Swiggin in Wiggin : September 2012 - Wigan

Grade II listed pub recently given a new lease of
life. Finally, the Sheffield Tap, a former Edwardian
Refreshment Room & Dining Rooms on Sheffield
Station, recently renovated into a lovely bar having
been boarded up for over 30 years!
Our dark beer of the festival involved considerably
less travelling. Just a few miles to Shevington Moor
in fact. When we told Patsy Slevin of Prospect
Brewery that her beer, Nutty Slack, had won the
dark category, she asked us to delay presenting
the award until their first pub, the Silver Tally, had
opened.
Not being superstitious, our presentation was
made on Friday, 13th July which also gave some of
our members their first view of the pub although
many had been to the opening on the June 3rd and
half a dozen times since!
Nutty Slack is a delicious dark mild with hints of
liquorice and a smooth malty taste, and is part of
Prospect’s core beer range. Named after a type
of coal much prized for its slow-burning qualities,
it has won several previous award including SIBA
National Silver Medal 2009, in the Mild Category.
The Silver Tally, formerly known as the Foresters
Arms, is a ground breaking partnership between
Blackburn regional brewer, Daniel Thwaites and
Prospect. The ‘Tally’ sells a wide range of cask
ales from Prospect’s own range together with freeof-tie
guest beers from other micro-breweries.
One cask ale from Thwaites is always available
- normally Wainwrights. In addition, cask cider is
also served and a selection of Thwaites-supplied
lagers, wines and spirits. It also serves locally
sourced, traditional home-cooked food but there is
no jukebox, satellite TV or gaming machines.
The new name of the pub relates to the local
mining industry as a tally was used by a miner in
exchange for a lamp prior to going down into a coal
Beers of Wigan Beer Festival Awards
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pit. However, according to some, a silver tally was a
token given to miners as a meal voucher after they
had finished an overtime shift.
Prospect Brewery was founded in 2007 and, being
based in the Wigan area with its long history of
mining and prospecting, it’s apt that most of their
beers are named with a mining or prospecting
theme.
Our photos : presentations by Wigan CAMRA
Chairman, Peter Marsh, to Alex Buchanan of
Thornbridge and to Patsy and John Slevin of
Prospect.
WIGAN BEER FESTIVAL 2013
28th February to 2nd March