beer around 'ere - issue 187

ALSO INSIDE PUB & BREWERY NEWS DIARY DATES JOIN CAMRA

Peterborough & District Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale February / March 2016

187

TYDD STEAMLocal brewery celebratesSouth Pole adventure with

an Antarctic brew!

BEER IN THE USAPeterborough CAMRA Press

Officer tastes the best of Californian brewing

BREWING IN CYPRUSFacinating story on the trials

and tribulations of setting up a brewery abroad

The Simmonds Family present:

THREE GREAT AWARD WINNING PUBS serving Real Ale with fantastic prices!

Staniland Way, Werrington Centre PE4 6NA Tel: 01733 327696

Pub Of The Year 2014 and 2011Ten Real Ales from £2.00 a pint

Live Satellite Sports • Live EntertainmentHappy Hour Monday - Friday 5-7pm

31 Station Hill, Brixham TQ5 8BNTel: 01803 852074

6 hand pumps and a regular £2 specialWeekly Live Music and EventsFacebook: The-Queens-Arms

The Queens Arms

THE DRAGONHodgson Centre, Hodgson Ave PE4 5EG

Tel: 01733 578088Six Real Ales from £2.20 a pint

Live Satellite Sports• Live Entertainment

Peterborough

& District CAMRA

Pub of the

Year 2011

Peterborough

& District CAMRA

Gold Award

Winner 2013

Peterborough

& District CAMRA

Pub of the

Year 2014

Peterborough

& District CAMRA

Gold Award

Winner 2013

South Devon

CAMRA

Pub of the

Year 2014

Editor: Jane [email protected]

Published by: Peterborough & DistrictBranch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

Produced on behalf of CAMRA by:Orchard House Media LtdEventus Business Centre, Sunderland Rd,Market Deeping. Tel: 01778 382758

Magazine Design & Production: Daniel Speed [email protected]

Advertising Sales Manager:Jane [email protected]: 01778 382718

Distribution:David [email protected] Reading:Bob Melville - 07941 246693Printed By:Precision Colour Print LtdHaldane, Telford, Shropshire TF7 4QQCirculation: 7,000 copies distributed topubs, clubs and members throughout thePeterborough and District CAMRABranch area. A digital version of thismagazine is available to view and download at issuu.com

Editor’s ramblings |3

Beer Around ‘Ere is publishedby the Peterborough & DistrictBranch of CAMRA Copyright© 2016, The Campaign forReal Ale Ltd.

Views or comments expressedin this publication may not necessarily bethose of the Editor or of CAMRA.

The next issue of Beer Around ‘Ere will beavailable on the 24th March. We must have your stories, news and advertisements by 1st MarchPlease send your stories and other copy tothe editor, Jane Brown.

Greetings!So here we are one twelfth of2016 gone already. It’s beengrey and dreary so far and asyou look around there havebeen lots of gloomy faces.Guess they haven’t visited theirlocal recently! Reading pub

news makes me realise that there are many pubs inour branch area that I either haven’t visitedrecently or indeed not at all. I don’t make NewYear resolutions but must try to make the effort toventure forth into the hinterland! I have to get outthe bicycle! Roll on spring!

For those of our readers visiting Cyprus this yearcheck out the article on page 28, definitely worth avisit. There is also an article on beer in USA, plusthe regular features.

I was reading in What’s Brewing that CAMRAwomen’s representative, Lisa Wadlow, has beenextolling the virtues of beer to Women’s Institutes,introducing them to beer and food matching.Makes a change from ‘Jam and Jerusalem’! What agood idea, always pleased to see new ways of intro-ducing women to beer or should that beintroducing beer to women?

Did you “Try January” (see chairman’s report) ordid you have a “Dry January” (bah humbug).

It would be interesting to know what our readersthink about these types of campaigns. Please let ushave your opinions on these or other topicspertaining to CAMRA related issues and/or arti-cles in Beer Around ‘Ere. Also, if there is anythingyou would like to be included in this newsletter,please get in touch. Your feedback is alwayswelcome, be it positive or negative.

Cheers!JB

IN THIS ISSUEWelcome from the editor 3

Chairman’s corner 5

Pub news 7–13

Brewery news 14–16

New Year, new venue 19

Mysterious goings-on 20-21

Is craft daft? 22-25

Diary dates 24

Beer in the USA 26–27

Micro-brewing in Cyprus 28–29

Branch contacts 30

Join CAMRA 31

Visit our web site for up-to-date news: www.real-ale.org.uk FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 |BEER AROUND ERE

BEER AROUND ERE | FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 Visit our web site for up-to-date news: www.real-ale.org.uk

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Chairman’s corner |5

So we are now into Dry January (and for manypubs February as well). Whilst not berating theidea of abstaining from having a beer or twoduring the month if overindulgence during thefestive season is the reason, I can only emphasizehow much damage to the pub trade this can cause.It’s a fact of life that the first two months of theyear are a bit Spartan in our pubs due to a lack ofcustomers. Abstain campaigns have a benefit forsome charities but, the other side of the coin is itmay encourage a lack of impetus to socialise.Many people actually don’t go out at all during thefirst month of the year, whether through lack offunds or to have a ‘dry month’. This can onlycause even more hurt to pubs already under-usedby their local community.

There has been an alternative campaignsuggested by drinks industry journalist JessicaMason, namely, ‘Try January’ which encourageslicensees to challenge people to try new drinks andfood and make the month more inspiring andexperimental. The campaign aims to challengepeople to try something new or different at theirlocal. The whole ‘Try January’ campaign could insome way help prevent pubs seeing in the NewYear with low takings, whilst giving somethingback to the community by inspiring customers withtempting options.

CAMRA is once again calling for a further 1pcut in beer tax. Apart from Finland the UK paysthe highest beer tax rate of the top six brewingcountries in the EU. A cut of 1p can help strug-gling pubs stay open, increase investment inbrewing and pubs, and keep the lid on pub beerprices.

Over the next few weeks, as usual for this time ofyear, we will be surveying the pubs that have beenchosen by our members to be put forward forinclusion in the 2017 Good Beer Guide. In spite of avery poor response from our branch membershipwe did manage to get a variety of pubs that mayget recommended. These include some new anddifferent entries from previous years. Thanks to allthe members who took the trouble to send in theirvotes.

Our congratulations go to our new POTY (Pubof the Year), The Woolpack, in the old part ofStanground. Landlady Linda and Pete Goddardwere presented with a Gold Award in August 2015which put them in the running for POTY. The pubis a real olde world building steeped in history, andoriginally built in 1711. From the village morgue tothe local lock up and a small military museum by aformer landlord in the back room, the compactpub is a true community social centre. Normallythree or four hand pumps dispense a variety ofbeers, including a LocAle. The regular being onefrom Tydd Steam brewery. They hold a beerfestival each summer. There is a long garden whichleads down to the river Nene backwater, withmooring for visitors. An ideal spot on a warmsummer’s day. We shall be making the presentationto Linda and Pete on the 12th of February. Comealong and give your support.

That’s all folks, for now.

David MurrayBranch Chairman

Chairman’s Corner


The festive decorations have been returned to the loft for the next eleven months. The Whittlesey pubs have had their ‘Christmas 2’ with the Straw Bear weekend.


VINYL NIGHTBring down your favourite recordsLast Friday of the month

UKELELE NIGHTEvery Thursday from 7.30pm

Winter beer fest2nd - 7th February

LIVE MUSIC WEEKLYCheck Facebook & local gig guides

14 Ever-changing, gravity fed real alesthepalmerstonarms


Pub news |7

Christmas has gone, and all those who turned upfor their one annual visit to their local and found itclosed can now rue the 364 days when they failedto appear. Thanks to all those loyal readers whoclubbed together to present me with the completebox set of the Eurovision Song Contest, includingthe marking (I had previously confided that Iprefer the marking to the music). “Nul point”!

ACV UpdateThe current edition of What’s Brewing hasannounced that “the number of pubs nominatedfor ACVs has doubled in the past six months,following the launch of a joint CAMRA/govern-ment initiative”. After a slow start, this process isslowly gathering momentum in our own branchwith the Walnut Tree in Market Deeping beingthe latest addition, with sixty signatures. Lynn andDaron will be celebrating their seventh anniversaryat the pub with a party and a disco on the sixth ofFebruary. They will be running a Buy One GetOne Free promotion throughout the month oncask ales, cider, lager and wine, and at Easter theywill again be featuring their beer festival with 10+cask ales from the cellar. With all this going on,one would think that the petition was scarcelynecessary. But let us never forget that raising anACV is a pre-emptive act which safeguards pubsfrom being demolished or converted to another usewithout planning permission or communityconsultation. If planning permission is alreadygranted, it is too late.

Foody - pubsIt has become common now to recognize thatmany pubs, especially rural pubs, would notsurvive without serving food. Whereas this is atruism scarcely to be challenged, it is also a plati-tude likely to be overstated. A case in point isEmbé in Burleigh Road. This place has beenthrough various incarnations, but when I firstcame to Peterborough it was an excellent local,with an excellent landlord (military disciplinarian)and an attractive garden; ideal place to take thechildren. It was taken over, gutted, and renamedthe Glass Onion. After that it became a bar

restaurant offering an enticing Caribbean cuisine.The last time I was in there they had a Digfieldbeer on hand pump. The proprietor told me thathe intended to discontinue this, making the placeeffectively a restaurant with a bar. Now, not onlyhas the draught beer been discontinued, so has thepub, closing down late last year.

Now the point I am trying to make is that onceyou become almost exclusively a food outlet youare missing out on a substantial amount of yourpotential custom. Once you stop offering a pint tothe occasional passer- by, not only are you missingout on a potential regular but you are also missingan opportunity to promote your food.

Another case in point is the Ram Inn in Whittlesey. I reported on this in Issue 185, withthe conversion of the function room into a restau-rant called the Shepherd’s Hut, and I predicted aprosperous future. But it proved to be a part ofthe world where a bistro just would not flourish,and it has since closed and changed hands. Thenew manager is Jamie Rudd who has years ofexperience in the trade and who has turned it backinto a pub, intending to go down the real ale trail.Ram Ale is the house beer, brewed by Caledonianand excellent value at £2.80 a pint. Jamie alsooffers two rotating guests and has turned therestaurant back into a function room with livemusic on a Friday night. The brewery clearlythinks this is a venture worth investing in, planningfurther improvements to the function room, aconservatory facing out on to the garden and acovered passageway linking it to the bar.

A similar decision has been made by BarryHubbard in Hub’s Place. With two excellentrestaurants nearby, and sensibly priced meals avail-able in the George alongside, he has decided todiscontinue food –now concentrating on servingexcellent beer ( it is the only pub I know where Ican guarantee getting a pint of Woodforde’s) inone of the most comfortable pubs in the branch.


Pub News

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8 | Pub news - continued

Darkest FenlandMy incursions into these dragon infested regionscontinued with a tour of the Wisbech villages. A freezing night in November took us to WisbechSt. Mary. The first pub we visited was theChequers, an Elgood’s tied house in TholomasDrove. The building itself dates back to 1774 andit is a good example of a house that sold beer tothe public from its front room. This is clearlyvisible in the structure of the pub, with the mainbar leading into what was the original living space.To the right is a dedicated pool room; to the left,additional seating space which could easily beconverted into restaurant facilities. Landlady,Emma Cowans, has only been there for six monthsand is currently serving Elgood’s Cambridge,Cambridge IPA and Fuller’s London Pride. Justdown the road is the Bridge Inn. It says outsideit is a family restaurant, but this is very much atraditional pub with an unusual triangularpromontory jutting out and marking off the maindrinking area from the games area, which alsofeatures Sky Sports. Landlady Rita Gammon hasbeen there for 23 years and is adamant that it willcontinue as a pub, ensuring its viability by rentingout the function room as an Indian Restaurantwith indoor access. She has Adnams Lighthouseas the resident beer and it seemed to be popularwith most of the customers. The village’s thirdpub is the Wheel, formerly a blacksmiths shop asthe name suggests. The shop itself is now themain bar, with a long narrow saloon, clearly oflater addition, now the restaurant. Tastefully deco-rated with repro oak beams and horseshoes andhorse brasses, it is an Elgood’s tied house servingan excellent pint of Cambridge. During the FirstWorld War it served as a military hospital.

The Woodman’s Cottage is a large attractivepub in Gorefield. It formerly belonged to Enter-prise and went through a series of unsuccessfulmanagers before being closed and put on themarket, almost certainly destined for a propertydeveloper. Local resident Martin Walpole wasn’thaving it as it was his Dad’s local, so he took thepub over in April and now runs it with his sister,Jane. He told me he has a three year contract withGreene King who have been “massively

supportive”, assisting him in all aspects of thetrade. The beers available were IPA, Old SpeckledHen, plus London Glory. A new beer at 4.1%brewed to invade the growing Doombar market, I felt it compared very favourably. We took theopportunity to eat here and would recommend itswide and varied menu. Make sure you have ahealthy appetite. Deeper into the dark and on tothe Woadman’s Arms in Newton. As soon as Ientered this pub and observed a wire haired terrierspread-eagled in front of an open coal fire asthough he owned it, and the landlady slowlypouring a perfect pint of Old Speckled Hen from asitting position, I knew I was in my comfort zone.Wendy Johnson was born here, has run the pub for37 years, her Mum and Dad for 28 years beforethat and her grandfather for an unspecified periodbefore that, so I think we can certainly say that it is“dyed in the woad”. I settled again for a pint ofLondon Glory, new to my palate but the GreeneKing yeast was now starting to come through.With this selection of pubs and the warm welcomewe received everywhere, a return visit was inevitable.

To MurrowAnd to Murrow and to Murrow (I am determinedto revisit this area) and all our yesterdays arepreserved in these isolated Fenland villages*.Entering the Bell Inn is like walking into aGeorge Orwell novel; an open coal fire to the leftand the ceiling and the wall festooned with ascythe and a siding spade for the dykes. There isalso a rake suspended from the ceiling which Iimagine is a relic from Elgoods brewery used toseparate the yeast bed in the traditional opensquares. The pub has two adjoining rooms; oneused for the Sunday carvery and the other a gamesroom containing a bar billiards table; a gamewhich seems to proliferate in this area. The Bell isan Elgood’s tied house serving excellentCambridge and London Pride.

The nearby village of Parson Drove has threepubs and our next stop was the Swan Inn. Onceagain greeted by an open fire, this has a spacious Lshaped bar serving Keltek Lance, London Pride,Bombardier, and to my delight, Elgood’s EPA,which I have been told is the legendary Pageant


Pub news - continued |9

rebadged, in my view one of the best beers thatAlan Pateman has brewed. The lintel above theentrance spells out the invitation “Duck orgrouse”. I, of course, did not notice this until Iattempted to enter, so I banged my head on it.When I complained to the landlady, she said:“Well, we sell Grouse but not duck”.

Sarah Pickersgill has been running this pub sinceAugust of last year and is determined to keep it asa traditional Fenland village pub. Elgood’s sendher a guest ale portfolio every month and she toldme that her customers prefer lower gravity beers,probably because they are early risers. I waspleased to see another bar billiards table-theperfect pub game because all the shots are playedfrom one end of the table. To the right of the mainbar is a games room containing a pool table - thusensuring that players do not knock drinks out ofthe hands of the surrounding imbibers whilstconcentrating on their shots. Elgood’s have offeredto refurbish this, and Sarah is keen to preserve itstraditional ambience.

Further along the road is the Butchers Arms,probably originally a Regency coaching inn – thereare traditional oak beams and posts in the old bar(I could not quite make out the exterior design inthe dark). This is a Free House where proprietors,Jan and Julien Laffan, serve one real ale rotating toensure peak condition. Wadworth’s 6X was avail-able on our visit. The extension to the right wasbuilt in 1870, housing the ubiquitous bar billiardstable which was hosting a local league match. Therestaurant is situated in the adjoining barn, origi-nally the stables, but food is also served in the oldbar which is dominated by a large inglenook nowfurnished with a cast iron wood burner. The menuis extensive and moderately priced. Unfortunatelythe last train from March was imminent, so we didnot have time to visit the Five Bells. Tydd awaits.

Sauerkraut“Former Beefeater ejected from pub for speakingGerman”. So ran a headline in the Evening Tele-graph. One would immediately assume that thispatriotic action took place sometime during thelast war. But then one would be wrong as it


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1. Wheel Inn, Wisbech St Mary2. Bridge, Wisbech St Mary3. Chequers, Tholomas Drove4. Woodmans Cottage, Gorefield5. Woadmans Arms, Newton6. Bell Inn, Murrow 7. Swan Inn, Parsons Drove8. Butchers Arms, Parsons Drove

12

3

4

5

6

7 8


occurred just over three years ago, and the pubwas the Pack Horse in Northborough. Fortu-nately it is now under the more enlightenedmanagement of Sam, his brother Jack and theirdad, Keith, who is in charge of the kitchen. Samtold me on my recent visit that it dates back to thesixteenth century, about the same time as themanor house opposite, and it was probably a seriesof almshouses. The structure of the buildingcertainly bears this out. Stone built and a warrenof connected small rooms with the original timberframed roof intact; originally warmed and lit byinglenooks, the most impressive of which domi-nates the main bar. They now serve CourageDirectors, Caledonian Deuchars and Wadworth’s6X, and have a special offer on a Tuesday night oftwo pizzas and a bottle of wine for £18. Perhapsthe previous owner would have offered Sauerkraut.

Local newsThe Ostrich, in the city centre, is now in thehands of Simon Benton, also licensee of thePalmerston Arms in Woodston. Simon hasappointed William Laud as pub manager, and theyare keen to continue the policy of providing fivereal ales and a cider on hand pump. They alsointend to increase the range of key keg beers in thepub, for which they forecast a growing market.Meanwhile, back at the Palmy, the pub has beenvoted LocAle Pub of the Year. Not surprisingreally as often they feature three beers each fromOakham, Kings Cliffe and Nene Valley breweries.One of my three locals in Woodston, the SwissCottage, has been through a major refit:-reupholstered, recurtained, and redecorated.Roosters and Doombar are the house beers witheither a Tydd or a Digfield as guests - all in excel-lent condition. Very little of this beer is spilt, whichis just as well as the pub has also been recarpeted.James and Angie confirm that wellington boots areno longer required in the bar.

Bad newsFirst from Bulwick. My Stamford informer, AlunThomas, has written to tell me that “the Queen’sHead, this branch’s Pub of the Year for 2013, hasclosed its doors. In fact it has been closed foralmost a month. It just shows what a tenuous busi-

ness the pub game is. When I think back to thepresentation night there the future seemed so rosy,but is this latest development such a shock? Iunderstand that weekday trade was minimal andvirtually non-existent at lunchtimes and I knowthat they closed on Saturday afternoons andSunday evenings, so if you’re purely reliant onthree sessions a week - Friday and Saturday nightsand Sunday lunch - you've got to go some to makeit pay. ..Some might say the Bulwick bypass musthave affected trade (the old A43 went right past thepub’s door) but the bypass has been there fornearly thirty years so can’t be blamed. Round upthe usual suspects - apathy, prices, cheap super-market options, the decline in numbers of the“every night” regular, and so on. You’ve seen it allbefore, more’s the pity”. I think that Alun’sanalysis is as usual comprehensive, but do anyother readers have an opinion on this vital issue?How would you make a pub like this pay? Ambi-ence, product range, target market, décor,entertainment – any ideas? The pub is owned byBulwick Estates and the latest news is that they areactively seeking new tenants.


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19 High Street East, Uppingham, Rutland LE15 9PYTel: 01572 822302

The Crown InnBeer Festival

Friday 25th March to Sunday 27th March

Real AlesLive Music from 3pm

Good newsElizabeth Walker is a six year old child who suffersfrom hereditary multiple exostosis. As a result ofthis debilitating illness, she is totally dependent onher wheelchair. It will not surprise my gentlereaders to discover that this wheelchair has beenstolen and destroyed, such is the nature of themoronic society we inhabit. Fortunately there is afamily connection with Amanda Payne and Colinin the Peacock in Woodston, and they haveadopted Elizabeth’s case as a pub charity. As readers are well aware, it is often the case thatwhere the pub is the heart is. By a happy coinci-dence this has occurred alongside a majorinvestment by Admiral Taverns in this wellappointed pub: new carpet, new toilets, newkitchen, new wood laminate on the floors, and thebar has been redesigned with a light oak top whilstthe brick facing has been retained. The garden willbe enclosed for the summer months. An extrahand pump has been added and they are negoti-ating with Charles Wells to provide a beer toaccompany Doombar and a rotating guest. Colin isalso considering introducing Tyske to attract thepotential resident Eastern European market.Amanda chose the re-launch date of 19th

December to promote the charity when I had theprivilege of meeting Elizabeth’s mum, Sarah, whowas equally bemused by the motive for the crime.Sarah told me that largely as a result of the Peacockand its customers, they are well on their way toachieving their target for the new wheelchair.

Last but not least!I have been re-elected Pubs Officer for a furtheryear. As last year I only managed to visit 203 pubs,I shall really have to sharpen up my act. And I amalso running out of copy. So potential newsfeatures from readers is becoming more and moredesirable. I know there are about 20,000 of youout there and by now I must surely have upsetsomeone, so negative feedback would especially bewelcome. After all, it’s your magazine!

“So shines a good deed in a naughty world”.**Apologies to W.S.

Send us your news!Calling all landlords and landladies! Had a refurb? Got agreat event on? Started selling a new range of ales or cider?Let us know and we will add your news to these pages.Just email John Temple at [email protected]


The Bluebell InnHelpston

We support local micro breweries stocking greatlocal cask conditioned ales - always a choice of 4 including “10 Woodgate” which is specially

brewed just for us.

Open seven days a week for drinks and servingfresh, seasonal, locally sourced produce, our menu

offers something for everyone.

The Bluebell, Woodgate, Helpston,Peterborough PE6 7ED Tel: 01733 252394

Email: [email protected]

‘Lunch for Less’ Menu Monday to Friday

(offering a special two course menu only £10)

The Jolly Sailor, 43 Great Whyte,

Ramsey PE26 1HH

Tel 01487 813388

OPEN ALL DAY EVERY DAY FROM 11amFive Real Ales on permanently

FOOD SERVED DAILY Monday to Friday: 12 to 2.30, 6 to 9pm

Saturday: 12 to 9pm Sunday: 12 to 4pm

Look out for our special

Valentine’s MenuBooking now being taken!

14 |

Abstract JungleIt’s been a great first threemonths for Abstract Jungle.Hard to believe that it was onlyin the last week of October

2015 that Simon was standing in the brewery,nervously starting his first brew on an unfamiliarbrew kit. Despite the unfamiliarity, I am pleased tosay that the results have turned out exactly asSimon had anticipated….phew.

Many of you will have had the opportunity to tryboth the Pride, (3.9% pale ale) and Jackal,(4.2% porter) during the brewery launch at TheCoalheavers in November and more recently triedRestless (4.5% golden ale) and, during theChristmas festivities, Casual, a 4.6% breakfaststout. Initial feedback has been positive thus farand as well as a few pubs in Peterborough, Simon’sbeers have been seen in several around theNottingham area where his reputation is longerestablished.

With the hectic Christmas / New Year behind usSimon is intending to look at ingredients in moredetail. It is clear that hop supply is going to be verytight this year for ALL brewers and it will be impor-tant to be ahead of the game on new varieties andalternatives. Any new projects will be released asspecials and feedback and involvement from thelocal branch and outlets will be critical. Luckily(Steve Saldana) has a small pilot kit that can beutilised as a testing ground for any uncertain recipes.

The site that Simon shares with Steve and BexarCounty continues to fill up with new kit andadjustments to the existing site are ongoing. Moredevelopments (and beers) are planned for this yearand, subject to various legislation/consultations itis hoped to be able to, maybe, open the brewery tothe public once a month for an open day. Thedraw of visiting a hybrid brewery with twocompletely different brewers should make suchdays a big success.

Bexar CountyBexar County will be havingseveral beers at Ely Winter BeerFestival on its own brewery bar. A collaboration beer with 3 BlindMice of Ely has recently been

brewed and also one with Weird Beard in London.Steve will be taking part in a meet the brewersession along with 3 Blind Mice at The CravenArms in Birmingham on 8th February. There isanother collaboration with Alphabet Brewing Co.in the pipeline. Bexar County beers are to be avail-able at the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival and alsoEly, Manchester and Colchester winter ales festivals,plus a few others, featuring both cask and keg beers.

Newly designed pump clips will soon be availableto make the cask beers more prominent on the bar.

A barrel ageing programme has recently startedat the brewery with Papa Steve 2015 and Victo-rian Export Stout being the first two to be aged.These beers will be released only when they areready, the beers will decide, not the brewer.

Finally, if you get a chance to try Death in aSea of Mediocrity, either cask or keg, thenplease make sure you do!

Castor Ales2015 has been a great yearfor Castor Ales now into their8th year of brewing.During the year they were

invited to exhibit Hopping Toad ale at the GreatBritish Beer Festival in August this year. A largecontingent from Peterborough took the opportu-nity for a “bit of Castor Ales promotion” on theTrade day, as you may have seen a few piccies inthe last edition of BAE.Duncan continues to brew regularly whilst stillhaving commitment to his full time employment.However, the possibility now exists for moreregular brewing since close proximity environ-


Brewery News


Brewery news |15

mental constraints have evaporated. The decisionof Simmospoons to take Hopping Toad on apermanent basis as “House Beer” at theirWerrington pubs has meant that demand remainsvery positive. In fact this beer is hopping aroundthe UK having been seen as far afield as Brixhamand Liverpool during the course of 2015.The range of brews has recently been rationalised,with four now available all year round - Duro-brivae 3.7% bitter, Hopping Toad 3.7% bitter,Old Scarlet 4.6% premium bitter and Full Tilt4.3% copper coloured bitter.

Other available seasonal beers are, Dark Side ofthe Comet 4.5% stout, 12th Man 4.4% bitter,Imperial Place Ale 4.5% best bitter andCastorware a 4.4% mild.

Furthermore the brewery continues to look aheadto the future and I am told that, Brewer Duncan iscontemplating going out to tender for a new chainfor the plug on the brewery sink as part of his2016 investment strategy.

Mile Tree BreweryThe brewery had a good runup to Christmas, attendingmany Christmas Markets

where their bottled beer virtually sold out.

They had Larksong 4.5% going to Letter B forthe Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival. 1850 Porter5.3%, Old Ale 5.4% and Larksong 4.5% weredue to make appearances at Ely Winter BeerFestival.

Mile Tree are looking to increase bottled sales in2016 and are in the process of exploring new waysto increase their production and are also workingon recipes to develop new beers during 2016, inboth bottle and cask. Woodrush 4.7% will be thefirst to be released.

The brewery has taken on a full time employee,thus enabling them to increase production fromJan 2016.

Nene Valley BreweryNene Valley had a good

Christmas with sales in the shopdoing particularly well. Beer in abox and five litre mini barrels dida roaring trade and the new line

in cans (Big Bang Theory and Release theChimps) were a hit too. An expanding networkof pubs in Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire,Derbyshire and Leicestershire are now stockingNene Valley beers.

The move into the extended premises at OundleWharf is expected towards the end of Februaryand brewer, Paul, is looking forward to the addi-tional fermentation capability (two more are onorder) that this will bring, along with extended coldstorage capacity.

Manchester Beer and Cider Festival (20th - 23rdJanuary) and the CAMRA National Winter AlesFestival (17th - 20th February) will both featureNene Valley beers for the first time. Nene ValleyBitter, Mid-Week Bender in cask and BigBang Theory in key keg will make the trip toManchester and Nene Valley Bitter, BibleBlack and Mid-Week Bender (all in cask) willappear at Derby.

A further brew of Mid-Week Bender wasfermenting when I visited and should bedispatched to publicans by the time you read this.

All of Nene Valley's beers are now Gluten Freewith recent tests returning results of considerablyless than the 20 parts per million threshold.

Oakham Ales2015 was an excellent trading year forOakham Ales with overall sales up 6%on the previous year, with a total of

24,000 brewer’s barrels making their way out of thebrewery during the year. Bottled beers now make up15% of the total volume with the vast majoritybeing sold in supermarkets throughout the UK.Although 1% of bottles go abroad with the bestmarkets being Italy, South Africa and the Scandina-vian countries.

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16 | Brewery news - continued

So to 2016 and we see a few changes to theOakadamy, Seasonal and Vintage range of beers.The Vintage range sees two new beers, The Navian Amber beer at 5.5% and Blue Skies I.P.A. agolden beer at 6%, both are packed full of NewWorld hops. There is a welcome return forOblivion and Helter Skelter.

The Seasonal range has some old faces back bydemand, Beer Monster in March at 4.8% andAkenhaten in May at 4.9% being originally brewedas specials for Peterborough Beer Festival in recentyears. Akenhaten was certainly a top beer. BirdBrain a Kiwi beer, will appear early in the year andWinter Wraith a dark offering at 4.5% is returningduring November, back by popular demand.

For a full listing of the breweries products visittheir website oakhamales.com.

Shoulder of Mutton BreweryThe Shoulder of Mutton breezed through a busyFestive period in the warm glow of their pub’sCAMRA Gold Award. They bolstered theirnormal range with a couple of specials, Riveterwas first on the pumps, a delicate subtle golden alewith hints of orange marmalade from First Goldhops. It was an instant hit. Sales of this were‘rocked’ though with the introduction ofOresome, as allegiances switched to this spectac-ular American Pale Ale featuring a sextet of USand New World hops. Head Brewer, GrahamMoorhouse, claims to have thrown everything inand hoped for the best, those that know him willknow better. The New Year saw a first foray into astout intended to be a cornerstone of the range -an initial experimental number found its way intocask, keg and bottle, a research project that regu-lars are enjoying a great deal. All regular beers arenow available in bottles at the Shoulder of Mutton.

Star Brewing CompanyDecember was a good month forthe Brewery. Newest beers SuperNova (4.4%) an American PaleAle, and Kepler’s Law (5.5%) astrong golden IPA, both sold well.

Beers available at present are Comet (3.8%),

Meteor (4.0%), Dark Matter (4.4%), WinterAle (4.6%) & Kepler’s Law. The brewery alsosupplied Titan (4.2%) and Summit (4.6%) to theLetter B for the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival inJanuary.

Tydd SteamThe big news from TyddSteam is that Will hasbrewed a new 4.3% ABV

beer called Arctic Fox’s Polar Beer. The beerwas brewed to celebrate a visit to the South Pole byWill’s nephew Michael, who has been involved intransporting supplies to the scientists stationedthere. The beer sold out very quickly as did theChristmas beer Yooligan. Mind Bomb is beingbrewed for the SIBA National beer competition inMarch and Beartown was available during Whit-tlesea Straw Bear Festival. Recent releases from theoccasional portfolio have been Golden Kiwi andDr Fox’s Cunning Linctus. Iron Brew will beavailable again shortly.

Xtreme AlesDecember was a quiet monthwith holidays and some elec-trical changes being made to the

brewery. Production will be increased fromJanuary onwards due to having a full timeemployee. A special brew of Victorian WinterAle was produced for Melton Mowbray streetfestival in November. This was so popular a furtherbatch was brewed and was available at the Whit-tlesea Straw Bear and Ely beer festivals. Inaddition the Straw Bear Festival also featuredDancing Pigeon and Goldilocks at variouspubs around the town.

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New micro-pub on its way to Peterborough |19

2016 will see the launch of a new venue in Peterbor-ough. And something different to anything else in thecity. Most pubs provide a range of drinks, some betterthan others, mixed with big TV screens, noisy back-ground music, and flashing gaming machines. Believingthere is a real need in Peterborough for a much moretraditional ale house, two local men are looking to openthe first micro pub in the city shortly.

Micro pubs are the new drinking phenomenonspreading throughout the country; the first was set up inHerne, Kent in 2005, and there are now over 200 allover the UK. They are usually a former shop unit,brought back to life for the benefit of locals who enjoytop quality real ales and good conversation.

Steve Williams knows his real ales, and knows what aproper pint should look and taste like. He has beeninvolved in the local Campaign for Real Ale group forover 25 years, and manages all the staffing at the Peter-borough Beer Festival. Steve said ‘Indifferent serviceand average beers are just two of my pet hates. Peter-borough does have some really good boozers butnowhere near enough. I think real ale drinkers deserve

much better, and we intend to do something about it.’

John Lawrence re-opened the Crown pub in NewEngland 3 years ago, and is looking to build on thatexperience. John added ‘the Crown is thriving, and hasa new manager, and I wish it well; I will still visit for thelive music. But we want to offer a more dedicated alehouse where the drink and the chat come first’.

The pair have the backing of a number of brewersboth local and further afield, who plan to offer anongoing range of exclusive brews.

In addition to the real ales, the venue will offer arange of quality wines, soft drinks with a twist, andpremium spirits - including the largest range of maltwhisky in the area.

They will also offer a Bottle Shop, offering the widestrange of quality bottled ales for customers to buy andtake home or enjoy in house.

A venue is being finalised, and it is hoped it will beopen by early summer.

A New Year, a New Venue?

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We are Peterborough CAMRA Pub of the Year 2016!

Sunday 20th December saw fifteen CAMRAmembers meet at the Brewery Tap car park ineager anticipation of the day’s forthcoming activi-ties. Where would they be going? As SocialSecretary and event organiser I was there to meetthem with a mince pie each. Kay and John, twofirst time attendees then told me that the lastMystery Tour they went on went straight back towhere they lived, which at the time was Whittlesey.I asked where they lived now to be told that theylived in Bourne. My heart sank a little as I knewwe would be heading in that direction later on.

We all boarded the minibus and set off. Kaygroaned as we then took the A15 going north! Thefirst stop was planned to be the Five Horseshoes atBarholm. I decided on a cunning plan to put theinquisitive throng off the scent a little by detouringvia Helpston and West Deeping. The plan got evenmore cunning when we discovered that the road toWest Deeping was closed and had to continue viaBainton and then across to Tallington getting the

wrong side of the notorious Tallington crossing inthe process. It certainly worked though and thor-oughly confused everybody.

We arrived two minutes after twelve to be facedwith a fine array of ales including Roosters andlocal beers from Star Brewery amongst others. Wewere made very welcome and enjoyed beers inexcellent condition. A very good start to the trip,with everyone agreeing what a good pub this was.

On departure from the Five Horseshoes weheaded across to Langtoft and then towardsBourne. The groans from Kay and John weregetting louder until we veered off and headed forthe small village of Edenham. We arrived at theFive Bells and promptly disembarked for some finebeers from Horncastle Brewery and GrainstoreBrewery. The Five Bells is a very pleasant and airypub which caters equally well for both drinkersand diners. The beers were on song and the pubwas thoroughly enjoyed by all. Kay and John also

Mysterious Goings On!


Mystery Tour |21enjoyed visiting the pub despite being able to walkto it from their house! One or two of the moreastute members also saw a theme developing withthe pub names containing numbers. This themedeveloped some more after a short drive to thenext venue, the Six Bells at Witham-on-the-Hill.

This is a very well-appointed pub with a majoremphasis on quality food but it also welcomesdrinkers. Here the beer range was more limitedthan had been hoped for due to a very busySaturday depleting stocks. After a very enjoyablepint of Hop Back Elf & Hoppiness, I decided to gooff-piste and put in an extra pub. It was no mysteryas we all agreed on the Green Dragon at nearbyRyhall. The pub is in a very pretty village and wewere made welcome despite the complete lack ofnotice for the landlady and her staff. Beers fromOldershaw and new brewery Bakers Dozen wereavailable and were enjoyed in what was a very busybut friendly pub.

I was glad to see the Bakers Dozen beer on thebar at the Green Dragon as the brewery was goingto be our next destination! We headed off throughStamford and on to Ketton. Most of the groupwere still in the dark as to the destination when wearrived at the Brewery to be met by owner andbrewer, Dean Baker. Dean proudly showed usaround his new plant and after telling us some-thing about the beers that he brews, he gave us avery interesting insight as to why and how he hadadded a brewery to his already successful pub busi-ness. This was followed by a generous sampling ofBakers Dozen beer. This was not to be the end ofBakers Dozen beer as the final port of call wasscheduled to be the Jolly Brewer itself where wewere met by Dean’s partner, Gill. Following anexcellent buffet, Gill judged our Christmas Jumpercompetition which was won by BAE editor JaneBrown who out-spangled the rest of us to win agift-pack of beers kindly donated by Elgood’sBrewery. The beers in the Jolly Brewer were up totheir usual high standard and made a fitting end tothe trip. All that was left to do was take acontented group back to Peterborough. Unfortu-nately we had run out of mince pies by this time!

John Hunt, Social Secretary


22 |

BackdropWith pub closures still reported to be running at a rate ofaround 29 a week there is another, no less startlingstatistic that may have escaped your attention. That isthat over 200 breweries opened during 2015, most ofthem producing excellent cask ale.

There are now more than 1,400 breweries in the UK,more per head of population than anywhere else in theworld. Real Ale, Craft Keg and bottled beers continueto rise in popularity including amongst youngerdrinkers who are spurning the bland to experiment withexciting new tastes and flavours that couldn’t have beendreamt of even 15 years ago.

Beer in the New AgeThere has been an explosion of new hops, liveimported yeasts, malt kilning techniques and newadjuncts to market during the last decade or so. Clevertargeted marketing has resulted in it being ‘cool’ todrink modern new beers made by passionate knowl-edgeable young brewers. Suddenly it is trendy tofrequent modern colourful new beer bars that sell beerby the third for three times the price and accompanythem with simple but expensive food accompanied by

Is craft daft? |23

so many slates, boards, bowls, cages, pans, skewersand platters that the presentation of the foodsomehow unwittingly usurps its taste.

The Noughties BrewerAside from the seemingly boundless infectiousenthusiasm of modern brewers they also have anunquenchable thirst for knowledge. It is a thirstthat is sated by online forums, social media groups,brewing collaborations, recipe exchanges and mostof all, of course, is empowered by the freedom ofthe internet. The old school brewer faces potentialbewilderment as new techniques, invented andimported make the brewing of new beer styles derigueur, and boundary pushing the norm. Newworld hops have been a revelation, beer that hashints of grapefruit, lemons, grapes or berries arenow commonplace and techniques such as firstwort hopping, dry hopping or hop bursting withmassive amounts of aroma hops toward the end ofthe boil are resulting in some spectacular beers.They are not always universally liked but they arespectacular nevertheless. They can also be creditedwith acting as a ‘transition’ drink for a lagerdrinker who will find it relatively easy to switch toan ale that might even pay a passing resemblanceto a lager and lime or even their favourite fruitflavored soft drink!

Tradition to be RespectedCounter to this there is an unshakeable and highlydeserved place for more traditional styles andflavours. There are few joys in life to better aperfect pint of traditional English Bitter with ahunk of bread and a slab of Cheddar for exampleand the resurgence of mild, ruby and old alesalong with stouts and porters are a joy to behold.There is no question that new brewers, new ingre-dients and new methods have added colour,character and much debate to the beer scene. It’san interest that healthily spans all age groups andit is good to see it sitting easily and being embracedby the establishment.

Bravo we say, but is it all sweetness and light; andwhat does the future hold? Like most other foodand drink manufacturing sectors the only thingthat is certain in brewing is change itself. Theemergence of new breweries is fantastic for the

industry, indeed it counterbalances the somewhatdepressing continued near monopoly by theworld’s top breweries. In a similar vein there is nobetter indication of how well craft, micro andnano breweries are doing than seeing some of themajors, rubbishing them, buying them up orcopying them by setting up their own, craft rangeor new products division.

Challenges AheadIs there trouble on the horizon though? Brewing isa tough old business, and brewing the beer is theeasy part. As any brewer will know, meticulousequipment cleaning takes up more than half of abrew day, then of course there are the un-glam-ourous tasks of cleaning casks, delivering them,collecting them and of course the tricky challengeof getting paid on time. All of these tasks can beoutsourced of course, but at a cost. The ingredi-ents for making beer can be relatively inexpensivebut the cost is in the time. In the commercial environment a 6 to 8 hour brew session is followedby perhaps a week of your asset fermenting, thenbeing cold conditioned before finally beingreleased to market. By the time everyone has beenpaid, including the tax man and if you are lucky,yourself – oh and then of course there’s the rent,rates, water and fuel bills to settle, the margins arethin. Suddenly the use of those exotic hops fromNew Zealand, and yeast flown in from Americamay seem hasty as they are also tugging at thesame margins. That is if you can get the hops, asthe 2015 hop harvest was not the best. Poorweather and powdery mildew has all but wiped outsome species for the year and others are nearunobtainable having been snaffled under contractby the major breweries. There is no doubt the skillsof the brewer will be under sharper than everfocus during 2016 as throwing mounds of fruityhops at a brew will no longer be a commerciallyviable option. Blend and balance will take on newsignificance and the elusive quest for popularsaleable beers will continue unabated.

The Quest for ProfitIn other cases, the towel is being thrown in, in thequest for profit. Recycling yeast is considered goodpractice but re-cycling dry hops for the next batchboil, milling malt extra fine to extract more


F


Diary dates CAMRA meetings, socials and beer festivals in the coming months

FebruaryWednesday 3th at 8.30 pm.Branch Monthly Meeting at theBeehive, Albert Place, Peterbor-ough, PE1 1DD. All memberswelcome to attend, but pleasebring your membership card.

Friday 12thAward Presentation - Pub of theYear 2016 at the Woolpack,Stanground PE2 8HR from8.00pm onwards.

Wednesday 17th – Saturday 20th National Winter Ales Festival,The Roundhouse, Pride Park,Derby DE24 8JE. For furtherdetails go to http://nwaf.org.uk

Saturday 20thAward Presentation – BranchCider Pub of the Year at theLetter B, Whittlesey. Mini busdeparts Brewery Tap at 7pm

return by 11pm. Cost £7.Contact John Hunt, SocialSecretary to book places.

MarchMonday 7th at 8.00pmBranch Monthly Meeting at thePalmerston Arms, WoodstonPE2 9PA. To include presenta-tion of the LocAle Pub of theYear. All members welcome toattend, but please bring yourmembership card.

Wednesday 9th – Saturday12th Leicester Beer Festival,Charotar Patidar Samaj, BayStreet, Leicester LE1 3BX. Forfurther details go to www.leicestercamra.org.uk

Thursday 17th – Saturday19th St Neots ‘Booze on theOuse’ Beer and Cider Festival,Priory Centre, St Neots PE19

2BH. For further details go towww.hunts.camra.org.uk

Saturday 19thMarch in March CampaigningCrawl. Meet Peterborough railwaystation at 11.40 for 11.50 train toMarch. Off Peak Day Return£7.60. If you intend to join inMarch ring 07923489917 for loca-tion update. Contact John Hunt,Social secretary to book places.

Friday 25th - Monday 28thEaster Ale Festival at the Tapand Kitchen, Oundle WharfePE8 4DE

AprilSaturday 23rdJoint trip to Bermondsey BeerMile with Huntingdon CAMRAbranch. Details TBC.

at Sundays, 3 Cumbergate, Peterborough PE1 1YRBookings on [email protected] Tel: 01733 554 334

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1 Peterborough Rd, Langtoft PE6 9LW Delaine Bus Route 201 / 202

Is craft daft? Continued |25

‘flavour’. Using rice, corn, syrups and otheradjuncts, cheap sugars, inverts, colourings and, forgoodness sake, hop oils instead of real hops are notuncommon beyond the grass roots of the industry.Some advocates will try to justify them on quality,flavour or mouthfeel grounds. The rest of usshake our heads in disbelief as pretenders take onthe race to the bottom in search of profit. Thank-fully cut corners are generally easy to taste, –soulless and twiggy brown beers with a heart-breaking lack of taste and flavour leave a trail ofbroken dreams and promises for the expectantdrinker. Sadly a tarring with the same brush castsa shadow over the collective reputation of beer asour national drink of choice.

The Emerging ModelThe beer bars that have created a new market willhave their credentials questioned by the footfall ofa demanding public and fall back closer to thetraditional pub model as the vogue for payingmore for less becomes less fashionable. After all,the beers use essentially the same ingredients andonly cost pennies per pint more to make than anyother beer. At the same time genuinely great traditional pubs will prosper on a mandate ofquality beer and quality food and of course beinga great community venue.

So, with so many breweries emerging, and yet somany pubs closing, or having their choices limitedby their owners, how does the brewer prosper?Some breweries will merge, resources will beshared, and breweries will close. There is the oftrepeated story of the farmer who spent tens ofthousands on his dream of setting up a breweryonly to close it six months later because the lack ofsales, hard work and need to be in three places atonce was simply overwhelming. The rose tintedbespectacled romantic notion type brewer will notlast the course.

Pub companies are already changing and adaptingand will survive because their shareholdersdemand it. The end of the Pub Tie, the emer-gence of the Market Rent Only option and thedivestment of part of their pub estates by even thelargest players brings forth another opportunity.

The Brew PubAs a pub landlord what if you could completelycontrol beer quality? Accurately assess demandand adapt cask sizes to suit, stock a wide variety ofbeers, and change them regularly to keep interesthigh, minimize wastage, reduce transportationcosts and increase profitability whilst at the sametime serving beer that you are proud of andmaking your pub a destination attraction?

And if you were a brewer what if you could get aregular reliable source of sales with promptpayment and no returns or complaints aboutmatters outside of your control?

With the emergence of new breweries we areseeing the re-birth of the brew pub. It is often saidthat beer doesn’t travel well and with a brew pub itdoesn’t have to. Beer made just yards from itspoint of sale has the best chance of being served inoptimum condition. Chances are, the landlord andhis brewer will know exactly what went into thebeer and will be able to explain it to you with agenuine interest. There will be a glint in the eyeand a pride in the product that can be comparedto the home made pie and the hand cut chips thatare served with your pint. None of the corporateordinary or the grim bland will be seen in this typeof establishment. Yes, of course, the proprietorknows which beers are light and hoppy and thosethat are dark and bewitching, and of course, theyknow what hops were used in the beer. Indeed thelandlord may have put them in the copper himselfor even grown some of them in the garden. This isa model that works because it produces qualityoutcomes - different and better because it issimpler. Where quality comes first, ingredients arefinest and the brewing art revered. It doesn’tshout, but it certainly demands your attention.

Graham MoorhouseHead Brewer at the Shoulder of Mutton, Weldon.

Are you missing out?Get Beer Around Ere delivered to your door! For a year (6 issues) send £3.54 for second class or £4.08for 1st Class or multiples thereof for multiple years. Pleasesend a cheque/PO payable to “Peterborough CAMRA” andyour address to:- Daryl Ling, 19 Lidgate Close, PeterboroughPE2 7ZA

26 |

On a recent California fly drive holiday with myvery understanding fiancée Carron we visited anumber of Breweries to see how real ale was flour-ishing ‘over the pond’. First point to note is theAmericans define microbrewers as craft brewersand correspondingly their produce is called craftbeer.

Our first stop was San Diego and the BallastPoint Brewery, Ballast Point Brewing andSpirits Company founded in 1996. It is thesecond largest brewer in San Diego County andthe 37th largest craft brewery in the USA. Alongside craft beer it is also a micro distilleryproducing 14 different spirits from gin to moon-shine! The tasting room was very similar in size toour very own Brewery Tap in Peterborough with along line of taps running the length of the bar plusthe complete range of Ballast Point spirits. Carrontried a US pint (glasses are smaller than our impe-

rial pint it looks and feels very strange!) ofCommodore a medium bodied stout at 6.5 ABV. I sampled a Sculpin IPA at 7.0 ABV which istheir signature brew. Can you see a patternunfolding here? The Americans like their craft alevery hoppy and very STRONG! To be fair not allthe US craft beer is strong, I sampled a sessionIPA, Even Keel, which at 3.8% was a tad hoppyfor my palate but was very tasty as were all thebeers we sampled from Ballast.

Our next port of call(literally) was the RMSQueen Mary moored inLong Beach. The Queenwas built in 1936 and is afloating Art Deco palaceand a tribute to Britishcraftsmanship, and I hadengineered the visit so Icould propose to my partnerCarron on the deck.

I was not disappointed with her response and wetoasted our engagement in the 1st class 1930’sObservation Cocktail bar. There were a smallnumber of craft ales for sale and of particularnote was Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPAABV 7.2. The name derives from the dry-hoppingthe beer gets in production from the hop torpedo.


Beer in the USA

Beer in the USA|27

The hop torpedo is a stainless steel device packedwith whole-cone hops and sealed against pressure.Fermenting beer is circulated out of a fermenter,through the column of hops, and back into thefermentation tank. The beer was hoppy with avery crisp taste. Los Angeles is a very big place andhas over 20 craft breweries within the city limits.(As a footnote I have since found bottles of Torpedo ExtraIPA for sale in both Morrison’s in Peterborough so you cantry it for yourselves).

The last part of our journey was through thefruit and grape growing regions of California aswe headed for the bay and San Francisco. It has tobe seen to be believed, mile after mile of fruit andgrape vines are all you can see. When we arrivedin downtown San Francisco again we found thesame as every were else with craft beer on sale atjust about every location. There are over 30 craftbreweries in San Francisco. The Americans haveembraced craft ale in all its styles golden, amber,dark etc. In downtown San Francisco you can takea cable car (tram) and at each terminus there is acraft beer brewery very close by.

We visited the Cellarmaker Brewing Companywhich was just around the corner from our hotel.

So very handy for a growler to take home (a growler isa glass jug that carries a half-gallon of beer).

There was a very warm welcome from the staff.The beer list comprised of beers with weird andwonderful names like, Killed by Death Pale Ale6.1 ABV, Highway to the Danker Zone doubleIPA 8.4 ABV, Vastness of Space double Impe-rial stout 9.8 ABV, and Coffee & CigarettesLondon porter 7.2 ABV. You can ask for 5oztasters which is a great way to find out what ticklesyour fancy. For me it was Killed by Death Pale Aleand Carron just loved the Coffee & CigarettesPorter. In summary we had a wonderful trip, metsome wonderful people, and drank some wonderfulbeer.

The word on the street for 2016 is the Americansare coming, with a number of licence brewingdeals with UK breweries to bring you the new tasteof America! American beers can be purchasedonline, are available in the larger supermarkets, ortry asking your local landlord or landlady.

Have a Nice Day!Mike Blakesley

Press Officer


Gold Award Presentation Shoulder of Mutton

The Shoulder of Mutton was presented with a Gold Award on 4th December 2015. A mini bus ofmembers travelled to Weldon for the presentation. The award was for “increasing the variety of real aleand the addition of a LocAle brewery”. Visitors joined locals in the celebration! Good beer, excellentfood laid on by mine hosts, all in all a good night.

Dave Murray, Chairman presentingaward to landlord Bogdan Vujnovic, with brewer Graham Moorhouse.

The owners of the Paphos-basedAphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery &Brewpub, the first licensed microbreweryin Cyprus, tell CAMRA their incrediblestory of how they overcame years oframpant government bureaucracy to brewtheir real ales in Cyprus.

William Ginn (Bill), said, “We started working on ourlicence application shortly after arriving in Cyprus inOctober of 2010 but, as you’ll see, the process wasvery drawn out and made extremely difficult andexpensive for us”. He added, “Leaving Cyprus wasnever an option, as my wife Jean, our daughters,Laura and Melanie and me, whilst proud of our York-shire heritage and of being British, just love living inbeautiful Paphos.”

Why Did You Decide to Start a Microbrewery in Cyprus? I was a Chartered Engineer in the oil industry andtravelled all my life. I enjoy good beer but I’ve spent alot of time in places where good beer, often where anybeer, is impossible to find. Brewing has been of prac-tical interest to me so I knew we could make highquality and interesting beers. Cyprus, like mostMediterranean resorts, only had bland, mass-produced commercial lagers and with nearly threemillion tourists every year, half being British, we sawreal potential to establish our microbrewery inPaphos.

Melanie, our youngest daughter, studied at Sunder-land University as one of a growing band of Britishwomen brewers. We researched the market, prepareda detailed business plan and presented this to theCyprus Investment Promotion Agency, CIPA, whoagreed to help. We didn’t enter into this lightly nor,knowing Cyprus, did we expect things to be easy, butno market research, business plan or MBA could haveprepared us for the sheer extent of the governmentnightmare to follow…”

What Were the Problems You Encountered in Cyprus? We found an old defunct winery, near Tsada village,set in a lush green valley in the beautiful hills abovePaphos. The size was perfect plus it was full of charmand character and had all the permits as a winery.CIPA said the ‘Change of Use’ application, fromwinery to brewery, “…should be straightforward”. Itwas, however, an interminably slow and expensiveprocess and it was Easter 2012, eighteen months ofcontinuous work later, when our thick dossier ofdocumentation was complete. We were assured allwas in order and that we “…should receive thePermit to Brew in about a week”. You can imagineour shock on receiving notification from Nicosia, notwith our promised Permit to Brew, but with furtherincreasingly unreasonable, impractical and, often,impossible demands.

It must be said that Jean and I were treated verybadly during these years and our health undoubtedlysuffered. For over two years our equipment stood idleand we incurred huge costs with no income. CIPA wasshocked by the extent of the bureaucratic obstacles weencountered but was powerless to help. It was almostas if there was a deliberate attempt by the governmentto drive us out of Cyprus for some reason!

We persevered and met all demands making it veryclear we would not just go away. Customs & Excisethen dropped their bombshell announcement, neverpreviously mentioned, that should we ever receive aPermit to Brew we would need to pay a €51,000 bondand have a full-time Inspector on our premises whose


Cyprus microbreweryfinally gets the go-ahead!

David vs Goliath in Cyprus |29


salary and all expenses would be to our account and,after lunchtime, the salary would be at double time.The total cost of this resident Inspector could amountto well in excess of €100,000 p.a.; a crippling sum fora small family business.”

To Brussels and the European ParliamentBill said “With no options left to us, and feeling veryalone in our struggles, we took this matter to theEuropean Parliament in Brussels where, with the kindsupport of our former Yorkshire MEPs, Mr GodfreyBloom and Mr Edward McMillan-Scott, questionswere raised on our behalf over the legality of theCyprus brewing industry and whether fair and equi-table treatment should be expected for foreign directinvestors into Cyprus as dictated under EU law.”

“We’d taken an entrepreneurial business risk withour investment into Cyprus, and we’d taken a heftyfinancial and emotional beating for our audacity bythose who should have welcomed us, but we finallyhad hope and a glimmer of light at the end of ourlong dark tunnel. As a result of the EU intervention,our Permit to Brew was granted, with the residentInspector and bond dropped. All seemed well but thiswas followed by a letter stating that we were“Forbidden to trade outside the city of Paphos” and“Forbidden to trade via the retail industry”. Weobjected and pointed out that this unfairly and unrea-sonably restricted our ability to compete with theCyprus brewing duopoly of Keo and Carlsberg andwas against the founding principle of ‘freedom ofmovement of goods’ in the EU. So our fight againstCyprus bureaucracy went on. It was nearly four yearsafter we started when we finally received an unre-stricted permit to brew and to distribute in Cyprus.People liken our story to David vs Goliath; I don’tknow about that but I do know that we couldn’t justmeekly accept such unfair treatment without a fight.”

He said, with a wry smile, “After all these years ofCyprus bureaucracy, I nearly called our Irish Red Ale‘Red Tape’!” He then added, “I am, however, nowpleased to announce that a Mediterranean holiday nolonger condemns CAMRA real ale drinkers tosuffering long days of bland, mass-produced commer-cial lagers; some choice is now available in Cyprus.Come to our little oasis in Paphos in 2016 for a greatday out!”

Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery andBrewpub today Aphrodite’s Rock operates from an old winery just 15- 20 minutes drive from the city of Paphos in Cyprus.Or try the recommended No. 645 bus from the OldTown, then phone the brewery for the shuttle bus onarrival at Tsada bus stop. It is set in a valley surroundedby the natural beauty of the Mediterranean country-side amidst olive groves and grapevine terraces. Ourkitchen offers value-for-money meals plus a range ofItalian wood-fired-oven pizzas.

Handcrafted Ales in Cyprus Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery & Brewpub is still,first and foremost, a working brewery. Ales and lagersare created by Head Brewer, Melanie, and her team.Four core ales (Yorkshire Rose Bitter, Lian Shee IrishRed Ale, ESB and London Porter) are cask-condi-tioned and dispensed at the brewpub as CAMRAcompliant real ales. As craft ales, gas-dispensed andcooled to 5° C, all products are available in selectedoutlets throughout much of Cyprus.

Aphrodite’s Rock is also the only cider producer inCyprus. For those who enjoy cider this is onepilgrimage that is a ‘must’! Guests are also all invitedto join the free Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery &Brewpub Tour every Monday to Friday at about2.00pm. Bill closed by saying “Things are slowlyimproving but we still have many ongoing issues. The more people that spread the word and come tosee us, the better we can confront these. We ask you,our fellow CAMRA members, for your help in this,please: ‘Like’ our Facebook page(www.facebook.com/AphroditesRockBrewingCom-pany/); follow us on Twitter (@Aphroditesrock). Ifyou’re coming to see us please write to us saying yourvisit to Paphos was prompted by reading this articleand the dates you’ll be here. We look forward tomeeting you soon. The Ginn family extends a warmwelcome to all CAMRA members, their friends andfamily, so come and say ‘Hello’.

We wish Bill, Jean and their family every success in the future…

Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery & Brewpub Contact Information: Address: Polis Road, Tsada,Paphos 8540, Cyprus. Phone number: (00 357) 26101446. Email: [email protected] [email protected]

Branch CommitteeSecretary: Dickie Bird4 Cissbury Ring,WerringtonPeterborough, PE4 6QH01733 574226 (tel & fax)07731 993896 [email protected]

Chairman: David Murray01733 [email protected]

Treasurer: Paul Beecham01733 31198107710 [email protected]

Vice Chair: Matthew Mace07809 [email protected]

Social Sec: John Hunt07923 [email protected]

Pubs Officer: John Temple07905 051 [email protected]

Press Officer: Mike Blakesley01733 390828 (h) 07747 617527 (m)[email protected]

Cider Officer: Bernidette [email protected]

Young Members: Kara [email protected]: Bob Melville07941 [email protected] Org: Mike Lane07850 [email protected]

LocAle Officer: Dave McLennan01733 346059 (h) 07854 642773 (m)[email protected]

Webmaster: Harry [email protected]

Brewery Liaison OfficersBlue Bell: John Hunt07923 489917Bexar County Brewery: Dave Botton01733 345475Castor Ales: Mike Lane07850 334203Digfield: Dave Waller07821 912605

Elgood’s: John Hunt07923 489917

Hopshackle: Noel Ryland07944 869656Kings Cliffe Brewery:Mike Blakesley07747 617527Melbourn: Don Rudd07806 731765Mile Tree Brewery:Steve Williams07756 066503Nene Valley: Bob Melville07941 246693Oakham Ales: Dave Allett07966 344417Tydd Steam: John Hunt07923 489917Shoulder of Mutton Brewery:John Temple07905 051 312Star Brewing Company: Don Rudd 07806 731765Xtreme Ales: Vacant

Trading Standards08545 040506www.consumerdirect.gov.ukCheck out our website at:www.real-ale.org.uk

Pub Merit Awards & Gold AwardsDoes your local pub have excellent beer, friendly staff, a great atmosphere/ community spirit, orhave they introduced additional hand pumps? If so nominate them for Gold or Merit Award. Thenew Merit Award is for pubs that are continuously outstanding, so if you know of a deserving pubwithin the branch area, please complete the form below indicating Gold or Merit Award and post tothe secretary or email nominations to [email protected]. Pub name:

Pub address/town/village:

Reason for award:

Your name:

Your phone number or e-mail address:

Your membership number:

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beer around 'ere - issue 187

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