Campaign for Real Ale

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: GUEST,Joe G
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 04:02 PM

Elland , Durham & Old Spot to add to the list as long as you like hops!!

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: glueman
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 04:59 PM

That would be Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild DeG. The West Midlands is, or was, a Mild heaven though the only time I get is to visit in-laws. A trip on the Severn Valley Railway is always a good excuse for some Batham's.

The trouble with mild is so few people drink it these days it tends to go off in the pubs that do sell it.

Still, only a week to The Nook beer festival where my mild muscle will get some exercise.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 06:08 PM

There was a mild tasting session in a Toon pub up here a couple of months back, they sold the remainder off cheap to shift it. I love mild, even golden milds like Taylors or McMullens if theyre about.
Ive got some Durham beers laid down for the winter, barleywine and imperial russian stout are just the ticket when its cold and dark out.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Folkiedave
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 06:39 PM

CAMRA was the first example (as far as I am aware) of a non-pressure group. :-)

I will say that one measure of their success - despite the anoraks and tickers - is the glorious city of Edinburgh. When I was first up there there were two or three bars ONLY that sold real ale> One was the Diggers and I forget the others.

Now of course the vast majority of Edinburgh pubs seem to serve real ale.

Mind before you go rushing up there, you do need a sense of humour to drink there.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 02:34 AM

Keeping beer local as well as real is important; witness the glorious battle when Greene King (Suffolk) thought they could throw Harveys (Lewes) out of the Lewes Arms. The campaign to restore Harveys got national and international press coverage including a full-page article in Der Spiegel and two features on Radio 4's 'You and Yours' programme. It is also the subject of two academic theses.

Two years after their defeat, Greene King very quietly sold the pub to Fullers. The Harveys is still there (but not the Lewes Saturday Folk Club , unfortunately, as the new management wanted to charge us a ludicrous rent for the use of the small club-room).

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: glueman
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 04:49 AM

"...and imperial russian stout"

Not what you call a session drink, that.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: theleveller
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 05:06 AM

I agree about keeping ber local.

Wold Top Brewery
in East Yorkshire not only brews fantastic beer, Moonbeams also held an amazing folk festival there a few weeks ago, and plan to do the same next year. Perfect combination!

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Newport Boy
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 11:52 AM

There are good real ales everywhere, and more than you think. A few years ago we considered an ale challenge - drink a different pint of draught every day of the year!

We did a bit of research (and a bit of drinking) and found that the task was possible inside a 40-mile radius.

Phil

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: GUEST,Joe P
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 01:56 PM

My favourite has to be the Dark Star brewery, their Espresso Stout is to die for, but isnt found this far north. shame.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: GUEST,AndyC
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 03:22 PM

The Black Country is still a good place to find Mild - often very cheap too. Banks's Original is the best (note they don't call it a Mild - which shows that they think it has a bit of an image problem).

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Jane of' ull
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 09:43 AM

I created a thread to ask this question but it mysteriously disappeared: what is the correct temperature for drinking real ale? I had some in the fridge for just a short while and it seemed to me just right. I'm used to drinking white wine at this time of year, which is of course well chilled.

---

ale temperature thread (click)

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Jane of' ull
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 10:23 AM

It's ok I've just found my lost thread so know the answer!! Lost my cookie and had to reset it.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Jack Campin
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 02:50 PM

Bear in mind that Kosmo IS in Glasgow (Good Luck with the Uni Folk Club) and as I recall , Real Ale is not so common North of the border

Babbity Bowsters, for one. I've mostly been there for the Saturday session, which is horrendously difficult to play in because of the punters all shouting their heads off. I've figured out the one acoustic sweet spot where I actually have a prayer of hearing what everybody else is playing and try to edge my way into it.

Now of course the vast majority of Edinburgh pubs seem to serve real ale.

Sandy Bells doesn't. Thank God. It's got enough loudmouthed bores talking over the music as it is.

I was at CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival in Earls Court (London) a couple of weeks ago, having a few hours to spare between getting off the bus from Budapest and getting on the one to Edinburgh. Deafening racket with an English folk band making almost no impression despite a reasonable PA. Probably a well paid gig but I felt sorry for them. The food stalls were the best bit.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Jane of' ull
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 05:36 PM

I tried WychCraft beer last night and it was divine, though it smelled like fairy liquid - I suppose that's pretty apt!

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: melodeonboy
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 06:32 PM

"Deafening racket with an English folk band making almost no impression despite a reasonable PA. Probably a well paid gig but I felt sorry for them."

Yeh, the acoustics at the Earl's Court venue do leave something to be desired!

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Flashmeister
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 12:27 PM

Jack - I thought Sandy Bells did do ale....I had a nice pint or two or three in there when I was last in Edinburgh....? perhaps I am remembering wrongly through the ether?
I was enjoying the music far to much to be pendantic and dissect the nuances and peculiarities of a pint of beer!

My session pub has a cracking beer fest on at the end of October - 50+ beers and ciders, it's a Banks & Taylor pub and they do mighty fine beer there as well as some good guests - a rake of Nethergate and Titanic are on at the mo. very nice.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 12:41 PM

I can confirm that German beer is quite nice, however, real ale doesn't seem to be available where I live at all. They've got Guiness in the supermarkets and "beverage shops" (no liquor stores here in the American sense) and no store specializing in rare and imported beers or ales, as far as I know. I've bought Guiness a couple of times, but there are better beers here that cost less, so I don't think it's worth it. There's also Kilkenny, which I think is a lager, but I haven't seen any other British or Irish beers or ales at the stores I go to, which have a large selection.

After not drinking any alcohol at all for quite awhile, I've been trying the different beers and am quite interested in brewing, real ale, etc. I was actually thinking of starting a thread about it, if I could have thought of anything sensible to say on the subject.

I particularly like dark and "black" beers ("Schwarzbier"). Einbecker is quite nice and the brewery (in Einbeck) is not far from where I live. It is very old and notable for being mentioned in "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks": he threw a dog into the vat where the beer was being brewed. Till Eulenspiegel's pranks were mostly sadistic rather than merry. They make a nice alcohol-free beer. Mostly, non-alcoholic beer is pretty uninspiring.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 12:53 PM

Oh, yes: What about pumps and taps? I read something about bars (or pubs, if you prefer) using gas to pump the beer. That doesn't sound like any way to treat a good beverage (or any kind of food). Does this mean that it's better to drink bottled beer or ale, unless the bar has a proper pump? (I could be wrong, but I think you'd have to walk many a mile in Germany to find a bar that had proper pumps.)

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 01:20 PM

Ever since the folks from Samuel Smith brewery in Yorkshire acquainted me with the Real Ale campaign, I have wondered just how many songs might have been written in praise of good brew. "Beer, Beer, Glorious Beer" comes to mind, but there must be many more.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Kosmo
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 05:06 PM

Yeah but sammy smiths haven't paid the music licence, I know a fair few folk clubs that've closed because of it.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Kosmo
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 05:08 PM

For anyone who mentioned morrissons, I've yet to go into one which had what I'd call a really good selection of ales. It's alright, but I'd still try for more!

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Kosmo
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 05:11 PM

Oh and to the real cider people, curlers (owned by scream bars) have a cider festival!! And do LOVELY ciders.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Kosmo
Date: 28 Aug 09 - 03:15 PM

Just another addition to the thread ... Beer halls very good stuff, I got a fraoch there t'other day.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Jack Campin
Date: 30 Aug 09 - 09:12 AM

Jack - I thought Sandy Bells did do ale....I had a nice pint or two or three in there when I was last in Edinburgh....? perhaps I am remembering wrongly through the ether?

You remembered right and I remembered wrong. They have three handpumps. Last Sunday one had Timothy Taylor's Landlord and the others had things I'd never heard of.

They seem to avoid the ones with silly names. If they'd had labels like Black Willydrooper and Ferret Foetus, I'd have noticed.

And I also found out last Sunday that they have Murphy's back (it was away for several years).

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: MuddleC
Date: 27 Sep 09 - 02:02 PM

I'm with you on the cider Lynne, had some nice Black Rat near Chippenham this weekend at a Motorcycle rally... and some Wadworths 6X... and some Butcombe's bitter.... and some more Black Rat..although strangely it was orange...

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: The Sandman
Date: 27 Sep 09 - 02:07 PM

murphys stout is shit,keg beer.

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: fiddler
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 03:19 AM

Hi I've just stumbled on this thread.

Our (in our town) REal Ale & Cider Festival has 4 hour queues!

We put on good Music this year some C&W along with the Demon Barbers on Saturday.

Last year one of the bands playing at Earls Court this year.

The image of fat beer bellied old men spitting in the corner is totally outdated. M

any if not most of our customers are under 30, and fall right accross the build spectrum and sex spectrum.

Yes guiness is not a real ale but there are some incredibly good real stouts.

This year we stocked over 450 real ales and 150 british ciders plus a wealth - usually over 100 - of foreign beers.

I ask you all to find and support your local CAMRA events, the large breweries have assisted in the demise of many a small brewery and many a local pub in favour of bulk purchased beverages providing a flat standard product accross the whole of the UK.

Andy

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: Mrs_Annie
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 05:40 AM

We have been CAMRA members for ~25 years. Part of our holidays are sampling the local beers - e.g. Sidmouth - Otter, Keswick -Sncklifter. And we were very pleased to find the Kelham Island Tavern last October when we visited Sheffield for the first time for the Roy Bailey gig. What a brilliant pub. And after the gig - 11.30 on a Sat night - we went back there and had a civilised drink, sitting down, pub busy but NO shouty young people, just nice and relaxed. Or is it only down South we get the shouty young people in all the pubs at weekends?

And we have our own beer festival every time we go to Cambridge - the Cambridge Blue has the most amazing range of beers - mostly local - and always well kept.

Me, I could talk about beer for hours ;)

Subject: RE: Campaign for Real Ale
From: HuwG
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 07:35 AM

Some years ago, when I was working behind a bar, two groups of people annoyed me intensely. One was the undiscriminate louts who walked in already partially drunk, and asked "Gorrany decent beer?" They usually meant a bottle of Holsten Pils. (They generally swigged this from the bottle. Personally, I think it tastes like battery acid.)

The other, I regret to say, were the "tickers" from CAMRA. Some even tipped some of the pub's product (it had a microbrewery at the back) into polythene bags, to take away for heaven knows what purpose. Untidily dressed and even insanitary-looking people who stared fixedly at me and spoke tangentially in confidential whispers were unnerving at best, and could even put trade off.

I must admit, CAMRA played an important part in the late 1970s and early 1980s, by pointing out that big breweries were engaged in unfair competitive practices, while foisting pre-digested urine on the drinking public.

Incidentally, I stopped drinking about seven years ago; something up with my kidneys caused gout, and bitter beer is rather bad at bringing it on. I'm sure I must have bewildered a few customers. They would ask, "What is [brand name] like?" and I would have to answer, "I don't know, I'm on the wagon." I once broke into a rendition of "Away with rum, by gum", but only friends of mine were in the pub at the time.

By the way, I heard this morning that a brewery in Scotland was criticised for producing a "Tokyo Ale" which was pure rocket fuel. They brought out a "Nanny State" ale, which is one percent ABV.