Tales from the Riverbank (1)

I was walking the dog the other day along the river path past the Stag Brewery in Mortlake and just reflected on the size of the site. If the handful of acres at Wandsworth realised £69 million, this prime stretch of river bank but be worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

Of course, it has always been prime land but the brewery is about to change hands again. The owners, Anheuser Busch are in the final days of being swallowed up by Inbev, to combine as the world's largest brewer, with a turnover of $36 billion and production of over 46 billion litres.

Although Mortlake Brewery is now a state of the art lager plant brewing vast quantities of Budweiser, my guess is that this could be one of the prime assets of the Anheuser Busch UK business. Luckily the credit crunch will defer any plans to "rationalise the property portfolio".

Beer has been brewed in Mortlake for over 500 years and although the Brewery History Society would have grounds for complaint about any redevelopment, how ironic it would be for a brewery whose more recent history has been anonymous to the real ale scene, to be a case for a protest campaign.

In my memory the brewery was owned first by Watneys. In those days of the late 1970's there was still a large amount of real ale produced - although it was of the Watney variety - London Bitter and Fined Bitter together with the fine barley wine, Stingo (in bottle only). Although I don't believe that Red Barrel was ever brewed here, it was for the local Sheen Lawn Tennis Club that keg beer was invented in 1960's. As Watney was taken over by Grand Met, the brewery became part of Courage and then Scottish Courage, part of Scottish and Newcastle and at that time started to become more lager driven.

ScotCo then leased the brewery to Anheuser Busch who have since made billions of pints of Budweiser on the site and, it is believed, purchased the freehold more recently.

My only comment thus far is watch this space - I would think plenty of others are.

SIBA

The winner of the SIBA South East competition was Arundel Brewer, Sussex Mild.

My category was Standard Bitter and Pale Ales up to 4%. A large category with 23 beers to taste. Our winner was Surrey Hills Brewery, Ranmore Ale.

Other winners are :
Mild : Arundel, Sussex Mild
Bitter : Surrey Hills, Ranmore
Best Bitter : Ballrds, Best Bitter
Premium Bitter : Arundel, Stronghold
Strong Bitter : Oakleaf, Gosport Bitter
Strong Ale : Westerham, Audit Ale
Porter, Stout etc : Ballards, Wild Porter
Speciality : Dark Star, Expresso Stout
Bottle : Oakleaf, Hole Hearted


A little more meat to this will follow later once I have fully recovered from tasting over 30 beers !

The Chip Museum

Just thought I'd share a post script from the latest Pint in Hand, sent out to members of SPBW.

Although there are many beer related reasons to visit Bruges, there is now the added attraction of the Frietmuseum, the world's first museum dedicated to the humble chip.

Potatoes were apparently discovered in Peru around 15,000 BC and Belgian frites date from around 1700. The museum, set in one of Bruges oldest buildings, boasts beautiful photos of Peruvian tubers and an interesting collection of chip art (I kid you not) together with a marvellous display of retro chip fryers.

This has got to be worth seeking out on a future visit to Bruges just out of curiosity.

Lewes Arms

The Lewes Arms, in Lewes, which was the subject of a bitter battle when Greene King took out the locals' favourite beer, Harveys Best Bitter, has been bought by Fullers.

Not wishing to get into the same sort of dispute, sensibly Fullers have already agreed that Harveys Best will sit on the bar alongside the usual Fullers range. In return, Harveys have agreed that their flagship London pub, the Royal Oak in Tabard Street, Borough will permanently stock one Fullers beer.

The Royal Oak is home to the CAMRA London Regional meetings is one of the top pubs in London for beer quality. The London Pride (or other) will no doubt be in tip top form but I cannot see it competing against the delicious range of Harveys beers. Indeed I am disappointed that one of the pumps will replace a Harveys beer with the Fullers.

This is one of the only pubs in London to permanently stock a mild so hopefully that is not the one that will be sacrificed.

The beer in the Lewes Arms will also always be of good quality as it will be leased under the supervision of the landlord of the Basketmakers Arms, Brighton, another pub where real ale is king.

What's Brewing

What's Brewing, the newspaper for CAMRA members landed on the doormat yesterday. The paper was relaunched last month with a quarterly supplement, "Beer" and a welcome change it was. Of course, there are always going to be some teething problems with something so fresh and new, but it was a step in the right direction making CAMRA campaigning very readable.

The Beer supplement used to be a monthly paper, now it is a quarterly magazine, so we now have a lone What's Brewing 2 months out of 3 and as a result it appears very thin.

Because we were all together sharing news at GBBF, much of the content also seems a little old - a factor of the lead times required for printing.

Generally speaking the layout and presentation of the paper is much improved, with better use of colour and captions giving a more up-to-date appearance.

I am cautious to criticise something which is obviously a work in progress but most of the important campaigning information remains unreadable. I know I am a forty something, speccy old git, but the only branch diaries (What's On) that I can read are for the Lesbian & Gay Real Ale Drinkers and the Young Members Group - neither of which I am eligible to join.

We are, of course, a victim of our own success with 200 or so branches and 150+ beer festivals each year and space is limited - the previous layout had similar problems - but we have to get this right.

2008 is supposed to be the year to activate our membership. That is hard to do if they cannot read what they are supposed to be doing.

The editorial apologises for unreadable parts in last month's issue and promises a tweak in design and requests feedback.

Feedback : the tweak has not worked yet for me !

Andover Arms

The Andover Arms is a community locals pub hidden in the back streets of Hammersmith, W6 at the Ravenscourt Park end. It is a Fullers pub that is well worth the effort of finding. Having featured in the Good Beer Guide continuously since 1996, it remains one of my favourite places to spend an afternoon. As well as the usual Fullers range it has also hosted a couple of small beer festivals in the past year and there is another offering on 5th to 7th September.

The beers list features some great beers from great breweries, as follows :

Bateman's XXXB (4.8%)
Castle Rock Black Gold (3.8%)
Castle Rock Hemlock (4%)
Hambleton Stallion (4.2%)
Holdens Mild (3.7%)
Nottingham Dreadnought (4.5%)
Oakham JHB (3.8%)
Roosters Yankee (4.3%)
York Terrier (4.2%)

Although my visits usually coincide with a QPR match, on this occasion there is no football that weekend. So with no sorrows to drown I am looking forward to at least a half of each at some point over the weekend !

A Beer a Day

CAMRA Books' latest offering is A Beer a Day - 366 beers to help you through the year written by leading beer writer, Jeff Evans. What follows is my carve-up of the CAMRA press release to launch the book. Hopefully I will be able to write a more considered piece once I have properly read the book.

A Beer a Day is described as a beer lovers almanac. Set in simple day-to-day diary style it matches 366 beers from around the world with a major event, season, or other commemoration for each day of the year.

Author Jeff Evans says ‘A Beer a Day is not just a catalogue of great beers: it is a celebration of high days, holidays and the otherwise gentle passing of the seasons as seen through the eyes of world's greatest brewers. Major anniversaries, religious feasts and important birthdays come under the spotlight, along with commemorations, carnivals and some even more eccentric events.'

'This book has been great fun to research. It's amazing how the brewing industry keeps alive traditions and customs, and rightly celebrates famous and not-so-famous people who have been great achievers. You could say that there's almost a story for every beer and a beer for every story, and being able to look behind the label adds so much extra enjoyment to already great beers.'

The majority of the beers featured in the book are attainable from supermarkets, off-licences, online stores, and straight from the cask at selected pubs throughout the UK. The more elusive brews reflect the theme of the book- to encourage the wider distribution of fine beers.

The book is available directly from the CAMRA website at www.camra.org.uk, priced at £14.99 for CAMRA members, and £16.99 for non-members.

Oakham JHB

Although I have occasionally succumbed in the past to the black art of beer ticking, generally speaking I am more than happy to keep drinking favourite beers rather than solely new scoops. A trip to Peterborough for the beer festival was an ideal opportunity to partake in one of my all time favourites - Oakham JHB.

Considering that JHB won the Champion Beer of Britain as long ago as 2001, it really has stood the test of time and remains one of the best beers available - a deserved inclusion in Protz's 300 Beers to Try Before You Die.

Most regular drinkers will know that JHB stands for Jeffrey Hudson Bitter, a few will also know that this gentleman was a small chap who lived in Oakham in 17th century, even fewer will know the whole story of this interesting life. A little research found this biography.

Olympics

As much as I am enjoying the over achievement of Team GB in the various Olympic events, there is not really much for the beer lover. Being the 1979 Barnes Fayre yard of ale champion and a dab hand at table skittles or shut the box, I feel the IOC could make some worthwhile changes for London 2012.

My beer of the Olympics has been Downton Olympic Flame which I have chanced upon twice in recent days. Admittedly this is the only Olympic beer I have seen so far but it wins gold, silver and bronze for me. A straw coloured beer, flavoured with ginger and coriander, weighing in at 4.1%. The ginger is not too overpowering, making this a very refreshing pint for the expected balmy evenings of late August.

Staying on a Chinese theme, I notice that Tsingtao Brewery results were announced today. China's best known brand posted a 42% rise in half year profits. Although China's beer market is fragmented by nearly 400 brewers, Tsingtao brewed 26.86 million hectolitres (c 18 million barrels - over 5 billion pints) in 6 months - a staggering amount - and only 10% of China's total; the world's largest beer market by volume.

Off to Peterborough Beer Festival today for a marathon - or at least a decathlon...

Dog and Fox

Continuing the theme, I happened across these examples of Young's new pub signs in Wimbledon last night. Did not manage to sample the pub's beer as I was hot footing it to a "meet the Downton brewer" evening at the Brewery Tap opposite, where the Quadhop was in great form; one of my current favourites.