Pubs of the Year 2016
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Camra 166_Layout 1 29/02/2016 11:15 Page 1 FREE IssueCovering 166 Derby, Ashbourne, Amber Valley, Erewash & MatlockMarch/April Camra Areas 2016 Issue 166 March/April 2016 “Cheers!” DERBY CAMRA PUBS Brunswick Inn OF THE YEAR 2016 Details inside plus National Winter Ales Festival Report… Camra 166_Layout 1 29/02/2016 11:15 Page 2 DERBY CAMRA Pubs of the Year 2016 Buoyant Brunswick Bounces Back The Derby Branch of CAMRA has selected its Pubs of the Year for 2016:- The City Pub of the Year is the Brunswick Inn on Railway Terrace beating finalists the Alexandra Hotel, Furnace Inn, Golden Eagle and Old Bell to the title. The Country Pub of the Year is the Royal Oak in Ockbrook beating finalists the Chip & Pin in Melbourne and the Boot in Repton to the title. And by virtue of having the highest overall mark the Brunswick Inn has also been crowned Derby CAMRA Pub of the Year 2016. n a close fought its ales and the tender Icompetition this year the loving care of the family Brunswick managed to who have run it in all that come out on top of the tree time; Landlady Olive and it marks the first time Wilson, Steve & Jean the pub has won it under Hornbuckle and Sally licensees, Alan Pickersgill & Parrot. Philippe Larroche who took The two winners will be on the running of the pub presented with their just under 2 years ago. awards during the coming Mind you they are no months and Derby Drinker strangers to Derby CAMRA will be there to capture the awards having won the presentations for future Cider Pub of the Year in issues. 2015 and being a finalist in the City Pub of the Year last Of course as the year as well but to be competition was so close named the Branch Pub of this time it would be remiss the Year is the icing on the not to mention the other cake. Credit must be given finalists involved who to them both and their staff pushed the others all the for bringing the ‘Brunny’ way and were all worthy back to the fore and contenders and each will making it such a great real receive a certificate in due ale pub again. And with the course. onsite Brunswick Brewery And the Brunswick will now brewing some fabulous go forward into the value for money Real Ales Derbyshire Pub of the Year it’s nice to see this historic competition were it will pub doing well again. compete with the winners Out in the Country last of other local CAMRA year’s winner, the Royal Oak Branches awards from in Ockbrook has taken the Amber Valley, Ashbourne, title yet again having won it Chesterfield, Erewash on so many previous Valley, High Peak, Matlock occasions. It is simply a & Dales, Mansfield, and great village local right at Sheffield. The winner of the the heart of community life Derbyshire round will be which has been in the announced later in the year Good Beer Guide for 39 after the judging process Alan & Philippe Toast the Award years due to the quality of has taken place. Anna & Ralf toast their Pub of the Year success 2 DerbyDRINKER March/April 2016 Camra 166_Layout 1 29/02/2016 11:15 Page 3 Derby City Charter Beer Festival 2016 The Demise and Rise of Brewing in Derby This year, 2016, marks two significant anniversaries in Derby’s brewing history, one lamentable, the other a cause for celebration. Derby CAMRA is marking both appropriately. Fifty years ago in 1966 Offilers, Derby’s last remaining commercial brewery, closed its gates for the final time. Apart from a few home-brew pubs such as the Exeter and the Seven Stars and the now closed Flamingo and Firkin in Becket Street that was that until.... In 1991 the phoenix began its rise from the ashes when the Brunswick, appropriately, produced First Brew. Trevor Harris and his team carried the re-ignited torch alone until the Falstaff Brewery flickered into life eight years later. Gradually more breweries opened and the embers gradually burst into flame until, at the time of writing, we have 14 breweries within the city. As well as lamenting the demise of Offilers the City Charter Beer Festival (July 6th to 10th) will be celebrating the wonderful and award winning Derby brewers and beers and showcasing the best beers and ciders from elsewhere in Britain and further afield. Come and join us and raise a glass or two to celebrate Derby’s wonderful brewers in the Market Place this July. Paul Whitaker of theCAMRA YearDerby 2016 Pub The Brunswick - 1 Railway Terrace, Derby. DE1 2RU. 3 www.derbycamra.org.uk Camra 166_Layout 1 29/02/2016 11:15 Page 4 Judging the Chesterfi timetable meant another InnSpired walk back to catch the Comet again to Clay Cross. amra members are always willing to give their time in the It must be said that our Cinterests of researching good beer, so the decision between prejudice showed and we Derby and Chesterfield branches to assist in judging each others’ weren’t expecting a lot from Pubs of the Year gave an opportunity to try some pubs outside the normal area. With this in mind, Martyn, Russ, Steve and Mike the next pub. This increased set out towards the north of the county with a list of the finalists. as we walked through the Although the pubs were scattered around the Chesterfield town without any sight of branch area, preliminary research showed, rather optimistically, the Rykneld Turnpyke. that it would be possible to visit them all in a day by public Fortunately some locals transport. Looking forward to the experience, we met at Derby gave us directions and we Bus Station to catch the Comet. found this ex-Working Man’s First stop was the Shoulder of Mutton at Hallfield Gate, near club. Going in, all our Shoulder of Mutton Shirland. A ten minute walk, with Russ showing off his hardly worn, prejudices vanished. This pale grey boots (more details later), from the bus stop took us to was a pleasant, smartly converted pub but what caught our this pub with glorious views over the Amber Valley. First attention was the sight of 12 cask ales on the bar. Six of these were impressions weren’t encouraging as the barman gave us his frank from the in-house Instant Karma brewery, newly restored to views on Camra when we asked for the advertised Camra discount. brewing, and six guests. The beers were all in excellent condition However things improved; three cask ales available with Angelina and very good value with the house beers at £2.50 a pint. The from Coastal being our favourite. The barman also turned out to be welcome was warm, with a visit to look at the brew house and very helpful when asked about displaying NWAF posters – he even being kept up-to-date with the Rams cup-tie. Needless to say, the gave us some Blu-tack so we forgave his earlier comments. planned quick half and move on went by the board as we had to Although the pub was comfortable the tyranny of the bus make sure that all the beers were equally good. General consensus 4 DerbyDRINKER March/April 2016 Camra 166_Layout 1 29/02/2016 11:15 Page 5 erfield Pub of the Year Shoulder of Mutton was that the Instant Karma Chameleon was the pick of the bunch. It was explained that this was originally brewed as a special but was so popular it is now a regular. Plans were modified and we took a taxi to our next stop, the Arkwright Arms at Sutton cum Duckmanton. A completely different style of pub with changing guest beers and a good choice of food. Although food was a possibility we weren’t tempted by the beer to stay and a further taxi was booked to take us to the far side of the branch area to the Gate Inn at Cutthorpe. It was Tramway Tavern probably a good job we’d not eaten as this ride was white-knuckle; high speed through Chesterfield town centre and blind bends on country lanes taken on the wrong side of the road in the dark and approaching so down the road to the last stop, the Chesterfield rain. The Gate is a fine country inn on the moors; very popular in Alehouse micropub. On the way Russ had to pause as the sole of summer. It is fair to say the conditions– dark, cold and pouring one hardly worn boot became detached but he bravely limped on with rain – meant we didn’t see it at its best, but nevertheless the to the pub. Emergency repairs were not possible but time for real fire was very welcome. By this time we were determined to another half before the bus. We’d only just left when Russ’s other finish our task, so another quick half (Black Sheep, Chatsworth Gold boot also decided to part company. The lack of sympathy he’d and London Pride were available) and safer taxi back into received earlier moved on to full-blown taking the mick. We knew Chesterfield for our last two visits. that Russ gave his heart to Camra but now it was his sole(s) as well! Last bus safely caught, we travelled back to Derby only to see The penultimate stop was Brampton Brewery’s tap, the Tramway Gareth doing a similar judging. Tavern. As expected a selection of Brampton beers plus Sambrooks.