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.”

Nottingham CAMRA chairman, Steve Westby, and Castle Rock’s John Francis, draw off Spyke Golding’s Ale at the Robin Hood Beer Festival

A small number of commemorative bottles of beer have been created in memory of the late Spyke Golding and donated to the Nottingham CAMRA branch in a fitting tribute to the larger-than-life former chairman of Nottingham CAMRA and editor of Nottingham Drinker. Towards the end of his life he produced the 100th edition of the multi-award winning magazine while preparing for last year’s Robin Hood Beer Festival. His failing health did not allow him to attend.

Spyke Golding’s ashes were scattered in the grounds of Nottingham Castle by life long friend, Mick Bajcar, in a ceremony attended by friends during the Robin Hood Beer Festival

For the 2011 event, a celebration ale had been brewed by Castle Rock Brewery. Some went for sale in pubs across the East Midlands and Yorkshire with the rest having been set aside and took pride of place at the festival in a special tent immediately adjacent to the entrance to the Nottingham Castle site. Its location reflected Spyke’s view that the first beer was too far uphill from the ticket office.

Now, around 35 pints of the festival version of the ale have been bottled and labelled as a longer term commemoration of the man and his achievements. The ale was drawn by current Nottingham CAMRA chairman, Steve Westby, as the festival opened on Thursday 13 October.

‘Robin Hood’ and ‘Maid Marian’ (Tim Pollard and Sally Chappell) with Nottingham CAMRA chairman Steve Westby (left) and Castle Rock Brewery’s Charlie Blomeley open the 2011 Robin Hood Beer Festival.

The unique brew based one of Nottingham’s long gone favourites, Shipstone’s Bitter, Castle Rock’s Spyke Golding’s Ale 3.9% spent four weeks in two wooden hogsheads each containing in excess of 54 gallons and formerly used to age Scotch. The whisky infused version was unique to the festival and was sold to aid hospital charities, including Hospital’s Radio, on which Spyke had himself been a performer.

Peter (Spyke) Golding passed away in late October 2010 and was posthumously named one of CAMRA’s top 40 Campaigners of all time.

His ashes were scattered in the grounds of Nottingham Castle by life long friend, Mick Bajcar, in a ceremony attended by friends during the Robin Hood Beer Festival.

The Loddon Brewery, Dunsden, are launching a beer called ‘Hoppy Appeal’ and 10p of every pint sold will be donated to the Shiplake and Dunsden branch of the Royal British Legion. The name of the beer came from a online competition ran by the brewery on their Facebook page where fans were able to suggest both the name and style of the beer. The winning fan, photographer Dan Weill, said that the beer should be a red colour in keeping with the famous colour of a poppy. The Loddon Brewery have a proud history of supporting the local community, raising nearly £500 for the local church, earlier in the year, with their beer ‘Wilfred’s Mild’. Hoppy Appeal will be available at all of Loddon’s regular stockists throughout the month of November.

Rosemary Jones, Hon. Secretary and Treasurer of the Shiplake and Dunsden Branch of the RBL said, ” We are absoloutely delighted that the Loddon Brewery have decided to support the Royal British Legion in this way. Thank you so much for thinking of us!”

Vanessa Hearn, Director of the Brewery said, “It is a pleasure for us to be able to help such a worthy cause as the Royal British Legion. We try to support the local community as much as possible and when Dan suggested such a great name, it seemed to good an opportunity to miss. We hope everybody will enjoy the beer when it is released.”

Buckinghamshire’s oldest independent brewery saw high recognition for its bottle-conditioned Glad Tidings Winter Stout at the SIBA Midlands region beer competition 2011. The Chiltern Brewery was thrilled to be awarded Gold medal in the ‘Bottled Porters, Milds, Old Ales & Stouts’ category.

The Chiltern Brewery are passionate about brewing fine English ales of the highest quality using choice class A malt and hops and wholesome natural ingredients. Their Glad Tidings Winter Stout is a real classic in the true tradition and a seasonal favourite. “Brewed with four malts, spices and fruit, our festive star has done it again…we are thrilled” explained Tom Jenkinson.

Tom and his brother George took over the running of The Chiltern Brewery from their parents, Richard and Lesley Jenkinson, a few years ago and they have carried the strong family tradition forward of making the highest quality in craft beers. Their multi award winning range include seasonal draughts and bottled beers and they recently innovated with a unique brewery grown green hop draught beer which sold out within 5 days!

Thursday 17^th November 2011 will mark the grand re opening of The Queens Head in Little Eaton.

An iconic pub found in the heart of Little Eaton, the grade II listed stone building dates back to 1835. The pub and village have a great history for independent brewers, The Queens Head was originally named the Delvers Inn, later picking up the royal connection first The Kings Head & following Queen Elizabeth’s coronation The Queens Head, Little Eaton itself was once home to Little Eaton Brewery Company which was later owned by Offiler’s a tradition that will be proudly be continued by Derby Brewing Company, Derby’s local multi award winning family brewer.

Derby Brewing Company in conjunction with Everards are currently in the middle of a major £400k + renovation project, as you would expect with a building of this age the work has revealed fantastic character features throughout, original beams and the iconic stone walls. The renovation will combine these fantastic features with a comfortable modern twist, the works will also include returning the original central entrance, a new bar layout and location plus an enlarged walled garden including a purpose built smoking shelter.

As you would expect from a Derby Brewing Company pub there will be an extensive drinks offer including over 8 draught products, 10 hand pulls featuring Derby Brewing Company beers, hand selected guest ales and a hand pull cider plus beers, wines and spirits from around the world. In addition we will be working with Barry Fitch Little Eaton’s own Farm shop butcher to offer a selection of locally sourced, fresh food.

‘ We are thrilled with how the build has gone so far, we are really enjoying bringing out all the fantastic features of the building which have been hidden away which we hope will allow the Queens Head to fulfil its potential as a great pub.’

Paul Harris Marketing and Sales Director Derby Brewing Company

‘ We have had some great feedback from the local residents of Little Eaton and can’t wait to get be able to welcome them for a first drink. ‘

Trevor Harris Head Brewer Derby brewing Company

The episode of Midsomer Murders filmed at the brewery earlier this year will be broadcast on Wed 12th October at 8pm on ITV 1. The episode is called ‘The Night Of The Stag’.