Sussex Drinker: Summer 2009 - Arun & Adur CAMRA

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...... Max Malkin, Pat Higgins, Peter Adams, Ursula Lockyer, Dave Copping and the Ed.Harveys Best (permanent) plus (currently)Timothy Taylor Landlord, TheakstonOld Peculier and Wells Bombardier.• ICKLELSHAMDelighted to be awarded South East Sussexbranch POTY were the Queens Head, who willbe presented with the certificate on Tues 9thJune. Ian Mitchell celebrated 25 years at thepub with a very busy Sunday afternoon recently– the POTY award is the icing on the cake!• LITTLEHAMPTONThe Dew Drop, Wick, and the New Inn bothhave Arundel Gold as a permanent beer.• NINFIELDUnder new management is the 1930slocal, the Blacksmiths Inn, wherethree ales are once again available.• PEASE POTTAGENorth Sussex branch supported SlaughamParish Council and individual objectorsin their campaign to oppose part demolitionand the erection of ten houses on thesite of the Grapes, as planned by the pubowners Hall & Woodhouse. Planning permissionwas denied by Mid Sussex DistrictCouncil. One of the main reasons for therefusal was the fact that Hall & Woodhousehad failed to provide any evidence that thepub was not viable before its closure.• PETTThe Two Sawyers continues to build onearly success after reopening.HarveysBest and two Sussex guests are availablealongside Oakwood Cider.• RYEThe Ship is now selling Harveys Bestand a Rother Valley beer. The bar at theHope Anchor Hotel has one handpumpserving good quality Harveys Best.• SEDLESCOMBEA reliable source reports that the Queen’sHead has closed. Any more reports on this?• SOMPTINGThe Gardeners Arms has a large sign to saythat it is reopening at 19.30 on Friday 15thMay. More reports on this freehouse to follow.• SOUTHWICKPebbles on the Port, Lady BeeMarina, now has Harveys Best.• ST. LEONARDS-ON-SEATo be both presented with a CAMRA certificatefor ten consecutive listings in the Good BeerGuide are the Bull and the Horse and Groom.• WORTHINGGood news from the Richard Cobden, a traditionalstreet corner local at the heart ofthe community. Greene King IPA has beengiven the boot and replaced by Banks Original(a rare outlet for this good mild). HopbackSummer Lightning and Harveys Best are alsopermanent plus there is always a good guest,perhaps from Hook Norton or Thwaites.Adjacent to the library, the Wheatsheafhas now replaced GK Old Speckled Hen withArundel Gold, which is proving very popular.Quality on two visits this week has beenvery good. Encouragingly, sales of the HarveysBest are not being adversely affected.Arundel Gold is also a permnentbeer at the Royal Oak.The Fox, Patching has tried nearlyall the Hammerpot beers and customersliked White Wing best so it is now permanentalong with Harveys Best.Recent rumours that the lease on theGeorge & Dragon, Tarring, was being soldnow seem to be confirmed with Gary Coxshortly to sell to one of the partners at theHare & Hounds. Good news is that thereare connections in the new team to the G& D but a significant concern may be thefuture pricing policy as we all know that,despite being a pubco lessee at both the G& D and Swan, he still manages to have oneof the keenest pricing structures in town!6 Sussex Drinker: Summer 2008
Hove, Actually … AnotherHugely Successful Festival!At an ungodly hour on the morning ofTuesday 10th March, the Hove Centrebegan its annual transformation intoa mecca for lovers of good beer, cider andperry. Yep, time once again for the SussexCAMRA Branches Beer & Cider Festival!Despite the odd hiccup (notably the scaffoldingfirm’s lorry suffering a mechanicalproblem, so the scaffolding wasn’t in thebuilding ‘til nearly mid-day), all 227 casksof beer (2,110 gallons!) which had madeit to Hove were up on the stillage, tappedand recovering from their journey byTuesday evening (including the one whichdecided to spit its tap out, soaking thecellarman!), and by Thursday afternooneverything was ready for the doors to open.Even knowing that the festival is a verypopular event, this year was exceptional -Friday evening sold out earlier than usual,and overall there were fewer than 300 ticketsunsold out of 5,000, as against just over1,000 in 2008. Even the lunchtime sessions,usually relatively quiet and with modestnumber of ticket sales on the door, nearlysold out, and dipping the barrels at the endof Saturday lunchtime produced a bit of apanic - 50 gallons more beer consumed duringthat session than the previous year, plusthe cider bar was running perilously low!Cue Matt, who managed to rustle up another27 gallons of beer, and Roger, who spentwhat should have been his break driving overto Middle Farm to stock up the cider bar.Not only did the attendance break allrecords (and with all those people, there wereonly 3 (yes, three) broken glasses duringthe whole event!), but the Festival’s charityfor this year, Sussex Search & Rescue, managedto collect £700 in loose change, andgenerous Festival-goers then donated astaggering £1,100 in beer tokens as well.This year’s Festival caterers, Arkwrights,did an excellent job (despite the bottleneckat the food counter - plans are afoot to tryto improve this for next year), and Saturdayevening’s proceedings were greatly enlivenedby a superb performance from Copperhead.We were privileged this year to be askedto host the judging for the Regional Finalsof the Champion Beer of Britain competition,and Sussex beers (from a certain brewerynot a million miles from Haywards Heath)were well-represented among the candidates.As to the Festival’s own competition: havingdiscarded all votes for “Duff” and “thelast one” (and the three for Kemptown OldTrout, which had been declared undrinkableon the Thursday morning and showed nosubsequent signs of improvement, so wasn’ton!) Thornbridge’s Jaipur IPA was votedBeer of the Festival, Cider of the Festivalwas JB, Perry of the Festival was GwatkinsOldfield Perry, and the Bev Robbins Trophyfor the Best Sussex Beer was awarded to DarkStar’s Saison. The Little Red Rooster CiderPerry was judged to be “In a class of its own”,with a special award to reflect this. A tripfor Festival volunteers to Dark Star and JB(taking in Middle Farm en route) to presentcertificates is planned for 25th July (StevePardoe will have the details), and Ali Clarkwill be in touch with volunteers re a trip toDerbyshire to present Thornbridge’s certificate.Overall a wonderful Festival: very, verymany thanks to everyone who made it possible.Finally, a note for your diaries, - nextyear’s beer bonanza, the twentieth, will takeplace on 11th, 12th and 13th March 2010.Ursula Lockyer, FestivalOrganiserSussex Drinker: Summer 2008 7
Page 1 and 2: FOR PEOPLE WHO LIKE REAL ALE IN SUS
Page 3 and 4: TOLIVER’S BARMY?here has been muc
Page 5: ...... Stephen Wallace, Jim Waterst
Page 9 and 10: CAMRA Arun & Adurbranch“Bus to th
Page 11 and 12: same as last year’s, starting wit
Page 13 and 14: Make Mine Mild!North Sussex celebra
Page 15 and 16: RAISE YOUR GLASSTO THE BEERMATTWhen
Page 18 and 19: 18 Sussex Drinker: Summer 2008
Page 20 and 21: CIDER HOUSE NOTESSussex Beer and Ci
Page 22 and 23: BEER FESTIVALS & OTHER DELIGHTSCAMR

Sussex Drinker: Summer 2009 - Arun & Adur CAMRA

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