Elderflower harvesting!

Wye Valley Brewery’s monthly beer offering for July comes in the form of Flower Power!

Flower Power is a flavoursome pale ale featuring Herefordshire elderflowers and is the first of its kind for Wye Valley Brewery.  This 4.4% abv beer is described as a pale straw coloured beer, bursting with flavour from Styrian Goldings hops and the addition of fresh elderflowers.

Brewery staff took time out of the office to collect elderflowers for the brew from a local farm, said brewer Ben Adams, ‘We had to be enterprising when picking the elderflowers, a step ladder was an essential item!’

Look out for this floral beer in free houses in the Midlands, Gloucestershire, Bristol and South Wales during July.

Pubs and clubs across 5 counties will be taking part in a Big Orange Quizathon to raise money for local charity Noah’s Ark Trust for one week between 26th June and 3rd July.

Teams of up to 5 people can enter the quiz and there is a suggested donation of £5 per team. Full details are available at www.bigorangequiz.co.uk where you can search for a quiz near you.

The quizathon has been given an orange theme to reflect Noah’s Ark Trust’s distinctive charity colour. It also makes the quiz bright, bold and distinctive plus adds a little fun for our quiz questions – expect to see an orange-themed question round! In addition, all the winning quiz teams will be entered into a free prize draw to win an overall fantastic prize of a team canoe trip down the River Wye plus a case of Wye Valley Brewery’s special Ark Ale for each team member.

This event is being run by Wye Valley Brewery who has chosen to support Noah’s Ark Trust as their designated charity partner for this year. They started the year by producing a special fundraising brew called Ark Ale, which has so far raised over £1000 for the charity.

Vernon Amor, Wye Valley Brewery managing director explains, “We wanted to follow up the success of Ark Ale with an event that we could invite pubs and sports and social clubs across the region to get involved with. Pub quizzes are a great way to get together with some friends and have a fun evening in good company. We’ve added the Big Orange factor to the mix to support this very worth cause and we’re very grateful to the support of all our customers who have enthusiastically got involved.”

The Waen Brewery’s multi award winning Blackberry Stout has been listed in The Publican’s Morning Advertiser in Pete Brown 50 Best Beers.  The list only comes out once a year and has great influence in the pub trade. A big achievement for a small brewery. Along side it in the list are the likes of Harviestoun, Thornbridge, Dark Star, Wye Valley, Fullers,Otley, Breconshire and Timothy Taylor, so no mean feat!

The Brewery recently added to it’s many awards with a silver for their Blueberry Porter  at the SIBA Wales and West Regional Beer Competition and Sue will be judging at the forthcoming SIBA South East Region beer Competitiuon.

With sales of their beers booming in London and the South East as well as closer to home, and their ‘Waen Bar’  doing the rounds of National music festivals it’s a busy time for The Waen Brewery.

For enquiries please telephone 01686 627042 or 07981 535024 and ask for Sue, John or Toby

www.thewaenbrewery.co.uk

Mayfields Brewery, Leominster, a leading Herefordshire Microbrewery has scooped a prestigious diamond award.

The brewery’s Auntie Myrtle’s won the highly contested drinks category at the awards that are run by Heart of England Fine Foods (HEFF), the regional food group for the heart of England, which celebrates the very best of local food and drink from across Staffordshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Birmingham and the Black Country.

Auntie Myrtle’s was up against some tough competition, not only other brewers, but fantastic vineyards, top cider makers and other drinks producers.

“We are very proud to win the award, we put a lot of effort and hard work into our brewing to produce great quality beer” said Adam Smith, brewer and owner of Mayfields Brewery. “Auntie Myrtle’s is the most traditional ale we brew, using only Herefordshire Hops so we are delighted it did so well.”

The Judges said that it won because “This product had an excellent deep colour with a mellow aroma, a good flavour of both malt and hops and was very moreish.”

May has been a good month for the brewery with their current seasonal ale Pioneer Bee also winning a silver award for Speciality beers at the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) Wales and West Brewers competition recently held at the Ludlow Spring Festival.

Adam Smith receiving the Award from Caoire Blakemore from Heart Distribution, category sponsors and Suzanne Virdee, BBC West Midlands presenter and host for the evening.

Shropshire based brewery, Hobsons has launched a special edition beer “Old Comrade” to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Royal British Legion branch in Cleobury Mortimer, home to the award-winning brewery.

The national institution of the Royal British Legion was founded in May 1921, the vibrant market town in south Shropshire was quick off the mark setting up a local branch in July 1921 making Cleobury one of the oldest branches in the country and now probably the first to have its own beer!

Crafted using the finest locally harvested hops and barley teamed with Hobsons brewing craftsmanship, the award winning Shropshire brewer has created a fresh crisp 4.2% abv real ale labeled “Old Comrade”. Not only have Hobsons brewed a beer to enjoy during the celebrations, 5p from each bottle sale will be donated to the Poppy Appeal as donned on the label.

Nick Davis, Owner of Hobsons Brewery commented: “We at the brewery are very proud to have one of the first founded Royal British Legion branches in the country and felt compelled to support their celebrations and create something which could be enjoyed by members but also allowed us to give something back.”

The commemorative beer will be available in 500ml bottles both off trade and on trade from May 23rd. Hobsons are looking to distribute “Old Comrade” via existing stockiest but are looking for a retail partner to allow the product to be distributed nationally.

Hobsons established in 1993 has gained a reputation for brewing delicious real ales available in cask and bottle. Hobsons has a strong ethos towards supporting its local community, sourcing the best ingredients from local producers and developing sustainable technologies including installing a wind turbine on site. The green credentials and innovative thinking has earned the Shropshire brewer the national title of Best Green Business from SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers).

For more information about Old Comrade contact the Marketing Department on 01299 270837 or visit www.hobsons-brewery.co.uk

The Ormskirk Baron, a judge at the Wales and West beer competition has sent us a write up of his experiences.

View his blog here.

Dorothy is getting geared up to set sail to Saint Petersburg along with her Imperial Stout on The Great Baltic Adventure…

On Saturday 14th May Dorothy Goodbody’s Imperial Stout is one of 14 beers which will set sail on the 60ft clipper, Thermopylae, from the Thames through the Baltic to arrive in Saint Petersburg in June.

This journey is a celebration of the Imperial Russian Stout heritage. Mini beer festivals will be held along the way, but the casks of Imperial Stout will be unbroached until they reach Saint Petersburg. On her journey Dorothy will visit Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsinki.

Wye Valley Brewery brewed Dorothy Goodbody’s Imperial Stout in 2010 to celebrate its 25th year of brewing, said brewery Managing Director Vernon Amor ‘We are really excited to be sending Dorothy on The Great Baltic Adventure, and we’re the only brewery in the West Midlands to be setting sail. A trip like this hasn’t been attempted for centuries so it’s a unique opportunity to export some of our finest Dorothy Goodbody’s Imperial Stout.

On arrival in Saint Petersburg, there will be a beer festival and beer judging to celebrate a trip which has not been attempted for 200 years.

Pictured brewery Chairman Peter Amor, in the mini as he whisks Dorothy off to London for her trip to Saint Petersburg.

At the recent SIBA Wales & West Region Beer Competition 2011, Wye Valley Brewery came away with 1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze award for the quality of its beers. Dorothy Goodbody’s Country Ale cruised home with Gold in the Premium Strong Bitters category.

Country Ale has a strong pedigree at this event after scooping Gold in 2009, and in 2010 going on to win the Champion Strong Ale at the SIBA National Beer Competition.

The judging took place at the Ludlow Spring Festival last weekend where over 200 beers were entered. Along with the gold, Wye Valley Brewery was also awarded three silvers for bottled beers HPA, Dorothy Goodbody’s Wholesome Stout and Dorothy Goodbody’s Country Ale. In addition, Wye Valley Bitter was also awarded bronze in the standard strength bitters category.

Said Head Brewer Jimmy Swan, ‘We have just celebrated our busiest ever month in April, and following on from a fantastic 25th year in 2010 when the brewery won BBC Radio 4 Best Drinks Producer, Wye Valley looks set for another record year! ‘

Dorothy Goodbody’s Country ale is a strong, full-bodied rugby ale. It is available as a bottle conditioned beer, and can be enjoyed on its own or with a tasty beef casserole!

Pictured the team of brewers and production staff at Wye Valley Brewery

Monty’s Brewery Is Firmly On The Map at the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) Wales and West competition at Ludlow Castle on 6th May 2011, Monty’s Brewery, of Powys in Mid Wales, walked away with a hoard of 5 awards.

‘Ding Dong’, which is the brewery’s Christmas beer, won Bronze in the bottled golden beer category,

‘Mischief’, which is a fabulous golden bitter’ won Bronze in the strong bitter category.

‘Sunshine’, which is the first recipe that Monty’s Brewery made, won Silver in the Best Bitters category.

‘Midnight’ won GOLD in the Porters, strong milds, old ales and stouts category.

All GOLD winners from each category then went on to be judged for Champion Beer of the competition, where Monty’s ‘Midnight’ won Silver.

These are not the first awards for Monty’s ‘Midnight’, which is a dark, smooth stout packed with rich dark flavours. In 2009 it won Silver in the Stout and Porter category at the Winter Beer of Wales competition and in 2010 it won Bronze at the Wales True Taste Awards in the Beer, Cider and Perry under 10 per cent category.

This young brewery is now firmly on the map and is receiving orders for beer from all over the UK. Enquiries for visits and tastings at their pub, the ‘Sportsman’ in Newtown, are at an all time high, as are orders for home delivery of bottled beers.

Monty’s owner and head brewer Pam Honeyman is one of only a handful of female brewers in the UK. She said:

“The team have always strived to create quality real ales that are consistently full of flavour and these awards will be proudly displayed. Our thanks go out to SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) for organising a fantastic event, the people at Ludlow Castle who provided the perfect back drop for the festival, all the judges that voted for our beers and to all our customers for supporting us throughout the last two years.”

Article taken from Welsh Country