THE MAGAZINE FOR READING AND MID
BERKSHIRE BRANCH OF THE CAMPAIGN
FOR REAL ALE
IN THIS ISSUE...
PUB & BREWERY NEWS
CAMRA GALA PRESENTATIONS
SMALL BEER
HISTORY OF LAGER IN THE UK
WORLD CUP OF PUBS
& MORE...
FREE
A DRINK FOR ALL SEASONS
ISSUE FORTY SEVEN AUTUMN 2018
FREE - PLEASE TAKE A COPY
Shop and Taproom
Opening Hours
Shop Open Daily:
10am to 6pm
Taproom Open Daily:
10am to 6pm,
Weds - Sat until 11pm
Kitchen Open:
Tues - Sun 12pm to 3pm,
Weds - Sat 6pm to 9pm
Phone: 01635 767090
Email: info@wbbrew.co.uk
wbbtaproom
Available for private tours
Please call 01635 767090 or
Email: taproomandkitchen@wbbrew.co.uk
West Berkshire Brewery Shop, Taproom & Kitchen.
The Old Dairy, Yattendon, Berkshire, RG18 0XT
Branch Diary
All meetings and social events are relaxed and friendly.
Non-members are welcome to all events except branch
meetings. Please check the website before setting out in case
of any last-minute changes.
September
THURS 6: (20:00) First Thursday of the Month Social. Hop
Leaf, 163-165 Southampton Street, Reading, RG1 2QZ.
TUES 11: (20:00) Gala Awards Evening. Park House,
Whiteknights Campus, Reading, RG6 6UR. Note that bar is
cashless.
SAT 15: (10:25) No. 127 Bus Pub Crawl. Bus at 10:25 from
Reading, Friar Street (stop FC) to Shire Horse, Bath Road,
Littlewick Green SL6 3QA. Then bus to Knowl Hill, lunch
at Royal Oak, followed by other pubs on A4 and then bus
to Twyford. Return to Reading on 16:55 from Twyford
Crossroads, arrive Friar Street 17:27. Bus ticket Courtney
Network All Zones ticket (£6.50).
TUES 18: (20:00) Branch meeting. Castle Tap, 120 Castle
Street, Reading, RG1 7RJ. CAMRA members only, please.
October
THURS 4: (20:00) First Thursday of the Month Social. Nags
Head, 5 Russell Street, Reading, RG1 7XD.
TUES 16: (20:00) Branch meeting. Park House, Whiteknights
Campus, Reading, RG6 6UR. CAMRA members only, please.
Note that bar is cashless.
November
THURS 1: (20:00) First Thursday of the Month Social.
Details TBC.
SAT 24: (13:30) Branch AGM. Griffin, 10/12 Church Road,
Caversham, RG4 7AD (upstairs). CAMRA members only,
please.
December
THURS 6: (20:00) First Thursday of the Month Social.
Details TBC.
This is a guide only and Reading & Mid Berkshire CAMRA cannot be
held responsible for any loss due to the alteration or cancellation of
any of these events.
See www.readingcamra.org.uk for more details of events.
Mine’s A Pint
3
Contact Us
Useful contact details for this
magazine, CAMRA and other
important things…
Mine’s a Pint Circulation: 3,000.
Outlets: Over 70 across the region.
Editor: Phil Gill
editor@readingcamra.org.uk
0771 455 0293
81 Addison Road, Reading, RG1 8EG
Magazine published on behalf of
Reading and Mid Berkshire CAMRA
by:
Neil Richards MBE at Matelot
Marketing
01536 358670 / 07710 281381
n.richards@btinternet.com
Printed by CKN Print Ltd, 2 North
Portway Close, Round Spinney,
Northampton, NN3 8RQ
01604 645555
Reading & Mid Berkshire CAMRA
www.readingcamra.org.uk
Social Secretary: Chris Hinton
social@readingcamra.org.uk
Contact for all other branch matters:
Katrina Fletcher
contact@readingcamra.org.uk
0779 401 9437
Local Trading Standards
Reading Borough Council:
citizensadvice.org.uk / 03454 040506
West Berkshire Council:
tsadvice@westberks.gov.uk / 03454
040506
Royal Borough of Windsor &
Maidenhead:
citizensadvice.org.uk / 03454 040506
Wokingham Borough Council:
tsadvice@westberks.gov.uk / 03454
040506
The next issue of Mine’s a Pint will be
published in early December. Please
feel free to submit any copy or ideas
by 1 st November.
The opinions expressed in Mine’s a Pint
are not necessarily those of the editor or
the Campaign for Real Ale. © Campaign
for Real Ale 2018.
great beers from
oxfordshire since 2003
visit
us online
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Mine’s A Pint
Mine’s A Pint
5
From The Editor
I’m writing this in the middle of a heatwave so,
by rights, it should be cold and raining when
you read it! Luckily real ale, cider and perry
are the natural drinks for all weathers – cool
and refreshing in the sunshine, yet cheery and
comforting when it’s colder.
As the long hot summer slips away though,
our thoughts turn to our great local pubs and
breweries and celebrating what they do for us.
Reading CAMRA’s Gala Awards Evening in
September is a great way to say thank you to
those in the industry that have helped us in the
last twelve months, and everyone is welcome
to attend. There’s more information about the
event in the feature in this issue, so put Tuesday
11th of September in your diary and get down
to Park House at the University to help us
celebrate.
Berkshire breweries must be doing something
right, as it’s the second time in three years that
a local brewery has won CAMRA’s Champion
Beer of Britain accolade. Following Binghams’
win in 2016 with their Vanilla Stout, this year
it was Siren Craft that came out on top in the
prestigious contest with their Broken Dream
Breakfast Stout. Berkshire certainly has a rich
brewing tradition but it’s amazing to get such
recognition at a national level.
How about being a champion for your local
pub? There are something like 150 real ale pubs
in our branch area and we can’t get to them all,
however much we’d like to try! So if you want
to let us know any news or info about your
local, contact us on contact@readingcamra.
org.uk or send us comments through WhatPub
on whatpub.com. If you could help deliver this
magazine to a pub or pubs near where you
live, that would also be great and we’d be very
happy to hear from you.
Have a pint at the same time and the publicans
will be very happy to see you too. Cheers!
Phil Gill
Editor
Contents
BRANCH DIARY 3
FROM THE EDITOR 5
PUB & BREWERY NEWS 6-13
SMALL BEER 14-17
JOIN CAMRA 18
CAMRA GALA PRESENTATION 19
BEHIND THE BAR 20
WORLD CUP OF PUBS 21-22
PUBS IN WORLD WAR 1 23
FURTHER HISTORY OF LAGER IN THE UK 24-26
BAMBERG 27-29
GDPR ADVERT 30
Pub & Brewery News
Pub News
CAVERSHAM
The RED COW on Star Road has unexpectedly
reopened. On an initial visit only keg
Boddingtons and Guinness were available,
together with some bottles including Black
Sheep. The landlord is reportedly looking
into getting some handpumps installed but we
have no further news about that. Star Road
was actually named after another pub, the
Star, which stood at the northern end by the
mini roundabout. It’s now a Co-Op, fulfilling
community needs of a different kind.
Hopfest 3 at the FOX AND HOUNDS in
Gosbrook Road was a great success. Starting
with a tap takeover by Siren Craft, it was a
four day party featuring food, music and loads
of lovely beers including Cloudwater, Wylam,
Deya, Double-Barrelled and many more.
MORTIMER
The TURNERS ARMS has been reported to
be open only sporadically. We’re told it’s often
closed by 9pm, not open at all on Sunday
evenings and keeping erratic hours on other
days. If you have any other news or feedback
on this pub then we’d like to hear it, so please
get in touch.
READING
for the bar called Purple TurtAle, and other
beers from the same brewery have also featured
in this iconic venue. At over 25 years old the
Turtle is one of Reading’s longest running
independent bars and is famous for offering
a wide choice of music events as well as very
late opening! And as we found out last year,
for being the destination of choice for people
who’ve just been hit by a bus (youtube.com/
watch?v=b2i4C1bG-8w).
The university bar on Redlands Road – once
the Cotton Club, now DAIRY – has taken out
its cask beers. They were due to be replaced by
a font of five craft keg beers – two regulars and
three changing. The manager we spoke to didn’t
know whether any would be real ale keykeg
beers. In common with other university bars,
this one has also gone cashless i.e. payment is
by card only.
PAVLOV’S DOG on St Mary’s Butts has
launched a new menu that includes a range of
vegan dishes as well as new burgers. There’s
a Burger of the Month as well as daily deals
including Tuesday pancake day and Wing
Wednesdays.
A planning application to demolish the RED
LION in Southampton Street and replace it
with flats has been withdrawn.
The PURPLE TURTLE
on Gun Street now has
a house beer and it’s a
LocAle! Maidenhead
brewery New Wharf
has produced a 5%
ABV hoppy, golden ale
Mine’s A Pint
6
Fullers have bought the BEL & THE
DRAGON chain. It’s made up of six properties
across Berkshire and Surrey including the bar
and restaurant in Gas Works Road, on the
Kennet. Presumably this will mean the local
breweries that have featured on the bar will
be replaced by Fullers brands, so expect to see
London Pride, Gales and Dark Star making an
appearance.
The LYNDHURST on Watlington Street has
been rebranded as a bar and kitchen, with a
more upmarket “casual fine dining” food offer
to try and compete with town centre chain
restaurants. It’s now only open Wednesday to
Sunday with a set lunch from noon to 6pm
and an a la carte evening offer. Sandwiches and
Ploughman’s boards will also be served during
the day. Landlord and chef Kris Dorward is
aiming to serve food that customers can’t make
at home. Local suppliers like the Grumpy
Goat (cheese), Dudman’s (fruit and veg) and
Tilehurst Village Butchers will feature.
The regular Autumn beer festival returns to
the CASTLE TAP on Castle Street. Opening at
6pm on Thursday 20 th September and running
till 11pm on Sunday 23 rd . Expect stillage and
a bar in the back room, interesting casks and
kegs plus extra cider. Also featuring a quiz,
live music and food, although possibly not all
at once. Other events coming up include the
Halloween party on Saturday 27 th October
– this year’s theme is Fur & Fangs – and the
Travelling Talesman will be telling stories of
werewolves and other things that go bite in the
night on Wednesday 31 st October.
The 3Bs is set to make a reappearance as part
of refurbishment works to the Town Hall.
We expect it to reopen with a new look this
autumn, although there are no details about
whether real ale – or even any ale at all – will
feature. The cafe bar closed in 2011 and has
been open only occasionally for special events
since, including in April 2016 when BBC
Radio Berkshire hosted an evening to celebrate
the local brewing family Simonds. Raymond
Simonds has compiled a fascinating archive of
information about the history and times of H.
& G. Simonds Ltd. Brewery, which you can see
if you visit simondsfamily.me.uk.
There’s an intriguing planning application
for the old Lloyds Bank building in Market
Place. The proposal is to change the use of the
ground floor to a food hall with bars, the first
and second floors to be a hotel and the third
floor to provide a rooftop bar. The application
describes it in more detail:
“The intention is to create a permanent internal
food market with a modern twist. The venue
will feature a permanent, artisanal bakery, café,
and pizza stall (all one stall), plus three further
stalls that will rotate regularly to allow an everchanging
range of Streetfood-style food offers
… There will be a main bar featuring a range
of independent cask and craft beers, a carefully
curated wine list, a wide range of premium
spirits and cocktails, and healthy smoothies
and juices. In addition, there will be a second
satellite bar that can be changed and which will
be focussed on a particular product (e.g. gin bar
or cocktail bar) … The rear of the ground floor
will see the former bank vault transformed into
a secret garden with a retractable roof, a small
Mine’s A Pint
7
open area for al-fresco drinks and dining …
Within the small third floor level it is proposed
to create an intimate cocktail bar, opening out
onto an external roof terrace which is furnished
with seating booths.”
Taylor’s Champion Club. The brewery awards
Champion Club status to their loyal, permanent
stockists who continue to go the extra mile it
takes to serve their beer in perfect condition.
At the time of writing the application had not
been determined.
Meanwhile a separate application to develop a
container market to the south of Broad Street
Mall, which would have featured a rooftop
bar, has been refused. One reason was that
the Council believed it would increase crime,
or the perception of crime. The area still seems
to be suffering from the reputation of Eva’s
nightclub, which closed down last year after
a series of major incidents, drug problems and
breaches of its licensing conditions.
Further news on the LOWER SHIP in Duke
Street, which we featured in the last issue as
having been closed since the 1980s. We noticed
over the summer that the hoardings had been
brought out to the edge of the pavement, which
we assume is an attempt to stop homeless
people sleeping there. So the owners Samuel
Smiths Brewery from Yorkshire do seem to be
keeping an eye on the place, which makes it
even more puzzling why they’ve kept it closed
for 30 years.
SHINFIELD
Nigel Lamb has left the BELL AND BOTTLE
and moved to Bournemouth for family care
responsibilities. At the time of writing we didn’t
know who would be taking over the pub but
we hope they continue to build on the good
reputation that Nigel, and before him Mark
and Chrissie East, had build up for real ale.
THREE MILE CROSS
The SWAN is a member of the Timothy
Two Timothy Taylor ales are usually stocked
at the Swan – the well-known Landlord and
the more rarely seen Boltmaker – alongside
offerings from four other breweries. The
BUTLER in Reading is also a member of the
Champion Club.
TWYFORD
The GOLDEN CROSS in Station Road sells
Upham beers – and normally only Upham beers
– the only such pub in our branch area. Carl,
the licensee, has told us that he’s negotiated
a deal with Upham to produce a unique (not
rebadged) beer for his pub. It will be a short
run brew to be sold for about two months
and called Umpire’s Finger. The cricket link is
because of the pub’s sponsorship of Twyford &
Ruscombe Cricket Club. It will be followed by
another special, the details of which are yet to
be decided.
Mine’s A Pint
8
WOODLEY
The BULL & CHEQUERS in Church Road is a
Greene King pub, but can order from SIBA (the
Society of Independent Brewers). The person
who orders the beers tells us that he rotates
his third handpump with local breweries –
Andwell, Loddon and Rebellion. On a visit
over the summer the guest beer was Andell’s
King John.
Mine’s A Pint
9
Mine’s A Pint
10
All images are courtesy of the breweries unless
otherwise stated.
BINGHAMS
Binghams have listened
to their customers
requesting they open a
little earlier on Saturdays
and so they are now
open 11am to 5pm
on Saturdays (was 12
to 6pm). Binghams
have responded to
comments from their
shop customers and so to
reduce the use of single
use plastics, they now have Stainless Steel 2 litre,
double walled growlers available in their brewery
shop. The first batch sold out very quickly but
a new batch is now in stock! The growlers are
double walled so help to keep your beer cool for
longer when you’re out and about. Just wash them
out by hand after drinking the beer and bring them
in for a refill - with a discount compared to the 2
litre plastic bottles!
The latest monthly special is RyePA, which is a
golden IPA with Rye malt and US hops. The
Ricochet special is an Oatmeal Pale which is
unfined, unfiltered and brewed with oats and
lactose for a creamy, smooth, hoppy pale ale.
BOND BREWS
The brewery celebrated its third birthday over
the summer with a beer festival. Music, food and
plenty of beer, including the World Cup special
Moore Beer (4.0% ABV), were on offer and the
event raised nearly £300 for Prostate Cancer UK.
CHILTERN
The Chiltern Brewery are extremely proud to have
picked up a number of awards at the recent SIBA
Midlands Independent Beer Awards, including a
gold medal for Bodger’s Barley Wine (8.5% ABV).
Available in 330ml bottles, this vegan beer is a
strong bottle conditioned barley wine described
as “heavenly nectar”. A golden chestnut ale
with citrus fruits, juicy malt and spicy hops, it’s
brewed with 100% pale Maris Otter malt and
large quantities of Fuggles and Goldings hops for
aroma.
Head Brewer, Tom Jenkinson, said on the day of
the awards that he was:
”Extremely proud that Bodger’s Barley Wine has
won gold at the SIBA awards, building on the
success of winning three stars at last year’s Great
Taste Awards. It is also great to see more awards
for two of our most popular beers, Monument
Gold & Beechwood Bitter, and we must thank all
of our loyal customers for their ongoing support
to make this possible.”
DOUBLE-BARRELLED
Luci and Mike have just moved into their new
unit on Stadium Way Industrial Estate and work
has begun on fitting out the brewery installations.
They’re looking at getting the first batches out
from the new site by the end of September. It’s
a move from the old 150 litre brew kit in their
garage to a new 2,500 litre kit (about 15 brewers’
barrels) with 4 fermenters, so you can hopefully
expect to see the beer popping up more regularly
from then onwards. The next step after that will
be to get some small pack cans available too.
They’ve also applied for planning and licensing
to open a tap room on Friday evening and
Saturdays so, if that’s approved, you’ll be able
to come and drink straight from the brewery –
in the end. So they relocated the office elsewhere
in the brewery and the new taproom has three
lines of Loddon cask, one line of experimental keg
– where the plan is to try some new ideas – and
bottles and ciders in the fridge. It’s the first stage
in an ongoing project to make the brewery into a
venue for events / parties / birthdays / weddings
etc., with a host of new events and open evenings
planned over the next few months.
THE NEW BREWERY UNIT – PLENTY OF
ROOM FOR EXPANSION!
hopefully by the end of the year. In advance of that
the plan is to provide tasting from the brewery,
tours and to offer take home beers to drink off
site. So lots of fingers crossed and hope for the
next few months ahead!
LODDON
The big news from Loddon is that they’ve had
the builders in! The old office and shop have
been transformed into a new tap room that was
launched at the end of July.
There are great, locally-roasted coffees to drink
in or take away, and the revamped shop has a
much bigger range of local products, from honey
to gin as well as beer. Work is due to start soon
on decking the outside area and it should be done
in time for the next appearance in Midsomer
Murders and the inevitable influx of tourists that
will come with it.
NEW WHARF
As mentioned elsewhere, Purple TurtAle, a 5%
ABV hoppy, unfiltered and unpasteurised beer is
being brewed especially for the Purple Turtle in
Reading. New Wharf have also become a sponsor
of Maidenhead Football Club and New Wharf
beer will be available in all of their bars.
REBELLION
The special beer for autumn on cask is planned to
be the simply-named Red, a 4.7% ABV warming,
autumnal red ale. Rich and malty with a balancing
bittersweet hop character, it’s available from
September to November.
In bottles, the autumn offering is 24 Carat (5.0%
ABV). New World hops dominate the character of
this golden beer and a blend of traditional, home
grown malted barley gives it an intense, tropical
aroma and a distinctive bittersweet flavour,
typical of a contemporary American Pale Ale. It’s
available in September and October.
Since opening the shop they’ve been delighted with
how popular it’s been, but it just proved too small
Mine’s A Pint
11
SIREN CRAFT
A huge congratulations to our friends at Siren
for winning CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain
Contest. In a blind tasting held at the Great British
Beer Festival, Broken Dream Breakfast Stout was
declared the Supreme Champion for 2018. This
6% ABV stout has a gentle touch of smoke, coffee
and chocolate. Now the problem comes of how to
brew enough of it to keep up with demand.
Mine’s A Pint
12
great drinking cities, Siren will be at the Bristol
Craft Beer Festival between 14-16 September, and
Craft Beer Calling at Wylam Brewery in Newcastle
between 18-20 October.
BROKEN DREAM AT THE GREAT BRITISH
BEER FESTIVAL. IMAGE COURTESY OF
GBBF (CAMRA): @GBBF
The brewers from Finchampstead continue the
innovation for which they have become renowned
with Spin Botany, a Gin and Tonic Gose (a
German style of slightly sour, slightly salty beer
with minimal bitterness) made in association with
the East London Liquor Company. Not only is it
infused with massive amounts of juniper for that
authentic gin experience, it’s also brewed without
hops which makes it a “gruit”. Technically it also
makes it an ale as opposed to a beer, but in the
UK that would confuse things too much so let’s
stick with the continental term! Initially on the
bar in keg form, the plan is to make Spin Botany
available in bottles too.
This summer the brewers have been busy keeping
hopheads supplied with a number of variations
of their flagship West Coast IPA, Sound Wave.
Normally 5.6% ABV, all the new versions
are all lower ABV Session IPAs, each with an
individual twist. The first was a standard Session
IPA, followed by the excellent Double Citra and
Milkshake. Double Simcoe, due for release in late
August, rounds out the list.
If you fancy a trip further afield to one of our
WEST BERKSHIRE
This year there’s not an Oktoberwest Beer
Festival at the brewery. Instead there’s a “Not
Oktoberwest” beer festival, and it’s on Saturday
22nd September between 12 – 10pm. Real ale,
other craft beers and gin are on offer, alongside live
music, street food and pizza. Confirmed breweries
and cider makers at the time of writing, alongside
West Berkshire Brewery, were Buxton, Burnt Mill,
Wild Card, Pohjala, Sandford Orchards and Tutts
Clump, with more to be announced. Visit wbbrew.
com for more details and tickets.
WINDSOR & ETON
Knight of the Garter won bronze in the Golden
Ales category of Champion Beer of Britain. At
3.8% ABV this is a straw coloured golden session
ale with Amarillo as the lead hop. An initial hit of
cut grapefruit zest gives way to a deliciously sharp
sherbet finish.
XT / ANIMAL
Hop Cat, the 3.9% ABV hoppy beer that we
featured a couple of issues ago, has had to be
renamed Hop Kitty following a legal battle with
a bar company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
who claim worldwide ownership of the name. The
beer itself remains the same and has been joined
by two stronger limited edition versions: the street
fighting alley cat Bad Kitty at 5.9% and the utterly
feral Evil Kitty, which is 7.2% and was only
available to a limited number of pubs and at the
Great British Beer Festival.
Other new beers available at GBBF and beyond
are:
• Burton IPA, a proper old school IPA – brewed
strong at 7.1% and aged for three months in
full sized oak barrels.
• Animal Rhino, a quad hop amber ale – filled
with Amarillo, Simcoe, Citra and Sorachi
Ace hops.
• Collaboration Red, The Siamese Fighting
Fish (4.6%) – brewed with a leading malt
supplier who joined XT in the brewing
process, gave technical help and provided
Mine’s A Pint
13
the trendy new Red-X malt. The beer also
uses liquid nitrogen frozen hops: Cryo-Hops
– a new technique for cracking out more
flavours.
PUB QUALITY
BEER
...AT HOME
Drink Rebellion cask ale
at home, fresh from the
brewery shop
Fresh beer, ready to drink
1 litre bottles up to 72 pint barrels
including 10% OFF beer
Fresh cider
Local produce
Over 300 worldwide wines
Free glass hire
Call 01628 476594
Shop opening hours:
Mon-Sat 8am-7pm
Or visit our website:
www.rebellionbeer.co.uk
@RebellionBeer
RebellionBeerCo
Rebellion Beer Co. Ltd. Bencombe Farm, Marlow Bottom, SL7 3LT
A GOLDEN WONDER
FRESH MIX OF HOPS FOR A DELICIOUS ALE
RICH RUBY ALE
SMOOTH AND MALTY WITH A FULL BODY
Small Beer
A round up of news and information
CHANGE TO LOCALE
SCHEME
(from 30 miles) for both beer and cider / perry.
This is consistent with most other CAMRA
branches in the region. That’s still over 50
breweries brewing close-by, though!
You can find out more, including a list of
LocAle breweries and pubs, on our website
www.readingcamra.org.uk under the “LocAle
Breweries, Pubs & Shops” section.
The new LocAle radius of 25 miles
LocAle is an initiative that promotes pubs
stocking locally brewed real ale. The scheme
builds on a growing consumer demand
for quality local produce and an increased
awareness of “green” issues. Everyone benefits
from local pubs stocking locally-brewed real
ale:
• Public houses as stocking local real ales
can increase pub visits.
• Consumers who enjoy greater beer choice
and diversity.
• Local brewers who gain from increased
sales
• The local economy because more money is
spent and retained locally.
• The environment due to fewer “beer
miles” resulting in less road congestion
and pollution.
• Tourism due to an increased sense of local
identity and pride - let’s celebrate what
makes our locality different.
As we were getting close to 90 LocAle
breweries, the branch has decided to reduce its
LocAle radius to 25 miles from central Reading
GOOD BEER GUIDE 2019
Britain’s premier pub
and brewery guide,
the Good Beer Guide,
celebrates the release
of its 46 th edition
on 13 September.
The Good Beer
Guide is completely
independent, with
every one of its
4,500 pub listings
recommended and
evaluated by people
who know a thing
or two about good
beer – CAMRA volunteers. The Guide is the
result of thousands of volunteers’ hard work
over the past year; scoring beers, surveying
pubs, surveying breweries and making difficult
choices. These entries have been curated and
checked by regional teams and finally brought
together by staff at CAMRA’s HQ in St Albans.
All should be justifiably proud of their hard
work.
Visit the CAMRA shop at shop.camra.org.uk
to secure your copy. The Good Beer Guide App
is also available to download, allowing users
to find thousands of pubs, beers and breweries
at their fingertips. The app is available in both
Apple stores and Google Play and can be
downloaded at gbgapp.camra.org.uk.
Mine’s A Pint
14
COMINGS AND GOINGS
Tim Page, CAMRA’s Chief Executive, has
decided to leave the campaign. During the past
three and a half years, Tim was instrumental in
executing a major strategic review of CAMRA,
which aroused strong passions among the
membership. The decisions taken at this year’s
AGM and Members’ Weekend mean that
the Campaign will be in a stronger position
to recruit active members and to continue to
campaign effectively for real ale, cider and
perry, and pubs. Tim’s previous two roles prior
to joining CAMRA were with charities and he
has decided to return to the charitable sector
for the last few years of his career.
CAMRA’s Chief Campaigns Officer, Jonathan
Mail, will also be leaving the staff team in
October after almost 20 years of service to
the campaign. He is going to fulfil a long-held
ambition to spend six months travelling in India
– a country he has a great affection for and
has travelled to on many occasions previously.
The campaigns team will continue effective
campaigning until a new Chief Campaigns
Officer is in post.
Meanwhile the Minister for Small Business,
Andrew Griffiths, has resigned from government
after a newspaper revealed that he had sent
2,000 sex texts to two women. Griffiths,
who was formerly chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary Beer Group had controversially
been awarded CAMRA’s Parliamentarian of
the Year Award in 2015. The award was for
his contribution to scrapping the beer duty
escalator and cutting beer duty, but many
people both inside and outside of CAMRA
were angry as they believed he had consistently
opposed CAMRA’s campaign to strengthen
the planning process to protect pubs and had
fought against industry reform which would
have redressed the balance between pubcos and
their tenants. Few in the campaign will be sorry
to see him go.
BRITISH TRAPPIST BEER
Monks at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in
Leicestershire have become the first in the
UK to be awarded Trappist accreditation for
brewing their own beer.
The abbey, near Coalville,
is only the 12 th in the world
to receive the accolade,
joining six in Belgium, two
in the Netherlands, and one
each in the USA, Austria
and Italy.
The monks started to look
at the idea of brewing in
2013 after they had to
close down their dairy farm
when it became economically unviable. After
much research they settled on a 7.4% dubbel
style, quite sweet and extremely smooth, and
reminiscent of other Trappist beers such as
Rochefort.
It marks a return to a 19 th century tradition of
brewing in Mount Saint Bernard abbey. When
the brethren first arrived in 1835 they settled
in a poor cottage on Tynt Meadow, now an
extension of the monastic enclosure.
To receive the rare Trappist accreditation, beer
must be brewed within an abbey directly by the
monks or under their supervision. The brewery’s
activities must be secondary in importance to
the monastery’s work and way of life. It should
not be run as a profit-making venture, with
funds going to fund the monks’ living expenses
and grounds and to help charitable causes.
Dom Erik Varden, the abbot of Mount Saint
Bernard, hopes that the brewery will help them
extend their community work. “Beer is a good,
honest, nurturing drink - our Belgian friends
said more than once it should be liquid bread
and not coloured water, and that’s what we’re
aiming to live up to,” he said.
Many abbeys licence their name to commercial
operations but these are called “abbey beers”
and cannot receive the Trappist seal of approval.
MASS LOBBY DAY
CAMRA will be holding a Mass Lobby Day in
Westminster on Tuesday 30 October. This will
be our opportunity to bring pressing campaign
Mine’s A Pint
15
issues to the attention of up to 650 Members
of Parliament. The purpose of the Lobby Day
will be to ask MPs to commit to these CAMRA
campaigns:
• Axeing plans to increase beer duty in the
upcoming Autumn Budget.
• A permanent business rate relief for pubs
in England in the Autumn Budget.
• An urgent review of the Pubs Code so that
the Market Rent Only option becomes a
genuine choice for tenants in England and
Wales.
A Mass Lobby Day is an effective way to
communicate to MPs and the Government
about a cause which needs legislative change in
a short time period, creating a sense of urgency.
Meetings with multiple MPs on one single day
encourages them to discuss our campaigns with
Ministers, among each other within Parliament,
and outline their support for our campaigns on
social media.
CAMRA branches are taking the lead on
finding volunteers to contact their local MPs.
Activity will begin with registration at a
Westminster venue and will finish after a rally
with high profile speakers at 5.30pm. The exact
start time will depend on what time (and how
many) CAMRA members arrange to meet their
MP.
NEW POCKET GUIDE FOR
HOMEBREWERS
CAMRA’s Essential Home Brewing, the musthave
new pocket guide book for both old hands
and novice homebrewers, is now available to
purchase from the CAMRA shop.
Ever since real ale captured the nation’s
imagination in the 1970s, dedicated beer lovers
have been trying to brew their own to replicate
some of the fantastic recipes and flavours out
there. Even if you have never brewed before or
your brewing kit is gathering dust up on the
shelf, CAMRA’s Essential Home Brewing can
help you get started on a new, exciting hobby.
For old hands at brewing, you can expand your
brewing repertoire with over 30 recipes from
leading British and international craft brewers.
Easy-to-follow instructions and a variety of
beer styles and recipes make this the perfect
companion to suit everyone’s taste. Written
by Andy Parker, brewer and owner of Elusive
Brewing of Finchampstead, and Graham
Wheeler, internationally-renowned authority
on home brewing, CAMRA’s Essential
Home Brewing provides an introduction
to homebrewing in a way that is easy to
understand and follow.
CAMRA’s latest title retails for for £11.99
(£7.99 with the CAMRA members’ discount).
For more information, or to order your copy,
visit shop.camra.org.uk
UPCOMING FESTIVALS
September: Sherfield on Loddon
Beer Festival
Saturday 15 September: Held in Sherfield
Village Hall and its garden, just off the A33.
Featuring 40+ real ales (mostly local with
some from further afield) and cider, hot food,
live bands, face painting and a free evening
minibus service to and from Bramley Station.
Tickets £5 on the door or £4 in advance, and
under 18s get in free when accompanied by an
adult. Open 11.30am – 11pm. More details at
sherfieldbeerfestival.org.uk.
Mine’s A Pint
16
October: Ascot Beer Festival
Friday 5 – Saturday 6 October: This year’s
festival organised by the Berkshire South East
CAMRA branch at Ascot racecourse will, as
usual, exhibit around 200 different real ales
and over 30 real ciders and perries. As well as
a fabulous selection of drinks, the festival will
also offer some top class flat racing and the
chance to have a flutter if you fancy, plus live
music.
To get in you need to buy a ticket for the race
meeting. As the festival is in the concourse of
the main grandstand any class of ticket will
get you to the beer, but the cheapest option
(and with no dress code) is to go for a “Queen
Anne Enclosure” ticket, available from tickets.
ascot.co.uk. Don’t forget to use the code
CAMRA2018 to get 50% off a Queen Anne
Enclosure ticket when you book in advance,
and remember that under 18s get in free when
accompanied by an adult. More info available
on ascotbeerfest.org.uk.
November: Oxford Beer and Cider
Festival
Thursday 8 – Saturday 10 November: The
Oxford branch of CAMRA has a provisional
booking to hold its 21 st Beer and Cider Festival
in Oxford Town Hall. It’s expected to follow a
very similar format to last year’s festival, which
featured 140 different real ales and 40 more
held over to the Saturday, and 50 ciders and
perries. Hot and cold food will be on sale and
some seating available in the old library. Open
to the public from 5pm on the Thursday, entry
on the day (no advance ticket sales) is £10, or
£8 to card-carrying CAMRA members. Entry
includes a commemorative glass and drink
tokens, and more tokens can be purchased once
inside. Head to oxfordbeerfestival.camra.org.
uk for more details as they’re confirmed.
Mine’s A Pint
17
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a year. That’s less
than a pint a
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CAMRA Gala
Presentation 2018
THE IMPRESSIVE ARRAY OF AWARDS AT LAST YEAR’S EVENT
The Reading & Mid Berks branch of CAMRA is
blessed with a wonderful selection of great pubs,
a multitude of local breweries and cider makers
supplying them and a great array of people
making, serving and drinking their produce.
Some of these worthies regularly qualified for
the nationally recognised awards of branch Pub
/ Club of the Year and winners of the Reading
Beer & Cider Festival awards. This meant various
certificates would be presented to the winners, but
at fairly low key events.
In 2015 that all changed. That year, one of the
key objectives for the branch that year was to
“Reward and recognise a wider group of the best
pubs in the branch”. This was soon developed to
include people, not just pubs.
To get to be in the running to be a Pub of the
Year (POTY) is quite an achievement, so we
decided to award certificates to the finalists
as well as the winner and runner-up. We also
agreed to look to make one-off awards for any
outstanding developments or contributions in
the field. We started with a Best Newcomer
(licensee) and the Phoenix award for bring a pub
back from the dead. Moreover the presentations
were all combined into one grand event – a Gala
Presentation Evening. Since then there have been
an outstanding volunteer award, an award for
pubs collaborating to put on a community music
festival, licensee long service awards and several
others.
Mine’s A Pint
19
The Gala Presentation Evening is a public event,
open to all members of the beer and cider drinking
public. This year it will be held on Tuesday
11 th September at Park House on the Reading
University Whiteknights campus – please note that
the bar is cashless and only accepts card payments.
Park House will be receiving an award for their
Outstanding Support and Promotion of LocAle.
There will be a certificate to commemorate the
long service of Carole Headland as licensee of the
Magpie & Parrot and Vic & Jenny Harrison at
the Swan, Three Mile Cross – both having started
35 years ago. The Outstanding Expansion at the
Shurlock Inn and the Outstanding Development
at the Black Boy will be celebrated. For only the
second time in four years, there was one pub which
received outstanding positive public feedback on
the Ale Trail and the Flower Pot at Aston will
be receiving a certificate to commemorate that.
The Royal Oak at Ruscombe will also receive a
certificate for its long term practical support to the
work of the branch.
The branch committee were unanimous in
agreeing a unique, though possibly undesirable
award to Samuel Smiths brewery. Over 30 years
ago they purchased the Lower Ship Inn in Duke
Street, Reading. It has remained closed since then.
The award goes to them for “The longest closed
pub for no good reason”. It remains to be seen
if anyone from Sam Smiths comes to receive the
certificate.
Brian Jones
Behind the Bar -
Allied Arms
This is the part of the magazine where we turn
things over to a local landlord to tell us about their
pub. This time it’s Moya Rolls of the Allied Arms.
The Allied Arms has been run by the Rolls family
since 2002. Steve and I were both working in the
corporate sales sector and decided that a change of
pace was required. Despite having no experience
of the pub trade, we took on the Allied Arms in
2002 and have been there ever since.
The building dates from the 16 th century but
according to records has been a pub since 1828.
In 2002 the range consisted of Courage Bitter and
London Pride (sometimes) on tap with a mixture
of fairly standard lagers and ciders on offer. Today
much has improved with ten ever-changing cask
ales (with one exception), a choice of bottled craft
beer, a unique wine selection and of course the
various lagers and ciders. The “exception” being
Steve’s favourite tipple, Hullaballoo from Loddon
Brewery, which has been served at the Allied Arms
non-stop since 2003.
Slowly changing the pub from what it was to
what you see today, proved to be hard work, but
it has been the most enjoyable and rewarding task.
The Allied Arms is a “tied” pub, originally with
Unique Pub Company, which was taken over by
Enterprise Inns (now rebranded as EI Group). This
has its challenges, the most critical of which is the
prices they charge for product, which have to be
reflected in the Allied Arms price list. However,
this has not prevented improvements to the pub
and expanding the business over the years. It was
decided that the pub should be kept as original as
Mine’s A Pint
20
possible and retain its quaint old-fashioned town
pub feel, whilst maintaining high standards of
product care.
One of the most obvious improvements that
has been made is to the garden. Originally very
overgrown and run down, there is now seating for
over 100 people. The garden is a true oasis in the
centre of Reading – who would believe that you
were in the town centre when you are sitting in
the sun in a garden, enjoying a nice pint of ale or
a chilled glass of wine? Efforts have been made to
make it a real garden with beautiful scented roses
and colourful plants and shrubs.
Since introducing ten ales and a craft beer
selection in mid-April, customer response has
been overwhelming in its support. At least 50%
of the beers are from local breweries, via the
SIBA scheme, and this is proving popular with
customers.
Although the Allied Arms does not serve meals,
customers may bring in their own food to enjoy
with their drinks. Neighbouring establishments
such as Pizza Express and Pierre’s Baguettes are
both more than happy to oblige!
The bi-monthly pub quiz has proved popular over
the years with quiz teams taking it in turns to host
the quiz. This results in a wide style of quizzes as
each team comes with their own ideas and it keeps
it fresh. Anyone who fancies hosting a quiz can
add their name to the quiz calendar.
Recently the pub has been managed by resident
Ale Guru, Dom Humphries who has been with us
since 2013 and has proved to be more than equal
to the task.
It has been said that the Allied Arms is a Country
Pub in Town – an epithet well earned!
Moya Rolls
Allied Arms
57 St Mary’s Butts
Reading
RG1 2LG
Tel: 0118 958 3323
World Cup
of Reading Pubs
Following on from the very successful World
Cup of Reading Restaurants voting tournament
held earlier in the year by Edible Reading,
I thought I’d do something similar with
Reading’s best pubs, just in time to tie in with
the FIFA World Cup 2018. We launched it on
the Explore Reading Twitter feed (twitter.com/
explorerdg) on 14 th June as a bit of fun that
would promote the thriving Reading pub scene.
Shortlisting 32 of the top pubs in Reading and
using a random knockout generator, we placed
them in draws that played out over a series of
Twitter polls across the duration of the football
World Cup.
We ran one Twitter poll per day between two
pubs: no group stages, so you voted for your
favourite pub of the two, and the one with the
least votes got knocked out at each stage until
we reached the nail biting final. We even had
a wall chart which was updated regularly, you
can see the final version here.
At first it was slow going but soon people picked
up on it and a lot of games were very closely
fought and hundreds of people got involved
in many of the polls. There were, of course,
detractors and arguments about the definition
of a pub, that the votes were rigged, that the
draw had been staged and so on, but overall
it was well received and got a lot of people
talking. There were also plenty of comments
about people saying that they needed to re-visit
various pubs in the running as they hadn’t been
in a while.
The pubs with active Twitter presences got
involved too, with playful competitive repartee
between opposing sides and encouraging their
Mine’s A Pint
21
A big thank you to Explore Reading who
allowed me to pursue and host the idea on
their website and Twitter account. They do a
fantastic job of promoting all things Reading
and pubs and beer are no exception. You can
check them out at explorerdg.com or over on
Twitter at twitter.com/explorerdg
James Moore
various fans to get involved and vote for them.
Particular shout-outs to the semi-finalists Allied
Arms and Purple Turtle who got very involved
in encouraging people to vote on Twitter. The
Greyfriar also is worth a mention for doing the
same in earlier rounds.
After 30 days, 32 pubs and scores of votes, our
final poll was between The Fox & Hounds and
The Nag’s Head on Sunday 15 July, the same
day as the big football final. It was very tightly
fought with 588 votes and fans of both pubs
being very vocal in their support. But in the
end, it was Caversham’s Fox & Hounds which
emerged as Reading’s favourite pub in a 52/48
percent split.
The extra interest that the competition
drummed up made all the pubs winners, and
just goes to show how lucky we are in Reading
to have so many excellent boozers of all shapes
and sizes that people can visit.
Mine’s A Pint
22
Pubs in
World War One
The 100 th anniversary of the end of the 1 st
World War leads us to enquire what effect the
war had on pubs. The main effect was a severe
limitation on licensing hours which were cut to
six hours per day under the 1914 Defence of
the Realm Act, affectionately known as DORA,
and the Intoxicating Liquor (Temporary
Restriction) Act, also of 1914. This proved to
be anything but temporary as the spirit of Dora
survived, despite some extension of permitted
hours, through to the late 20 th century.
James Wyeth, landlord of The Barley Mow,
London Street, was one who fell foul of the law
when he was fined £3 for allowing drinking to
take place after 9pm in contravention of the
Act. At the Reading Borough Police Court in
June 1915, two customers were fined 10s (50p)
or seven days behind bars for consuming beer
after hours. Happily, when the police objected
to the renewal of Wyeth’s licence, when next
up for renewal, he escaped with a caution and
carried on running the pub until his death in
1938.
copper informed the landlord that not only was
Walter a soldier fighting for King and Country
but a local as well. He was duly served but was
so incensed by the treatment he had received
that he poured the entire contents of the pint
mug over the bar and walked out!
Most pubs, however, were keen to support the
war effort. In 1917 and 1918 we read of what
almost seems friendly rivalry between such
pubs as the Sun and the Horn in raising money
for the Royal Berkshire Hospital’s Comforts
for Wounded Soldiers appeal and the War
Hospitals Supplies Depot.
John Dearing
“I went into a public ‘ouse to get a pint o’ beer,
The publican ‘e up an’ sez, “We serve no redcoats
here.” – wrote Kipling.
Unfortunately, this attitude seems to have
infected the landlord of the Rising Sun, Henry
Mainman, when a soldier in the Guards, Walter
Lush, came home on leave and on his way back
to Newtown from the station popped into the
Rising Sun for a pint. He was informed that
beer was in short supply and was kept for
the locals only. On emerging from the pub he
encountered a policeman of his acquaintance to
whom he told his woes. They re-entered and the
Mine’s A Pint
23
The Further History of
Lager in the UK
PAUL DABROWSKI CONCLUDES THE STORY OF LAGER BREWING IN THE UK
By the 1980s it was increasingly apparent
that UK-brewed lagers were almost all being
pasteurised, akin to keg beers, whether
produced in the new megakeggeries established
by the Big Six combines in places such as
Luton, Magor, Northampton, Samlesbury and
Worton Grange or in the surviving ‘traditional’
lager breweries such as Alloa, Moss Side and
Wrexham.
CAMRA, having been formed in response to
the artificial carbonation of traditional British
ale a decade earlier, began to direct its ire
towards the mock lagers that brewers, stung
by the hostility that had been generated against
fizz beer, had started to aggressively market
instead. Lagers such as Hofmeister (Courage)
and Fosters (Watneys) had become not only
weak and overpriced replacement products but
were being foisted on the undiscerning populace
by masquerading as genuinely continental (or
other foreign) beers when none were actually
being brewed abroad.
In 1959 lager had accounted for just 2% of all
beer sales. By 1990 it accounted for 50%, this
exponential growth partly stimulated by the
1961 Licensing Act which removed restrictions
on off-licences and the sales of alcohol in
grocers and the newly-fangled supermarkets.
Lager, too, seemed to suffer fewer detrimental
effects when being canned/kegged as compared
to traditional bitter which canning/kegging
only appeared to exacerbate.
Classic lager beers are characterised as having
a dry, hoppy, palate. They would be stored
(i.e. “lagered”) for a minimum of a month
to cold-condition in the brewery and would
have a strength of c.1040. In sharp contrast,
the new wave of lagers were low in gravity –
in the low to mid-1030s – and were lucky to
even experience three weeks’ maturation before
being despatched to pubs, clubs and other
retailers but were more likely to be released
for sale as quickly as keg (or even traditional)
beers were (i.e. “running beers” in brewers’
terminology). However, unlike real ales, having
no time in the pub cellar to develop any finesse
and, being served so chilled, what little taste
they may have had was completely lost. The
nadir of lager production in the UK probably
came with the advent of diet, or “lite” (sic),
versions; despite being even lower in alcohol
(some below 1030 were not, technically,
alcoholic products at all!) and also low in
Mine’s A Pint
24
carbohydrates, they were often no less fattening
than other, stronger, brews.
Just like the keg beers which preceded them,
the pasteurisation of British lagers involved
a process frowned upon by top continental
brewers because of the cloying, off-taste,
imparted by a technique more appropriate for
a dairy to employ than a brewery. In Europe,
the serving of lagers either used the natural
carbon dioxide produced by the fermentation
process or strictly-controlled levels of applied
gas pressure to deliver the beer to the taps.
In the UK, there were no restraints on the levels
of gas pressure that could be applied in order to
pump lagers up from cellars – or to artificially
maintain shelf-life when invariably canned
rather than bottled – where, to add insult to
injury, they were wickedly overpriced as well,
presumably to help pay for the huge advertising
budgets that created, admittedly sometimes
memorable, TV and billboard commercials. No
stronger than most milds of that era, yet costing
as much as 6-10p per pint more than beers of
an equivalent strength (when a pint was about
50p!), it was little wonder that the public, with
CAMRA’s help, eventually saw through the
advertising hype.
Meanwhile, many of the extant family brewers
had felt compelled to jump on the bandwagon
either with their own creations or lagers brewed
under licence from continental breweries to
pseudo-authentic recipes. Fuller’s invested
heavily in conical fermenters to produce their
K2 lager, named after the second-highest peak
in the Himalayan mountain range. By contrast,
Young’s used a top-fermenting yeast for their
Saxon Lager so it was little more than an
insipid pale ale!
Inevitably, most of these disappeared under
reciprocal deals with the Big Six producers to
take their heavilyadvertised
ersatz
lagers in exchange
for access to the
pub estates of the
larger companies
with their real ales
as guests. Notably,
a few persisted
with their more
genuine products
such as McMullens of Hertford who, until
comparatively recently, had two brands,
Steingold and Hartsman, and Samuel Smith
in Tadcaster who continue with Ayinger Bräu
under licence, this at least being brewed to
German beer purity law (or Reinheitsgebot)
standards.
It was not all doom and gloom for mainstream
UK-brewed lager as Allied (with probably
the best lager brewing heritage to squander
of any of the Big Six) had even nationally
promoted a real lager in 1983, served through
handpumps, as Ind Coope’s Gold Cross (a
briefly revived recipe and brand from 80
years earlier) but it was only with the advent
of new, sustained, micro-breweries being
established, such as Harviestoun, that Britishbrewed
lager finally started to regain some
credibility. Their Schiehallion has stood as a
beacon for real ale lager for around a quarter
of a century since it was first brewed in 1995
and has been emulated by some other small
breweries. However it remained a fact that,
until the emergence of new-wave artisanal
breweries in the 21st century, the only way to
have sampled excellent, lagered, beer had been
to buy imported products from Europe and
countries beyond.
Despite the closure of the Wrexham Lager
brewery in 2000, it is still Britain’s oldest lager
as, from 2011, it was again being produced in
Mine’s A Pint
25
the town in a micro-brew plant utilising the
same name as the original company. Having
been originally launched by homesick German
emigrées from Saxony in 1882, the brand had
thrived with the introduction of mechanical
refrigeration.
When founded, the Wrexham site for the
original “Little Pilsen Brewery” had been
chosen for the quality of its water considered
eminently suitable for the production of the
particular continental style envisaged, that of
a dark Munich-type, soon supplemented by a
light lager and one in the Pilsner-style. It was
stocked by the White Star Line on ships such
as The Titanic, as well as the Cunard and Elder
Dempster shipping lines, despatched via both
Liverpool and Southampton Docks by the Great
Central and Great Western Railways and, from
the 1930s onwards, was the only lager available
on GWR trains and in their refreshment rooms
and hotels. It was also supplied to Clubs such
as the Carlton and Constitutional and there
is evidence of it having been drunk by British
soldiers at the siege of Khartoum in 1885. With
the demise of this lucrative liner trade in the
1970s, the original Wrexham Brewery had also
produced Sköl before closure.
supermarket chains had started to ditch their
volume, mainstream, lagers in favour of “craft”
beer products instead – Tesco removing as
many as 30 individual lines – and, as a result,
the likes of Heineken and Krœnenberg were no
longer heavily discounting their ersatz products
where they were still available. It has thus
been interesting to see how Ramsbury’s real
Red Ram lager, Rebellion’s new keykeg lager,
Truman’s tank lager, Raw, and XT’s “craft”
lager, Eisbar, (all from 2017) were received by
aficionados of the style.
Paul Dabrowski
with acknowledgements to: CAMRA, 1983 &
1984 Good Beer Guides; Peter Haydon, Beer
& Britannia; Where Have All the Breweries
Gone?, Norman Barber, Brewery History
Society
CAMAL (The Campaign for Authentic Lager)
may be of interest. Please visit www.camal.org.
uk for more details.
Amongst the proliferation of “craft” breweries
of the new millennium, a renewed interest
in lager as a beer style has also come to be
exemplified by Calvor’s, near Needham Market
in Suffolk, that pre-empted – by three years
– the revival of Wrexham in being lager-only.
But other concerns such as London’s Orbit
Beers, in SE17, and the Six O’Clock Beer Co.
in Manchester have both majored in producing
many foreign beer styles as well, brewed to
authentic recipes and strengths, rather than just
lagers and pilsners.
An equally welcome development in 2017
perhaps was the news that many major
Mine’s A Pint
26
Bamberg - An Adventure in
Brewing, Malt, Smoke and Beer
The air was heavy with the aroma of gently
roasting malt as we disembarked from our
train. Standing on the platform we were taken
with the smell of the Weyermann maltings,
its majestic brick facade towering over the
beautiful Bavarian town of Bamberg.
We had travelled here to take part in a
collaboration brew at the brewery attached
to the 140 year old malting company.
Weyermann make some highly specialist
malts, many of which we use in our XT
and Animal beers. They have an amazing
no-expense-spared, high tech brewery to
test their malts and experiment with a wide
variety of beer styles, and we had been
invited here to play on it.
Bamberg must be one of the world’s top
places for beer and it is well known for the
local smoked Rauchbiers. As with much of
Germany the locals are very loyal to their
local breweries and the styles particular to
the region. Generally I will always search out
the local beers in my travels, but to only see
local beer and no national or multinational
brews at all was a revelation. The Germans
see beer as a highly valued part of their
culture; it’s not just a “drink” and somehow
inferior to wine. The brewing and serving of
beer here is a respected career choice.
THE TOP TABLE AT STERNLA
BAMBERG TOWN HALL
The old town of Bamberg is beautifully
preserved, and it’s a pleasure to wander
around its old timbered houses, grand
churches and cobbled streets. The locals
get about on bikes on the many cycle paths
and somehow they manage to ride normal
looking machines without the need for lycra
Mine’s A Pint
27
BREWING AT WEYERMANN
WEYERMANN MALTINGS AND
BREWERY
or carbon fibre. Most importantly however,
Bamberg is blessed with nine breweries, all
of which are within the old town environs.
The breweries all have their own traditional
bars attached, plus there are numerous pubs
to tempt you, it’s actually quite hard to find
a bad one.
Here is a short list of some of our favourite
breweries and bars:
Spezial - A traditional brewery which still
smokes its own malts for the house speciality
Rauchbier. We stayed here during our time
in Bamberg, and it is well worth seeking out
these characterful places – take a look on
www.braugasthoefe.de for similar brewery
guest houses across Germany.
Zum Sternla – Thanks to our hosts
Weyermann, who are almost the Bamberg
royal family, we had the honour of sitting
at the “top table”. This is a bit of tradition
where the landlord has his own reserved
table and holds his beery court. It’s a great
way to meet a wide variety of the locals and
get to understand the traditions and enjoy
the respect that Germans have for their
Mine’s A Pint
28
beer and the well trained staff that serve it
with such reverence. We sampled some very
fine Weissbier (wheat beer) here, which has
a deep rich flavour that’s missing in many
more commercial versions.
Keesmann – Famous for its Herren-
Pils and Helles, but for me it was most
memorable for the huge food portions which
actually defeated my companion who is
not normally the loser in man vs. food. On
investigating the extensive brewery behind
the bar I spotted a huge machine which at
first I could not identify, after enquiring
I learned it was for the cleaning of beer
bottles. In Germany the regional breweries
use standardised bottles and they regularly
collect and refill them. This was eye opening
and a radically different way of thinking to
our own throw-away culture.
Mahr’s Bräu – Opposite Kessmann,
we really enjoyed the biergarten here and,
after the night closed in, the convivial
conversation on long benches in the dark
wood panelled bar inside. The shared
tables in the bars are very much part of
the drinking culture. Everyone sits together
and, if you arouse their interest, you will
inevitably be drawn into the conversation of
your neighbours. This bar also introduced
us to the delights of “Ungespundet” which
literally means “unbunged”. It’s a process
for maturing beers with open vented vessels
leading to much less gassy beer. The age-old
Reinheitsgebot or purity law has far reaching
influence over the beers here. Interestingly it
also forbids the use of extraneous gas in the
beer, only gas from the fermentation can be
in the beer. So there is a little puzzler for you
real ale purists: is German keg beer real ale?
Klosterbräu – Attractive riverside
brewery here for over 450 years. The oldest
in Bamberg.
Schlenkerla – Probably the most famous
Rauchbier: Aecht Schlenkerla. The extensive
bar with several panelled rooms and covered
yards serves only one beer: it is black and it
is very smoky. Served directly from wooden
casks behind the bar, it’s a very special beer
and special bar that encapsulates Bamberg
and its deep beer traditions. If heaven forbid
you want a different beer, you can buy the
bottled helles. And yes, that is smoky too!
I would definitely suggest a beer adventure
in Bamberg with its great beers and great
bars plus the added bonus that it’s actually a
very attractive town. Bamberg is certainly up
there in the top ten beer cities of the world.
Russell Taylor
XT Brewing Co
Mine’s A Pint
29
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