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 .