new venture went.

Steve Williams

The new 2012 Good BeerGuide is now available from thechairman David Murray. To order your copy at consider-able discount contact him on 01733 560453. or see the contacts page.

Good Beer Guide 2012

| 13

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Exotic Thai Food & Handcrafted Beers

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Tel: 01733 358500 Web: www.oakhamales.com

OctoberBeer of the MonthBeer of the Month

November

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The Peterborough CAMRA Beer Festivalis over for another year and it’s time tostart planning the 35th event for 2012.

We made a loss in 2010 mainly due to 38 hours ofcontinuous rainfall that would put anybody offthe idea of going to a beer festival in the middle ofa field. However, attendances have never recov-ered from the horrendous year of 2004 when rainalmost meant we didn’t open. If you were thereyou will remember it as the year when we broughtin tonnes of straw in an attempt to mop up the“lakes” which were appearing all over theEmbankment.

As a result of last year’s loss we had to increaseentry prices in order to get our budget approvedand this has almost certainly caused some of thereduction in the number of visitors this year,particularly at lunch times.

It is also clear that the new layout is still unpop-ular, even in a relatively dry festival, and so we willbe looking at whether we can revert to somethinglike the old layout while still enabling us to getvehicles on and off site without risk to you, ourvisitors.

Unlike pub beer festivals, we have to build thepub before we can open and while I’m not allowedto tell you what that costs, I would be very happyto win that much in the national lottery. Also wehave to buy all the beer at commercial prices, justlike any pub.

So, here’s the problem!If we are going to let everyone in for less, how do

we pay for the site build? Do we charge more forthe beer? That doesn’t sound popular. Fewertoilets, fewer chairs, less music? Higher rents forthe food vendors – who will then put up the priceof burgers? Please write in and let us know whatyou think is good and bad and where we can savemoney so that we can reduce entry prices. Youcan contact us at [email protected] or any ofthe email addresses listed on the contacts page.

Enough doom and gloom. The festival was asuccess with many happy people enjoying thebeer and cider, meeting old friends and listeningto the many bands. Hopefully, we will have madea small profit that will go to CAMRA HQ. Thiswill help campaign for pubs to be allowed to buybeer outside of the tie so that you get morechoice and lower prices, to try to get the govern-ment to reduce duty on beer and to removemuch of the red tape that is so frustrating forlicensees. Raising funds for such activities is themain purpose of the festival together with encour-aging more people to enjoy real ale.

And if you’re still annoyed at the cost of entryto the festival, why not join CAMRA? It costs just£20 (£25 for a couple and less for OAPs andyoung people) and you get £20 worth of vouchersto use on beer in Wetherspoons pubs. As amember you would have paid just £1 on Tuesdayand Wednesday and just £2 on Thursday toSaturday to get into the festival.

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Peterborough Beer Festival 2011 | 15

Mixed Reviews

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The 34th PeterboroughBeer Festival photo diary

Thanks to John Moores, Susan Brammer andMarcus Simms for these great photos from ThePeterborough Beer Festival 2011. Can you spotyourself or anyone you know in these pages?

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Overall ChampionGOLD - Flowerpots Flowerpots IPASILVER - Dark Star Victorian Ruby MildBRONZE - Leeds Samba

Bitter (below 4%abv)GOLD - Leeds SambaSILVER - Milton JustinianBRONZE - Dark Star Hophead

Best Bitter (4%abv to 4.5%abv)GOLD - Salopian OracleSILVER - Iceni SorachiBRONZE - Rudgate Slynn’s Way

Strong Bitter/Ale (4.6%abv to 6.4%abv)GOLD - Flowerpots Flowerpots IPASILVER - OakhamDreamcatcherBRONZE - Blue Monkey Ape (Dry Hopped)

Light and Dark Mild (under 4.3%abv)GOLD - Dark Star Victorian Ruby MildSILVER - Summer Wine Resistance MildBRONZE - North Riding Fat Lads MildSpeciality BeerGOLD - Slaters Maravilla Raspberry BeerSILVER - Downton Chocolate Orange DelightBRONZE - Mauldons Blackberry Porter

Stout & PorterGOLD - Magic Rock Dark ArtsSILVER - Fyne Ales Sublime StoutBRONZE - Elgoods Black eagle Imperial Stout

Barley Wine and Strong Old AlesGOLD - Fullers Brewers Reserve No 3SILVER - Green Jack RipperBRONZE - Woodfordes HeadcrackerBest Beer from a New BreweryGOLD - Dancing Duck Nice Weather for DucksSILVER - Knops California CommonBRONZE - Redwillow Smokeless

Cider and PerryGOLD - BroadoakMoonshineSILVER - Double Vision CiderBRONZE - Whin Hill Perry

Peterborough CAMRA BeerFestival 2011Awards

18 | PBF11 Awards

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Please support our advertisers | 19

4 Cask Marque accredited real ales that includes 2 regularly changing guests

Food served - Monday to Saturday 12pm to9pm. Sunday Carvery served 12pm to 5pm

Early Bird menu - Monday to Thursday 5pm to 7pm. Main courses from £4.00

Friday night Steak Night - Get a free drink withsteaks or mixed grill from 5pm

Free wireless internet

The Dolphin InnThe Dolphin Inn60 East Street, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1QD. Tel 01780 755494

3 Cask Ale pumps with atleast 1 locAle and others

from far and wide

Food served every day • Sunday CarveryFunction rooms available to hire for all occasions

Coming soon Entertainment in the bar

Quiz Night • Theme Evenings

CHRISTMAS BOOKINGS NOW BEING TAKEN

Under New Management

Freehouse

London Street, Whittlesey PE7 1BH Tel: 01733 351001

Open Daily: Mon – Thurs 12-3pm and 6-11pm Fri/Sat 12-11pmSun 12-11pm

Live band every Saturday night:Oct 1 – Reckless (Covers)

Oct 8 – One Eyed Cats (Rockabilly)Oct 15 – Rough & Ready (Irish)

Oct 22 – Pennyless (Folk)Oct 29 – Country Knights (‘Comfort’ music)

1 Main Road, Etton, Peterborough PE6 7DA Tel 01733 252387Email [email protected] Web www.thegoldenpheasant.net

GOLDENJust off the A15

Only six miles

from Peterborough City centre

PheasantOctober is the

‘Month of Music’ in themarquee!

November 4th and 5th

BONFIRE BEER FESTIVAL16 Real Ales plus Fruit Beer

s and

Try our own ‘Fawking Good A

le’ from

Potbelly Brewery

Live Music Friday Night, Saturday

afternoon and Saturday night.

Bonfire (6pm) and fireworks (7pm)

Saturday

Enjoy a Curryand a Drink forjust £6.95

Farmers

Market October 31st

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As a short respite from the drudgery ofeveryday life, we should all try and get awayat least a couple of times a year. For some,

only the tropical delights of Bali will do; others mayadopt a more pedestrian view of holidays andspend a melancholy weekend in a caravan in Rhyl.For myself, a weekend away with family and friendstaking in a beer festival and a ride on a steam trainwill suffice, until the tickets for Bali arrive that is.

The opportunity for a camping expedition toSheringham, the home of the North NorfolkRailway and their annual beer festival, came myway back in July. Too good a chance to miss, Ithought, so we bundled the daughter, her mate, aneighbour, brother Andrew and young nephewTom into a couple of cars and journeyed to themysterious East.

This was the 10th annual festival and, judging bythe crowds that had gathered, a popular one. Ihave to assume that many of the gathered thronghad settled for camping on the nearby site about ahalf a mile away, as we were relegated to Cromer acouple of stops away by train.

Saturday morning was the first opportunity we hadto visit the festival, so a 10 minute ride on the 10.32got us to Sheringham, breakfast and the festival.Sampling beers at a festival brings with it a certainamount of hazard and this is why a suitably large

and late breakfast is recommended. I can think ofnowhere better than Brown's Cafe just a fewhundred yards from the station for stoking theboiler with pre-beer ballast. Brown's, it must besaid, knock together a fairly decent Full Englishcomplete with legendary fried bread, so a perfectfirst stop when in town.

The beer fest was a showcase of over 100 ales witha dozen and a half varieties of cider and perries. A respectable assortment of beers from far andwide greeted us, from Great Yarmouth to wildWelsh Wales, from deepest Devon to BonnieScotland, with most of the country being repre-sented in one way or other.

So, we have the seaside, we have beer and we havea steam train ready to take us on an adventure -what more could we ask for? Well, some decentweather would have been nice. Sadly for us theelements had got out of bed on the wrong sidetoday and were awkward from the very start havingto wear the wrong slippers. Today was going to bewet and windy, and not a gentle summer zephyrwith a 20% chance of precipitation, but a deluge ofOld Testament proportions. If any more watercould have been wrung out of those clouds,

Steam trains, fried bread andthe Sheringham beer festival

www.real-ale.org.uk

22 | Pubs officer on tour...

)“So, we have the seaside,we have beer and we have a steam train ready to take us

on an adventure - what more could we ask for?”(

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animals would have started turning up in pairs. So we took refuge and clung to our pints undergazebos and oversized cagoules and spoke of theweather, like true Englishmen do.

One of the afflictions that beer festivals tend tosuffer from is the lack of seating, and I include ourlocal gig on the Embankment amongst them. Thisbeing the North Norfolk Railway, a plan had beendevised to accommodate drinkers who needed totake the weight off their beer guides. The solutionto the problem here was to take yourself a train ofcoaches and park them on Platform 2. This way allcan be accommodated on a train that goesnowhere. Some of us took up residence in a parcelwagon, others chose the relative comfort of indi-vidual compartments which reminded me of mydays out in pre decimal Britain. Of course our trainto nowhere didn’t just accommodate drinkers, italso provided a convenient place for the BBQ andhog roast. A pity BR didn’t come up with this ideayears ago instead of the dubious delights thatlanguished in buffet cars in the days before BestBefore!

To visit a steam railway and not ride on a steamtrain seems to defeat the object a little. So withtickets in hand we all boarded the 12 o’clock toHolt, calling at Weybourne and Kelling Heath.There may be some amongst you whose only expe-rience of train travel are journeys on the insular andclinical trains of today, where once sealed into yourmultiple unit, you are whisked off to your destina-tion in a fast and efficient way (engineering workspermitting). To venture on a steam train and stickyour head out of the window and experience thefull force of the wind, rain and soot on your face isa joy that modern day commuters can only dreamof. So we sat and drank our beer while passingKelling Heath besmirched with hints of NuttySlack and returned half hour an later with emptyglasses ready to be filled with more beer. A quickdab with a baby wipe, a short stand at the bar andthen back on the 3 o’clock to Holt again. I coulddo this all day.

By the time we returned to Sheringham the musichad begun and the damp crowds were enjoying themusical stylings of the Ugly Dog Skiffle Combo.Quite how you create that sound with a washboardand a spoon I’ll never know but all good funanyway! The festival carried on into the eveningand on Sunday they did it all over again.

We didn’t plan on visiting the festival on theSunday as tents have to be dried out and putaway, and we had the journey home to consider.We did call in on Sheringham for a bit of shoppingthough, and of course, another breakfast!

A great festival in a great location. Our thanks tothe organisers and the staff for making it a greatweekend.

Steve Williams

www.real-ale.org.uk

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t. 01780 755141w. jollybrewer.com

Foundry Road, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 2PP

Lincolnshire CAMRA Pub of the Year 2009

Peterborough & District CAMRAPub of the Year 2009

• 5 real ales •plus Ciders and Perries. Over 30 Malt Whiskies

• Food served daily •12-3pm Monday - Sunday6-9pm Friday & Saturday

• Sky HD and 3D showing Football and Rugby •

Halloween Beer Festival • 27th - 30th October

25+ Ales & CidersVisit jollybrewer.com for full details.

Download mi Stamford iphone App for offers

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Three ales served from the likes ofOakham, Digfield, Ufford, Oldershaw, Castor,

Newby Wyke or GrainstoreContinental Lagers • American bottled beer

Opening Times 12 midday to 11.30pm, sunday, monday,

wednesday, thursday, 12 midday to 2am friday and saturday,

closed tuesday.

9A North St, StamfordLincs PE9 1EL01780 765888

www.mamaliz.co.uk

Peterborough CAMRA

PUB OF THE YEAR 2010

www.real-ale.org.uk

The Cherry Tree9 - 11 Oundle Road,

Peterborough PE2 9PB

Tel: 01733 703495

FOUR Real Ales availableincluding Landlord, White Dwarf

and three changing guest ales.

OPEN ALL DAY EVERYDAY

Traditional Meals Served DailyMonday - Friday: 11.30am - 2pm, 6pm - 9pm.

Sunday: 11.30am - 3.30pm

(kitchen closed Thursday evenings)

AMPLE PARKING • CAMRA GOLD AWARD

www.cherrytree-inn.co.uk

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SEPTEMBERSeptember Saturday 24thCastle Rock Brewery, NottinghamMeet in the Vat and Fiddle, 12-14 QueensbridgeRoad, Nottingham at 10.30am. The tour is free andwill be followed by a sampling of beers and some lightrefreshments. Make your own way there. Currentlyadvance fares one way are available from £6.00. TheOff-Peak fare is £19.80 return.

OCTOBEROctober Saturday 15thRailway at Ramsey and the Letter B at Whittleseyto present HOP awards. Depart the Brewery tap at5pm and return by 11pm. Cost is £7.00 for theminibus. The Letter B will be featuring live musiclater during the evening. Please support these pubsand come along for the presentations.

NOVEMBERNovember Saturday 19thDuck or Grouse Day. We will be visiting severalcountry pubs in the Northamptonshire /Cambridgeshire border area of the branch. All thepubs have bird themed names, no further clues.This trip replaces the Mystery tour cancelled earlierin the year. Depart the Brewery tap at Mid-day andreturn by 9pm. Cost is £10.00 for the minibus. Nofood is being provided but there will be ampleopportunity to purchase your own during the day.

DECEMBERDecember Saturday 10thFestive pub crawl of Melton Mowbray travelling bytrain. Meet at Peterborough Rail Station at 10.30 tocatch the 10.52 train. Currently the Off-Peak returnfare is £14.00.

Selected Beer FestivalsSEPTEMBERWed 28th – Sat 1st Oct St Albans Beer Festival,Alban Arean, Civic Centre

OCTOBER5th - 8th Oct (Wed-Sat) 34th Bedford Beer & Cider Festival110 power-cooled real ales, 35 ciders + perries.More details call 01234 822698 or seewww.northbedscamra.org.uk.

6th - 9th Oct (Thurs - Sun)Crown, Uppingham Beer Festival - 20 beers, 5ciders and perries

12th - 15th Oct (Wed-Sat) 18th ConcretePint (Milton Keynes) Beer FestivalThe Buszy, Elder Gate, Central Milton Keynes MK91LR. 60+ real ales plus cider/Perry.

13th - 15th Oct (Thurs - Sat)Nottingham Robin Hood Beer Festival - over1,000different beers, ciders and perries!

24th - 29th Oct (Mon-Sat) 34th NorwichBeer Festival200 + real ales (many local ales + specials), 30+ciders + perries.Further info see: www.norwich-camra.org.uk /festival /fest2011.htm

NOVEMBER10th - 12th Nov (Thu-Sat) 21st WakefieldBeer Festival120+ cooled real ales, cider, perry, fruit wines,foreign and British bottled beers. See website formore details www.camra.org.uk /wakefield

Diary DatesDiary Dates | 27

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Blue Bell BrewerySales to the trade are average at the moment;however there has been some growth in sales toprivate customers for parties, weddings etc. Bottle-conditioned Old Honesty is now on sale in theFood Court of the Red Lion Quarter in Spalding.This is a prestigious new commercial developmentdesigned to showcase the best of Lincolnshireproduce. Bottle-conditioned Old Honesty isalso now available in Lincolnshire Co-OperativeStores.

Melbourn BrothersThe brewery produces three fruit beers which aresent to Sam Smith’s (the parent company) forbottling. There are not plans to change this.

Stamford Brewing Company - Ufford AlesOver the summer Ufford Ales Brewery will bepreparing to move into a new thirty-barrel plant onSt Leonards Street in Stamford, Lincolnshire PE92HN. To reflect the change of location they willalso be changing their name to the StamfordBrewing Company and the range of beers. It ishoped production will start at the new brewerysometime in early autumn 2011. Brewing willcontinue at Ufford until the New Year giving thebrewer time to get used to the new plant andformulate the new beers.

DigfieldNew 15-barrel brew plant to be installed at theirnew premise on Lilford Lodge Farm in October.Demand for their beers is at record levels.

Nene ValleyNew owner Rupert Farnsworth reports, “CherwellValley stopped brewing a while ago and their 2.5 bblplant lay resting in a garage. We bought the plantfrom the CVB owners, moved it in July this yearand established Nene Valley Brewery on the banksof the Nene in Oundle, Northants. Our first batch

is ready to drink and we are moving on with thenext. I will be in touch again to let you knowhow we’re getting on.”We will be looking for a BLO for this brewery.

Rockingham AlesBrian was pleased to be awarded Silver in theChampion Beer of the Festival at Cambridge inMay with Fruits of the Forest (4.4%). Two new beersbrewed in June/July - Vortex (3.8%) and Helix (3.9%).The next new beer which featured at thePeterborough Beer Festival was Super Citra (4.8%),brewed and dry hopped with Citra.

ElgoodNo change apart from new bottled beer calledWarrior 5.5% The process of updating all the brew-eries vehicles to the new livery is now complete.Production very busy with own beers and alsocontract brewing.

Tydd SteamTydd Steam are trading very well. The new caskwasher is now operational and is proving tobe very labour saving. The latest beers have beenStargazer, a mellow beer with a restrainedhoppiness. This beer is OG1041 and 4.2 ABV. It has become part of the occasional portfolio.Quench was launced recently and is flavoured withChinese root Ginger. The beer is 1044OG and 4.4 ABV. The beer sold out on it’s firstouting and will probably join the occasionalportfolio also. A new 5.0 ABV beer called Sandmanis just about to be brewed for the PeterboroughBeer Festival. I do not have any further details ofthis beer at the moment. Finally, sales growth is sopositive that Will is already considering furtherexpansion of the brewery with added fermentationcapacity top of his wish list.

Local Brewery Update

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28 | Brewery Update

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Traditional East Anglian cider

Handcrafted cider, perry and apple juices -made locally using only local apples

Available from selected local retailers andpubs, St Ives and Ely farmers’ markets and

local country fairs and events

For more information or sales please contact:Telephone Tony Hobbs on 07713 166713

E mail: [email protected] Website: www.cromwellcider.co.uk

‘Olivers Choice’ voted Best East AnglianBottled

Cider by CAMRA 2009- 2010

See us at:Sat Oct 8th - Apple Day, Burwash Manor Barns, Cambridge

Sun Oct 30th - Flower and Food Market, Ely12th & 13th Nov - Christmas gift fair, Woodgreen Animal

Shelter, Godmanchester27th Nov - St Ives Christmas Market, St.Ives

3rd Dec - Mill Road Winter Fair (at Bacchanalia), Cambridge

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19T

The next issue of BAE will beavailable on: 24th NovemberWe must have your stories,news and advertisements by: 1st NovemberLate copy cannot be guaranteed entry.

Please contact Chris Shilling01778 421550Mobile: 07736 635 916 or Jane Michelson01778 [email protected] all of your advertising needs.

Steve Williams [email protected] or 0775 6066 503 isalways looking for pub news.

Please send stories and othercopy to [email protected]

Beer Around ‘Ere is published by Peterborough &District Branch of CAMRA Copyright © 2011, TheCampaign for Real Ale Ltd.

Views or comments expressedin this publication may not necessarily be those of theEditor or of CAMRA.

30 | Contact Details

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Staniland Way, Werrington centre PE4 6NA Tel: 01733 327696

SEVEN real ales and blood curdling tunes from Citizen Smiffy!

Starting 7.30pm

19TH NOVEMBER • LIVE MUSIC • BBQ • SUPPORTING THE LEE GROOM APPEAL

Hodgson Centre, Werrington PE4 5EG Tel: 01733 578088

PETERBOROUGH CAMRA PUB OF THE YEAR 2011

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Agreat welcome awaits you at The Farmers, Yaxley.We are famous for our fresh vegetables and great carverymeats, succulent and served with all the trimmings, thenfinished off with a tantalising hot or cold dessert!

Check out our new lunch time grill menu’s and our everchanging specials boards. Put it all together with three fine cask ales and you have the perfect place toenjoy dinner with friends or a family celebration. Wehave a self contained function suite which is ideal forparties, weddings and all of life’s celebrations.

So if you’ve not been before give us a try and you’ll bepleasantly surprised.

More than just a Carvery!

At Least Three

Real Ales!

200 Broadway, Yaxley Tel: 01733 244885Email: [email protected]

www.thefarmersyaxley.co.uk

Open Every Day10am - 5.30pm All Day Menu & Coffee

Midday - 2:30pm Carvery & Specials Menu

5:30pm - LATE Carvery & Grill Menu

Sunday Open From 12 Noon - 9pm

All Day Carvery

Big

Breakfas

t

every

Sat 8

to 11

am

Help yo

ursel

f fro

m the c

arve

ry,

as m

uch a

s you

can

eat f

or

only £5.9

5!

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