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IN THIS ISSUE...<br />
PUB & BREWERY NEWS<br />
SMALL BEER<br />
NEW KIND OF BEER FESTIVAL<br />
HISTORY OF LAGER<br />
FREE<br />
THE MAGAZINE FOR READING AND MID<br />
BERKSHIRE BRANCH OF THE CAMPAIGN<br />
FOR REAL ALE<br />
NEW WHARF BREWING<br />
COMPANY<br />
& MORE...<br />
CAMRA: THE ORIGINAL SOCIAL<br />
NETWORK<br />
ISSUE FORTY THREE AUTUMN 2017<br />
FREE - PLEASE TAKE A COPY<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong>
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong>
Branch Diary<br />
All events start at 20.00 and are open to everybody unless<br />
specified.<br />
September<br />
Thu 7: First Thursday of the Month Social. Start at Roebuck,<br />
37 Auckland Road, Reading, RG6 1NY. Then moving on to<br />
Abbot Cook and Retreat.<br />
Sun 10: Pub walk to the Flower Pot at Aston (total 6 miles).<br />
Meet at Henley station car park at 11.15. For more details<br />
contact Chris Hinton: chinton557@gmail.com / 0118 987<br />
3203.<br />
Tue 12: Branch meeting. Queens Head (garden room), 54<br />
Christchurch Road, Reading, RG2 7AZ. CAMRA members<br />
only, please.<br />
Sat 16: South London Brewery Crawl. Meet at 12.00 at<br />
Elephant & Castle Underground Station (shopping centre<br />
entrance). For more details see SLBT17.eventbrite.co.uk<br />
Thu 21: Gala Awards Evening. Three Guineas (cellar bar),<br />
Station Approach, Reading, RG1 1LY. Meet the winners of<br />
our “Of the Year” awards as well as the winning breweries<br />
from this year’s beer festival and a few special award winners.<br />
October<br />
Thu 5: First Thursday of the Month Social. Fox and Hounds,<br />
116 City Road, Tilehurst, RG31 5SB.<br />
Fri 6 – Sat 7: Ascot Beer Festival. For more details see ascotbeerfest.org.uk<br />
Wed 18: Branch meeting. Royal Oak (conservatory at rear<br />
of pub), Ruscombe Lane, Ruscombe, RG10 9JN. CAMRA<br />
members only, please.<br />
November<br />
Thu 2: First Thursday of the Month Social. Bell and Bottle,<br />
37 School Green, Shinfield, RG2 9EE.<br />
Sat 11: Branch AGM. Griffin (upstairs function room), 10/12<br />
Church Road, Caversham, RG4 7AD. 12.00 start. AGM will<br />
be followed by a pub crawl. CAMRA members only for the<br />
AGM, please; all welcome for the crawl.<br />
See www.readingcamra.org.uk for details of these events as<br />
they come available.<br />
For further details if there’s no contact listed, to suggest an<br />
event or to receive regular e-mail updates of the branch diary,<br />
contact Chris Hinton: social@readingcamra.org.uk<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
3<br />
Contact Us<br />
Useful contact details for this<br />
magazine, CAMRA and other<br />
important things…<br />
Mine’s a <strong>Pint</strong> Circulation: 3,000.<br />
Outlets: Over 70 across the region.<br />
Editor: Phil Gill<br />
editor@readingcamra.org.uk<br />
0771 455 0293<br />
81 Addison Road, Reading, RG1 8EG<br />
Magazine published on behalf of<br />
Reading and Mid Berkshire CAMRA<br />
by:<br />
Neil Richards MBE at Matelot<br />
Marketing<br />
01536 358670 / 07710 281381<br />
n.richards@btinternet.com<br />
Printed by Portland Printers, Bartley<br />
Drive, Kettering,<br />
Northants, NN16 8UN.<br />
01536 511555<br />
Reading & Mid Berkshire CAMRA<br />
www.readingcamra.org.uk<br />
Social Secretary: Chris Hinton<br />
social@readingcamra.org.uk<br />
Contact for all other branch matters:<br />
Katrina Fletcher<br />
contact@readingcamra.org.uk<br />
0779 401 9<strong>43</strong>7<br />
Local Trading Standards<br />
Reading Borough Council:<br />
www.reading.gov.uk 0118 937 3737<br />
West Berkshire Council:<br />
www.westberks.gov.uk 01635 519930<br />
Royal Borough of Windsor &<br />
Maidenhead:<br />
www.rbwm.gov.uk 01628 683800<br />
Wokingham Borough Council:<br />
www.wokingham.gov.uk 0118 974<br />
6400<br />
The next issue of Mine’s a <strong>Pint</strong> will be<br />
published in early December. Please<br />
feel free to submit any copy or ideas<br />
by 5 November.<br />
The opinions expressed in Mine’s a <strong>Pint</strong><br />
are not necessarily those of the editor or<br />
the Campaign for Real Ale. © Campaign<br />
for Real Ale 2017.
From The Editor<br />
CAMRA MEMBER? WHY NOT<br />
TAKE IT TO THE NEXT STEP?<br />
IT’S A CAMPAIGN OF TWO<br />
HALVES, WITH AN ACTIVE SOCIAL<br />
SIDE AS WELL AS THE WORK TO<br />
PROTECT AND PROMOTE PUBS<br />
AND BREWERIES.<br />
You can see from the branch diary that<br />
there’s a lot going on locally. On the social<br />
side we have our regular First Thursday<br />
of the Month socials or, if you fancy<br />
something a bit more energetic, there’s a<br />
pub walk coming up to a lovely country<br />
pub that’s a bit off the beaten track – the<br />
Flower Pot at Aston. It’s well worth a<br />
visit, not least so that you can admire the<br />
amazing collection of fish in glass cases that<br />
cover the walls.<br />
Perhaps, like many of us, you joined<br />
CAMRA because you think that real ale,<br />
real cider, real perry and real pubs are<br />
something unique. Something valuable.<br />
Something worth fighting for. If so then<br />
it’s time to take a more active role in the<br />
campaign. We have our AGM coming up<br />
and you can read more in this issue about<br />
some specific roles that we’d like to fill.<br />
But however you want to help, you’ll be<br />
made to feel welcome and we’ll certainly<br />
appreciate your contribution, however large<br />
or small.<br />
So make today the day that you step up<br />
and give something back to the campaign.<br />
It’s people giving of their time and energy<br />
– however little or however much they can<br />
spare – that have got us where we are today.<br />
CAMRA is the most successful consumer<br />
organisation in Europe, and your help can<br />
make us better yet.<br />
Cheers!<br />
Phil Gill - Editor<br />
editor@readingcamra.org.uk<br />
PUB QUALITY<br />
BEER<br />
...AT HOME<br />
Drink Rebellion cask ale<br />
at home, fresh from the<br />
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Fresh beer, ready to drink<br />
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including 10% OFF beer<br />
Fresh cider<br />
Local produce<br />
Over 300 worldwide wines<br />
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Call 01628 476594<br />
Contents<br />
Shop opening hours:<br />
Mon-Sat 8am-7pm<br />
Or visit our website:<br />
www.rebellionbeer.co.uk<br />
@RebellionBeer<br />
RebellionBeerCo<br />
Rebellion Beer Co. Ltd. Bencombe Farm, Marlow Bottom, SL7 3LT<br />
Branch Diary<br />
From the Editor<br />
Pub & Brewery News<br />
Beer Scoring<br />
Small Beer<br />
New Kind of Beer Festival<br />
New Wharf Brewing Company<br />
From the Archives<br />
History of Lager<br />
Join CAMRA<br />
3<br />
4<br />
5-10<br />
12-13<br />
16-18<br />
21-22<br />
23<br />
25<br />
26-27<br />
28-30<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
4
Pub & Brewery News<br />
Pub News<br />
ARBORFIELD<br />
As we went to print the BRAMSHILL HUNT was<br />
closed due to lease renegotiations. We hope to see<br />
this popular pub reopen again soon.<br />
Further up the road, the SWAN is on the market<br />
as a free house. We understand that the current<br />
tenants Mike and Lynne plan to leave in September.<br />
CAVERSHAM<br />
The BARON CADOGAN on Prospect Street now<br />
hosts a weekly pub quiz, starting every Monday<br />
at 8pm. The house beer in this Wetherspoons<br />
is from the local Loddon Brewery (Ferryman’s<br />
Gold rebadged at Cadogan’s Gold) and other<br />
microbreweries are also represented, along with<br />
real cider and often perry.<br />
There’s a planning application to convert the<br />
upper floor of THE ISLAND into flats. This is<br />
the bar on Piper’s Island in the Thames, accessible<br />
only by river or by a footbridge off Caversham<br />
Bridge. Naturally, given that it’s in the middle of a<br />
river, the site is part of the functional floodplain so<br />
residential use may be a problem. That said, given<br />
the long history of noise and licensing issues with<br />
the bar, many local residents will be disappointed<br />
that it’s only the upper floor proposed for<br />
conversion.<br />
IMAGE © FLOWING SPRING<br />
Our friends at South Oxon CAMRA were so<br />
impressed that they awarded the Flowing Spring<br />
their Pub of the Season award for this summer.<br />
Seen here at the presentation are David Cooper,<br />
the Chairman of South Oxfordshire CAMRA,<br />
with the Flowing Spring’s new owners Hazel<br />
Lucas and Nick Willson.<br />
GRAZELEY GREEN<br />
The OLD BELL has been offering a regular guest<br />
beer from Loddon brewery. As a Chef and Brewer<br />
pub, it also offers a 10% discount on cask ales for<br />
CAMRA members – just show your membership<br />
card at the bar.<br />
PLAYHATCH<br />
The FLOWING SPRING has new owners. Nick<br />
and Hazel, who have been the tenants for the last<br />
six years, have bought the pub from Fullers and<br />
it’s now a free house for the first time in its 220<br />
year history. It’s been a long process but the sale<br />
finally completed at the end of June.<br />
Up to six real ales, two real ciders and a wide<br />
choice of gluten-free, vegan and alcohol-free<br />
wines, beers and ciders are on offer. The home<br />
cooked food also includes a wide range of glutenfree,<br />
vegetarian and vegan options. We hope to<br />
feature more about this pub in the next issue.<br />
READING<br />
The ELDON ARMS in Eldon Terrace closed in<br />
April after brewery Wadworth sold the building,<br />
and licensee Russell MacKenzie moved on to a pub<br />
in Pewsey, Wiltshire. Shortly after closure a sign<br />
appeared in the window advertising for new bar<br />
staff and the pub subsequently reopened in June<br />
– and you may recognise a couple of members of<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
5
staff! As far as we are aware it is a freehouse and<br />
a variety of different ales have been spotted along<br />
the five pumps over the last few weeks, as well as<br />
real cider. We thought that we’d lost this place for<br />
good after the sale, so please do pop over and give<br />
them your support. Opening hours are from 5pm.<br />
The MONKS RETREAT in Friar Street, which<br />
was sold by Wetherspoons to Stonegate Pub<br />
Company a year or so ago, finally closed for a<br />
long-promised refurbishment and reopened in late<br />
August. We had expected a name change but it<br />
seems that the old name has been kept<br />
The pub, which opened in 1994, and the street<br />
it is on were both named after the Franciscan<br />
monks who came to Reading in the 13th century.<br />
The well-known “hanging monk” who could be<br />
seen dangling from a rope underneath the skylight<br />
didn’t survive the refurb – he was put up for sale<br />
on Ebay and raised £1,040 for the Noah’s Ark<br />
Children’s Hospice in London.<br />
Also on Friar Street, WILD LIME has had the<br />
latest in what seems to be its “every second year”<br />
refit. Real ale is available.<br />
SWEENEY AND TODD on Castle Street is for<br />
sale. This unique Reading institution has been<br />
advertised on websites including Daltons Business<br />
with a guide price of £1.5 million for the freehold<br />
of the whole of this listed building, including the<br />
shop, bar, restaurant and upper floors. The pies<br />
are famous across the country and we sincerely<br />
hope that we can continue to enjoy them in the<br />
future, alongside the four real ales on the bar.<br />
The WHITE EAGLE on Oxford Road is reported<br />
to have closed. Formerly the New Inn, this pub<br />
didn’t serve real ale but was known for a wide<br />
array of Polish bottled beers at reasonable prices.<br />
Plans have been unveiled for a new development<br />
in the area of the old Bristol and West Arcade on<br />
Friar Street / Market Place which include a new<br />
public house, alongside shops, a public courtyard<br />
and 64 flats. The pub is to replace the former<br />
Coopers Arms on the site, which has been vacant<br />
for a number of years. At the time of going to press<br />
no planning application had been submitted.<br />
TILEHURST<br />
News reaches us that Keith and Sharon are moving<br />
on after a good number of years at the ROYAL<br />
OAK on Westwood Glen. The transformation<br />
that occurred under their stewardship to what<br />
was a pretty moribund pub was little short of<br />
remarkable, from improving the range and quality<br />
of the real ale to cultivating a fantastic outdoor<br />
garden and uncovering (and utilising) the old<br />
fireplace in the lounge. The pub was included<br />
in the Good Beer Guide for every available year<br />
under their tenure which is an impressive record in<br />
itself. We hope that the new licensees will continue<br />
to build on the good work that has happened here.<br />
WOODLEY<br />
The BULL AND CHEQUERS in Church Road<br />
offers a 10% discount to CAMRA members. This<br />
Greene King house offers up to three real ales and<br />
has a large garden with seating plus a paved patio.<br />
Food is served until 10pm (9pm on Sundays) and<br />
Sky and BT Sports are on offer – plus there’s a<br />
darts team.<br />
Beers noted on a summer visit to BEL AND<br />
THE DRAGON on Gasworks Road (near the<br />
Prudential offices) were Rebellion IPA, West Berks<br />
Good Old Boy and Loddon Reading Best. The bar<br />
offers three real ales from local breweries and you<br />
can visit for a drink without needing to go into the<br />
restaurant or order food.<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
6
ASCOT ALES<br />
The brewery has a new owner – we’re awaiting<br />
details of his plans for the beer range.<br />
BINGHAMS<br />
Macchiato Stout and Twyford Tipple both<br />
received recognition at the south east SIBA<br />
awards, with both winning bronze awards. Last<br />
year’s Champion Beer of Britain, Vanilla Stout, is<br />
available in bottled form from the brewery shop<br />
in Ruscombe.<br />
The latest in the Hop Project<br />
is Citra Southern Cross with<br />
a citrus and tropical fruit<br />
hop character dominating<br />
this 4.5% extra pale ale. The<br />
latest monthly special created<br />
by brewer Ricky Moysey<br />
isPith&Zest,a5%ABV<br />
orange IPA brewed with the<br />
addition of orange peel for<br />
a zesty refreshing orange<br />
note. Autumn into Winter<br />
will see the return of the<br />
dark side, with Woodsmoke Porter, V Old<br />
Ale and The Warmer all being brewed as monthly<br />
specials.<br />
The brewery shop is proving ever popular and<br />
customers can now click and collect from the<br />
online shop to save time. Brewery tours are also<br />
bookable online and include 3 pints and a pint<br />
glass to take home.<br />
BOND BREWS<br />
New limited-edition beer “Whirlybird” is an<br />
American style bitter. Lifting off with five types<br />
of malted barley and wheat whilst a combination<br />
of U.S. hops hover to provide the bitterness<br />
and finally landing with aromas of orange and<br />
grapefruit. Due to popular demand “Bengal<br />
Tiger”, a 4.3% ABV English style IPA has been<br />
rebrewed.<br />
CHILTERN<br />
Bottle-conditioned Bodger’s<br />
Barley Wine (8.5% ABV) won<br />
3 Gold Stars at this year’s Great<br />
Taste Awards. That puts it in<br />
the top 1.3% of the 12,500<br />
products entered and means<br />
it is put forward to a regional<br />
Golden Fork award and<br />
possibly Supreme Champion.<br />
Judges’ comments included<br />
“A rich, honeyed, brandylike<br />
flavour with hints of<br />
pear-drop sweetness and<br />
warming spice. A wintery, after-dinner,<br />
fireside beer with a brilliant head, extraordinary<br />
resinous hoppy notes and a full, spicy impact.”<br />
Bottle-conditioned Lord-Lieutenant’s Cream<br />
Porter (6% ABV) won one Gold Star with this<br />
comment “This has been made with a delicate<br />
touch but in no way lacking in impact or fullness”<br />
as did gluten free bottled 300’s Dark Old Ale (5%<br />
ABV) “There is a rich, toasty malt aroma giving it<br />
some real appeal”.<br />
The brewery has been voted the Central Chilterns<br />
Champion in The Chiltern Society Craft Beer<br />
Awards. Their highest rated ale was bottled John<br />
Hampden’s Golden Harvest Ale (4.8% ABV) and<br />
members of the judging panel included CAMRA’s<br />
Central Southern Regional Director, Carl Griffin.<br />
John Hampden’s, which is certified gluten free,<br />
was also selected as Editor’s Choice and was the<br />
only one of 6 ales to be awarded 5 stars in Gluten<br />
Free Heaven Magazine’s recent taste test.<br />
Autumn is a busy time for draught ales with 4<br />
seasonal or limited edition specials coming up<br />
– Kop Hill Ale (3.7% ABV), the official ale for<br />
the hill climb event in Princes Risborough in<br />
September, red and spicy Copper Beech (4.4%<br />
ABV) in September-October, 300’s Dark Old Ale<br />
(4.9% ABV) in October and mellow and fruity<br />
Foxtrot (3.9% ABV) for November.<br />
The brewery shop in Terrick near Wendover in<br />
Bucks is well worth a visit for some original and<br />
unique gift ideas – which are also available online<br />
at chilternbrewery.co.uk.<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
7
ELUSIVE BREWING<br />
Collaboration brews have taken place with<br />
Torrside Brewing (Creature of Havoc), Weird<br />
Beard (Lord Nelson), Wild Weather (Fight Like a<br />
Dairy Farmer) and Vibrant Forest (Hazy Duke).<br />
A collab brew with Fiveclouds Brewco will have<br />
taken place by the time this goes to print.<br />
HOOK NORTON<br />
This historic Oxfordshire brewery has tasted<br />
success at the World Beer Awards 2017, where an<br />
international and highly respected judging panel<br />
identified the best beers from each country across<br />
72 styles.<br />
In the United Kingdom category, top honours<br />
went to Red Rye 4.7% ABV, a ruby red, fruity<br />
ale. It picked up United Kingdom’s Best Rye Beer<br />
and then went on to win the World’s Best Rye<br />
Beer, repeating its success from 2015. Further<br />
success came with Playing Hooky 4.7% ABV, a<br />
pale, amber, malty biscuit brew picking up Bronze<br />
in the United Kingdom, Pale Ale category. Old<br />
Hooky 4.6% ABV, 40 years young this year, was<br />
voted United Kingdom’s Best English Brown Ale,<br />
showing that there is still a place and recognition<br />
for a full bodied, classic real ale in an ever<br />
increasingly craft market.<br />
All of the award winning beers are available year<br />
round in 500ml and 330ml bottles direct from the<br />
brewery and online at hooky.co.uk<br />
LODDON<br />
The limited edition beer Golden<br />
Bullet was brewed for the summer<br />
and should still be available. This<br />
4.6% ABV golden ale is a favourite<br />
from the brewery, packed with<br />
flavour and character. Fuggles and<br />
Brewers Gold hops – an old English<br />
variety now grown in Germany and<br />
Alsace – impart a spiciness and wellbalanced<br />
bitterness which makes<br />
Golden Bullet perfect for summer<br />
drinking.<br />
the club’s bar – including a new official club beer<br />
called Hawks’ Gold, a 4.4% ABV golden bitter –<br />
and all Henley RFC members can now enjoy 10%<br />
off all Loddon products in the brewery shop. Shop<br />
opening hours have been extended to 7pm on<br />
Fridays, so it’s now even easier to pop in and pick<br />
up some beer for the weekend.<br />
For September an old beer is returning but it may<br />
be under a different name. POTUS is a lovely<br />
4.7% ABV American pale ale but not everybody<br />
wants to be associated with the President of the<br />
United States at the moment, so a name change is<br />
being considered.<br />
REBELLION<br />
The Rebellion Charity Weekend 2017 raised a<br />
massive £65,000 for charity. Despite some rain<br />
over 5,000 people attended the weekend where<br />
free beer and entertainment were on offer. Guests<br />
could donate at the entrance and managed to<br />
smash the 2015 figure of £58,000 raised, which<br />
was a fantastic surprise. Rebellion would like to<br />
thank everyone for coming along and making the<br />
weekend so enjoyable and like to thank them all<br />
for their generosity, along with all the bands who<br />
played and donated their time for free.<br />
The brewery have teamed up with newly-promoted<br />
Maidenhead United FC to offer a hospitality bar<br />
in the new Alan Devonshire suite for the first three<br />
games of the Conference season.<br />
The monthly specials continue with:<br />
September – Excalibur (4.2% ABV), pale and<br />
hoppy.<br />
October – Engineer (4.2% ABV), chestnut and<br />
crisp.<br />
November – Braveheart (4.2% ABV), amber and<br />
malty.<br />
The autumn beer for September and October is<br />
Red (4.7% ABV), a warming, autumnal red ale,<br />
rich and malty, with a balancing bittersweet hop<br />
character.<br />
The bottled version of Rebellion Lager (4.4%<br />
ABV) is now in the brewery shop – they are<br />
limiting sales to a maximum of three cases per<br />
customer for the time being. The shop is open<br />
Monday – Saturday 8am – 7pm.<br />
Loddon Brewery is joining Henley<br />
Rugby Club as an elite sponsor for the next<br />
three years. The brewery and the club have a longstanding<br />
association and are delighted to be joining<br />
forces. Loddon beers will be on permanently in<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
8<br />
SIREN CRAFT<br />
Look out for a range of coffee-flavoured brews as<br />
part of the Project Barista project - “a celebration<br />
of the sublime flavours that coffee can impart on<br />
beers.” Siren have been big fans of using coffee
in beer since they started out four years ago; in<br />
fact they have a beer that uses coffee in their core<br />
range – Broken Dream. This series aims to take<br />
the relationship between beer and coffee in new<br />
directions and the beers are:<br />
• Crema – 4.9% ABV sweet white stout with<br />
German whiskey barrel aged coffee<br />
• AmcapHeine – 6.2% ABV kettle sour with<br />
Kenyan coffee and raspberries<br />
• Hibiscusericano – 9.2% ABV double IPA with<br />
Ethiopian coffee<br />
• Turkish – 10% ABV imperial stout with<br />
coffee, figs, Muscovado, nutmeg, orange zest,<br />
cacao nibs and vanilla.<br />
SHERFIELD VILLAGE<br />
Find their beers at the Sherfield Beer Festival which<br />
is being held at Sherfield Village Hall on Saturday<br />
30 September from 11.30am till 11pm. More than<br />
40 beers and ciders will be available alongside hot<br />
food and live music. Tickets are £4 in advance or<br />
£5 on the door. Free minibus to and from Bramley<br />
station in the evening. Info: Gilly Woodland, gillian.<br />
woodland@duckwood.co.uk, 07738 011 708.<br />
STARDUST<br />
Beers from this microbrewery in White Waltham<br />
have been seen on sale locally including at the<br />
Royal Oak in Knowl Hill, where our reporter<br />
found the 4% ABV English Bitter to be “seriously<br />
tasty”. Other ales from Stardust include 3.8% ABV<br />
Easy Pale, 4.5% ABV American Pale and a 5.6%<br />
ABV offering with the unusual name of PK3, which<br />
is a “5 hop variety … tropical, fruity and spicy.”<br />
WEST BERKSHIRE<br />
Two of West Berkshire’s<br />
ales won awards in<br />
CAMRA’s Champion<br />
Beer of Britain<br />
Competition, announced<br />
in August. Good Old Boy<br />
was awarded Bronze in<br />
the Best Bitter Category,<br />
whilst the deliciously<br />
rich Maggs’ Magnificent<br />
Mild scooped Silver in<br />
the Mild category.<br />
“This is a fantastic achievement for our beers and<br />
for our brewers,” said West Berkshire Brewery<br />
CEO Simon Lewis, delighted with the wins. “Good<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
9<br />
Old Boy was one of our original beers and we<br />
believe it to be one of the very best bitters out<br />
there – it’s great to see that CAMRA agree with<br />
us! Maggs’ Magnificent Mild is deliciously rich<br />
and smooth, and to have been awarded silver is<br />
a sign of its quality and great flavour. With such<br />
fierce opposition from other beers within these<br />
categories, we’re honoured to see both ales win<br />
awards in such an important competition.”<br />
Good Old Boy (4% ABV), the company’s<br />
flagship ale, is notably well-balanced and packed<br />
with flavour. This classic bitter is brewed with<br />
traditional Maris Otter malted barley and fruity<br />
Bramling Cross and Northdown hops. Maggs’<br />
Magnificent Mild (3.8% ABV), is a traditionally<br />
styled, dark mild. Full of roast malt flavours offset<br />
with a subtle sweetness which combine to make it<br />
superbly smooth to drink, the silver award adds to<br />
an already impressive list of awards to its name.<br />
The OktoberWest Bierfest is back, this year being<br />
held on Saturday 23 September. There are two<br />
sessions: daytime from 12-5pm and evening from<br />
6-11pm. More details are available at wbbrew.com<br />
The brewery are also looking for full time dynamic<br />
and proactive drivers. Successful candidates will<br />
have at least a year’s experience of professional<br />
delivery driving, a full clean UK driving licence and<br />
an appetite to achieve. If you think you’ve got what<br />
it takes to join the team, then please send your CV<br />
including a covering letter to:<br />
olly.ford-lane@wbbrew.co.uk<br />
WINDSOR AND ETON /<br />
UPRISING<br />
The Editor writes:<br />
When I changed jobs last year, one of my leaving<br />
presents was a pair of tickets for the Windsor &<br />
Eton Brewery tour. I finally got around to using<br />
them this summer and I was very impressed. I<br />
particularly liked the way that they wove a story<br />
around the various styles of beer, alongside the<br />
history of the brewery and the types of ingredients<br />
used.<br />
Brewery tours can sometimes be a case of “There’s<br />
the mash tun and fermenting vessel ... here’s some<br />
malt for you to taste ... have some random beer”,<br />
which are fine but this one was very well structured<br />
and informative. I was working out afterwards that<br />
I’ve been on over 40 brewery tours over the years<br />
but I still learnt some new things from this one.
There was a good range of people on the tour and<br />
I thoroughly recommend it.<br />
Open tours run every second Wednesday in the<br />
evening, starting at 7.30pm. Look at webrew.<br />
co.uk/tours for information and to book a place.<br />
XT / ANIMAL<br />
XT have launched a beer<br />
pioneering the use of new British<br />
hop varieties. The beer called Brit<br />
Hop, a 5% ABV pale ale, uses<br />
as yet unreleased hops as part<br />
of the British Hop Association<br />
development programme. It was<br />
available first at the XT Brewery<br />
Bar in Olympia for the Great<br />
British Beer Festival, and then<br />
had a limited release in selected<br />
local pubs.<br />
The aim of the programme is to produce varieties<br />
that are capable of rivalling US and other new<br />
world hops for flavour. The development successes<br />
so far have included new British varieties such as<br />
Jester, Olicana and Minstrel. XT have been selected<br />
to brew with the experimental varieties and provide<br />
feedback both on the technicalities during brewing<br />
and how the hop flavours perform in trade and<br />
whether the customers like or dislike the beers.<br />
Another area of beer R&D for XT has been the<br />
development of their new “craft lager” Eisbar. The<br />
first trial batches of the new 5% ABV Vienna style<br />
lager – which is both unfiltered and unpasteurised –<br />
sold out so fast the brewery had to limit its release.<br />
The beer is properly “lagered” meaning it’s held to<br />
condition naturally for six weeks, which presents a<br />
few production and capacity issues for the brewer.<br />
As a result of the success of the trials, and to meet<br />
demand, new specialist lagering vessels are being<br />
installed over the summer. The beer should be<br />
available now from a short list of selected pubs.<br />
The Animal cask beers have proven to be<br />
very popular over the years and, as a birthday<br />
celebration, a series of re-brews have been selected<br />
by landlords, beer club members and devoted<br />
drinkers. The first revisit was Buffalo the American<br />
Amber, and later will see the return of other old<br />
favourites such as Manta Ray and Heron.<br />
XT beer is on tour and travelling abroad in<br />
September to represent British brewing – Munich<br />
for DrinkTech and Slovenia with the British<br />
Chamber of Commerce.<br />
VISIT OUR BREWERY SHOP FOR TASTERS, BOTTLED BEER,<br />
AND CARRY OUTS DIRECT FROM THE CASK<br />
BREWERY SHOP OPEN<br />
MONDAY - THURSDAY 10AM - 6PM<br />
FRIDAY 10AM - 7PM<br />
& SATURDAY 12 - 6PM<br />
FIND US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER OR UPDATES AND OFFERS!<br />
£1 OFF<br />
WHEN<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
10<br />
YOU SPEND £15 OR MORE AT<br />
THE BINGHAMS BREWERY SHOP<br />
VALID UNTIL 31/12/17<br />
T&Cs: Valid for £1 off any £15 purchase in the Brewery Shop. Not valid for home deliveries, online purchases, gift vouchers or in conjunction<br />
with any other offer or voucher. No cash value. Void if copied or transferred. You must be 18+ to purchase alchohol
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
11
Beer Scoring<br />
Have you ever wondered about how pubs get into<br />
the Good Beer Guide (GBG)? Unlike those guides<br />
where paid individuals submit reviews, GBG<br />
entries are compiled from beer scores submitted by<br />
CAMRA members. Every single CAMRA member<br />
has the opportunity to contribute to the GBG, by<br />
submitting quality scores for the beers they have<br />
drunk.<br />
So how do you submit them? The easiest way is<br />
to log onto CAMRA’s WhatPub.com. The default<br />
login details are your CAMRA membership<br />
number (without any leading zeroes) as username<br />
and the password you created at the time of<br />
signing-up. If you have difficulty logging in, there’s<br />
help on the screen. In fact, there’s plenty of help<br />
for all steps in getting your pub scores entered! It’s<br />
up to you how you record your scores while in the<br />
pub - scraps of paper, notebooks, or on a smart<br />
phone, whatever suits you.<br />
While the concept of sitting at the bar with a<br />
notebook giving your beer a points score might<br />
seem a little obsessive, in fact beer scoring is a<br />
vital tool of CAMRA’s ongoing campaign for good<br />
beer and good pubs. There are over 150 pubs in<br />
our branch so we need members from across the<br />
region to help us gather information about them<br />
year-round.<br />
The scores are on an 11 point scale (0-5, by halfmark):<br />
0 = No cask ale available.<br />
1 = Beer that is anything from barely drinkable to<br />
drinkable with considerable resentment. Includes<br />
beer taken back as being poor and not taken off<br />
sale.<br />
2 = Competently kept; drinkable but doesn’t<br />
inspire in any way. Below what is expected for the<br />
GBG.<br />
3 = Good beer in good form. A GBG user (i.e.<br />
you!) would not be disappointed with it. You may<br />
seek out the beer again in the same session.<br />
4 = Very good: Excellent beer in excellent<br />
condition. Exceeds expectations.<br />
5 = Probably the best beer you are likely to find. A<br />
seasoned drinker will award this score very rarely.<br />
Don’t give a pint 5 just because it’s (say) Doom Bar<br />
and you happen to like Doom Bar. Think: in your<br />
experience is this beer in front of you a really good<br />
example of a Doom Bar, or a pretty poor one? And<br />
don’t give a pint 0 because it’s a stout and you<br />
happen to hate stouts. If in doubt, don’t score, or<br />
maybe ask a friend what they think. Most people<br />
can tell the difference between a beer that just<br />
happens to have a flavour that “isn’t for them”<br />
and a beer with actual defects.<br />
Gradually, as you walk around pubs, you’ll<br />
accumulate scores and begin to develop your own<br />
method of making comparisons. It’s like riding a<br />
bike. Soon it becomes second nature.<br />
Some people do find beer scoring confusing and<br />
are unsure as to the ‘correct way’ to record a<br />
beer score. But you don’t need to be particularly<br />
knowledgeable about every beer you might come<br />
across! The great thing about real ale is the<br />
diversity of tastes. Here are a few things to take<br />
note of when evaluating an ale:<br />
1. Look: Assess the colour, clarity and the foam<br />
of the pint. Golden ales should appear bright<br />
and clear while darker beers, such as stouts and<br />
porters, possess a richer colour and often a thick,<br />
creamy head. As a general rule of thumb it’s best<br />
to base your view on whether it looks appealing.<br />
If it’s got bits in it, or looks very flat (no head) it’s<br />
looking like a duffer.<br />
2. Smell: Smell is an important part of the drinking<br />
experience. Take a short sniff of your drink to<br />
assess the aroma. If it’s immediately repulsive –<br />
smelling of vinegar or chemicals – then it’s a fair<br />
bet that the pint you have is poor.<br />
3. Taste: Take a sip and let it flow around your<br />
mouth before swallowing. Beers can reflect many<br />
taste sensations. The intensity of the flavours and<br />
the finish (the ‘aftertaste’) make up the whole taste.<br />
Give your taste buds a few seconds to register all<br />
the differing sensations. Has the publican kept<br />
the beer well enough to allow the flavour to come<br />
through fully?<br />
4. Mouthfeel: How does it ‘feel’ in the mouth?<br />
Most well-kept ales will have a light carbonation<br />
and feel ‘alive’. Well, they are! They should be<br />
served at cellar temperature – that means cool,<br />
not cold. Ales that are warm and/or as flat as old<br />
dishwater are definitely not good. ‘Flat’ beers can<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
12
often indicate that the beer has hit the end of the<br />
barrel (imagine the dregs left in a bottle of cola<br />
that has been open a few hours) – this is a natural<br />
part of the cycle of the barrel’s lifespan and a good<br />
publican will be happy to check if you suspect an<br />
ale is at ‘bottom’ and replace it with a fresh pint<br />
from elsewhere.<br />
With thousands of ales to choose from, everyone<br />
has their own personal favourites and things that<br />
they don’t like, so please try to give an honest<br />
account of how well-kept a particular beer is. If<br />
you aren’t sure then try to do your scoring based on<br />
beers that you know that you normally like when<br />
they are in good condition.<br />
So much for submitting the scores, what happens<br />
next?<br />
All the scores recorded for our local pubs are<br />
collated and entered into a master spreadsheet.<br />
This contains an agreed algorithm that compresses<br />
bulk scores and produces the overall figures for<br />
multiple-level scores, amongst other things. At the<br />
end of the year, those pubs which have scored 80%<br />
or above scores of 3+ and have been ‘visited’ at least<br />
20 times (exceptions are occasionally made for our<br />
more rural pubs) are presented to the GBG selection<br />
meeting. This is part of a general branch meeting<br />
so any card-carrying CAMRA member may attend!<br />
Usually, the top 10-14 are waived through blind; if<br />
they’re this good on the beer quality, they must go<br />
in. The rest are then opened up to a general debate<br />
to the floor, from which follows a vote to decide<br />
the remaining places. Surveys are taken, entries are<br />
submitted to CAMRA HQ and then they appear in<br />
the following GBG. Simple.<br />
So, your vote does count. Judging the best pubs in<br />
Britain is something you are uniquely placed to do.<br />
Please take the time to beer score and make your<br />
contribution to the Good Beer Guide!<br />
UK ’ sBest-Selling Beer& Pub Guide<br />
EDITED BY<br />
ROGER PROTZ<br />
So if you sent in some beer scores in the last year<br />
or two, why not see the end result? The new Good<br />
Beer Guide 2018 is out in September and lists<br />
the best pubs in the UK as selected by CAMRA<br />
members, together with the most extensive brewery<br />
listings of any guide. Go to shop.camra.org.uk to<br />
order your copy today.<br />
Quinten Taylor and James Moore<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
13
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong>
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong>
Small Beer<br />
A roundup of news and information.<br />
CIDER PUB OF THE YEAR<br />
FIRST THURSDAY SOCIALS<br />
Do you like beer? Do you like pubs? Do you like<br />
meeting other people who like beer and pubs?<br />
Then why not come along to one of our “First<br />
Thursday of the Month” socials?<br />
Every month, on the first Thursday at 8pm,<br />
you’ll find a group of CAMRA members at a<br />
pub somewhere in the branch area. On the cover<br />
there’s a picture of us at the August social in the<br />
Allied Arms. Come down and meet us sometime<br />
– it’s fun and you get to drink real ale, cider or<br />
perry with a lovely bunch of people. The next one<br />
is on Thursday 5 October at the Fox and Hounds<br />
in City Road in Tilehurst. Everyone’s welcome,<br />
including partners, and we’d love to see you there.<br />
Following its win in our branch competition, the<br />
Nags Head in Russell Street, Reading has gone on<br />
to win the CAMRA Central Southern Cider Pub of<br />
the Year title, seeing off challenges from the Cross<br />
Keys in Thame and the Royal Oak in Wantage.<br />
Seen here are Elvis Evans (CAMRA’s Regional<br />
Cider Coordinator, left) and James Moore (Branch<br />
Vice-Chairman, right) presenting the certificate to<br />
Lola Lodge of the Nags Head. CAMRA celebrates<br />
cider and perry in October, and ideas are still<br />
under development but check back on our website<br />
readingcamra.org.uk where we’ll post details of<br />
what’s happening.<br />
Just before we went to press we received even<br />
more good news about the Nags. Not content with<br />
the regional cider win, the pub also triumphed in<br />
the prestigious Regional Pub of the Year contest.<br />
This time facing contenders from Oxon (the Royal<br />
Oak again) and Bucks (the Valiant Trooper in<br />
Aldbury), judges voted the Nags Head the best<br />
pub in the three counties. This puts it into the final<br />
16 in the UK, an amazing achievement of which<br />
the team can be rightly proud. Judging continues<br />
to work out which will be the supreme champion,<br />
and the winner will be announced next year.<br />
BRANCH AGM<br />
What can you do for CAMRA? If the article in this<br />
magazine has made you stop and think about this,<br />
why not come along to our branch AGM and find<br />
out more? This year we’re having an experiment –<br />
previously the AGMs have been held on weekday<br />
evenings but this time we’re trying a Saturday<br />
afternoon and followed up the AGM with a pub<br />
crawl.<br />
This is your chance to get more involved with<br />
your branch, either by taking on a committee<br />
post, volunteering for something like helping to<br />
distribute Mine’s a <strong>Pint</strong>, or just to chat to active<br />
CAMRA members and find out a bit more about<br />
what we do. At the moment we’re really looking<br />
for somebody to act as our young members’<br />
contact, to be our liaison point with local clubs or<br />
to keep an eye on political activities as they affect<br />
CAMRA, but there are plenty of roles so if there’s<br />
something that you’re particularly interested in,<br />
come along and find out more.<br />
Come along to the Griffin in Church Road,<br />
Caversham on Saturday 11 November at 12.00.<br />
If you’d like to have a chat beforehand about<br />
what being an active volunteer might mean, please<br />
contact Quinno our branch chairman on 07887<br />
424232.<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
16
CHAMPION BEER OF BRITAIN<br />
balanced beer with a hoppy edge. We originally<br />
brewed and named it for a festival taking place<br />
in the Goat pub, and the beer just caught on. It’s<br />
the first time we’ve won the competition, and we<br />
expect it to put us on the map.”<br />
Our local West Berkshire Brewery also picked up<br />
two awards in the contest – read about them in the<br />
Brewery News section.<br />
GALA AWARDS EVENING<br />
LAST YEAR’S AWARDS TABLE<br />
PHOTO BY TIM LLOYD<br />
CAMRA has crowned Goat’s Milk by Church End<br />
Brewery the Champion Beer of Britain 2017. The<br />
Warwickshire brewery, originally located in an<br />
old coffin shop, won the prestigious award on the<br />
opening day of the Great British Beer Festival at<br />
Olympia, thanks to its blend of pale barley, crystal<br />
malt oats and aromatic hops in their beer.<br />
The award comes after almost a year of local<br />
tasting panels and regional heats resulting in the<br />
best beers from across the UK being invited to<br />
compete.<br />
Bishop Nick Brewery from Essex took silver with<br />
Ridley’s Rite, a pale ale with a floral aroma and<br />
satisfying bitterness, while Welsh brewery Tiny<br />
Rebel – former Champion Beer of Britain winner<br />
– won bronze with Cwtch, a red ale with a blend<br />
of six caramelly malts and three citrussy American<br />
hops.<br />
Nick Boley, CAMRA’s National Director<br />
responsible for the competition said:<br />
“Congratulations to Church End for winning the<br />
Champion Beer of Britain award for Goat’s Milk,<br />
which is the highest beer accolade in the country.<br />
Goat’s Milk is a stand out beer - it has a lovely<br />
balance of malts and hops and a full flavour. It<br />
is a very fine example of a bitter and incredibly<br />
refreshing.”<br />
Paul Hamblett, sales manager from Church End<br />
said:<br />
“Goat’s Milk is our biggest selling beer - it’s a nicely<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
17<br />
The Reading & Mid Berks CAMRA Gala Awards<br />
Evening is coming up and everyone is invited!<br />
Hosted this year by the Three Guineas at Reading<br />
Station in their newly refurbished cellar bar, the<br />
evening is a chance to celebrate the best of local<br />
breweries and pubs. Those receiving recognition<br />
will be:<br />
• Regional Pub of the Year<br />
• Our pubs and club of the year awards<br />
• The Beer & Cider Festival Local Beers of<br />
the Festival awards (category winners and<br />
Overall Gold, Silver & Bronze)<br />
• Special Awards for outstanding contributions<br />
Thursday 21 September is the date for your<br />
diary. We’ll be gathering about 8pm with the<br />
presentations from about 8.30pm. Entry is free so<br />
this is a great chance to come and meet the brewers<br />
and publicans that do so much to enrich our lives.<br />
ASCOT BEER FESTIVAL<br />
Watch out for the latest Ascot Beer Festival,<br />
this year being held on Friday 6 and Saturday 7<br />
October. It’s organised every year by our friends<br />
at Berkshire South East CAMRA at the famous<br />
Ascot Racecourse, just a short train ride from<br />
Reading. Once again this year there will be around<br />
200 different real ales and over 30 real ciders and<br />
perries to choose from.<br />
As well as a fabulous selection of drinks, the<br />
festival will also offer some top class flat racing
and the chance to have a flutter if you fancy, plus<br />
live music. Entry tickets are now on sale with 50%<br />
off for CAMRA members who use a discount<br />
code, and remember that this is a token-based<br />
festival so you also have to buy beer vouchers<br />
before you can enjoy your beer – they’re available<br />
on the day or in advance.<br />
There’s no dress code for the part of the Grandstand<br />
where the festival’s held, although the course does<br />
encourage all visitors to dress smartly. Of course<br />
if you buy one of the many premier admission<br />
packages that require you to dress up, you can still<br />
visit the beer festival and many people do.<br />
See ascotbeerfest.org.uk for more details of<br />
the festival including how to buy tickets and,<br />
importantly, how to volunteer to work.<br />
SKINNERS WIN BEST<br />
VEGETARIAN BEER<br />
Five of Skinners core range of bottled beers have<br />
been recognised as vegetarian and vegan friendly.<br />
With the exception of Hops ’n’ Honey and Penny<br />
Come Quick, all of their bottled ales are vegan<br />
and vegetarian. Lushingtons is now also available<br />
kegged, which is also vegan and vegetarian.<br />
POLITICS<br />
The latest general election saw some changes that<br />
will affect the beer and pub industry. Chair of the<br />
British Pub Confederation Liberal Democrat MP<br />
Greg Mulholland lost his Leeds North West seat,<br />
losing out to Labour’s Alex Sobel by 4,224 votes.<br />
Conservative MP Andrew Percy, who was pubs<br />
minister before the election, kept his Brigg and<br />
Goole seat with 60% of the vote, but was replaced<br />
in the subsequent reshuffle by Jake Berry, MP for<br />
Rossendale and Darwen.<br />
Berry said that he would ensure the pub sector was<br />
given his attention, despite it being only a small<br />
part of a wider suite of responsibilities. The British<br />
Beer and Pub Association welcomed Berry’s<br />
appointment, which is often a bad sign as far as<br />
drinkers are concerned.<br />
IMAGE BY SKINNERS BREWERY<br />
Skinners Brewery from Truro, Cornwall, have<br />
seen their Lushingtons bottled beer crowned as<br />
Best Vegetarian Beer at the Veggie Awards 2017.<br />
The judging panel included leading figures of the<br />
vegetarian community; best-selling cookbook<br />
authors of The Happy Pear, author Rose Elliot of<br />
New Complete Vegetarian and lifestyle blogger<br />
and author Niomi Smart.<br />
Founder Steve Skinner said:<br />
“We’ve worked in accordance with the guidelines<br />
of the Vegan Society to ensure all of our ales pass<br />
their guidelines and we are delighted this work has<br />
paid off with an award for a delicious beer!”<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
18<br />
WYCOMBE HASH HOUSE<br />
HARRIERS<br />
While Team GB may not have set the place alight<br />
in the recent Athletics World Championships,<br />
a group from Wycombe have been enjoying a<br />
combination of running and pubs. High Wycombe<br />
Hash House Harriers (HWH3) is a running<br />
group with the motto “Runners with a Drinking<br />
Problem” who meet every Tuesday at any pub<br />
within a 10-mile radius of High Wycombe. This<br />
sees them venture regularly into Oxfordshire,<br />
Berkshire, and occasionally beyond, as well as<br />
their home county of Bucks.<br />
A number of them are CAMRA members and are<br />
keen to promote good pubs serving good beer.<br />
There’s a review section on their website hwh3.<br />
co.uk/pubs and they’d welcome any feedback<br />
on how to improve it and make it better for a<br />
wider audience. They also have their own Pub<br />
of the Year competition, as voted for by HWH3<br />
members. Winners have included the Wheel<br />
at Naphill in 2016, and the Royal Standard at<br />
Wooburn Common in 2015.
32 Supporting Real Ale, Real Cider & Real Pubs in East Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire www.swm.camra.org.uk
A GOLDEN WONDER<br />
FRESH MIX OF HOPS FOR A DELICIOUS ALE<br />
RICH RUBY ALE<br />
SMOOTH AND MALTY WITH A FULL BODY<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong>
A New Kind of Beer Festival<br />
THE FIRST NATIONAL BEER FESTIVAL DEDICATED TO<br />
BEER FROM WOODEN CASKS<br />
BEER FROM THE WOOD<br />
HOOK NORTON HAYMAKER – BEER OF THE<br />
FESTIVAL<br />
You might wonder why it has taken the Society<br />
for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood<br />
(SPBW) 54 years to run its own beer festival.<br />
After all CAMRA, formed in 1971, held its first<br />
Great British Beer Festival in 1977, or 1975 if you<br />
count Covent Garden. The reason is mainly that<br />
after the advent and greater success of CAMRA,<br />
SPBW faded into the background, was happy to<br />
accept that real ale was fine in a metal as well as a<br />
wooden barrel (keeping the name for the sake of<br />
tradition) and largely reinvented itself as a social<br />
club. I have been informed that at one stage it<br />
even passed a motion that it would not hold a beer<br />
festival!<br />
In recent years, however, things have changed.<br />
There has been a revival of interest in beer from<br />
the wood (BFTW), especially north of the Wash,<br />
and several new branches have begun to campaign<br />
much more actively for BFTW, not least the North-<br />
East branch, headed by Rob Shacklock.<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
21<br />
This revival has been enthusiastically greeted by<br />
some CAMRA notables, particularly Roger Protz,<br />
and in the Rugby League stronghold of Castleford,<br />
West Yorkshire, there is a pub called the Junction<br />
(‘Junkie’ for short) that serves real ale only from<br />
the wood.<br />
The first national Woodfest of BFTW duly took<br />
place in the first week in July in Castleford in a<br />
derelict pub that has been acquired by the ‘Junkie’<br />
landlord, Neil Midgley, and proved to be an ideal<br />
location for a first, relatively small-scale event. A<br />
committee under Rob Shacklock organised the<br />
festival and the undersigned played a small part in<br />
helping run the tombola as well as stimulating new<br />
memberships and branches. Dignitaries present<br />
included Vivian Bairstow, past Master of the<br />
Worshipful Company of Coopers, Alastair Simms,<br />
Master Cooper and, replete in his chain of office,<br />
the Mayor of Wakefield. CAMRA and SPBW<br />
branches from far and wide attended, including a<br />
party from the Chesapeake Bay branch across the<br />
pond.<br />
Beers from nearly 40 breweries were on offer<br />
and these competed for the coveted award of<br />
Champion beer from the wood. The judges who<br />
included Roger Protz, as well as the Chairman of<br />
SPBW, Patrick Deller, seemed to take a long time<br />
reaching their decision (can you blame them?) but<br />
eventually a winner emerged and it was a pleasant<br />
surprise to find that it came from a well-established<br />
brewery south of the Wash – Haymaker from<br />
Hook Norton. This was awarded Gold while Silver<br />
went to Moonbeam from Half Moon and Bronze<br />
to Elland’s Beyond the Pale, both these Yorkshire<br />
breweries. As well as the overall winners, winners<br />
of the various categories comprised Box Social<br />
(porter), York (stout), Tigertops (strong dark)
and Monty’s Brewery (IPA). The beer range also<br />
included several brews from across the Irish Sea,<br />
both north and south.<br />
Following this initial success, Woodfest will be<br />
moving to the Tyne in 2018 but thereafter we hope<br />
that the festival will move south.<br />
John Dearing<br />
John is a former chairman of Reading CAMRA.<br />
He heads the local branch of SPBW (Common<br />
& Aldbrickham) and is also the Society’s Branch<br />
Liaison Officer.<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
22
New Wharf Brewing Company<br />
Kevin has a long pedigree in home brewing and<br />
was the winner of the 2016 Welsh Homebrew<br />
Competition. The 20 barrel (5,760 pint) plant is<br />
large for a new brewery and the list of planned<br />
beers is equally ambitious, including an American<br />
Pale Ale, an American Amber, a Breakfast Stout, a<br />
Double IPA, an American IPA, a Kölsch, a Mango<br />
and raspberry Berliner Weisse and an American<br />
Cream Ale with vanilla.<br />
New Wharf Brewing Company is a new brewery<br />
based in Maidenhead and due to open in early<br />
September. Kevin Black from Burghfield (pictured)<br />
is the head brewer and intends to develop and<br />
create a full range of beer that will be available<br />
in cask, keykeg and bottle format. All beers will<br />
be unfined.<br />
Contact details: kevin@newwharfbrewing.co.uk /<br />
07815 717251 / @NewWharfBrewing<br />
2 Broad Street Reading, RG1 2BH<br />
01189 508119<br />
thealehousereading.co.uk<br />
enquiries@thealehousereading.co.uk<br />
3 West Berkshire Ales<br />
6 Guest Ales<br />
German & Belgian Beers<br />
Real Cider, Perry and Mead<br />
Local CAMRA Pub of the<br />
Year 2014 Runner Up<br />
Local CAMRA Cider<br />
Pub of the Year 2013 & 2014<br />
A Community pub in the<br />
heart of Reading <br />
Follow us on twitter<br />
@AlehouseReading<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
23
A.I. is too important<br />
to be left in the hands<br />
of machines.<br />
TRADITIONAL<br />
BEST<br />
BITtERS,<br />
WARMERS<br />
SUMPTUOUS STOUTS,<br />
WINTER<br />
AND SUMmER<br />
REFRESHERS<br />
The A.I. we’re referring to isn’t Artificial<br />
Intelligence, it’s Ale Intelligence, of course.<br />
We’re not technophobes, we just don’t trust<br />
anything incapable of smelling, feeling or<br />
tasting to create something as delicately<br />
balanced as Landlord. That’s why we have<br />
five hands-on, Heriot-Watt trained brewers<br />
involved in every step of the process,<br />
from barley delivery to filling the casks.<br />
This way, we can make sure that every sip of<br />
Taylor’s is as delicious as humanly possible.<br />
Machines may one day take over the world, just<br />
be thankful you won’t be around to drink their<br />
terrible beer.<br />
All for that taste of Taylor’s<br />
Visit our brewery and distillery<br />
or buy at ramsbury.com<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
24
From the Archives<br />
Long before Mine’s a <strong>Pint</strong> existed, we had the<br />
Thames Valley Drinker magazine. This extract<br />
from an issue in 1984 illustrates just how prices<br />
have changed in the last three decades, with a<br />
pint available then for a little as 59p and no beer<br />
costing more than a pound.<br />
The reasons for price increases sound depressingly<br />
familiar, though.<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
25
The Further History of Lager<br />
in the UK<br />
Perhaps the oldest UK<br />
brewery to have attempted<br />
to produce a genuine lager<br />
was Mackesons, of Milk<br />
Stout fame, which brewed<br />
at Hythe in Kent between<br />
1669 and 1968 and is<br />
known to have produced<br />
an ‘Anglo-Lager Ale’, an<br />
English beer ‘brewed on the<br />
German principle’. It was<br />
also claimed to be ‘light<br />
and an excellent tonic’ and<br />
was presumably current prior to 1929 when the<br />
concern was initially taken over by H G Simonds<br />
of Reading, before being sold on to Jude, Hanbury<br />
& Co. Ltd., of Wateringbury, Kent, nine years<br />
later.<br />
The same, somewhat strange, epithet of ‘Anglo-<br />
Lager’ was also used to promote a Dinner Ale<br />
brewed by the Friary, Holroyd & Healy Breweries<br />
Ltd. in Guildford, Surrey, but how close to an<br />
actual lager style this was is pure conjecture. More<br />
reliably, in 1896, the concern of A F Perkins &<br />
Co. Ltd. in Southsea, Hampshire, was registered<br />
specifically as a lager brewery. Having started<br />
life as Henry Bradshaw’s Hyde Park Brewery, it<br />
was occupied by John & Arthur Brickwood (the<br />
noted Portsmouth brewers) between 1880 and<br />
1887 but, by the end of the 19th century, was in<br />
voluntary liquidation before the company was<br />
finally dissolved in July 1908.<br />
In London, along Point Pleasant, Wandsworth, the<br />
Union Brewery was built as a ‘26 quarter’ (i.e. 208<br />
bushels of malt) steam facility by Langton & Sons<br />
in 1866 but passed through a number of other<br />
brewers during the 1890s before the last expired<br />
due to bankruptcy in 1900. Then, in December<br />
1902, the Holsten Brewery Ltd. was registered<br />
at the same site which had a controlling interest<br />
PAUL DABROWSKI BRINGS US THE LATEST<br />
CHAPTER IN HIS HISTORY OF LAGER BREWING IN<br />
THE UK<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
26<br />
by the Holsten Brauerei of Hamburg for the first<br />
year or so of its existence before finally going into<br />
voluntary liquidation in 1920. It is inconceivable<br />
that a subsidiary brewery sharing its name with<br />
an infamous German sponsor would not have<br />
produced a true lager but, rather than attempt to<br />
brew its own, the nearby Young & Cos. Brewery<br />
Ltd. introduced a genuine imported lager, the<br />
German St. Pauli (also from Hamburg), to its pubs<br />
in 1907 up until the First World War.<br />
In March 1899, Liverpool had also got in on<br />
the act with the British Lager Brewery Co. Ltd.,<br />
being registered. However, just short of a 4-year<br />
existence, it was wound up at the end of 1902.<br />
Although Walker Cain Ltd. of nearby Warrington,<br />
founded 1864, constructed a Clarence Street<br />
Brewery in Burton-on-Trent in 1883, when Peter<br />
Walker & Sons (Warrington & Burton) Ltd. was<br />
registered in 1889, it occupied two other breweries<br />
in that famous brewing town where lager was<br />
known to have been produced. Whilst the Midland<br />
Brewery was only used between 1890 and 1895,<br />
the Shobnall Brewery lasted from that company’s<br />
inception until 1923 when lager brewing ceased<br />
with its sale to English Grains Ltd. Peter Walker<br />
relinquished the last of its three Burton operations<br />
just two years later with the sale of its original<br />
Clarence Street premises to Atkinson’s Brewery<br />
Ltd.<br />
Amongst the many notable pubs in Scotland’s<br />
capital city is Bennet’s Bar which has, arguably, the<br />
second finest internal features of any after the Café<br />
Royal. Amazingly, one of the magnificent double<br />
entrance doorways still exhibits an intact pair<br />
of stained glass panels depicting flip-top bottles<br />
for ‘Jeffrey’s Lager’. This was brewed by John<br />
Jeffrey & Co., Heriot Brewery, Edinburgh (1837-<br />
1960). Jeffreys was subsumed by a new company,<br />
Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd., formed<br />
in 1959 to amalgamate their operations with those
of Hammond’s United Breweries Ltd., Bradford,<br />
and those of the Hope & Anchor Breweries Ltd.,<br />
Sheffield, who, of course, a little over a decade<br />
earlier had usurped their own lager with Carling<br />
Black Label. Largely instigated by Carling’s<br />
brewery magnate owner, E P Taylor, this merger<br />
was cynically intended to widen the market for his<br />
Canadian lager beyond the 150 pubs that H&A<br />
controlled.<br />
Bennet’s Bar, at 8, Leven Street, Tolcross,<br />
Edinburgh, dating from 1891 but refitted fifteen<br />
years later, is Scottish Grade B (equivalent to<br />
between Grade II & II* in England & Wales)<br />
listed and is also on CAMRA’s National Inventory<br />
of Historic Pub Interiors. A pair of glazed doors to<br />
the extant ‘Bottle & Jug’ has similar panels for ‘W<br />
& J Jenkinson’s Bottled Beers & Aerated Waters,<br />
Leith’, a brewery of which little is known. Equally<br />
obscure was The Glasgow Lager Brewery of the<br />
1890s but this may have been a tradename of<br />
Tennent’s Well Park brewery included when that<br />
was registered as a Company in 1890. Similarly,<br />
George Younger & Co. of Alloa (closed 1960 and<br />
not to be confused with William Younger & Co.<br />
of Edinburgh) was also known to have produced<br />
a lager during the latter quarter of its illustrious<br />
215-year existence.<br />
Around 1900, there may have been slightly more<br />
than one hundred essentially small lager producers<br />
in the UK but this was set to wane and wax<br />
dramatically in the century and more that followed.<br />
Notwithstanding this, amongst the various turnof-the-century<br />
London lager outlets, one that<br />
survived the aftermath of The Great War was a<br />
famous delicatessen called Appenradts. At the top<br />
of Haymarket, across the road from the part-music<br />
hall that was the London Pavilion – where, apart<br />
from Spatenbräu, a dunkel Löwenbräu was served<br />
– Appenradts thrived in the early years of the 20th<br />
century and offered a splendid continental lager<br />
amongst other delicacies. After being taken over<br />
by an English firm, things were never quite the<br />
same there in the inter-war years.<br />
wagons, branded ‘Graham’s Golden Lager’, from<br />
Scotland to both Burton, for bottling for the home<br />
market, and to various victuallers, such as C G<br />
Hibbert, at Southampton Docks who bottled the<br />
premium liquid refreshment in bonded stores for<br />
loading onto ocean-going Cunard liners there.<br />
Allsopp’s also contributed its own products to this<br />
considerable luxury trade which was perpetuated<br />
from Burton up until the 1960s.<br />
At Kells, Co. Meath, Eire, the Regal Lager Brewery<br />
had been founded in 1937. A private company, it<br />
was registered in 1947 but closed just seven years<br />
later.<br />
Then, in 1956, when brewing ceased at the G H<br />
Lett & Co. Ltd., Millpark Brewery, Enniscorthy,<br />
Co. Wexford, Eire, almost the reverse to all the<br />
foregoing happened. The Pelforth Brewery in Lille,<br />
France, acquired the rights to continue to brew<br />
Lett’s Ales, previously crafted at the only Irish<br />
brewery to have adopted the (specialist pale ale)<br />
Burton Union system!<br />
In contrast, Barclay, Perkins & Co. Ltd.,<br />
Southwark, produced a ‘London Lager’<br />
throughout most of the 20th Century (from 1922)<br />
and, latterly, in both light and dark versions (in<br />
common with Allsopp’s) mainly for export, with<br />
bottles still being hand-labelled until its 1955<br />
takeover by Courage & Co. Ltd., through to the<br />
1980s.<br />
Paul Dabrowski<br />
with acknowledgements to: CAMRA, 1983 & 1984<br />
Good Beer Guides; Peter Haydon, Beer & Britannia;<br />
Where Have All the Breweries Gone?, Norman Barber,<br />
Brewery History Society<br />
CAMAL (The Campaign for Authentic Lager) may be of<br />
interest. Please visit www.camal.org.uk for more details.<br />
Next time Paul brings the story up to date with the<br />
emergence of micro-breweries and artisinal, ‘craft’ lager.<br />
During the wartime interregnum of that century,<br />
anti-German sentiment was predominantly<br />
assuaged by the promotion of Danish-brewed<br />
Tuborg lager, seemingly the only foreign brew to be<br />
advertised in the UK. But, six years after Allsopp’s<br />
Lager had been transferred from Burton to Alloa,<br />
Arroll’s developed ‘Graham’s Golden Lager’ in<br />
1927 from which Sköl was ultimately derived in<br />
the 1950s. Bulk beer was despatched in rail tank<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
27
Join CAMRA… then what?<br />
So you’re now a CAMRA member – a member<br />
of the largest and most successful single-issue<br />
consumer group in the country. Welcome!<br />
• Around 40 new members joined CAMRA<br />
at this year’s Reading Beer and Cider<br />
Festival.<br />
• Since the start of this year almost 80<br />
people have joined the Reading & Mid<br />
Berkshire branch of CAMRA.<br />
Fewer than 5% of CAMRA members are<br />
actively involved in the campaign, so please do<br />
your bit! Remember, every little helps.<br />
Phil Gill<br />
Adapted with permission from an original article<br />
by Lyn Sharpe of Potteries Branch. Lyn is CAMRA<br />
Campaigner of the Year 2017.<br />
By now you will have received your pack<br />
containing your membership card and<br />
Wetherspoon vouchers. Now it’s time to think<br />
on, not just about the financial benefits to you<br />
but what you can do to help the campaign.<br />
Here are just a few examples.<br />
• Remain a member and move to direct debit<br />
if you’re not already on it. Subscription<br />
income is vital to the success of the<br />
campaign.<br />
• Promote real ale. CAMRA has over<br />
188,000 members who, by talking<br />
enthusiastically to friends, family and<br />
colleagues, can encourage them to discover<br />
the delights of real ale, cider and perry.<br />
• Recruit a new member. The larger our<br />
membership, the more “clout” we have,<br />
so let’s try to get to 190,000 and beyond.<br />
• Score the beer you drink using CAMRA’s<br />
website WhatPub (whatpub.com). Your<br />
data makes the Good Beer Guide better<br />
and helps decide our Pub of the Year<br />
award.<br />
• Update the survey details for your local on<br />
WhatPub – having accurate and up to date<br />
information helps to better promote pubs.<br />
• Attend a meeting or a social. We’re a<br />
friendly bunch – see page 3 for what’s<br />
going on, and remember you can always<br />
join us for a beer somewhere on the First<br />
Thursday of the Month.<br />
• Volunteer for the Reading Beer and Cider<br />
Festival next year, or another local festival<br />
like Ascot. It’s fun and addictive!<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong><br />
28
Join up, join in,<br />
join the campaign<br />
From<br />
as little as<br />
£25 *<br />
a year. That’s less<br />
than a pint a<br />
month!<br />
Discover<br />
why we joined.<br />
camra.org.uk/<br />
members<br />
Join us, and together we can protect the traditions of great<br />
British pubs and everything that goes with them.<br />
Become part of the CAMRA community today – enjoy<br />
discounted entry to beer festivals and exclusive member<br />
offers. Learn about brewing and beer and join like-minded<br />
people supporting our campaigns to save pubs, clubs,<br />
your pint and more.<br />
Join the campaign today at<br />
www.camra.org.uk/joinup<br />
*Price for paying by Direct Debit and correct at April 2017. Concessionary rates available.<br />
Please visit camra.org.uk/membership-rates<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong>
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong>
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong>
Day<br />
Session<br />
12-5<br />
Live Music & Street Food, including Bavarian bratwurst<br />
Saturday 23rd September 2017<br />
per session and include a free pint & a stein<br />
(both sessions can be purchased if required)<br />
£10<br />
For more info and to book call<br />
Evening<br />
Session<br />
6-11<br />
or book online at WBBREW.COM<br />
Mine’s A <strong>Pint</strong>