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100 Not Out! Back in 1991, when Ouse Boozer first appeared, there was no York Brewery and the Blue Bell was keg! Tetley’s and Camerons still owned pubs in the city, pub companies were in their infancy and there was nothing like the beer choice there is today. Things have changed enormously since then and over the years we’ve tried our best to reflect what is going on locally. The editor in charge at the start was Graham Palmer, followed by Dave Sampson. Jackie Thompson and I took over at issue 36 in 1997; we worked together for 18 months until Jackie’s son came along and she stepped down. We started small: the first few issues were a single folded A4 sheet with very little advertising, circulation unknown. Both the size and the print run have grown steadily over the years. By spring 1995 it had reached 16 pages and needed stapling for the first time; the July edition was the first to get a coloured cover. Nowadays, 40 pages isn’t uncommon, the circulation is 6000 and we’ve used colour for the first time in this issue. It quickly got established as a regular publication, coming out every two months to start with and more recently quarterly. Ray Balawajder introduced Ear to the Bar in issue 3, the first map appeared in issue 4 and Scarborough started to contribute in spring 2000. It has recently been judged joint winner in the 2009 Newsletter of the Year competition in the Yorkshire CAMRA region for the second year running. The stated aim in the first issue was “to produce a leaflet which is both topical and informative and to let you, the pub-goer, know more about what is happening in your locals”. It is a straightforward aim that I think we have stuck to over the years and which is still just as valid today. We try to bring you as much news about local pubs, beer and breweries as possible, reporting on the branch’s social activities and including national and campaigning issues as well. Our reports are overwhelmingly positive: the aim is to tell readers where to find good pubs and good beer, not to tell them which pubs to avoid and how rubbish lager is! When I wrote a similar retrospective for issue 50 I said: “I hope Ouse Boozer will continue in this vein for the next 50 issues; no editor has managed more than three years in the post, so I doubt whether I’ll be in charge then!” I’m still here, which makes a rather scary 12 years in the job. That’s because it’s a very satisfying post to fill: after hours of toil on an issue it’s great to witness the positive reception when it is delivered out to pubs. All of us in York CAMRA appreciate the support given to us by our advertisers (without whose revenue Ouse Boozer would not be possible), the small army of members who distribute it, every pub that stocks it and everyone who reads it. [back to top] Brewery Bits Batemans Brewery of Wainfleet in Lincolnshire, which owns the Waggon & Horses on Lawrence Street, has won this year’s Publican award for Best Pub Company (tenanted/leased 20-199 outlets). Stuart Bateman, Managing Director said: “There are so many things that we are proud of: our new brewhouse, our fantastic, award-winning beers, our vibrant pubs and the innovation shown within our teams at head office. We have won some magnificent awards for our cask and bottled beers, however, we are most proud of the awards won by our staff, the life blood of our business. Our people have made our business the success it is today and it is for them that winning Best Pub Company of the Year rewards and recognises their unflinching commitment despite the tough climate.” Great Heck has tweaked its beer range for the summer: it now comprises Dave, Yorkshire Pale Ale, White Rabbit, Slaughterhouse Porter and two new ones. Blooming Heck and Golden Fleece are missing – they may make an occasional appearance, but something had to make way for the new Bitter. This is a full-flavoured, 3.8% session beer, with lashings of Cascade hops and a subtle blend of roast malts, which means it’s got plenty of flavour whilst being very easy to drink. Also new is Staggering Genius (5%) which was launched at the Judges Lodgings in April. It’s a pale ale with loads of hops, including Styrian Goldings, and plenty of wheat malt in the mash. It’s fermented using a Belgian yeast strain, so it’s quite a remove from anything they’ve done before in many ways. Also new is Final Straw, a pale/straw-coloured, light and hoppy 3.7% session beer which is the summer house beer to run alongside Final Judgement at the Judges Lodgings. Morrissey Fox raised £40,128 for Comic Relief through the sales of Blonde Ale. The first pint of Red Nose Day Blonde was poured at the Punchbowl in Marton cum Grafton; to cope with the volumes needed the beer is brewed under contract elsewhere, including at Cropton Brewery. Rudgate Brewery launched their new beer, Jorvik Blonde, at a very busy Bay Horse, Marygate in early April, aided and abetted by CAMRA members and Vikings (below). The name was chosen five years ago, but the original 5% trial brew for bottling didn’t work, so the recipe has been developed through the Brewers Choice range. The final 3.8% flaxen blonde ale is brewed using lager malt and a mixture of Hallertau Hersbruker, Slovinski, Goldings and Challenger hops. They wanted something different from the extremely hoppy golden ales already produced locally and the result is a subtle, balanced beer with a good finish. Jorvik Blonde is a welcome addition to the award-winning permanent Rudgate range. It went down very well at the launch, despite strong competition from the Champions’ League match that evening! On the specials side, look out for Folkis Golden Best in June, a 4% golden beer with a distinctive berry flavour. In July, it’s Flaxen Dane, 4.2%, which is as pale as it gets, with a wonderful continental hop nose, followed in August by Finn’s IPA, 4.2%, a bronze-coloured ale, boasting lots of malt and a big, spicy hop character. Owner Craig Lee is pleased with how things are going in general at the brewery: “Plans to increase fermenting capacity are on the horizon, which will once again squeeze our current unit further towards its limits! One of the reasons for our growth is the SIBA Direct Delivery Scheme, which is providing good repeat trade with several outlets, mainly owned by Enterprise Inns”.  Sue Simpson from Brown Cow tells us: “We’ve just installed two five barrel fermenters replacing two four barrel ones. We’re really busy at the moment and all beer is sold before even getting into cask, so hopefully the extra capacity will help. Happy and unexpected news is that Winnie our new Shetland pony is in foal; it will have arrived by the time this edition is out and no doubt we’ll brew a beer to celebrate!” Andrew Whalley of York Brewery ventured across the Pennines to host a Meet the Brewer evening in Lancaster, where their beers are becoming more widely available following the takeover by Mitchell’s. He said that the development was in everyone’s interests: “Mitchell’s don’t want to change what we do, because it’s working so well, and we at York are delighted with the arrangement”. Three favourites return for the summer: the ever-popular Decade is back in June, while the brewery demonstrates its faith in England’s cricketers with Ashes Ale in July. In August it’s one of my personal favourites, York IPA. There’ll be a beer festival at the Bay Horse Inn, Terrington, home of Storyteller Brewery, on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th June, running into Sunday if there’s any left. There’ll be 18 beers on sale and a band on Saturday. [back to top] Ear to the Bar Apologies to Gerry and Tracey at the Crystal Palace on Holgate Road, an excellent Sam Smith’s house. We wrote in the last issue that the pub was struggling to find a manager; this is far from true, as the couple have been there for nearly two years now, and are doing a fine job according to those CAMRA members who regularly drink there. Congratulations to Doug and Louise Smith of the Jug & Bottle at Bubwith, which has been chosen as the Best Community Off Licence in the country at the Drinks Retailing Awards held in February; it also finished in the top three in the Cider Retailer of the Year category. To quote from the Winners’ programme: “A village off-licence in East Yorkshire is the unlikely home to possibly the biggest selection of draught ciders on sale anywhere in Britain – either on- or off-trade. Regular customers from as far afield as Manchester and Oxford make the pilgrimage to sample from the range of 46 ciders and 12 draught ones that are on tap at any one time. The store operates a try-before-you-buy policy to encourage sales and supplies local beer festivals with ciders that otherwise wouldn’t reach such an audience. Louise Smith believes a local business needs to get out from behind the counter and into its community to truly be worthy of the title of a neighbourhood store. The presentation is immaculate, and the store even has its own brands of wine and beer, plus cask ale. In addition, there’s a deli counter that would rival many specialists in the field. The Jug & Bottle is a rare breed that manages to combine top-notch retailing discipline with an active involvement in all aspects of the community”. Louise’s community involvement includes organising the successful village beer festival, being part of a committee to save Bubwith church from closing (within five weeks they raised £7000), selling tickets for most local events in the shop, sponsorship of the village tennis club and organising a barn dance and wine tasting. Over in Selby, Sean has left the Unicorn Inn, but Liz and Joe are in charge and keeping up the good work for real ale lovers. Recent brews on sale have included Timothy Taylor’s Golden Best, Rooster’s Yankee, Wychwood Hobgoblin and beers from Copper Dragon. Dave Baugh is now running Cochrane’s Wharf and also tempting the taste buds. Caledonian Deuchars IPA is a regular and other fine ales on the bar have included Courage Directors and Greene King Abbot Ale. The Nelson Inn on Ousegate is trying Great Heck Dave alongside Theakston’s Mild and John Smith’s Cask. The Nags Head, Askham Bryan has Black Sheep Best Bitter permanently plus guest ales; it also does good, traditional home made food. The Red Lion, Knapton has changed hands and now has three real ales, John Smith’s Cask, Black Sheep Best Bitter and Greene King IPA. The Bay Horse, Marygate has a great function room, with its own bar and dance floor, which will be the venue for our branch meetings from June–September. Landlord Andy Henstock is looking at hosting feasts in the room with hog roasts. A Yorkshire Day beer festival is planned for the first weekend in August, as Andy is a proud Barnsley lad. Business is going so well that he is considering adding another four hand pumps to the six already there, with the possibility of one dedicated to Acorn or Brass Monkey beers. This is a great success story for a pub that was closed only a matter of months ago. On the same street, the Post Office Club now sells Theakston’s Best Bitter and Caledonian Deuchars IPA, making a ‘Marygate run’ a viable proposition! The Queen, on the High Street in Tadcaster, is a newish pub, which opened a couple of years ago and completely slipped under our radar. It’s right by the John Smith’s brewery gates and used to be a club for retired brewery workers. Aimed at the younger market, there’s a spacious room with several screens and a pool room at the rear. It opens late and is the only pub in town with Sky, much to the landlady’s delight! There are three handpumps, and the beer we tried was Copper Dragon Golden Pippin. The Crown, Bolton Percy is a long-standing Sam Smith’s keg pub which has gone cask – the handpump has been in for a year so we’ve missed this one too! It’s a lovely little pub by the church, with two cosy separate rooms, one with an open fire and one with a range, and a very interesting collection of brewery memorabilia. Gerry Yarnold, the licensee at the Melbourne, has added Wychwood Hobgoblin as a regular, alongside Copper Dragon Golden Pippin and John Smith’s Cask. In the last year the pub has had all its beer lines replaced and the cellar reorganised and renewed, which is no doubt a factor in the good standard of the beer, which is selling well. Nearby, the Lighthorseman has Thwaites Original, Wainwright and Lancaster Bomber, with the promise of specials Well Well Well (a delicious summer pale ale, with a fruity and floral hop aroma and a flavour that is smooth with a lingering dry finish: named after the three old brewery wells) in June, and Golden Wonder in September. The Wellington on Alma Terrace has had a much needed face lift internally, all very tasteful and in keeping with the pub’s history. The Plough, Allerthorpe has replaced John Smith’s Cask with Greene King IPA in a selection which also includes Tetley’s Cask, Black Sheep Best Bitter and Wells Bombardier. The White Horse, Church Fenton now has Timothy Taylor’s Landlord and Caledonian Deuchars IPA as regulars, while the Queen O’t’Owd Thatch at South Milford has been Cask Marque approved. We had hoped that the Alice Hawthorn in Nun Monkton would have been open again by now. However the latest news is that, although owners Punch have shown a couple of interested parties around, they’ve been unable to find a tenant. They aren’t considering applying for any other planning use and are not actively marketing it as for sale, but if a sensible offer was made, then they’d be interested. Well done to Shirley and Paul at the George & Dragon at West Haddlesey, who have opened a small shop in a converted former cellar. It will offer ‘life’s little essentials’ – a range of basic items which it’s easy to run out of, supplemented by ice cream, locally-made jams and chutneys and bottled beer from Brown Cow. [back to top] |
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