CAMRA ANGLE SUMMER 2018

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

The cover reflects the forthcoming summer, with pictures of the Sunderland Air Show, the forthcoming Tall Ships, Marsden Cliffs and the Roker Lighthouse through a hole in a Roker Beach sculpture.

There is a look at the branch pub & cider pubs of the year 2018 awards.

There is a write up about a pub crawls in Harrogate &  Hammersmith, heritage pubs in London and on the North York Moors, and a pub review - the new Cask Lounge in South Shields. Another review, this time a book, looks at The Good Beer Guide Belgium accompanied by a look at two styles of Belgian beer.

        

A regular section is a news update on beer from the wood, pubs and  breweries in the branch as well as Locale pubs and those that offer discounts.

Issue 52 is rounded off by look back at previous CAMRA Angles and pub quiz. 

Enjoy the read !!

If you cant find a copy, follow this link to download your own,  and for more branch news. http://sst.camra.org.uk/wordpress/

 

And remember, accept no imitations.  

PUB QUIZ, THE ROYAL WEDDING AND THE FA CUP

Every year a group of us get together to watch the FA Cup Final,irrespective of who is playing. This involves meeting in a pub about 3 hours before, taking part in a football related pub quiz, and then watching the footy. The pub we have been meeting in for the last few years has gone downhill recently so a change of venue was required.

We decided on a mini pub crawl in Washington. The kick off was at 1715 so we met in Wetherspons at 1130 for breakfast, trying to avoid watching the royal wedding on the screens.

Now the quiz we do is compiled by one of us every year and we compete for a hard fought small trophy which we have used for a number of years now. I am crap at footy quizzes so have never won it yet. This year was a mix of football and general knowledge

Leaving Spoons, we headed down to the Steps for a couple of pints. I had the trophy in a bag on the seat next to me- big mistake. I was sitting in the corner so had to make the guy on my right to shift when I got up to got to the loo. Coming back, I got back into my seat from the other side - another big mistake. Sitting down , I plonked myself down and sat on the bag. I felt a faint snapping sound under my bum. I rescued the bag, opened it and found the trophy had snapped at the thin stem.

 

Hastily we asked Gary the landlord for some sellotape, and a  temporary repair was effected.

Next we walked along to the Washington Arms and sat in the sun in their extensive garden. Bearing in mind we had now had 6 pints, some of the quiz questions were misunderstood or the answers sometimes total rubbish. Split into two teams, one guy on my team was asked - 

"Name the breed of dog that was named after a priest known as the sporting parson."  

Pondering this as it was worth 10 points, he had a think until suddenly, one of us on the opposing team shouted out, in a voice loud enough to be heard throughout the garden :-

"Jack Russell!!!!"

We all looked at him aghast as if he had grown two heads. My team member said " Jack Russell". Correct - 10 points

Big mouth was stunned. " I was only joking , I was joking !!"

  

With him muttering to himself, we returned to the Steps to watch the match and at half time, as a result of his cock up, I won the quiz !!! First time for cup final day. Have spent this afternoon gluing the thing back together. 

By the way, after nearly 8 hours of drinking on Saturday , I cannot remember anything about the match.

   

 

    

THE BEER WILL GET YOU IN THE END !

Last week a fellow CAMRA member spotted, from the upstairs of a bus, that there were two handpulls in the bar of the Guide Post , Springwell Village as the bus went past the pub. Now I have not been in that pub for over 30 years, principally because there was no decent beer on. As it is not too far away , I checked  it out yesterday.

Sure enough, Camerons Strongarm and Theakstons Black Bull. The latter had gone off so had a nice pint of the Strongarm and a bag of Nobbys Nuts from the a la carte menu.

I sat outside and contemplated a few things. My dad was born just round the back of the pub and lived with his 3 brothers. Those three were never out of Springwell Club but dad was teetotal. I really dont know where I got the habit from ! There was none of - "come on son, I'll take you for your first pint !"

Anyone, finishing my pint  and nuts I walked to the front of the pub to take a photo. Behind me was a row of old houses with back yards instead of gardens. A voice behind me said " you can take a picture of me if you want "

Turning round , there was this skinny guy in his early seventies standing there with a paint brush in his hand. I said that he was really lucky living so close to the pub ( it was about 20 paces)

" Not really son, I am teetotal !" Bloody hell, another one !

I  remarked that if I lived where he lived I would never be out of the place. He looked me up and down as if I was some incurable alcoholic and said, waving his paint brush at me like a portent of doom.

" The beer will get you in the end you know !"

I made my excuses and left.   

KEN'S REVITALISATION - A Week in Tenerife.

Mrs Ken and I have just returned from a week's holiday in Tenerife. We've been to Lanzarote a couple of times so wasn't expecting much from the beer availability.

We flew on the day of the CAMRA AGM so missed all the action while up in the air. Pondering the outcome of the Special Resolutions  while watching the last guy to get on the plane and plonk himself next to me.  " He's just dashed onto the plane from the bar " I thought to myself.

Sure enough after the fasten seat belt signs were switched off he was off his starting blocks to the loos at the back.

An hour in, the trolley made an appearance and he proceeded to order 4 cans of Budweiser. Hmm. Itv was a long flight I was imagining the scenario of him being interested in joining CAMRA, -
Me - " One of the benefits is free entry into a lot of beer festivals"
Him - "Do they sell Budweiser ?"
Me - "Er no"
New tack required here.
Me - "You get 50p off a pint Wetherspoons vouchers"
Him - " Can you get pints of Budweiser ?"
Me - "Er no"
The trolley appeared for a second time, and sure enough another 4 cans of Budweiser made their way onto his drop down table

I am reminded of the time I went to a 50th birthday party and met a guy who only drank Newcastle brown ale. He absolutely loved the stuff. He had brought his own and won't go in a pub that doesn't sell it. Can't imagine recruiting him either then .!

Anyhow I digress , back to Tenerife. Arriving late , the only beers they had in the hotel was San Miguel, San Miguel zero alcohol ( is that not the same thing ? ), And something called Reina. Just the usual boring yellow fizz.

Next day, straight to the nearest Spar , looking for some German and Belgian beers. One of the latter in particular caught my eye. Mort Subite Kreik Lambic. Now I have been researching lambic beers for an article in our branch magazine. They are brewed differently to other beers, using natural fermentation. ( read the article when it comes out).

The beer I had was flavoured with cherry essence . Very tasty - even Mrs Ken liked it. . However, it was a bit strange seeing this style of beer on a Spar supermarket shelf directly above some John Smiths cans.

One final thing. We were staying at the north part of the island, so took a bus down to the south, where all the sunseekers go. Some beach front cafes and bars were selling pints of lager for 95 cents !  ( yes-  Ninety Five!") I refused to indulge as it looked like piss. Bought an ice cream instead- 2 Euros!

Back home now and looking forward to a 2 night village pub beer festival next weekend. Look out for post on that one then !!

BEER FESTIVAL DRESS CODE

It was reported in the press overnight that there was some controversy at the recent Hull CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival. The festival was held in a church and at some point over the weekend a pirate performer turned was told to cover up her cleavage. 

The lady in question was part of a local pirate crew performing troupe raising funds to put on a pirate festival in Withernsea. She refused and then left with the rest of her entourage. So its OK to get pissed in a church at a beer festival, but but not bearing some cleavage.

Now looking back to when I visited Oktoberfest in Munich, all the serving girls were dressed in dirndls and were similarly buxom. It was part of the costume. 

I visit The Great British Beer Festival in Olympia London every year and its always full of oddballs dressed up. Two years ago  a group of us were sitting chatting, researching our next beer or eating some overpriced pasties when this tall person with a dark stubble walked passed. "So What?" I hear. Well this bearded one was dressed as a woman, looking very flamboyant. Turned out he/she was working behind the CAMRA cider bar. Just picture Eurovision singer  Conchita Wurst.

Anyhow all perfectly harmless and a good laugh, as it was intended.

Already looking forward to seeing Conchita again in August. May turn up at Hull in my mankini next year and see what happens ( oh my god, did you have to mention that ! - Ed)     

"A PINT OF BITTER PLEASE LANDLORD". "A PINT OF WHAT ?"

This post is partly inspired by an article in a Midlands CAMRA magazine and a couple of online news items.

First to set the scene. Years ago before I could legally drink the only crisp flavour you could get was ready salted , with the salt in a blue bag inside the crisp packet.

Now Ive read this morning in Glasgow Live that a brewery in that fine drinking city called Merchant City have introduced a pale ale made with black tea. I first visualised the buyer of this drink being presented with a teabag to sprinkle the leaves into the bottle then shaking it up like we used to do with the crisp packet.But no, the tea is infused in the brewing process !

There are a couple of Yorkshire breweries have recently introduced rhubarb flavoured beer.

Now Ive nothing against flavoured beers but rhubarb ?. At our 2016 beer festival I had some beetroot cider and it was bloody awful.

 

This leads me to the article in the Camra mag where the author laments the possible passing of the old fashioned English Bitter. So here, by way of a free service are some classic bitters to look out for and enjoy, instead of this endless stream of IPA's .

Black Sheep Best Bitter

Butcombe Bitter

Coniston Bluebird Bitter

Elgoods Cambridge Bitter

Hawkshead Bitter

Holdens Black Country Bitter

Triple fff Altons Pride

   

The fightback starts here !!

MAJOR TOMS SOCIAL, HARROGATE

Every so often I visit a pub for the first time and take to it straight away. Some pubs are just OK, may go back again, some are, no way next time, but sometimes, but not that often one shines out and you say, will have to return there !

Recent examples on my travels have been the Black Horse in Wolsingham and the Bon Accord Glasgow ( see last post).

Last weekend Mrs Ken and I were on a coach trip with the  local Wetherspoons to Harrogate. Not having boozed in the town before I picked out a handful of pubs in the Good Beer Guide and one of them was Major Toms Social. 

Its located in a street called The Ginnel, we would have walked past  if I had not looked it up first. Its a cafe bar located up some stairs in a former antiques emporium, co located with a vinyl record shop. The ground floor is occupied by a design studio.

The bar has 4 real ales, bottled beer , pizzas, art works and an excellent taste in background music.

The seating is mostly long tables with benches, which encourages you to share and converse with your near neighbours. Our bench was very wobbly when you moved.  - It actually reminded me of the Berwick Beer Festival 2 years ago where if you sat on one end, then got up, the empty end would go flying, tipping the poor sods on the other end on the floor.- highly entertaining.

Anyhow,  some young folk ( well everyone was younger than me when we were there !) sat on the other end...this is going to be interesting if we get up first.......

Looking round there was a great atmosphere with enthusiastic staff. Games were available to keep kids ( and adults) occupied.

Sipping a pint of Turning Point Stout ( brewed in Kirkymoorside) it was great to chat and just look around and listen to the music. Suddenly, bearing in mind the kids running the place were in their early twenties, one of my all time favourite Desert Island Disc songs came on....drum roll

The Free Electric Band by Albert Hammond ( 1973). Now you dont get any better than this I thought. Fantastic place ! - and as a bonus, just as we were leaving, Me and Julio down by the Schoolyard - Paul Simon.

Tentatively standing up so the bench wouldn't  go flying ( it didnt) , we reluctantly had to leave to catch the coach back home

This cafe bar was so much different from your standard pub and all the better for it. Highly recommended- even the Mrs liked it ! 

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