This area of the branch home page will feature latest news, what beers have come on where, who has taken over which pub, and anything else
newsworthy. If you have anything to add,
News urgently awaited!!
Newest stuff is generally added to the top of this column.
Please email the webmistress@westcumbriacamra.org.uk
Urgent: Campaigning funds appeal
The OFT rejected CAMRA's complaint that a lack of competition is harming consumers though higher prices, pub closures and lack of investment.
At the end of December CAMRA submitted an appeal against the OFT's decision to the Competition Appeals Tribunal. This will be a costly process
and we cannot afford the full cost, this is why we are appealing to you for a donation.
More on national website here
Branch officers. Four Banch officers - chair, treasurer, secretary and membership secretary - have all given warning that they do not wish to stand
for re-election at the AGM in May. Please consider carefully if you might like to take a more active role in the branch. Help available.
Anyone interested could come to the next couple of meetings and see what the job entails.
Whitehaven Beer Festival
Due to the Civic Hall not being available for us in November, the branch has decided this would be a good opportunity to move the festival to March,
a period where there is not much happening with real ale events in Cumbria. So the next one will be March 18 - 19th, 2011. In the meantime, there are
thoughts of trying a smaller festival in either Egremont or Maryport, or supporting a real ale event in Ccokermouth later this year.
Let us
know what you think or would be willing to help with.
Head brewer required for Cumberland Breweries Ltd. based in Great Corby, Cumbria. Closing date 12 Feb 2010.
Congratulations to the Brook House Inn, Boot, on a great article about the pub, the food and the family, in the Whitehaven News this
week. Read it here if you missed it!
Pubs/leases for sale in our area:
The Woolpack, Eskdale,
Stanley Arms, Calderbridge
Shepherds, Ennerdale Bridge
Ewe & Lamb, High Padstow
Screes, Nether Wasdale
Ship Launch, Egremont
Update: rumour has it (two separate sources) the Woolpack has been bought by Harry Berger, who used to run the Burnmoor Inn /Boot inn,
before selling it to Robinson's a few years ago.
Update: George IV, Eskdale Green sold by Auction last Friday - don't know who to, though!
The Lowther Arms, Hensingham is now run by manager, Jules, who loves real ale and hopes to build up the real ale sales and choices. A test pint of
Dizzy Blond was gorgeous! (Feb 7th). Now all we need is someone to take over the King's Arms - a free house - and put some interesting ale in and then
we could have a real Mecca there: 4 real ale pubs within a 100m or so, all selling different beers, with a half hourly bus service until late!
Anyone?
The Last Man Inn, Plumbland, has reopened but no news of real ale yet.
Real ale has been in the other hotel in Nether Wasdale, Low Wood Hall, for quite some time, without any of us being aware of it! They had been
selling Jennings and Great Gable beers, we hear. Update: Jan 15th - they have been selling Yates beers for quite some time, now. Good to have a regular
Yates outlet in the hamlet, again!
Strands News
The main bar is now complete and looks perfectly in keeping with the style and aims of a village pub and benefits from tasteful use of local (Bootle)
elmwood. Beers on the bar tend to be mainly the pub's own now.
There will be a beer festival there in May (see event info panel to the left) with 15 of their own beers.
New free house real ale outlet for Whitehaven:
Taylor's Tavern on Tangier St have reopened as Taylor's, after a complete gutting and refit, and are selling two cask ales - Black Sheep
Saltaire Rye Smile (Feb 5th) but going to try and get Blackbeck and other local ales next. Please support and encourage them to keep them on.
Whitehaven is really becoming a good place for real ale lovers!
Sale at the Globe: Beers are still 50p off at the moment! That's £1.90 per pint!
Beers on at The Globe, Hensingham (Feb 1st),
CLA - Langdale 4% with Blackbeck Trial Run in the cellar
This month's guest beer at the Whittington Cat, Whitehaven is still Wychwood January Sale 3.8% This has been very popular!
Beers at the Candlestick:
Dizzy Blonde 3.8%, and, Double Hop. (Jan 18th) Congratulations to Joe and Martyn who have been running the place for a year now!
Don't forget to show your CAMRA card to take advantage of their generous offer of 20p a pint discount!
The New Victoria in Cleator Moor is open again but for sale. Anyone checked to see if they have cask ale on again? Let the webmistress know, please.
Fox & Hounds at Ennerdale Bridge is apparently closed again ....
Real ale back on at Distressed Sailor, Hensingham: Theakston Best Bitter and Abbot Ale at visit (8th Dec).
Stanley Arms, Calderbridge now getting a choice of other beers, as well as the regular selection of Thwaites!
The Horse & Jockey, Parsonby re-opened recently following substantial refurbishment and looks very smart! Cask Ales info to follow!"
Update: Wasdale Head Inn
Now under the new management, (who, to our disappointment, were too busy to be introduced - on a very quiet Saturday afternoon), beers available
(Dec 5th) were Coniston Bluebird,
Yates Bitter, Hansi's Oktoberfest and Loweswater Gold - a nice selection of Cumbrian beers for visitors, but so sad that there were no Great Gable
beers available, but there may be when brewing starts again in Egremont
All the brewing kit has been removed but new owners may want a brewery there again, at some time in the future.
Fire and Water
Fire ...
The Ratty Arms, Ravenglass, has been badly damaged by a night time fire in the upper part of the living accommodation. All, thankfully, escaped
safely. Hopes to reopen very soon now!
and water ....
(Please email us if you have more up-to-date information about any of these flood-damaged breweries or pubs.)
Floods in West Cumbria
Jennings
Flood-damaged Jennings is set to resume brewing again by end of Feb.
Jennings has been donating 10p from every pint of its beers sold in pubs across Britain to the Cumbria
Flood Recovery Fund to help the many people affected by the floods in Cumbria and has currently raised over £91,000
Great Gable
Great Gable Brewery have had more problems than anticipated, moving into an industrial unit at Bridgend Industrial Estate at Egremont, but should be
brewing very soon, now
West Cumbria Whitehaven Beer festival raises funds:
We had already selected the RNLI as our festival charity this year, in recognition of their rescue work in disasters affecting local people,’
said Stephen. ‘But with the floods hitting west Cumbria this weekend, beer festival customers were even readier than usual to reach into their
pockets and support the charity.’ A total of £342.36 was donated at the festival.
Whitehaven Beer Festival is Nov 20th and 21st 2009.The beer choice was fantastic - hope you did not miss it!!! report here
Congratulations to Becki White, Manager of the Bransty Arch, Whitehaven (Wetherspoons pub) on being nominated for the Wetherspoons Manager of the
Year - and reaching the top six! You are a winner to us!!
Dinner Update:
Beer Lovers' Dinner- Sat Nov 28th. Fantastic food, prepared with local produce, 5 Cumbrian
beers on table, 3 more on bar, was much enjoyed by all who went - great company, great night. Menu here.
Champion beer of Cumbria awards and Champion Beer of the Northwest awards (those brewed in Cumbria) were presented to brewers or their reps.
Further details in branch magazines
Next dinner will be at the Castle Green in Kendal, late next year!
Looking for that special Christmas present for the beer lover in your family? Or just for yourself? The recently produced Cumbrian Breweries map is
a lovely thing to own! Printed A2 size on quality satin paper, softly laminated, anti-reflective, individually numbered limited edition, showing all
Cumbrian breweries as mail stations on an underground type map, with their main beers as smaller stations en route. They are £10 each, £12.50 if posted in tube,
Email the webmistress to arrange, or for some pubs where they are on sale or if you would like to sell some in your pub (special rates)
Another real ale outlet for Whitehaven: the Cons Club on Lowther st - opposite the Civic Hall - sells Jennings Bitter (£2.05 per pint ) - and is
considering a guest ale as well. Please support!
From another correspondent ...
The Last Man at Plumbland closed down today. They say they have not been able to make it profitable. Food was very good value
but no real ale so no trade from drinkers.
The newly published Cask Report showed very obvious trends upwards for cask ale - the pubs serving it, especially in country areas where older people with slightly more flexible
incomes, are the ones which are flourishing. The keg only pubs are the ones closing down. This is a very readable and interesting report,
available in pdf form here.
Real ale back on again at The Old Ginns, Great Clifton. Coniston Bluebird at the moment.
Sunny Hill now open , being run by the McNicholases, who also run the Whittington Cat in Whitehaven. Tasty and good value food up there,
and there are currently 3 real ales: one Jennings and two Ennerdale, flying out!! Great place for families and TV sport fans
The Vagabond now has CLA Loweswater Gold 4.3% on permanently.
From a contributor: 'at a pub in Beckermet recently, the bar person made a big issue over being asked to change a pint of a guest
beer, that had obviously been resting in the pipes for far too long, the first one of three being warm and slightly hazy, the rest bright and chilled.
It is apparently a big problem wasting beer. Not a problem selling poor quality stuff to real ale lovers who might not have had the front to object .....
The subsequent pints, pulled from the barrel, were delicious.'
The CAMRA quiz team, in the Whitehaven area, now back playing from the Vagabond for the Winter League, won the 2nd
division cup in the Summer league and get promoted to first divison, and also won the Ann Kewin trophy in the knockout competitions.
Congratulations to the Candlestick, Whitehaven, on becoming our next Pub of the Season (Winter 2009)
Well done to Great Gable for their Champion Beer of Britain Silver Medal award for Yewbarrow in the
'Real Ale in a bottle' section!
Other Cumbrian brewed beers in the finals were: Dent Rambrau (Speciality beers) Jennings Bitter (Bitters) and Cumbrian Legendary Ales Loweswater
Gold (Golden Ales)
These were not placed in the finals, but were Regional winners (NorthWest) in their categories, and therefore amongst the top nine in the country.
Full list of results see CAMRA's national website
Congratulations to the Globe, Hensingham, on becoming West Cumbria CAMRA's Summer Pub of the Season!!!
(Article by Ros Berry here)
The Bitter End brewery has relocated to new premises on the Derwent Mills Commercial Park in Cockermouth. Greater output then possible,
including bottles. The arrow in the pub still points, misleadingly now, to the ex-on-site brewery with a sign saying 'brewed here'!
The Ewe and Lamb at High Padstow, nr Keekle, is now selling real ale again, after many years of being keg only. The regulars are really enjoying
Blackbeck beers!!
The West Pennines PUB of the Year 2009 has again gone to the Taps at Lytham - a very worthy winner!!
Our awards are so much appreciated!!
Not just a rumour ....: a new brewery, in a fire engine ( to get past National Park planning laws) in a pub in Mardale .... using redundant kit from the Kirkstile Inn
First beer to be called Emergency Ale.
Watch for further news!!!
The new issue of our branch newsletter – What Ales? – will be appearing in pubs around the area soon. It’s a big issue (36 pages) and we’ve printed
4,000 of them! You can download it to read on your computer now – from the column on the right hand side. Many thanks to all our contributors and
advertisers.
Get your personal copy of What Ales? delivered to your door. Please send details of your name and address accompanied by a cheque or postal order,
made payable to “CAMRA West Cumbria Branch” for £3.00 (to cover post and packaging) to Jim Chapple, 33 Castlegate Drive, Cockermouth CA13 9HD, to
receive a personal copy of the next four issues by post. Your copies will receive priority over normal distribution. (Offer available to United
Kingdom addresses only. For overseas please contact Jim Chapple for rate. )
NEWS!!
Cumbria Pub of the Year is the Watermill at Ings. Congratulations to them, and we are still proud of the Kirkstile, a runner up!!!
So this is what Marston's think of us....
'It’s hard to keep the gobby hobbits happy'
* By Stephen Oliver, MD of Marstons'
"You’d think that the beardy weirdies of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) ... according to the malcontents of Camra’s sandal-clad, whisker-stroking
stormtroopers a guest ale’s not a guest ale unless it comes from some oddball brewery down a country lane and is served with bits in it under a name
like Knackered Old Cripplecock .... the itinerant Camra bunch that go promiscuously from pub to pub, looking for their next eclectic pint brewed
in a cupboard with the dubious benefit of progressive beer duty. They’re a gobby lot, the beardies.
Holding up the glass, opining on the beer before them, more often than not talking rubbish about ingredients and how it’s brewed. Licensees
should be aware of kowtowing to them.... to enjoy cask ale you don’t have to have mislaid
your razor, wear socks with your sandals or to have a beer gut the size of Rotherham.
"
Stephen Oliver is managing director of Marston's Beer Company
A Gerald Ratner moment?
Link to the full article in Morning Advertiser ....
Congratulations to all who contributed to the new edition of the Cumbria Real Ale Guide, last
year. It was finally acknowledged by CAMRA at the Members' Weekend when it received the Best Local Guide of 2008 award.
Please support efforts your local landlords are making in these hard times!
Punchbowl, Great Broughton - the specialist for guest beers!! His guest beer is one you have almost certainly have never had - or heard of before!!!
Even the Beer Monster was impressed at the collection of pump clips!!!
With usually three on each week, this is probably the best in the west!!
Please support efforts your local landlords are making in these hard times!
Ever wondered...?
Our branch newsletter has started, what we hope will be, a regular column,'frequently asked questions', about the wonders of real ale. The first
column, in our latest issue (read it via the download, right), included queries about the difference between real ale and other beers, whether lager
is the "enemy" and what makes a "good cellar". If you've got a question, email it to the editorial team at whatales@westcumbriacamra.org.uk or
info@smithplusbell.com
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