No. 111 Autumn 2016 PINTS WEST St Austell buys Orchard Inn - Best in the South West Bath Ales Kebab and Calculator transformed Contents Page 16 BADRAG (rare ales group) Ten years of Page 20 Bath & Borders pub news Page 22 Bath Winter Ales Festival Page 41 Beer in Prague Cheddar Ales are celebrating 10 years Page 12 Bristol Pubs Group brewing with a beer festival to be held on the INTS WES brewery site, located at Winchester Farm in Page 46 CAMRA diaries & contacts P T Cheddar (Draycott Road, BS27 3RP). Page 45 CAMRA membership form Cheddar Ales The multi-award-winning magazine of the Bristol & The event is running over a single day Page 44 CAMRA young(ish) members heddar Ales was set up by Jem Ham in 2006 after having brewed for Butcombe Brewery for 15 – Saturday 10th September – and split into District Branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Page 25 Crossword years. He patiently waited until a unit became available in Cheddar and once in, he shipped a two halves, the first a family-friendly session Ale, plus the Bath & Borders Branch 20-barrel brew kit over from Ireland. Brewing began in October 2006, and Cheddar Ales had their from noon to 6pm, the second an adults-only Page 37 Good Beer Guide 2017 C evening session between 7pm and midnight. launch party in November 2006. Just four days later, Jem’s son Oscar was born, five weeks earlier than Brought to you entirely by unpaid volunteers Page 38 Letters expected. As well as a great range of beers, there Page 29 Orchard: cider pub of the year Jem’s early aim was to establish a limited number of beers of recognisable and consistent quality in will be live music both sessions, and food Ten thousand copies of Pints West are distributed free offerings including a cake stall, hog roast to hundreds of pubs in and around the cities of Bristol Page 9 Pub crawl by train local pubs and clubs. His first brew was Gorge Best and Potholer came a close second. These two remain Cheddar Ales’ best-selling labels. For fourteen months these were the only two styles on sale, while and pizza cooked fresh on site. and Bath ... and beyond. Also available on-line at: Page 8 Westbury Park (Kebab & Calculator) Jem developed Totty Pot, then Bitter Bully, Goats Leap and then finallyCrown and Glory. By 2008 his Tickets can be bought online at www. www.bristolcamra.org.uk Page 32 Weston-super-Mare news daughter Olivia was born, and he launched Potholer and Totty Pot in bottle-conditioned packaging. Totty cheddarales.co.uk or at Cobbs of Cheddar Page 47 WHATPUB online pub guide Pot went on to win a Gold Medal at the International Beer Challenge in 2009. or the Wedmore Paper Shop, or on the door Published by the Bristol & District Branch of CAMRA, the Campaign Despite the recession, the company grew, and Richard Norman joined Jem as brewer in 2012 after on the day. Card-carrying CAMRA members for Real Ale, August 2016 © Brewery news: completing his IBD certificate in brewing. He was joined in 2016 by John Mahon, who worked at Sprig get a 20% discount on the door (or ‘payback’ Editor: Steve Plumridge ([email protected]) Page 35 Arbor Ales and Fern in New Zealand then the White Hag Brewery in Ireland. if tickets bought in advance). Design & Layout by: Steve Plumridge Page 19 Ashley Down Cheddar Ales currently has five fermenting vessels, each one capable of holding 21.5 brewery barrels Next edition: end of November 2016 (probably). of beer, or around 6,150 pints, giving a weekly brewing capacity of around 30,000 pints, which may Page 11 Bath Ales / Beerd sound a lot but is certainly ‘micro’ in terms of the brewing industry. Jem says that by hand-crafting such Printed by: Caric Press Limited (www.caricpress.co.uk). Page 5 Bristol Beer Factory relatively small volumes, Cheddar Ales can ensure that character, consistency and quality lie at the heart of Spread the word: any article in this publication may be reproduced Page 4 Butcombe all their beers. provided the source (‘Pints West’) and the contributor’s name, where In the last two years, as the core range has grown in reputation, Cheddar Ales has introduced more Page 3 Cheddar Ales applicable, is stated. (No using logos or artwork without permission.) seasonal brew styles. Both Firewitch and Hardrock were launched last year to a receptive trade. Firewitch Subscriptions: to be put on a mailing list to receive Pints Wests (for UK Page 42 Chew Valley was named in the top three UK saisons by beer writers Boak and Baily, addresses) send ten standard (not large) 1st class stamps to the editor. Page 7 Dawkins Ales and Hardrock won high accolades in the packaged beer and pale ale CAMRA Good Beer Guide: suggestions for future entries, and Page 25 Electric Bear categories in Tuckers Maltings annual SIBA SW beer festival. comments on existing ones, can be made to our GBG co-ordinator, This year Cheddar Ales will produce no less than five seasonal Page 43 Exmoor Martin Gray: [email protected]. styles. Karst, an amber ale, sold out just weeks after its launch in March. If you have any pub updates: please enter them through whatpub.com Page 39 Good Chemistry Bedstraw, a German style Kolsch, was snapped up for the Glastonbury Festival though should be available in Bristol at the Lansdown in or email details to [email protected]. Page 11 GWB Clifton until end of September, and Wild Thing, a West Coast pale ale, Further information on all aspects of CAMRA can be had from Ray Page 23 Kettlesmith (new) is available at the time of writing, but moving fast. A firkin of each has Holmes on 0117 9605357 (home). Page 39 Left Handed Giant been kept aside for the Cheddar Ales Tenth Anniversary Beer Festival, Trading Standards Officers: contact for problems such as consistent Page 40 Lost & Grounded (new) which takes place on Saturday, 10th September. Brimstone 10, a 5.4% short measures, no price lists... red IPA, will launch at the party itself. Later in the year, an oatmeal Page 31 Moor Beer Bristol: 0117 9223444 / S. Glos: 01454 624000 chocolate stout called Velvet Bottom will replace the Festive Totty as Glos: 01452 426201 / N. Somerset: 01934 888802 Page 34 RCH their Christmas beer. B.A.N.E.S: 01225 396755 Page 34 RPM Many pubs sell beers from Cheddar Ales, of course. The Ring Jem Ham, Managing Director Emily Kay Goodman, Marketing or visit www.tradingstandards.gov.uk Page 31 Tiny Rebel of Bells in Wookey, however, is the first pub to feature Cheddar LETTERS: please email correspondence to the editor at: Ales branding on its signs, and it stocks a range of Cheddar beers Page 19 Wiper & True permanently; it is a great place to go and try out a few of the new styles, [email protected] Page 42 Zerodegrees or old favourites. or post it to: Pints West Editor, Steve Plumridge, Garden Flat, 6 Royal York Villas, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4JR. and much, much more... ADVERTISE: to find out about advertising in Pints West, please email: [email protected] CONTACTS: for further contact details and diaries see inside back page. Views expressed in Pints West are those of the individual authors and not necessarily supported by CAMRA. Inclusion of an advertisement does not imply endorsement by CAMRA. Thanks to this issue’s contributors Adrian Tierney-Jones Mike Watters Steve Plumridge Richard Norman, Brewer Catherine Nicholson, Sales Andrew Swift Neil Ravenscroft Tim Webb Bianca Ambrose Niall Hoskin Tony Durbin Dave Graham Nick Jarman Trevor Cromie Denis Rahilly Nigel Morris Vince Murray Eddie Taberner Pete Taberner Emily Goodman Phil Cummings Henry Davies Phill the Pint Ian Beckey Richard Brooks JW Moles-Craft-MoleCatcher.2016.pdf 1 19/07/2016 17:14 Laurie Gibney Robin E Wild Laurie Jackson Roy Sanders BREWING CO. SINCE 1982 Martin Gray Stephen Edmonds C M Y CM Mick Lewis Steve Hunt MY MOLE CY CMY K CATCHER The new-look Cheddar Ales brewery shop, DARK COPPER ALE 5.0% OLD ENGLISH & WITH A SPICY HOP AROMA FULL BODIED & LONG BITTER FINISH decked out by local company With Bear Hands, is: CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain Gold Medal WINNER 2011 “No longer the dumping ground for deliveries and John Mahon, Brewer Simon Baker, Drayman 2 PINTS WEST 25 YEARSeven OLD has a nice comfy seat for weary travellers.” PINTS WEST 3 and looking better than ever News from Butcombe Brewery News from et’s begin with the story some of you may have already have Butcombe also report that it has been a busy summer for them; heard, that the Liberation Group which took over Butcombe have Butcombe beers have been available way beyond just the pubs. They have Lnow recently been acquired by Caledonia Investments. Should we been making appearances at many events including at the Royal Bath & be concerned? It would appear not; we are assured that “no changes are West Show, at the Chalke Valley History Festival, at Grillstock (where the Bristol envisaged and Butcombe Brewery will remain as it always has with the ITV barbecue champion Simon Dyer used Butcombe Bitter to create his same team producing quality ales as normal.” renowned Butcombe Brisket), at the City Beer Festival in London, and at Managing Director’s, Geraint Williams, said: “We have been the Pen & Wig pub in Cardiff in early July where Butcombe took part in brewing some of the best beer in the UK since the 1970s and we have an eight-beer cask takeover which “went down a storm” – and with more built a new team to drive the business forward.