Black Sheep Brewery

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Black Sheep Brewery
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Irving Brewery

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Irving Brewery to our database

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Real ale events this weekend

Fancy a trip out this weekend?

All the UK real ale events are here http://tinyurl.com/kjztpj

Ironbridge Brewery

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Ironbridge Brewery to our database

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Inveralmond Brewery

We've just added Inveralmond Brewery to our website
Inveralmond Brewery

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Aletalk is Backing Proud of Pubs Week

Aletalk is backing Proud of Pubs Week 2009, which is taking place from July 11 to 19. The campaign, being promoted by The Publican is about getting pubs, people and politicians behind their key campaign message: that pubs are GOOD

The campaign is trying to get Landlords involved in activities throughout the week. These include:
Establishing an online community on Twitter or Facebook
Putting on a Proud of Pubs Night, and trying something new in your the pub

More details at http://www.thepublican.com/section.asp?navcode=243

Beers of the World LIVE

The temptation of enjoying 300 of the world's best beers was too much. So last Friday (12 June) we departed Aletalk Towers and took the train to the NEC excitedly discussing how many of the 300 beers we'd get to drink.Entry to the Good Food/ Gardeners World LIVE show had been paid which gave us free access to BOTW. For an extra five English pounds we received our tasting glass (some would say thimble) and twelve beer tokens. Each token could be redeemed for 50ml of whichever ale we chose.Unexpectedly, some of the bar staff needed a little encouragement to fill the glass to the top - We weren't going home drunk from this one!

Another pound allowed us to sample a drop of three beers and three morsels of food, either sweet or savoury. As I'm watching my weight, it was the savoury for me with the taste of the food overpowering the ale every time.

Highlights were Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted, Samuel Adams Summer Ale and surprisingly a lager from the H2O Lager Company called Gringo. This is sold as 'a premium lager with a distinctive flavour of fresh lime and tequila'. All I can say is that it went down a treat on a hot summer's day. If only I could have had the bottle.

Whilst I could not recommend going to the NEC just for Beers of the World LIVE, it's certainly an interesting way to spend an hour or so if you've gone to one of the other two shows that are happening at the same time.

Black Isle Brewery

We've just added Black Isle Brewery to our database

Black Isle Brewery

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Save the Great British Pub

Campaigners have launched a new on-line petition calling for duty levels to be reconsidered, action on cheap supermarket alcohol, a re-evaluation of the smoking ban and for the a Competition Commission inquiry into the pubco model

See here http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savethegreatbritishpub/index.html

Jennings Brewery Tour

It is always a concern when a small independent brewery is taken over by a larger concern. This was the case for Jennings when in 2005 they were taken over by Marston's Plc (nee Wolverhampton & Dudley). Any fears we had were eased after an informative brewery tour, conducted by our knowledgeable guide.


After a brief introduction in the bar, we had a 45 minute walk through the older part of the brewery, up many stairs, ducking under old beams, some of which our delighted host told us were once ships timbers.
Although the tour was informative - we even got our hands on some hops - there wasn't a great deal of the actual brewery shown to us. The guide though was very enthusiastic and open to any questions we may have had.
Back to the bar to sample a few halves of their beer - the first three were included in the price of the tour. All the ales were served to perfection but you would expect no less in the brewery's own bar - The Cocker Hoop going down particularly well.
The consensus was that in this case, the takeover by Marston's has been a good thing. They are encouraged to brew using the same methods they always have but the buying power provided by their parent and their investment in new equipment means that Jennings are going from strength to strength. Long may it continue. Check the Jennings website for details.
http://www.aletalk.co.uk/features/display-feature.php?featid=1

Aletalk.co.uk launches

A brand new website launched today http://www.aletalk.co.uk

Here you can get the latest news and views from the world of real ale in the UK

Search a database of independent breweries and the beers they produce.

Tell us about the beer you've drunk and the pubs you've drunk it in on our forum

Take a look and let us know what you think