James Clarke

Hook Norton Managing Director James Clarke has taken over as the Chairman of the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) Midland Counties.

He takes over from Titanic Brewery boss and Society of Independent Brewers Chairman Keith Bott, who is stepping down after fulfilling the two-year chairmanship.

Hook Norton, operates than 40 public houses all situated in and around the stunning Cotswolds within a 50-mile radius of Hook Norton village.

James Clarke has been a member of the Midlands group for the past seven years, the past two as Vice-chairman to Keith Bott.

The Burton Bridge Inn in Bridge Street, and the Coopers Tavern in Cross Street, have both been listed in the Campaign For Real Ale’s (CAMRA) Great British Pubs, which features 281 of the ‘must visit’ pubs in the UK.

The book has been compiled by internationally acclaimed beer writer Adrian Tierney-Jones, acting as a travel guide to beer lovers.

The Burton Bridge Inn felt ‘timeless’ to the author, and he said there was a ‘tranquil world to discover’ inside.

Bruce Wilkinson, one of the founders of the adjoining Burton Bridge Brewery, said: “We’re delighted, it’s been a very successful pub for the 28 or 29 years that we have been running it.

“It’s always got a nice atmosphere with good beer and good service.

“It’s the total package really, with the ambience — it’s different to a lot of pubs because you are able to relax and speak to your mates.

“We’re very pleased and we look forward to reading the book.”

The Coopers Tavern was hailed as a ‘testimony to the magnificent brother of beer’, and a ‘visit to the Coopers Taverns is to experience what is good about beer in this historic town’.

Landlord Mary Bagley  said: “We’re very pleased to be put in the book, so here’s to keeping it real at the Coopers.

“If anyone hasn’t been I’d encourage them to come down and see what we’re all about.” Author Mr Tierney-Jones said he wanted to highlight the importance of pubs to British lives.

He said: “The British pub is a unique institution and despite many efforts to replicate it throughout the world its heart is in these islands.

“All these pubs have something to offer beyond the promise of good beer, great food and plenty of cheer. They also offer a chance to step into another world for a while.”

The book is out now.

Article Taken from the Burton Mail

Hook Norton’s Double Stout has been judged as Europe’s Best Dry Stout in the World Beer Awards.

Following four rounds of judging, Hook Norton’s Double Stout was chosen as one of Europe’s best bottled beers.

The win means Hook Norton beers have won 13 major awards in national and international competitions so far this year.

Hook Norton Managing Director James Clarke said: “I am delighted one of our bottled beers has been honoured by this prestigious competition.

“Double Stout’s recipe might be a hundred years old, but its taste and flavour is modern and fashionable.”

The 4.8 percent ABV beer is a smooth, full-bodied stout with a refreshing hoppy aftertaste.

A blend of dark malts gives Double Stout a character all of its own. “Black malt enriches the colour and teases the palate with an unmistakable toast flavour,” said James Clarke. Brown malt gives the beer its satisfying dryness.

Double Stout is available on draught and in bottles all year round.

In October, Hooky Gold won the company’s 12^th award of the year by putting in an Olympic performance at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Midlands Region Beer Competition 2011. The beer won gold in the Bottled Gold Beer category and then went on to scoop silver in the overall Bottled Beer class.

A full list of the World Beer Awards winners can be found at www.worldbeerawards.com

A UK Brewery First…probably…again!

Another UK first, we think, and a return to time honoured tradition. Our Winter seasonal favourite draught, 300’s Old Ale, will now be sold exclusively from oak casks for customers at the Farmers’ Bar and those taking 2 / 4 pints away from The Brewery shop…

Beautifully crafted by England’s only Master Cooper, Alastair Simms, the firkins are made from puncheons that came from the Balgray bottling plant in Ayrshire and are between 60 and 100 years old. The heads are made from new English oak and the two pins are made from new oak from Wadworth’s and Young’s of London.

For those in the know, this season’s first pint of draught 300’s was pulled with style, panache and renowned Chiltern Brewery warmth by Richard Jenkinson, founder and father to Tom and George who now run the family business, whilst the Master Cooper was making his finishing touches to the casks. It is over 30 years since we launched our first set of oak casks and these have now been decommissioned.

The first pint of 300’s Old Ale ‘from the wood’ will drawn at The Farmers’ Bar on Friday 25^th November at 7pm. Please come along to The King’s Head, Market Square, Aylesbury, Bucks HP20 2RW and savour the tradition. Also available from the brewery shop in Terrick.

www.chilternbrewery.co.uk

Twitter @chiltern_brewer

Freedom Brewery has become one of few lager producers to include the Cyclops® tasting notes on bottles, as part of an initiative to help raise awareness of craft brewed beers.

The award-winning microbrewery, which offers a range of four English craft lagers and a hand-crafted stout, has also produced a new range of POS material for on-trade accounts.

Susan Mayman, managing director of Freedom Brewery, said: “Cyclops® is a perfect fit for Freedom Lager. It is being used increasingly by craft ale brewers but not so much for lager and it shows the quality and taste of our range that we can even apply the system to our lagers.

“We have redesigned our bottle labels to include the differing see, smell and taste profiles across our range and feedback from customers has been very positive.

Freedom has also extended its POS materials to include table talkers, beer mats and bar runners for on-trade venues. Susan Mayman added: “We sent branded chalk boards to draught customers last year and they went down a storm – some outlets said sales of Freedom doubled by listing tasting notes at point of sale. Now have now extended the range, combining key messages around the provenance of our hand-crafted English Lager.”

For further information, please contact freedom@freedombrewery.com or call 01283 840721.

ALES from Northamptonshire have been judged to be the best in the region.

Great Oakley Brewery’s Gobble won the overall champion prize in the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Midlands competition which was judged at the Nottingham Robin Hood Beer Festival.

The beer won gold in the premium beers category and was then awarded the overall prize in the competition which was entered by 244 cask beers and 68 bottled beers.

The brewery also won bronze in the bottled porters, milds, old ales and stouts category with its Delapre Dark and bronze in the speciality beers section with its Oakley Blonde.

Phil Greenway from the Great Oakley brewery who is also chairman of the Northamptonshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) said: “Chuffed is not the word. We were absolutely blown away. We have had bronzes in the past but I never dreamed we would get this.”

He describes the champion beer as a golden beer with a floral, hoppy aroma and a crisp, hoppy, nutty taste.

He said: “Without blowing my own trumpet, I do think our beer is pretty good at the moment.

“The art is to keep accurate records. It’s like cooking; it’s time and temperature. It’s accurately weighing out the ingredients exactly right every time. You are following a recipe. And it’s about controlling the fermentation process and providing consistency, which is what pub landlords are looking for.

“What the judges are looking for is the appearance, so clarity and that it’s got a nice head on it and taste and aroma.”

And Great Oakley was not the only winner. The gold award for the best standard mild ale went to Guilsborough Guzzler from Nobby’s Brewery in Guilsborough.

Paul “Nobby” Mulliner from Nobby’s Brewery was delighted with the win.

He said: “I could have fallen through the floor it was a wonderful experience.”

Judges in the competition include brewers from other parts of the country, which makes winning a prize all the more special. Nobby said: “It’s quite an accolade to win because you are judged by your peers.”

Nobby describes the ale as: “A pale mild ale more like the milds you used to get in Birmingham. Where I’m from in Yorkshire they are very dark but here it could be light or dark. It’s very malty, lots of malt flavour and gently hoppy.”

SIBA represents larger breweries as well as microbreweries like Nobby’s and Great Oakley and the Midlands competition covers an area from Nottinghamshire down to Oxfordshire and across to the West Midlands.

Next spring the regional winners of gold awards will compete in the national finals of the competition.

Nobby said: “We really put Northamptonshire on the map.”

Article taken from Northampton Chronicle

Thornbridge brewery opened its new city centre bar Dada last week after a refurbishment of what was once a city institution Trippet’s Wine Bar. It’s an exciting time for the brewery after it opened two new pubs in Sheffield in the past 12 months to add to its estate of pubs and restaurants around north east Derbyshire and Sheffield. Simon Webster, Thornbridge’s Operations Director, acknowledges that even in tough times opportunities do exist if you do your research and focus on  key aspects of delighting customers “we try to keep things as simple as possible  - excellent products and customer service of course but also ensuring our venues have something a little different that suits their community and builds a customer’s base”. The brewery has won a plethora of industry and consumer awards since it  was established just over six years ago at Thornbridge Hall. It now operates from two sites the original Hall brewery and a new state of the art Riverside site in Bakewell.

“Running a brewery and pubs is hard work in what are difficult economic times” says Webster “but it should be a fun job as well. The opening of Dada is a good example of this as we wanted to have fun and create a venue that would, like the famous art movement of the same name,  challenge the norm, but at the same time use our winning focus on Beer, Art, Music and Community to attract a wide range of customers”. The bar will have a space allocated to temporary art exhibitions everything from works by local established artists to those wishing to showcase theirs for the first time. A body of work by Jane Faram in collaboration with George Law that includes collage, drawing and painting is the first exhibition. Jane Faram is excited by the  opportunity “With Dada Thornbridge are rethinking the traditional bar as a social destination and providing a venue  that grants them more license to experiment, attracting an audience who are inclined to be creative, meet and plan ideas, enjoy a live performance and take in artwork, which will on the whole celebrate what Sheffield has constantly brewing under the surface”.

Dada will accumulate more input from Sheffield artists and musicians over the coming year including projects in association with Martyn Ware of the Human League.   Music will be varied but aimed at creating a chilled environment. A range of Thornbridge beers including a focus on their increasing keg range and a  number of world classic beers will be available on draft and in bottles as well as ten gins and a wide range of quality wines.

“We don’t want to be too prescriptive with DADA in  terms of how it will look and feel and we are talking with a number of local artists and musicians to work with us to help it evolve” reports Webster  “The name has raised a few smiles already as Sheffielders’ are often called Dee Dars because of their accents and I think some saw this as a play on that but it was just us having some fun and I hope typical of the path ahead”.

Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery USA is hosting a five course meal matched to some interesting and rare beers at Hook Norton’s Visitors Centre, Hook Norton Brewery on Tuesday 8 November, 6.00pm, £20.00 per person.

He will also be celebrating the launch of his latest book the Oxford Companion to Beer published by Oxford University Press.

Spaces are very limited so please book early. To book a place ring Richard on 01608 730384 with numbers and payment details.

Here is a link to some of the works of Garrett Oliver should you wish to find out more about him. http://bigthink.com/garrettoliver

An historic public house at the heart of Leek will fling open its doors on Thursday, 3 November, after a major refurbishment.

The Roebuck Hotel, Derby Street, Leek, was bought by locally based Titanic Brewery in early summer.

The Burslem brewery has invested around £100,000 in restoring the imposing Grade Two Listed 17^th century to its former glory.

Titanic Brewery Director Dave Bott said: “The Roebuck has been a part of Leek’s pub scene for many years and Titanic Brewery was delighted to be able to acquire it.

“It is a wonderful building and I’m confident that Leek residents will be pleased by the work we have carried-out. We have taken care to ensure that the inside of the hotel has been refurbished in a sympathetic way, in keeping with the impressive timber framed frontage and the historic town centre of Leek.

“This will be Titanic’s sixth pub. Until 2007, we only had one but have busily been expanding our estate in our local area and have been successful in bringing former pubs back into use.

“We have been opening pubs against a background of closures. But there is no magic formula, we pride ourselves on creating welcoming pubs which sell good local produce and are used by customers of all ages.”

The Roebuck will be run by Tom Sinnott who will bring with him the experience of having successfully launched the Sun Inn, Stafford, for Titanic.

Dave said: “Tom has jointly managed the Sun Inn since its launch in July, 2010.  He has helped to make the Sun a great success and I am sure that his  experience will help to re-establish the Roebuck in Leek.”