local beer festivals and events - see page 20 - Nottingham CAMRA

page 24NEWS BREWINGStarting up a new brewery is never easyand success is far from guaranteed. DonPape looked to have a better chance thanmost though when he set up his new fivebarrel brewery, purpose built byMossbrew, in Glossop towards the end of2003. He had various scientificqualifications and had been a keenhomebrewer. Add to that bags ofenthusiasm and the new Glossop Brewerylooked a likely winner. Sadly it was notto be, Don didn’t seem to get his fair shareof luck and his three beers, Dexter’s Bitter,Fletcher’s Campaign Bitter and SummerBitter never managed to reach the levelsof quality for which Don was aiming.Before the end of 2004, less than a yearafter starting up, the brewery had closed.Glossop Brewery was the first in theDerbyshire town since before the FirstWorld War, but amazingly less than a yearafter the demise of this fledglingenterprise another new brewery has beenlaunched. Howard Town Brewery islocated in a converted unit which was partof a fulling mill in the HowardTown Mill complex once claimed to bethe largest in Europe. The brewery wasestablished by Tony Hulme and Les Doveand their respective wives, Rowena andJanet, utilising a purpose built 8 barrelplant supplied by Dave Porter who hasbeen responsible for building severalsuccessful new breweries in recent years.The partners have no previous experienceof commercial brewing, Les is a processengineering consultant, specialising in thepaper industry and Tony is a computeranalyst programmer. Although Les didsome home brewing and Tony’s father hadbeen a keen homebrewer, they havehowever received a lot of help from boththe Millstone brewery and Dave Porter.They plan to brew four regular beers ofwhich the first two are to be Wren’s Nesta 4.2% light, hoppy bitter, named after alocal mill, and Bleaklow a 3.8% sessionbitter, which is named after a local hill.However when the first brew, intended tobe Wren’s Nest, was in the fermenter ithad proved to come out at a differentstrength and colour to what was originallyintended and so it was the intention to sellit as a one-off beer to be called HowardTown Bitter. This should be available inthe pubs around the Glossop area towardsthe end of July.In contrast to the relative inexperience ofthe Howard Town brewers thebackground of the owners of another newbrewery, Quartz Brewing, could not bemore different, for husband and wife teamScott and Julia Barnett have years ofexperience working for two of thecountry’s national brewers. Scottis a brewing engineer and Julia a masterbrewer and their five barrel plant comesfrom the former Fringe and Firkin thatwas located in Shepherd’s Bush, London.Quartz is located in Kings BromleyStaffordshire and their first beer shouldbe available in pubs in the area aroundthe brewery by mid August. The firstbrew is likely to be called “Quartz Classicand should be a 3.8% blonde, hoppy alewith a continental flavour. The intentionis to gradually develop a core range ofperhaps three high quality beers, ratherthan to produce dozens of specials,although they have not ruled out thepossibility of producing some seasonalales.Other new breweries to look out forinclude the Spitting Feathers Breweryfrom Waverton near Chester whichstarted producing beers in July andCotswold Spring Brewery near ChippingSodbury which started up in June.Cotswold Spring claim to be brewingusing natural Cotswold spring water,hence the name and intially are producingthree beer Codrington Codger 4.2%, OldeEnglish Rose 3.8% and Codrington Royal4.5%. Meanwhile, the new CombeMartin Brewery in Devon is initiallyconcentrating on just two bottled beers,Past Times 4.5% and Hangmans Bitter atrange of excellent brews, including some specials will3.9%. be on sale. But we are also pleased to welcome Everards to thefestival, they have kindly agreed to sponsor the music and will alsobe bringing their own bar to showcase their excellent range of beers.The festival is staffed by volunteers and we are always grateful formore help, even if you can only spare a few hours. We need help toset up on the Tuesday and Wednesday before the festival and ofcourse for the hours that it is open. If you would like to offer yourservices or want more information contact Ray Kirby on 0115 9297896 or raykirby@nottinghamcamra.orgMore information can be found at www.nottinghamcamra.orgDiary Dates are now on Page 20Plans are well in handfor this year’sNottingham BeerFestival and it islooking to be bigger andbetter than ever. Thedates are Thursday 20 thto Sunday 23 rd Octoberand as always we areopen all day Thursday to Saturday(Sunday 12-3). In past years we havebeen voted the beer festival with the bestrange of beers in the country and thisyear we aim to enhance that reputationfurther with over 350 different beersfrom new and interesting breweries allover thecountry,including newbrews fromRandalls in theChannel Islands.Once again SIBA (the Society of IndependentBrewers) has asked us to host their annualcompetition to select their champion beers of theMidlands in a variety of categories. Judging will takeplace on the Thursday afternoon and you will be ableto taste these beers that have been specially selectedby brewers from across the region as being the bestthey produce. Last year’s overall winner was “1050”from Grainstore Brewery in Oakham, with a brandnew brewery, White Horse in Oxfordshire, winningthe best bitter category and Nottingham Breweryvoted the best mild.Hardys and Hansons have again kindly agreed to beour main sponsor and their new Olde Trip logo willappear on the festival glass, and of course their fullReal Ale still on the RiseThere are now three real ales, includingone from Nottingham Brewery, availableat Hotel Deux on Clumber Avenue,Sherwood Rise, at the rear of ClarendonCollege. For something different you cannow enjoy a Jambalaya on Sundays.Every Sunday evening willfeature musicians playingAmericana, Folk and Blues. Forthose who really want to enterinto the spirit there is even a hotpot of Jambalaya for all, don’tknow what it is? Go along andfind out. More information canbe obtained on 07770 226926Look out for acompetition in the nextTop Up to win Kangarootickets. These £2.50tickets allow unlimiteduse on any bus, tram orCentral train within theNottingham CityTransport area.