Well, the first month of the year is over. What the heck have I been doing with myself for the past few weeks?
There was certainly plenty to do as 2010 kicked off. Not least there was the trip to the National Winter Ales Festival in its new home somewhere in the wilds of North Manchester. An impressive venue for all that.
On the way there it only seemed right to pay respects to an old haunt- Briton's Protection just behind the GMex centre. This is a terrific proper pub and has been kept by the same landlord through thick and thin for some thirty years. Now that is some going by any standard, especially in these troubled times when pub licensees can hit bankruptcy a sight quicker than an investment banker tot up his outsize bonus.
When I first frequented the place some 20 years ago it was a Tetley-owned house, but now there's a choice of cask ales. It's worth visiting just to see how pubs really used to be. Cosy,clean, well polished rooms with fine tiled work. Somewhere you can either have a few quiet reflective beers or just meet the mistress.
Later we popped into the City (not the City Arms) in the Northern quarter for a pint of Acorn Blonde. Now this is a slightly unprepossessing pub from the outside but the new landlord is busy trying to convert it to a cask ale house. There was a warm welcome and some good beer, so we should give him all the help he can get.
Onto the Crown & Kettle, just across the road, simply, of course, to view the fantastic ornate Victorian ceilings that are being restored there.I used to drink here when the place was the lunchtime haunt of journos and printers when Express newspapers had their northern emporium next door, alas no longer. The Express abandoned Manchester and eventually the pub was shut for several years, but is now a decent ale house once again - 'though not as busy.
Finally, hopping on a bus we headed down Oldham Road to the Sheridan Suite and the festival. It was time to do some serious work with a formidable selection of over 200 beers ,ciders and perries.
This is the Camra festival that features strong old ales, barley wines, porters and stouts, so you have to be careful. Congratulations to the winners: CAMRA Champion Winter Beer of Britain 2010 was 1872 Porter from the Elland Brewery, West Yorkshire.
This 6.5% abv porter is 'creamy, full-flavoured porter, with rich liquorice flavours with a hint of chocolate from roast malt, and a soft but satisfying aftertaste of bittersweet roast and malt.'
Also in the Overall awards, Silver went to old ale Breconshire's Ramblers Ruin, whilst Acorn's Gorlovka Imperial Stout grabbed the bronze.Imperial stout was a style much favoured in the Baltic states in the 1800's and Acorn's is named after Barnsley's twin town in the Ukraine.
The 1872 Porter will now enter into the final of the Champion Beer of Britain competition at the Great British Beer Festival in August.
It was good to see that Harkers stalwart Dave (last seen in the Crown & Kettle) had made it, while some of his his wimpy colleagues (they know who they are) had elected for a poncy wine tasting in London instead. You just can't get the staff these days. Full marks though to Baz from Sutton Hall, who, the last time I saw him, was wrapping his tonsils round some Brewdog Punk PIA at a chunky 6.2% strength. All in the line of duty of course.
Upbeat news
And so the afternoon was spent chatting to brewers and trying the odd half-pint or two. The news was upbeat. Cask ale look set for another year of growth.
Acorn's figures for the festive season were outstanding, coming in at nearly 30 per cent up over the previous year while Moorhouse's continued in the upward curve of recent years with a steady as you go 12 per cent growth as they crack on with building a new £3.5m brewery complex. This will see the 145 year old company aping last years Clarets' success to move well and truly into the Premiership of British brewing.
I also managed a glass of the rather poky 'Otley Motley' with the boys from South Wales. The family business has done very well in five years and they say they are successfully grabbing business among the female and younger drinker sectors with a modern image and first class ales. Hawkshead of Staveley Cumbria also reported business going strong as its beers become known outside the Lake District - including around Brunning & Price pubs.
Huntsman back in the saddle
So there we were. All having a cracking time on a dismal, grey and dreary January afternoon in North Manchester. Meanwhile somewhere in, I imagine, an even drearier Northampton, Carlsberg's marketing elite was working out how to cash in on the cask ale revival with their iconic, but much neglected, Tetley brand.
The Danes are already committed to closing the historic Tetley brewery in Leeds, due to 'falling beer sales'. So, apparently radical thinking was needed to aid the brand. Imagine the scene, brainstorming to pull out a marketing genie:'No one will leave this room until we have a solution'. Oh yes, yes, got it. Let's bring back the Tetley Huntsman. Stick the monocled old boy back on the pumpclips large as life. Yes, that'll do it. It's a return to the brewing heritage and all that tradition stuff that those nerdy cask ale quaffers love.
And that, apparently is it. It appears that they are basing a £3m promotion on the image, including glassware, pumpclips and posters. And just at a time when many brewers (witness Otley) are talking up a modern image for cask ale with all that girlie friendly glassware and such. So let's give them the Huntsman eh?
What do these highly paid Carlsberg whizz kids know that we don't? Time will no doubt tell. Perhaps they should also bring back with the glorious jodhpurs clad 'Huntsman Girls', used to promote the famous Yorkshire tipple in its hey day. Happy days! Now that would be a bold marketing move in these weird PC days.
On a rather more serious note, we should all take a close interest in the nanny state assault on the drinks industry. This kicked off with a vengeance in the New Year - presumably to take the advantage as 'boozed up Britain' tried to shake off its collective hangover.
Statistics are being hurled around about the nation's 'drink problem' as booze follows smoking as the number one target on the health lobby's hit list - despite much evidence that indicates the figures are suspect. Can't go into this here just now, but if you have a look at the blog of Beer-Writer-Of-The Year Pete Brown you will find a detailed and fascinating deconstruction of the so called evidence and a fine old debate going strong.
The slightly good news is that the rate of pub closures does seem to be slowing - down from 50 a week to a mere 39. This is of course a national scandal that the government has so far seemed resolutely determined to ignore - despite the incalculable damage being done to many local communities.
Hopefully this year's National Cask Ale Week in the run up to Easter will bring some focus back not only on our national drink but also on to our Great British Pub heritage. That's if the media will deign to give it publicity; the 'impartial' BBC these days is one of the worst offenders in knocking the industry as it constantly rolls out the aforementioned drivel without query.
Anyway, it looks like the NCAW will be bigger and better than last year's inaugural week as the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) gets firmly behind it. I suppose I am preaching to the converted here, but we must all make a big extra special effort that week. And that means going to the pub. Cheers.
