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News

 
Champion Winter Beer of Britain 2010
 

1872 Porter from the Elland Brewery, West Yorkshire, has today been crowned the Supreme Champion Winter Beer of Britain 2010 by a panel of judges at the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester. 

The 6.5% abv porter is described in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide as a '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.' 

Graham Donning, National Winter Ales Festival organiser, praised the Champion Winter beer for its quality. He said: 'A timeless classic well worthy of this accolade. It has won many awards at CAMRA beer festivals in the past, and it's great to see this small brewer achieving such success. A perfect winter warming remedy to the snowy weather in recent weeks!' 

Winning today is especially sweet for the brewer after finishing in Silver place overall in the 2009 competition. 
Dave Sanders, Head Brewer at Elland, was elated to hear of the brewery's success. He said: 'It absolutely brilliant; we came second last year and I am thrilled to finish on top in 2010. We originally started brewing this beer at the West Yorkshire brewery, so there's quite a history behind this Victorian recipe.' 

 

OVERALL Champion
Gold- Elland, 1872 Porter (Elland, West Yorkshire)
Silver- Breconshire, Ramblers Ruin (Brecon, Powys)
Bronze- Acorn, Gorlovka Imperial Stout (Barnsley, South Yorkshire) 

Old Ales and Strong Milds
Gold- Breconshire, Ramblers Ruin (Brecon, Powys) 
Silver- Leeds, Midnight Bell (Leeds, West Yorkshire) 
Bronze- Beartown, Black Bear (Congleton, Cheshire) 

Porters
Gold- Elland, 1872 Porter (Elland, West Yorkshire) 
Silver- Sulwath, Black Galloway (Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway) 
Bronze- RCH, Old Slug Porter (Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset) 

Stouts 
Gold- Acorn, Gorlovka Imperial Stout (Barnsley, South Yorkshire) 
Silver- Beowulf, Dragon Smoke Stout (Brownhills, Staffordshire) 
Bronze- Wapping, Stout (Liverpool, Merseyside) 

Barley Wines 
Gold- Robinsons, Old Tom (Stockport, Cheshire)
Silver- Kinver, Over the Edge (Kinver, Staffordshire)
Bronze- Otley, O8 (Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan) 
 

 
CAMRA Press release 21 Jan 10
 
 
Leicester Beer Festival 2010
 
The 2010 Leicester Beer Festival will be held at The Charotar Patidar Samaj, Bay St / South Churchgate, Leicester between March 10 and March 13th. We will offer a selection of 220 beers and over 30 Cider and Perry. Our usual authentic Indian dishes will be available as will English food.

More details on our Beer Festival 2010

 
 
Leicester CAMRA Committee 2009
 
The 2009 Leicester CAMRA Annual General Meeting was held at the Criterion, Leicester on Wednesday 14th October 2009. The AGM saw significant changes to the Committee whereby Branch Treasurer Richard Bailey and Committee Member Sarah Bailey were not re-elected.

The first Committee meeting for the new term was held at The Globe on Weds 21st October and the following were co-opted onto the Committee.

Treasurer: Phil Wain

Pubs Officer and Locale: Kelvyn Martin

Social Sectretary:  Gary Akiens

Committee Member: Andy Sales

Committee Member: Steve Compton

Committee Member and Young Members: Tracey Webb

Social Secretary Gary Akiens has announced his first trip will be November 28th to the Bristol area with a stop off at Tewksbury on the return. Details can be found on the Leicester CAMRA Website Diary page.

The successful Leicester Beer Festivals will continue in the hands of most of the previous Committee along with input from the new team. The first BF 2010 meeting will be at The Pub, New Walk on Mon 2nd Nov at 8pm. We need members' support and hope to see volunteers new and old coming on board to plan this flagship event in the Leicester area.

Our sincere thanks go to all of the departing Committee Members for their significant input in the past.

Updated Andy Sales 23rd Oct 2009

 
 
Local brewers cease trading.
 
In what appears to be tough trading times, three local brewers have ceased trading.

Bees Brewery of Queniborough has closed with Alec moving to Norfolk. Alec has relocacted to Plot 2, Coast Road, Walcott, Norfolk. NR12 0LS.

Rugby Brewing Co, Rugby and Wild Walker of Derby are both reported to have ceased trading.

Andy Sales Updated 24 Dec 2009

 
 
"The Pub", Leicester's new Real Ale bar.
 
The Pub, 12b New Walk, Leicester will open on Sat 26th September. The pub is situated roughly at the rear of the former Vin IV on New Walk almost next to Revolution.

The pub boast 15 handpumps, 10 of which are expected to be in use from the opening day.

Leicester CAMRA wish Paul Summers and his staff all the very best with this new venture.

23 Sept 09.

 
 
 
Castle Rock to honour Wetherspoon vouchers
 

Pubs in the Castle Rock Brewery group are to accept money off vouchers issued by a national pub chain.  The 50p per pint discount scheme, aimed specifically at members of CAMRA has been introduced to promote pubs run by J D Wetherspoon and sent to members as a series of dated cards worth £20 in total.  

“Castle Rock Brewery beers are not available in Wetherspoons” says Steve Bramley, Castle Rock’s operations director.  “And they are never likely to be as our brewery is producing at capacity with Harvest Pale, champion bitter of Britain in 2007, by far our most popular. 

“So, as you can’t get our ales in Wetherspoons, we invite CAMRA members to join us at all our pubs including Loughborough's Swan in the Rushes and The Crown at Old Dalby, where the 50p vouchers will be honoured on any of our own beers. Non CAMRA members aren't left out as they can still enjoy the benefit of our ‘one over the eight’ scheme which mounts up to an 11% discount of many popular ales,” says Steve. 

Castle Rock Brewery’s rival’s redemption scheme starts on 1 September and will operate in tandem with the national chain’s promotion.

Castle Rock pub list http://www.castlerockbrewery.co.uk/publist.html

 
 
Vin IV (Out of the Vaults) to relocate.
 
Vin IV (the former Out of the Vaults) will be closing soon and the business relocating to Retro Bar, 12B New Walk, Leicester, LE1 6TF‎. It is intended to rename the premises which benefit from a larger kitchen, fully refurbished drinking area, larger bar area and larger cellar. They plan to do more food, retain 12 cask ale handpumps, increase continental draught products to 20 and become a larger music venue. One big benefit is no leaking roof and flooding! Paul Summers has already obtained the keys.

Paul is interested to hear any ideas for a name for the pub which is less than 100yds from the current pub. The pub has been called Retro Bar, Pause, The Courthouse, De Montfort and The Wellington in recent years.

Vin IV will close on Sat 29th August with the new venue expected to open Sept 14th.

Andy Sales (updated) 20 Aug 2009

 
 
The Globe welcomes CAMRA members with a 15% discount.
 
To celebrate the return of Hugh Kerr as Landlord of The Globe, 43 Silver St, Leicester a 15% discount will apply to CAMRA members on all real ales upon production of a valid membership card.

The pub has seen significant growth in real ale sales since Hugh returned a few weeks ago and Hugh firmly believes in rewarding CAMRA members for their loyalty in the pub.

The discount applies until the end of October 2009 - see the advert in Leicester Drinker No 65.

Andy Sales 12 Aug 2009.

 
 
 
Champion Beer of Britain 2009
 
 

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
Gold - Titanic, Stout (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire)
Silver - Great Gable, Yewbarrow (Gosforth, Cumbria)
Bronze - White Shield Brewery, White Shield (Coors, Burton-on-Trent)

 
Chandlers First Festival Success
The Chandlers Arms at Shearsby held its first beer festival over the weekend of July 10th - 12th. Landlord Steve Compton was extremely pleased with the support both from Leicester CAMRA members and the local community. The festival was a complete success and will be repeated probably twice per year.

The first festival featured some very rare beers from the West Country. 12 beers were on the outside stillage kindly loaned by Paul Summers at Vin IV (OOTV to us) and 5 LocAle beers were served through handpumps in the pub.

Leicester CAMRA members travelled over on the Friday evening by mini-bus and were most complimentary  about the effort put into the event and the superb beer quality and reasonable prices.

Andy Sales

University to build new brewery

The University of Nottingham is to build its own £2m micro-brewery to boost its teaching and research in brewing science.

The facility will be built at the university's school of bioscience at Sutton Bonington.

It will be used to research new technologies for the brewing industry to try to cut the amount of energy needed in the production process.

The micro-brewery is due to be opened in 2011.

The university also aims to use the brewery to enhance beer quality and shelf life.

Professor David Greenaway, the university's vice-chancellor, said: "The construction of a state-of-the-art brewing facility will put us in the forefront of brewing research in this country and open up unrivalled opportunities for teaching and research both from within the university and with industrial partners."

Source BBC News 24 July 09

CHAMPIONS From Everards

 

Another new beer will appear in Everards pubs from 8th June. This is to commemorate Leicester Tigers Rugby Team winning The Guinness Premiership and Leicester City Football Club winning their division and gaining promotion. Everards have a working partnership with The Leicester Tigers, hence the support in their success. This 4.3%abv Best Bitter has accordingly been named “Champions”.

Everards

Everards rewards its top pubs

 

Leicestershire brewery Everards has rewarded the top 14 achieving licensees in its estate.

It held a lunch time reception at Leicester Racecourse for the winners, who were chosen for their overall business performance during the year. Judges also considered beer volumes achieved and satisfaction scores from Everards’ mystery customer scheme, Mission Enjoyable.

Each winner received flowers and a bottle of champagne from company chairman Richard Everard and operations director for the tenanted estate Dave Harrison.

They will be treated to a hosted trip to the Scottish Highlands at the end of June.

"All our licensees work hard to develop and maintain successful pub businesses but sometimes there are individuals who really stand out in terms of their passion and commitment," said Everards managing director Stephen Gould.

"We would like to congratulate our 14 winners on an outstanding year and for developing a customer offer which surpasses expectation."

Philip Robson from village pub the Collyweston Slater near Stamford was among the winners. "We are extremely proud to receive recognition from Everards and we thank them for organising an enjoyable day out to celebrate the achievement. It was a great way to meet and socialise with brewery personnel and fellow licensees."

Everards’ top licensees for 2009 are:

• Jad Otaki from the Falcon, Long Whatton

• Peter and Elaine Delaney from the Admiral Rodney, Calverton

• Andy and Dawn Moore from the Coach and Horses, Lubenham

• Eddie and Jayne Irwin from the Bulls Head, Whetstone

• Phil and Marny Jones from the Black Horse, Aylestone

• Ray Cooper and Yvette Jayes from the Crows Nest, Leicester

• Ronnie and Maureen Thomson from the Cricketers, Aylestone

• Simon Andrews and Debbie Brown from the Swan, Braybrooke

• David, Marilyn and Graham McLean from the Artichoke, Moulton

• Paul and Tina Stevens from the Greyhound, Burton on the Wolds

• Laurie Howe and Chris Riley from the Famous Virgins, Kenilworth

• Richard and Catherine Doyle from the Red Admiral, Broughton Astley

• Kevin and Dee Shepherdson from the Old Horse, Leicester

• Dave and Bev Trasler from the Glen, Leicester

Source The Morning Advertiser 19 May 09

Cheese, Cider and German beers? - Festival dates announced
The Swan & Rushes, Infirmary Square, Leicester  has announced a joint Cider & Cheese Festival over the weekend of 17-19 July with the Criterion, Millstone Lane, Leicester. They will try not to overlap varieties if possible and hopefully will produce a single festival programme. www.swanandrushes.co.uk

There will also be a Draught German Beer Festival on June 26-27 at the Swan.

Andy Sales 15 April 09

Leicester Beer Festival 2009 - A Complete Success
2009 Beer Festival report.

Beer of the Festival

Overall Winner

Gold - Old Spot - Spot o' Bother

Silver - Brewdog - Paradox Isle of Arran

Bronze - Nottingham - EPA

Mild
1st Potbelly Beijing Black
Jnt 2nd Belvoir Dark Horse
Jnt 2nd Dowbridge Bonum Mild
Bitter
1st All Gates Groundhop Day
2nd Langton Caudle
3rd Blue Monkey Original
Best Bitter
1st Ramsbury Grand Slam
2nd Holdens Lambs Wool
3rd Phipps (Grainstore) IPA
Speciality
1st Saltaire Raspberry Blonde
2nd Bees Honey
3rd Art Brew i beer
Stout / Porter
1st Old Spot Spot o' Bother
2nd Saltaire Triple Chocoholic
3rd Boggart Rum Porter
Golden Ales
1st Nottingham EPA
2nd Full Mash Seance
3rd Brewsters Hophead
Strong
1st Castle Rock Screech Owl
2nd Grainstore Rutland Beast
3rd Grainstore Ten Fifty
Super Strong
1st Brewdog Paradox Isle of Arran
2nd Grainstore Nip
3rd Coastal Erosion

Andy Sales 16 March

 
Leicester "Pub of the Year 2009"

"Pub of the Year" is a special annual award presented to the landlord or manager of a public house in the Leicester Branch area in honour of the quality of their beer, service and general attitude towards real ale. The winning pubs are those nominated and voted for by a majority of local CAMRA members by postal ballot.

Members vote for their three favourite pubs in the Leicester Branch area. The highest scoring pub becomes “Pub of the Year” with the highest scoring City and County pubs then becoming the area category winners.

 Winner                       The Criterion, Millstone Lane, LE1 5JN

 Second                       Vin Quatre, King St, LE1 6RL

 Third                           The Chandlers Arms, Fenny Lane, Shearsby LE17 6PL                         

The Criterion, “City Pub of the Year 2006” and “Pub of the Year 2007 and 2008” has become “Pub of the Year 2009”. Well done to Russell Hunt, Karen Foster and their team for winning this award for the third year running as voted for by members of the Leicester Branch of CAMRA.

Over 900 members are entitled to vote and The Criterion came out with the most number of votes. Clearly a continuing sign of the high regard held for the pub and team by those members who returned their votes. As recently as 2002, The Criterion was called The Nags Head when purchased from Hardys & Hansons. A change of name and the stocking of some quality British real ales as well as a selection of other beers from all over the world completely changed the profile of this pub.

Now owned by Rugby Brewery, it has a reputation for stocking real ales from micro-breweries and is part of LocAle. The pub has knowledgeable staff, regular quizzes, beer festivals and music sessions. Food is served too, really wonderful, authentic Italian pizzas heading the menu, but other items are also available. This all goes to show why The Criterion has retained “Pub of the Year 2009”. Well done.

Runner up is Vin Quatre, formerly Out of the Vaults. This pub is now in its fifth year under the ownership of Paul Summers and Daksha Patel and recently joined by Cathal Farragher. Up to 12 real ales are served including LocAles. It has regular beer festivals attracting a following of beer enthusiasts from all over the UK and regular music sessions. 

The Chandlers Arms, Fenny Lane, Shearsby is a pub that is totally committed to Real Ale and was the first to join our LocAle campaign. It has been gaining a reputation for really good quality beer and food since being taken over by Stephen and Karen Compton in 2006 and has now been rewarded with the title “County Pub of the Year 2009”. This fantastic pub is situated in the village of Shearsby and serves up to 7 beers. It is good to see this pub flying the flag for real ale in the county and fully deserved.

The Chandlers has announced it will hold its first beer festival on July 10th - 11th.

Leicester CAMRA congratulates all the winners and hopes that this level of quality can continue in the Leicester area.

Andy Sales March 5th

 
The Chandlers - 100% LocAle
 

A recent visit by Pubs Officer Kelvyn Martin to the Chandlers Arms, Shearsby revealed 100% LocAle. This is not intended to be all the time but was pretty impressive. Kelv just happened to have his camera to record the event!

 

Andy Sales 19 Feb 09

 
 
Attila wins Champion Winter Beer of Britain 2009

Gold - Oakham Attila
Silver - Elland 1872 Porter
Bronze - Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby

 

Beer category winners

Old Ales and Strong Milds

Gold
Silver
Bronze
Sarah Hughes, Dark Ruby
Bryncelyn, Buddy Marvellous
Joint: Orkney, Dark Island and Theakston, Old Peculier

Stouts

Gold
Silver
Bronze
Bristol Beer Factory, Milk Stout
Beowulf, Dragon Smoke Stout
Spire, Sgt Pepper Stout

Porters

Gold
Silver
Elland Brewery, 1872 Porter
Joint: Fullers, London Porter and Townes, Pynot Porter

Barley Wines

Gold
Silver
Bronze
Oakham, Attila
Hogs Back, A over T
Otley, O8
 
 
Leicester CAMRA starts LocAle rolling
 

Leicester CAMRA Pubs Officer Kelvyn Martin is progressing well with the Leicester CAMRA LocAle campaign to get  local beers stocked in local pubs and to give customers the chance to support the local economy. More information can be found here.

We will be launching the campaign shortly with the local media to give more coverage of the scheme and promote the Leicester 2009 Beer Festival.

Local pubs joining LocAle so far, where they promise to stock a local beer brewed within 25 miles of their location are:-

Vin Quatre, King St, Leicester.

Golden Shield, Fleckney.

Chandlers Arms, Shearsby.

Crown Inn, Uppingham.

Criterion, Millstone Lane, Leicester.

The Windmill, Brascote.

The Harrow Inn, Melton Road, Thurmaston.

The Cow & Plough, Oadby.

The Western, Western Road, Leicester.

The Grainstore, Oakham.

The Swan & Rushes, Infirmary Sq, Leicester.

Kelvyn Martin (L) and Paul Summers of Vin Quatre on his Pub of the Month night with LocAle beers supplied by local brewers Bees and Belvoir.

 
 
Meet Mick the Tick
 
Phil Mellows infiltrates the murky world of the ‘tickers’ to track down one of the UK’s most dedicated devotees of real ale. Welcome to a little-known subculture of cartels, bottlers and scoopers. Read this article in the The Publican - Home - Meet Mick the Tick.

Source. The Publican 4 Dec 08

 
 
Join or renew CAMRA membership and receive £20 of Wetherspoon vouchers.
 
This new benefit will only run for 12 months and is a ‘thank you' from J D Wetherspoon to all our members and prospective members for their support in the past.

The vouchers will be sent to you in the post automatically when you join CAMRA or renew your membership (whether by cash or DD payments) anytime on or before Saturday 31 October 2009. Members will have approximately a year to spend all of their vouchers.

The vouchers are split into 4 sheets of ‘50p off a pint units', with each sheet having a 3 month deadline. Only one 50p off a pint voucher can be used per visit. See Wetherspoon / CAMRA Link
 
 
 

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This page last updated: January 21, 2010

 
 
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