Brewery News
There are now seven breweries in the
county:
Elgood, City of Cambridge, Fenland, Oakham, Rockingham, Payn and Milton.
The latter is described elsewhere in this ALE.
And an eighth one is due next year - see Pub News - Cambridge.
The Payn Brewery in Ramsay was set up by office furniture maker Roger Payn
in spare space in his factory.
He got kit from the defunct Leyland Brewery (Wellingborough), which
in turn derived from the former Nix Wincott and Nene Valley breweries.
A consortium of small breweries, the East Anglia Brewers Association, have produced a brochure promoting
a Brewery Trail and visits to breweries.
It appeared as a supplement to Taste magazine in mid-1999.
Nethergate has reduced the bitterness of its Priory Mild.
The Branch Committee wishes head brewer Dr Ian Hornsey well as he recouperates
from treatment for cancer of the tongue.
His book Brewing was published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in October
(ISBN 0 85404 568 6). It ranges from the history of brewing to the latest developments.
Scotts of Lowestoft has closed, with the brands apparently going to Buffys (Tivetshall St Mary, Norfolk).
Congratulations to Elgoods (Wisbech) for Black Dog Mild being voted the Champion Beer of the
Peterborough Beer Festival for the second year running.
It also won the Champion Mild award at the Chelmsford Beer Festival
and the Silver award in the Mild category at the Great British Beer Festival.
Elgoods' first pub in the area is about to open - see Pub News.
Other GBBF winners in the region:
- Overall - Silver: Oakham JHB,
- Bitter - Gold: Oakham JHB,
- Bitter - Bronze: Woodforde's Wherry,
- Mild - Gold: Bateman's Dark Mild,
- Speciality - Silver: Nethergate Umbel Ale.
The overall Champion Beer was Tim Taylor's Landlord.
Oakham JHB was also Champion Beer of the Letchworth and Keighley Festivals.
The 26th Cambridge Beer Festival's
draught beer category winners were:
- Mild:Lidstone Rowley Mild,
- Bitter: City of Cambridge Boathouse Bitter (formerly True Blue),
- Best Bitter: Oakham White Dwarf,
- Strong Bitter: City of Cambridge Bramling Traditional,
- Old Ale & Strong Mild: Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild,
- Porter & Stout: City of Cambridge Parkers Porter,
- Speciality Beers: Burntisland Dockyard Rivets.
The Champion Beer of the Festival was Orkney Dark Island.
Further afield
Continuing from ALE 295,
Scottish Courage (the brewing arm of Scottish & Newcastle)
have moved production of Courage Directors and Best Bitter to Tadcaster from their
now-closed Georges Brewery in Bristol (founded 1702, taken over by Courage 1961).
A recent tasting laid on for CAMRA concluded that the beers have actually improved!
However the locally-popular Georges Bitter Ale
[available at the 26th Cambridge Beer Festival]
has been saved from a move to the Tetley Brewery in Leeds by being contracted to the Smiles Brewery in Bristol.
[-> ALE 297 follow-up
In the early 1980s Courage insisted to the City Council that their brewery had to expand to protect jobs
and so the City closed a street and sold it to the brewery. Will Courage now do the honourable thing and return the
land to the City?
(Source: Licensee & Morning Advertiser 16-Sep-1999)
Another beer saved for now is Ind Coope Burton Ale: Carlsberg-Tetley have contracted it
to Wolverhampton & Dudley's Marston Brewery in Burton.
The bullying tactics of Anheuser-Busch against the real Budweiser brewery in
the Czech Republic have suffered a setback: they launched a criminal case against the UK distributor of Budweiser Budvar
because of the label saying the beer has been brewed in Budweis since 1265.
When the Brent magistrate heard expert evidence that it had indeed been brewed that long, he dismissed the case.
ALE November 1999 No. 296
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Cambridge & District CAMRA