KEN'S REVIEW OF 2019

This is the time of year when TV and newspapers look back over the year.

So here are my beer related awards for 2019.

The Dry January Award My Arse Award

Awarded to whoever came up with this idea. Its as bad as Sober October. A mate of mine fell for that October one so I celebrated "Can't Remember November".

The David Crosby Look Alike Award

Remember David Crosby, as in Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young ? Well in May I was fortunate to attend the SIBA North East Judging at Gateshead Rugby Club Beer Festival. With much sampling and judging to do in the club bar, during a break two of us adjourned into the beer festival bar and discovered one of the guys serving was the double of David Crosby. He has grown his hair and his trademark handlebar moustache to look just like him

Spoke in a Geordie accent, which ruined the effect somewhat. 




The Best Pub With Its Own Bus Stop Award

 For a week long holiday in 2019 we stayed in an airbnb in Porthmadog, North Wales. This small town, as well as featuring the Festiniog Railway has a brewer called Purple Moose. The brewery is hidden in a back street but they have a bottle shop and a brewery tap, called The Australia, both in the main street..

The pub sells all of the breweries range of beers, including Dark Side of The Moose - an excellent dark beer. Outside the pub is a bus stop. The timetable reads " Porthmadog - Australia". Apparently some locals ( I'm not making this up), when getting on the bus say " Single to Australia please".  That's a hell of a bus ride !

Best Pub Lunch Award 

Usually when I have a meal in a pub, sometime after Ive forgotten what Ive had. So this accolade is awarded for a meal I will remember for a long time. Mrs Ken and I spent a few nights in Beverley in East Yorkshire. We were looking at some stalls in the Market Place with rain looking imminent ( and I was hungry) so we dived into the Dog & Duck for lunch. The pub is family run so no corporate menu to wade through. No pay up front either, I had a tab. Table number ? No chance ! 

There were a few simple choices so I went for Giant Yorkshire pud filled with sausages, potatoes, carrots and onion gravy. Fantastic. I forget how much but it was very good value. Nothing comes close this year.

Best Contrast in Technology Award

On a pub crawl of Weardale with some mates, we visited the Black Bull in Frosterley. Best pub of the day ( see next award).  The pub had stone flag floors and loads of antique bits and pieces all over the place, including an old telephone. I was struck by the image ( see photo ) of this with the chef on his mobile in the kitchen. Great pub.

Best Stag Do Award 

On the same pub crawl our last pub in Weardale was in Wolsingham - The Black Lion. Follow the link to see what happened

https://kensbeerblog.blogspot.com/2019/09/a-quiet-afternoon-in-country-pub-no.html      

Best beer at the Great British Beer Festival ( GBBF) I hadnt tried before award

I have been going to GBBF for a number of years and there is usually a stand out beer I have not had before. So Er...struggling with this one. Was looking forward to Maxim Raspberry Porter but it had sold out ! 

Still, the CAMRA Winter Beer Festival in Feb 2020 has  moved to Birmingham, so have got my train tickets already. 

Ive been to a couple before ( both Manchester) so I know to expect plenty of strong dark beers. Should be good .

Micropubs visited

Not an award as such, just the recognition of a continuing trend in new micropubs, while some larger pubs struggle.

Station House -  Durham
Firkin Alley - Barnard Castle
Sun Inn - Beamish Museum ( well it is small, no TV, no music)
ORB- Darlington
The Office- Morpeth
Dog & Rabbit - Whitley Bay
Chequers - Beverley
Fram Ferment - Framwellgate Moor
Split Chimp - Newcastle   
Lighthouse - Sunderland
 

PUB REVIEW - THE LIGHTHOUSE IN FULWELL SUNDERLAND

Yesterday I had a strange sense of deja vu. I was being looked at through a pub window and I thought to myself, that's happened to me before this month. It was in a micropub then and I'm in another one now.! More later.

So the micropub I was in yesterday is Sunderland's first. Called The Lighthouse, its located in a former coffee shop called Bojangles. Maxim Brewery employee Sean has finally fulfilled a dream and opened this pub in Sea Road Fulwell. Its located near a busy crossroads junction next to a DIY store and amongst small shops, fast food outlets and a national North East bakery chain that sells amongst other things, vegan sausage rolls..

This opening is the culmination of nearly a year of planning, bureaucracy and red tape endured by both Sean and Maxim Brewery, for whom he will continue to work as a delivery driver for now ( Busy lad !)

I met with a few fellow CAMRA members yesterday for a first experience. It was a typical dull overcast shortest day of the year. It took me two buses and ninety minutes to get there. Several buses stop nearby from Sunderland and South Shields. When they not on strike, there is Metro station about ten minutes walk away. One of the guys I was with said , on finding out about my journey, that he lived two minutes walk away ; I really could have done without that snippet of information!

So, whats the pub like? Well it has retained some of the features of the cafe, including some furniture , the slate tiled floor and the white tiled right hand wall as you walk in. What is new is the bar itself. 

There are three handpulls and three keg fonts.On day one there was three Maxim real ales  Double Maxim, Hapi Christmas and Winter Tipple. The former will feature all of the time, alongside a Maxim monthly special and a local guest. As the brewery release a special, they are snapped up and sell out pretty quickly. So I reckon this is place to go to find one. I'm thinking ahead to the spring of 2020 when Sour Cherry & Chocolate Stout makes it's debut. This will be one place to find it.

The keg beer was Lighthouse craft, Samson Smooth and Scorpion Lager.There is a bottle/can fridge and a range of spirits and soft drinks. 

The pub has a small outdoor drinking area at the back which looks like it will be a suntrap in the summer.

As you can see from the photo of the front of the pub above , it mostly comprises of a large glass window. I was standing facing this and noticed mostly shoppers walking past. Every so often someone would stop and peer inside through the steamed up window. Some almost walked past then screeched to a halt, then did a double take. I could almost read their minds    " that's been closed for ages, it's open !"

Observing this reminded me of another such new venture I was in one at the beginning of December in Framwellgate Moor, Durham City :- The Fram Ferment Bottle Shop and Taproom. This was a former NHS clinic and again, people were stopping, having a look through the window and having a nosey, then either staying or moving on. Deja vu you see.

One more thing about the decor, he has really gone to town on the Xmas decorations. To the left is it !

So , a great new addition to the drinking scene in Sunderland. Despite there being no cellar the beer is well kept and at the right temperature, And at £2.80 a pint for cask ale, good value. I would recommend a visit.

See Whatpub for pub details and a map. Whatpub Lighthouse.

CAMRA ANGLE 58

The Winter edition of CAMRA Angle , the quarterly magazine of the Sunderland and South Tyneside branch of CAMRA, has  just been published. Copies will be distributed to real ale pubs throughout the area , and beyond from the end of the coming week. As usual , this is another full issue and well worth a read. 

The front cover highlights the success of our recent Sunderland Beer & Cider Festival. A full report can be found in the centre pages.


There is  news of the Pub of the Year presentation at the Grey Horse in Consett  and the start of voting for the 2020 Pub of the Year. 

There are articles about Hebburn, Weardale and Soho, London and news from Ryhope , along with a couple of book reviews and an interesting night  at Darwin Brewery. Plus some tantalising snippets of news in the pub news section which should be of interest. And much much more.

An ideal Xmas gift so click on this link to download the magazine.

CAMRA ANGLE ISSUE 58

RAMNA -Never heard of them !

This is a conversation that took place the other week in a small pub in South Shields. 

Participants :-

Branch Membership Secretary (BMS)
Lady Behind Bar (LBB)
Customer at bar (CAB)

BMS - On entering pub - " Hello love, Ive just popped in to deliver some CAMRA membership forms as I see you sell real ale" 

LBB - "RAMNA - never heard of it, and anyway I do my own thing"

BMS - " No its, CAMRA - the Campaign For Real Ale- we've been around since 1971"

LBB - " Well Ive been here for 20 years and Ive never heard of PAMNA"

CAB -" Its bloody CAMRA - you know when you put the Plum Porter on and we all get p***ed"

LBB - " Oh I dont know, whats in it for me?"

BMS -" We are just trying to drum up a bit more business and you are on our Whatpub website"

LBB - "What pub, this pub ? Oh give them here.

CAB - "Mate, I'd have a pint if I were you"   

The odd thing is, this pub gets CAMRA branch magazines dropped off every 3 months..Bizarre.

AN OLD STORY FROM THE DUN COW

As it was a miserable rainy day yesterday I decided to have a drive and and survey some of the pubs in our branch. The final port of call was to belatedly drop some CAMRA magazines off at the Dun Cow Seaton, near Seaham. Sipping a very pleasant half of Black Sheep  bitter I got chatting to the manager. So we discussed pubs and beer and CAMRA, then I happened to mention this :-

" Last time I was here I was with some mates, it was a nice sunny day and we sat in the beer garden and one of the picnic tables went over, soaking one of the guys"

He said " Yes, I remember that, I was watching at the upstairs window and I was absolutely pissing myself, especially when your mate started taking his wet clothes off!"

 Anyhow, I posted a blog at the time, so here it is again.:-


The Dun Cow in Seaton Village is tucked away in a quiet cul de sac. Four handpulls and a large sunny garden with picnic tables greeted us. Ordering some Oakham JHB and a Guinness, the 6 of us headed for the ( as it turned out) most unstable table in the garden. 

Two were sitting opposite me ( so combined weight was greater than mine.) Someone said, "move along so we can all get on", so I dutifully stood up to move sideways. The opposite side of the bench was now heavier than my side, and being on slightly unstable ground, this resulted in a slight tilt towards the heavy side. 4 pints of nearly full glasses went flying , tipping most of the contents over one of the other two opposite. 

We were too busy laughing to offer any sympathy as the drowned rat proceeded to strip off his jeans to dry on a wall. 

I took the empty glasses back into the bar and relayed our incident to the barmaid. She said " Oh yes, I know which table you mean, that's happened before !"  We got free replacement drinks. So no profit for the Dun Cow from us then !

THREE PINTS OF MAXIMUS AND A RED HOT CURRY

Trying to throw of the remains of a cold and a chesty cough, I decided it was time for some proper medicine. In case it had escaped your notice, yesterday was Halloween and, trying to avoid the little darlings knocking on our door, Mrs Ken and I did our customary thing and did a runner. Luckily Halloween was on Thursday so time to attend the local Wetherspoons Curry Club.

Spoons, bless them, have introduced a new curry called "Naga Chilli Chicken Vindaloo" The local also sell as one of their house beers Maxim Brewery's wonderful Maximus, 6% and dangerously drinkable. 

So throwing caution to the wind I ordered the aforesaid beer and the aforesaid curry. This should sort out my ailments...what could possibly go wrong.

Enjoying the Maximus as usual, the curry arrived. I should point out that in the menu its given 5 chilli symbols . Mrs Ken said, - "are you sure about this ?" " Of course, this is going on my bucket list this". 

   

Well its difficult to describe the first taste...my lips were on fire, along with my tongue. Luckily there were poppadoms, nan bread and rice which offered some relief, but not much. Thank god for the beer.

By this time the sweat was cascading down my forehead and face, dripping onto the lenses of my specs. Any attempt at conversation was abandoned as I bravely and manly ploughed on. Finishing it all at the same time as the Maximus, I dashed to the bar for a a second pint. Chatting to the manager,  I mentioned the curry. "Well,  why do you think we sell it ? Its to make you come back to the bar." Quite.

 

The heat finally abated during the second pint, but as it was too early to leave (in case of any trick or treat stragglers), a third was soon was washing this lethal curry down.

As I said, it was added to my bucket list , so I could cross it off. Next time , it will be back to the Chicken Jalfrezi! Oh, and the Maximus of course.

 

A QUIET AFTERNOON IN A COUNTRY PUB- NO CHANCE

To celebrate the visit of one our mates from Australia, we decided to go on a pub crawl...surprise surprise !. Looking for something different and trying to avoid city centre pubs, we opted for trip up Weardale. 

So the weekend just gone we caught a bus from Durham to Crook, had a Spoons breakfast then another bus to Stanhope, then retraced our steps via Frosterley on the bus and then Wolsingham on the Weardale Railway.

One of ours guys had compiled a quiz, which we took part in in Stanhope ( Grey Bull) and Frosterley (Black Bull). All very gentile and civilised. Thinking the same we got of the train at Wolsingham and strolled up the the Black Lion, a back street local I had visited before - see the tranquil scene above. Despite a rainy start it was nice and sunny so I thought a few beers in the pub garden out the back would be great.

We walked in to be confronted by a group of lads on a stag do ...there was about 15 of them. As i was getting the beers in Mr Quizmaster challenged the aforesaid half drunk guys to a quiz ! 

So we retired to the garden, although on reflection retired is the wrong word. At the start there was 6 of us in our team and 5 of them ined up against each other. One of their party was flat out on a bench just inside the pub giving it the zzzz's.

As the quiz began, there number swelled by ones and twos till eventually there was the whole 15, taking on us 6. By now it was all rather raucous, but with good humour. The lads were from London, in their 30s and staying in a farmhouse somewhere, Despite the booze they were reasonably sensible and entered into the spirit of the occasion. Then their mate on the bench woke up and he staggered in to join  the throng. On his bald head his so called mates had written in black ink some very descriptive words. When it was his question he took so long to answer everyone gave up on him!

Then the stag subject appeared -he was the soberest of the lot, He looked like he was bricking it and had realised what he had let himself in for.

I went to the gents and one of them said to me they were planning on going 2 hours ago but the beer and the pub were so good they stayed.

Despite the overwhelming odds stacked against us we won by one point.

This was one of the questions - in the Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch, which creature did Michael Palin offer to sell John Cleese as a replacement to the parrot * 

We left after about 90 mins to get our bus home reflecting on a riotous but good natured time we had. I only hope the future groom cheered up !

* A slug . 

  

CAMRA ANGLE 57

The Autumn edition of CAMRA Angle , the quarterly magazine of the Sunderland and South Tyneside branch of CAMRA, has  just been published. Copies will be distributed to real ale pubs throughout the area , and beyond from today. As usual , this is another full issue and well worth a read. 

The front cover highlights the fact that the next Sunderland Beer & Cider Festival is not far away. Keep an eye out for regular social media posts. On a slightly larger scale, there is a report about the Great British Beer Festival plus a visit to a beer festival in Lancaster University ! 

There is  news of the Pub of the Year and the start of voting for the next Champion Beer Of Britain. Did you ever wonder what "Keykeg" is . Well find out within!

There are a couple of pub crawls, Bill Quay and Beverley and a film review ! Read the magazine to find out more. 

There are the usual pub and breweries updates, as well as Locale pubs and CAMRA's new extended discount scheme. Issue 57 is rounded off by the regular pub quiz.  

Click on this link to download the issue, and to read other branch news. 
http://sst.camra.org.uk/wordpress/ 

A BRIEF ENCOUNTER IN A LEFT LUGGAGE ROOM

There is a pub in Monkseaton Metro Station called The Left Luggage Room.

A group of us visited it as part of  a pub crawl earlier this month.While I was at the bar getting the drinks a Chinese guy came in pulling a large metal suitcase. In broken English he asked one of the bar staff where he could leave his case, as he needed to nip to the shops before travelling to Newcastle Airport to fly eventually to China.
 

He thought the pub was an actual railway left luggage room, and he was prepared to pay, with great persistence,  for them to look after his case for half an hour. She refused to take any payment and locked his case away while he toddled off to the nearest shops in Monkseaton.  
 

Now it was his bad luck that the Tyne & Wear Metros were off between Regent Centre and Airport stations for track relaying that day so,  when he returned,  she had to explain to him how to get to the Airport using two metro trains and a replacement bus service. She was very patient - it took three attempts. Then he bought a pint and a muffin to steel himself for what would have been for him a complicated journey.

He left soon after dragging his case after him to catch his train on the opposite platform - good luck to him!
 

Recommend the pub by the way.

ANNUAL VISIT TO GREAT BRITISH BEER FESTIVAL

Yesterday ( Thursday 8th October) I visited the Great British Beer Festival again, having been every year since 2005 ! This year, it was held again in Olympia. I always meet up with the same crowd every year. This time it was different as Mrs Ken wanted to come, to keep an eye on me.

We arrived about 20 minutes before opening and slowly snaked our way into the building. Security was tight, our bags were searched. Mine was full of CAMRA magazine, Mrs Kens full of food. 

"Having a picnic are we ?" said the steward. Outside there was a guy in a hi viz jacket , with a sniffer dog, also wearing a hi viz jacket, with the word explosives on it !

According to publicity gumph there were over 1000 beers, ciders and perrys in the vast hall. As friends arrived and sensing some confusion over glasses, I put an elastice band round mine, which proved useful later.

Keen to spot our local brewers beers ( Maxim) who had sent down Double Maxim and Raspberry Porter. The bar for these was nearby so sauntered over to find the latter had sold out the day before. ie. at the end of day one for the general public, which I consider amazing !

There were a lot of food-stalls selling everything from pasties to seafood to pickled eggs. As these are normally pricey, I always take my own and its been a running a joke over the years that I turn up with some discount out of date pies. These had a date of 7th August. Not too bad but there is no year printed !

 Most of the beer pricing was what you would expect for London, but one beer stunned me. CAMRA had set up a large key keg bar with over 50 beers. Looking at the programme, Chai Latte Masala White Stout at 7.4% looked interesting in the programme, till I walked up the bar and saw the price ...£12.60 a pint. WTF? That is taking the piss. In fact one brave soul at our table actually tried some, and confirmed it tasted like it as well !

Back to the beer glass, each glass has a third pint, a half and a full pint marker. As an experiment I moved my elastic band up above between the half and full pint lines to see what would happen. Well nothing till the last drink ( see picture). Not applicable to GBBF but how many times do we get a short measure plonked down in front of you, and having to ask for a top up . Victory for the common man.

It was great catching up with old friends, and making new ones. All to soon it was time to leave to get tube back to Kings Cross. Boarding the train back to the North East , we found our reserved seats were occupied ; there were 2 women sitting in them . They were in the wrong coach ! On the table was one of those metal/wicker  animal things about 2 feet high sitting on its back legs with its head and ears up. As they got up to move I said.

."And dont forget to take your kangaroo with you !!"

 

"Its not a kangaroo, its a rabbit!"

 

Of course Mrs Ken took their side and said it was cute! As they scuttled off I said " Still looks like a kangaroo !"

Already looking forward to next year.  

  

A PINT OF ORANGES AND LEMONS AND AN ELECTRIC LAWN SCARIFIER

 

Last night Mrs Ken and I attended a Maxim Brewery open night, which they hold once a month. 8 real ales were on offer . 

Arriving early into the main bar, we were greeted as I ordered a pint of Oranges & Lemons, a new beer. It was mentioned there were so freebies ?  Thinking this referred to bottles of beer it grabbed my interest. 

"Would you like an lawn scarifier for nothing"

Sorry       

"A lawn scarifier"...its next door ( in the main brewery hall)

What on earth is a lawn scarifier ?

Its for raking the lawn and getting all the moss up - I was told

So Mrs Ken disappeared to view our potential new toy while I continued enjoying my beer. She came back saying its ours. There were other giveaways as well. Again, expecting some beer I went to have a look ...at a box of old vinyl albums.

Mostly Bing Crosby, Perry Como and KTEL presents ( remember them ?) Mrs Ken suggested one of these would make a great birthday pressie for one of my mates.

Lets explain that last sentence. 6 of us meet every Tuesday night and when its someones birthday, the other 5 provide gifts, usually something rescued from a charity shop and usually a few beers. One guy always bring out a vinyl album as a gift. Last time for mine I got an LP by Henry Cooper singing ( yes, the boxer). Its still upstairs somewhere. So time to get my own back. 

I selected "Million Seller Hits of 69, Carlini's World of Strings !" --- no me neither. Being released in 1970 it had the obligatory female model on the front to make people look at the cover. Tracks include Guantanamera, Windmills of your mind and My Way.....Cant wait to play it later

Anyhow, back to the scarifier... We were there about 2 hours as the brewery got fuller and fuller of locals from the surrounding area out for the night drinking great beer. Suddenly something  dawned on the wife  - "we are going have to wheel that thing out to the car in front of all these people"

" What do you mean we?...Ive got the LP to carry "  

Anyhow, time to leave as she grabbed the new toy and trundled it outside ( I held the doors open) . There were 2 smokers outside who looked on with mild amusement as we struggled to get the thing in the back of the car.

We may well go back next month...could do with a new strimmer.

IVE GOT A NEW TOY

This is two blogs in one.

When I go to a pub I like to record what I have drunk and I either take a picture of the handpull pump clip or write the beer down. This is sometimes useful to keep our brnach whatpub records up to date. The number of times Ive come back from the bar , usually which has a multiple choice and some new beers, to be asked " what are you drinking ?"  "Er hang on, back in a minute."

So with that in mind I was advised on an app you can download which converts speech to text. Using this I could talk into my phone and note down the name of the pub and the name of the beer (s). This app is called Otter.

So I downloaded it and first tried it out in The Wicket Gate, Chester Le St, having a pint of Black Sheep Holy Grail.

Me - "Wicket Gate - Monty Python Holy Grail"

Otter -  "We could get more depressants, holy grail" 

I thought, this is going to be a hoot using this. Mrs Ken pointed out it would be easier writing it down, and besides, it was picking up nearby conversations.

We then drove up to Glasgow for a long weekend  and met daughter in our favourite pub, The Bon Accord

Me - "Bon Accord - Mikado Mild" *

Otter - "Corner code- McArdle miles"  

* Brewed by Pheasantry Brewery from Nottinghamshire

After a couple of these during our meal , I then had a final half 

Me - "Bon Accord - Half of Old Peculier"

Otter - "Know they fill it okay perfect balance of honor code or peculiar"

Try unpicking this one! This had obviously picked up a background conversation. 

We then moved on to a bar called the Ben

Nevis, and according to Otter, I had a "Candle Burn Sunrise".  This was actually Kelburn Sunrise so close!

Our final pub, just round the corner was called 78, where I had a March of The Penguins *, which was correctly translated into text...starting to get the hang of this now. Note to self - " make sure no one is talking nearby"

* Williams Brothers - excellent 

Some people in the pub were playing games such as scrabble. We found a pack of picture cards where you play a more complicated version of snap. Now bearing in mind I was now onto my fifth pint, as she was dealing the cards, the daughter warned me in no uncertain  terms " dont knock your pint over !"

Just as she said it, she knocked her own drink over ! The timing was perfect.

Half went on the table soaking my cards, half on my right leg, half on the floor and half over this dog at the next table who never moved ( Ed - hang on that's 4 halves.....oh never mind)

I got wrong for laughing !

A BAR WITH A DIFFERENCE

I have a friend who I used to work with a long time ago. To maintain his anonymity lets call him Ian Cognito. He lives in the Midlands and visits the North East about twice a year. Invariably we end up meeting up in Newcastle for a pub crawl. So far so good !.

Prior to our most recent one earlier this year he had revealed he was planning to have a Man Cave in his garden, in the form of a bar. We met in the Town Mouse in Newcastle before Xmas and the project was part of the conversation. I revealed that once completed there should be an official opening ceremony. He had named the bar Fecit Hall - for those with a classical language education it means :- "he made it: used on works of art next to art an artist's name" .

Fast forward to earlier this year when Mrs Ken & I booked a weeks holiday in North Wales. I suggested we call in to view this much anticipated structure. So at the beginning of June we set off down south laden with gifts for his new bar, including 3 Newcastle Beer Festival glasses, an empty cider flagon, beer mats  and of course some beer. As luck would have it he lives about 30 minutes to drive from the Mount Bernard Trappist Monastery where they brew the Tynt Meadow Trappist Beer. So a short diversion was in order to pick up a crate.


This is a photo of  the Fecit Hall when closed  .
                                                                

And this is when its open !!

The bar at the front is from left over timber from a house extension that had been completed as part of the Man Cave project
  
There are some interesting features in Fecit Hall including a dart board with nowhere to stand to throw darts at it, a bottle of Old Feculier,(soon to be joined by some Old Feckled Hen), a beer fridge and some bar snacks. There is an Ipod for background music.No one is allowed behind the bar except mine host. 


Now it is often the case that structures of this importance are awarded a blue plaque, and so it seemed appropriate to have one in this case.

Now Fecit Hall hasn't been open that long but already future plans have been discussed, including a juke box, pub quiz, and a Full Monty night. Talks are in progress with the local council for a brown tourist sign at the entrance to the estate.

As part of the evening we had a BBQ and drank many beers. A good time was had by all. Awaiting the invite back for the Full Monty night.

CAMRA ANGLE 56 - SUMMER 2019

The Summer edition of CAMRA Angle , the quarterly magazine of the Sunderland and South Tyneside branch of CAMRA, has  just been published. Copies will be distributed to real ale pubs throughout the area , and beyond after today. As usual , this is another full issue and well worth a read. 

The front cover recognises the fact that The Avenue in Sunderland is the North East Regional Cider pub of the year. This issue features an arduous day beer tasting at the SIBA NE beer awards at Gateshead Rugby Club, a look at a famous pub in York, pub crawls in South Shields, Barnard Castle and Huddersfield. 

There is a visit to the isle of malt ( you need to read it to find out where), and a mystery tour ( again, read it to find out where!)There are two book reviews, one of which must be the only beer book that has an illustration about the human digestion system.

A regular section is a news update on beer from the wood, branch pubs and  breweries in the branch as well as Locale pubs and those that offer discounts. Issue 56 is rounded off by the regular pub quiz.  

Click on this link to download the issue, and to read other branch news. 
http://sst.camra.org.uk/wordpress/ 

A VISIT TO THE BLUE BELL YORK

A news story broke in August last year about the fate of the landlord of the Blue Bell in York. Briefly, Punch Taverns had served the owner, John Pybus, with a termination of his lease and an eviction notice from the pub. 

John had exercised his legal right as the tenant of the city centre pub to negotiate a fair market rent and opt out of the beer tie, which would have meant he had to buy all his beer from the pubco at inflated prices.

Punch wanted to bring in a manager rather than a landlord and it was felt this would change the way the pub was run. The York branch of Camra launched a petition which was signed by 6500 including me. The petition  was a success. John signed a 6 year lease in 2018.

Fast forward to last week. making use of a special offer from Transpennine Express we decided on a day trip to York. Booking the tickets I recalled the above story and suggested to Mrs Ken I would like to visit the pub as had never been.

  

The Blue Bell has been a pub since 1798 and was listed as a Grade II listed building in 1954.  It can be found in Fossgate, about 15 minutes walk from York Station.

When we arrived in the tiny front bar there was one customer (who turned out to be a bit of a motormouth) chatting to the barman, (who turned out to be American) There was a good selection of ales and I asked for a pint of Rudgate Mild. The guy did the right thing and said he would top it up when it had settled. Now how many don't do that ?  

Sensing an opportunity I said I had signed the petition and did they give discount for the signee's ?.  No - was the reply..well it was worth a try.

The motormouth was still  spouting forth about beer and trains, and whilst both are my favourite subjects, it got a bit wearing after 10 minutes. 

Making my excuses to take some pictures of the other room, I left the Mrs to it and had a nosey in the back room (smoke room) , which was slightly bigger than the bar. There were 4 guys in; and they soon left which gave me an excuse to drag Mrs out of the bar for some more pictures. There were plenty of notices adorning the walls, most of which were interesting and in  character. What wasn't was a list of house rules on a laminated sheet. One of the rules was to bar large groups of visitors as the pub was too small, so no hen parties of bachelor nights. Fair enough I suppose. You could actually class this place as a micropub as its a coversation only place. I did like the cash only and the lager boy signs   however.

After a pint we left to do some touristy stuff. Outside Mrs Ken came out with some priceless female logic 

" Why is the pub called The Blue Bell and painted red ?"

Er ...the bell is blue *.

* I feel an article for our branch magazine coming on, "The meaning of pub names"

PS - 

Before we got to the Blue Bell we had a lunchtime curry in the nearby Wetherspoon's, One of the beers they had one was new to me, Great Heck Apocalypse Brau - strong ruby red fruity beer, a lot like Owd Rodger. Fantastic ! Its a seasonal but try it if you see it !

. 

BEER TASTING - SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT

I was asked the other week if I would like to attend a SIBA North East Regional judging event at Gateshead Rugby Club Beer Festival. After agonising over this for about 2 microseconds I said yes.

Cask, bottled and canned beers from North East Breweries would be blind tasted throughout the day to coincide with the opening day of the annual Rugby Club Beer and Music Festival. With so much beer to judge I had visions of being virtually comatose on the bus back, waking up in the depot.

This however was not to be, so here is what happened.

The main bar of the club was set up with 4 seats per table, several empty glasses, crackers and water. Each judge, of which there appeared to be about 30, had a score sheet to complete.

Each table or pairs of tables had different categories to judge.   My first table was for the entry - Bottles and Cans British Bitters up to 4.4%. Runners were assigned to bring the beer in jugs, take away empties and bring more beer. Each beer was judged based on appearance, aroma, flavour, aftertaste and saleability. Usually one taste and swallow was enough to give marks. To be honest most of the selection we had was pretty nondescript. I dont drink out of cans and some have said the tinniness that used to be present has been removed. I dont think so, two offerings had a faint metal taste. Dont forget this is blind tasting so we didnt know what we were drinking.

    

Now my favourite beers are dark beers - stouts and porters specifically. Everything we tasted on our table were pale beers and I looked in envy at a few tables who had dark beers to taste. 

Never mind, there was always round two.

Round two - Cask British Bitters up to 4.4%. Same as round one but cask beers. By now we had figured out that the beers were being brought from the main beer festival hall adjacent. In the hall all the pump clips were turned round and the runners had instruction to get beer from Cask X and Cask Y etc. So even the runners, most of whom worked for the competing breweries, didnt know which beer was which. The handpulls weren't in any sequence- so not alphabetical and not in strength order, to  maintain fairness of judging.

One thing I noticed, all the cask beers were of better quality than the bottles/cans, although some were cloudy and had a couple had bits of yeast floating in them. Whether this was down to some casks not having settled would never be known - you mark what you are presented with.   

Again, my envious eyes wandered over to the stouts and porters tables. Never mind , there was always round three after lunch.

Round three - Cask IPA 5.5% to 6.4%.   There were 9 to judge in this round and to be honest, most  were distinguishable from each other. One stunk of sulpher. Thankfully there were no black IPA's - dont get me started !

 Note that to this day I dont know which beers I drank and whether any that we judged went forward to the final round.

After round three it was the final round which was left to the industry experts, so we wandered off into the beer festival hall. All except 10 of the handpulls were now turned round, so 10 beers in the final. It was noticeable that when these were revealed later, most were dark/ strong beers. 

There was also a long table with all the bottles and cans on. These hadn't been disguised but it was still impossible to tell what had been judged. 

There were 26 awards given in the final award ceremony - different styles of various strengths in bottles, cans and cask. 

Below are the 1-2-3 overall cask winners :-

. 

	Brewery	Product	ABV
Gold	Cullercoats Brewery	Polly Donkin Oatmeal Stout	4.2
Silver	Brass Castle Brewery	Annexation	8.3
Bronze	Daleside Brewery Ltd	Monkey Wrench	5.3

See what I mean about a preference for dark and /or strong beers ? 

The full list :-
https://www.siba.co.uk/2019/05/04/cullercoats-brewery-ossett-brewery-awarded-best-independent-craft-beers-north-east/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SocietyOfIndependentBrewers+%28Society+of+Independent+Brewers%29

One final thing. In the beer festival hall, one of the chaps behind the bar looked like someone famous. Myself and the guy I was with both said at the same time.."him out of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young !" 

David Crosby with a Geordie Accent.He admitted he gets it all the time ! See what you think -