August Bank Holiday Beer Festivals

A list of the beer festivals for the forthcoming Bank Holiday Weekend

There's 33 listed for Saturday!!!!

Surely there is one near you.

View the full calendar Here

Let us know if we've missed one.

Microbreweries are no small beer in the West Midlands

In 2003 Birmingham was left with no breweries when Beowulf, the last company to be making beer in the city, moved out of the city into rural Staffordshire.

But now, Birmingham has two local brewers operating in the city – Birmingham Brewery in Nechells and ABC Brewery in Witton. The resurgence in the Birmingham brewing scene has been matched around the West Midlands and indeed the country with many microbreweries being set up or looking to expand.

Read the full article from the Birmingham Post

The United Kingdom of Beer - Land of Hops and Glory

Beer in all its forms remains the national drink of Britain, predating by centuries the arrival of that upstart tea. The British have made and drunk beer since before the Romans. It truly remains the United Kingdom of Beer.

Read the full article on HistoryNet.com

Magpie Brewery creates brew for Sven Goran Eriksson

When you've got a brewery called Magpie, and when that brewery sits literally up against Meadow Lane, you really don't have much choice when your next-door neighbour becomes the talk of the summer.

You've got to brew something special.

And so it was that Magpie Brewery recently introduced "Svendamonium".

Read the full article on thisisNottingham.co.uk

AleTalk facebook group

We've just created a new group on facebook AleTalk facebook group

Why not come and join us on the "other side"

Beauty is in the eye of the Beerholder

New T-shirt in our on-line shop HERE
"Beauty is in the eye of the Beerholder"

Pub reopening after 2007 floods

A Herefordshire pub which was severely damaged during summer floods two years ago has reopened its doors.

The Red Lion in Stifford's Bridge was under 5ft of water after heavy rain caused chaos in July 2007.

Landlady Sally Cook said it had taken time to complete work as the pub had been partially remodelled to enable it to cope with future flooding.

The floods of 2007 were said to be a "once in 600 years" event and caused widespread damage in the area.

The pub was flooded within four hours of the nearby river bursting its banks and caused extensive damage.

Ms Cook said: "All the contents were destroyed. It was a total loss of everything in the ground floor.

"It's been very difficult over two years with many, many, hurdles to overcome.

"At each point we thought we were very close and now we really are, we've opened the doors and we're very glad."

Otley Brewery

We've just added Otley Brewery to our database

That's 673 breweries and 5921 beers on our searchable database

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Elland Brewery

We've just added Elland Brewery to our database

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I don't have a drink problem

New T-Shirt Added to our on-line shop

Aletalk at the Great British Beer Festival 2009

It was hat day on Thursday when we left Aletalk Towers for a trip to the capital and the Great British Beer Festival.

After a good lunch washed down with a pint of Summer Lightning at The Punch Tavern in Fleet Street we ventured forth to Earls Court, which we found to have been converted into the tap-room of a dinghy back street boozer (albeit a large one). At least we felt a home.

CAMRA membership meant a free festival programme which at least allowed us to look like a ‘beer ticker’ as we religiously marked off the beers we liked the names of, the beers we wanted to try and eventually, the beers we tasted.

GBBF may have had record attendances this year – 64,000 by all accounts - but the place is so vast that, although busy, we never had but a moment to wait at any bar we found ourselves at before one of the attentive volunteers – which this year numbered about 1,000 – re-filled our glass.

When peckish there was food a-plenty, burgers, sausages, fish and chips, Thai, Indian and for the more adventurous, Crocodile Burgers. Unfortunately there wasn’t a Donner Kebab to be found anywhere (unless my less than focussed eyes deceived me).

A great event, male dominated as you would expect but it was good to see a smattering of ladies around the place, more power to their elbow is what I say.

The GBBF was in Leeds the last time I went, so that’s too many years ago to remember but this years event was certainly worth the effort attending.

Would I trek half the length of the country to go next year?... We’ll have to wait and see… I suppose it would be too much to ask CAMRA to move their ‘GREAT BRITISH’ Beer Festival from the capital to another part of the country? Maybe we should just rename it the Great London Beer Festival?

Try a Ladies View of GBBF09

CAMRA launches 'Save Tetley's' petition at Great British Beer Festival

Yorkshire branches of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, have today joined forces to continue the quest to save the iconic Tetley's Brewery in Leeds by launching a petition at the Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court, London.

The decision to close the historic Hunslet brewing site was met by criticism from CAMRA last November, with Carlsberg UK, owner of Tetley's Leeds site, attacked for failing to promote Tetley's beer at a time of increasing consumer interest for real ale.

The petition from CAMRA's Yorkshire branches comes after a motion at CAMRA's national AGM in April was passed unanimously proposing a national campaign to save Tetley's. CAMRA's aim is to ensure that cask brands continue to be brewed in the city of Leeds, preferably at the existing Hunslet site, and will be presenting the petition to Carlsberg UK's Northampton HQ once members of the public have had the opportunity to voice their concerns by signing the document.

Mick Moss, CAMRA Yorkshire Regional Director, said:

'Taking the fight to the Great British Beer Festival has been a great ploy for raising the awareness of this potential closure outside of Yorkshire, with Festival-goers of all ages expressing grave concern at a brewery closure that would drastically effect the community of Leeds.

'To brew Tetley's anywhere other than Yorkshire will simply mean it's not Tetley's! This petition we believe firmly will generate a groundswell of support during and after the Great British Beer Festival and we aim to present this petition to Carlsberg UK in a bid to convey the dissatisfaction of British drinkers at this potential closure.

'If Carlsberg UK are unable to keep brewing Tetley's in Leeds, we urge them to offer other companies the chance to take over the Hunslet site, and keep the brands, the recipes and the traditions alive within Yorkshire!'

www.savetetleys.org.uk

Mine's a half...

Would you drink a weaker pint for the sake of 60p?

With beer activists are calling on the government to scrap tax on brews made with just 2.8% alcohol, you could soon be facing a tough choice.

Read the whold article on The BBC News Magazine

GBBF: Champion Beer of Britain 2009 - All the Winners

Overall winners
Champion Beer of Britain - Rudgate, Ruby Mild (York, North Yorkshire)
Second - Oakham, Attila (Peterborough, Cambridgeshire)
Third - West Berkshire, Dr Hexter's Healer (Thatcham, Berkshire)

Mild category
Gold - Rudgate, Ruby Mild (York, North Yorkshire)
Silver - Bank Top, Dark Mild (Bolton, Lancashire)
Bronze - Highland, Dark Munro (Birsay, Orkney)

Bitter category
Gold - Surrey Hills, Ranmore Ale (Guildford, Surrey)
Silver - Butcombe, Bitter (Bristol, Avon)
Joint Bronze - Humpty Dumpty, Little Sharpie (Reedham, Norfolk)
Joint Bronze - Triple fff, Alton's Pride (Alton, Hampshire)

Best Bitter category
Gold - Southport, Golden Sands (Southport, Merseyside)
Silver - Buntingford, Britannia (Royston, Hertfordshire)
Joint Bronze - Evan Evans, Cwrw (Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire)
Joint Bronze - Thornbridge, Lord Marples (Bakewell, Derbyshire)
Joint Bronze - Vale, VPA (Brill, Buckinghamshire)

Golden Ale category
Gold - Dark Star, American Pale Ale (Ansty, West Sussex)
Joint Silver - Adnams, Explorer (Southwold, Suffolk)
Joint Silver - St Austell, Proper Job (St Austell, Cornwall)

Strong Bitter category
Gold - West Berkshire, Dr Hexter's Healer (Thatcham, Berkshire)
Silver - Thornbridge, Kipling (Bakewell, Derbyshire)
Bronze - Grain, Tamarind IPA (Harleston, Norfolk)

Speciality Beer category
Gold - Nethergate, Umbel Magna (Pentlow, Essex)
Silver - Wentworth, Bumble Beer (Wentworth, South Yorkshire)
Bronze - Amber, Chocolate Orange Stout (Ripley, Derbyshire)

Winter Beer of Britain winner (announced in January 2009)
Oakham, Attila (Cambridgshire)

Bottled Beer of Britain winners (sponsored by Travelodge)
Gold - Titanic, Stout (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire)
Silver - Great Gable, Yewbarrow (Gosforth, Cumbria)
Bronze - White Shield Brewery, White Shield (Coors, Burton-on-Trent)

Champion Beer of Britain: Rudgate Ruby Mild

Rudgate Ruby Mild has been voted Champion Beer of Britain at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) 2009.

The 4.4 per cent ABV beer is brewed by the Rudgate Brewery in Tockwith, North Yorkshire.

The ale was chosen as the overall winner from more than 60 finalists in seven categories (Best Bitters, Bitters, Golden Ales, Milds, Speciality, Winter Beer and Strong Bitters).

Second place went to Attila from Oakham brewery in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and third place was won by Dr Hexter's Healer from the West Berkshire brewery.

Raise a glass to the science of beer

As the Great British Beer Festival opens in London, a scientific look at the drink that helped shape the nation

Read the Article from the Daily Telegraph

CAMRA Membership tops 100,000

As the Great British Beer Festival opens its doors at Earls Court, CAMRA today announced that it's membership numbers had reached the milestone of 100,000 members.

To mark the occasion every 100th visitor to the five day event will be given a voucher for a free pint of beer.

Mike Benner, CAMRA chief executive, said: “We are overjoyed at reaching 100,000 members, brought together by our passion for great British beer and community pubs.

“But while we may relax and raise a glass or two to celebrate at the opening of the Great British Beer Festival today, we are not complacent and tomorrow the hard work campaigning for drinkers’ rights will continue.”

CAMRA was formed in 1971 by Michael Hardman, Jim Makin, Graham Lees and Bill Mellor, when an idea of a campaign arose whilst they were bemoaning the state of British beer and pubs.

Membership levels rose sharply, with CAMRA boasting more than 5,000 members by the end of 1973.

Hardman said: “We would never have believed in 1971 that one day we would have 100,000 members.

Women drinkers turn to real ale

New CAMRA research has found that twice as many women have tried Britain's national drink compared to a year ago.

Members of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, organisers of this week's Great British Beer Festival are hoping for record numbers of female visitors as new research shows a phenomenal growth in the number of women trying real ale, Britain's national drink.

Read the full article Here

Brewdog nearing sell-out in days after furore

BREWDOG, the Scots micro-brewery at the centre of a row over its decision to launch the UK's strongest beer, has revealed it has sold 90 per cent of the controversial ale in the first few days of its launch.

Read the full article Here