Contents PAGE 4 PAGES 16 & 17 PAGE 30 Welcome & Branch Contacts Beer Instead of Chocolate Festival Focus & Brewery News PAGES 5 & 6 PAGES 19 - 21 The Crafty Pint Then and Now - The Isle Of PAGE 31 Man 1977 - 2017 Pub News PAGE 7 Brilliant Boozer Brings in PAGE 23 PAGES 33 & 34 Bronze Day out in Gdansk The Ten to Target Trip PAGE 8 PAGE 25 PAGE 37 Mel’s Farewell Pub Company Changes Hitchmough’s Lost Pubs PAGE 11 PAGE 26 PAGE 38 Hitchmough's Archives Tribute to Jim Brook Hail to the Ale PAGES 13 & 14 PAGE 29 PAGES 40 & 41 IMBC- Indy Man Beer Branch Diaries Early Doors Conference PAGE 42 Membership 3 Welcome Back A belated Happy New Year to our readers. Here’s Timmins, Regional Director, culminated in the Regional hoping that you had plenty of festive cheer drinking Beer of the Year Award, where Gold was won by the tipple of your choice. And hoping that at least Beowulf Dark Raven, Silver by Salopian Oracle and some of that festive drinking took place in that great Bronze by Fixed Wheel Blackheath Stout. British institution, The Pub. Hopefully you will continue Other awards received by those within our areas were to support the pubs of your choice throughout this as follows. year and for years to come. Since our last edition Dudley Winter Ales Fayre took Fixed Wheel Blackheath Stout place and a big thankyou goes to the staff who gave Gold in the Stout category their time so freely, and to the sponsors, Holden’s, for Fownes’ King Korvak’s Saga making this event a success. Gold in the Porter category £1,500 was raised for charity (Prostate Cancer and Holden’s Black Country Mild Samaritans). Gold in the Mild category The beer of the festival was Kinver Full Centurion. Kinver Half Centurion For more accolades, on Saturday 30th December 2017 Gold in the Strong Bitter category a contingent of members from Dudley & South Staffs Kinver Over the Edge and Stourbridge & Halesowen CAMRA branches Silver in the Barley Wine/Strong Old Ale category made the annual pilgrimage to that classic Victorian Sarah Hughes’ Snowflake institution the Barton’s Arms, Aston, to celebrate Bronze in the Barley Wine/Strong Old Ale category the outcome of a number of competitions where, Kinver Khyber throughout the previous year a selection of beers, Bronze in the Real Ale in a Bottle (light) category ciders and perries had been pitted against each other Kinver Constitutional Club in the hope of winning a West Midlands Regional Winner - Club of the Year award. Magazine of the Year Merit Award - ALES & TALES In addition to those Dudley & South Staffs and ‘liquid’ contests, which Stourbridge & Halesowen CAMRA magazine take place at various Dudley & South Staffs CAMRA beer/cider festivals, Website of the Year - Winner. branch magazines Finally, whilst we are on the subject of achievements, and websites are also the editors of Ales & Tales would like to thank all those judged on their merit who have contributed to the success of the magazine. and winners presented We really appreciate the efforts of the article writers, with awards at this interviewers, photographers, proof readers, and annual event. Scott Povey, Fixed Wheel deliverers - and if you feel the urge to get involved, The awards presented Brewery receives Bronze in the please get in touch. on that auspicious West Midlands Regional Beer of occasion, by Gary the Year Award © 2018 Campaign for Real Ale Ltd. DUDLEY & SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily Ryan Hunt (Chair) Janet Parker (Contact) those of the Campaign for Real Ale Ltd, or the editor. Whilst email [email protected] every effort is made to ensure that the information in this Jacqui Edwards publication is accurate and up to date, no responsibility for email [email protected] errors and omissions can be accepted. ALES & TALES is published by “Stourbridge & Halesowen” and “Dudley & Editor South Staffordshire“ branches of CAMRA - the Campaign for Lizzie Cadwell Real Ale. [email protected] For advertising, please contact Matelot Marketing through Local Consumer Advice in our area, contact: Dudley Trading Neil Richards [email protected] Standards 3 St James’s Road, Dudley, DY1 1HZ Tel: 01384 814677, fax: 01384 814670, [email protected] STOURBRIDGE & HALESOWEN Phil Zjalic [email protected] Tony Morgan [email protected] 4 The Crafty Pint Mat: How did you get started in the trade? Andy: When I met my wife, I changed areas with the brewery from Hereford to the Birmingham area and then we settled here. Unfortunately, my wife’s grandmother passed away and left my wife a little bit of money. We decided to put it to good use and open up a micro pub. Mat: What’s next for The Crafty Pint? Andy: To carry on as we are, as we have just expanded into the premises next door. The expansion gives us a bigger lounge-style The Crafty Pint is a micro pub in the Hasbury seating area, with a charity bookcase in aid of area of Halesowen. It opened in August 2016 the Acorn Children’s Hospice. The expansion and so it’s been open for approximately has also allowed us to add a dedicated food eighteen months. The pub currently has six preparation area and separate ladies toilet hand pumps, delivering a selection of Real Ales, facilities. Hopefully this will help us to expand alongside a Craft ale keg tap, 3 Real Ciders and and draw in some new customers. One of our a craft lager. The bar also offers wines and soft regulars has produced a custom printed window drinks as well as teas, coffees and traditional graphic of my grandad and uncle from back bar snacks; from crisps and nuts to cobs, pork in the day; they were both coopers, making pies and scotch eggs. There is an emphasis on barrels for the H.P. Bulmer cider company. supporting the community and so you will find work by local artists on display (and for sale) Mat: What are your wider aspirations for the on the walls and the pies, cakes, etc. are from business? local producers. The pub is dog-friendly and Andy: Hopefully the business will go up and child-friendly; generally friendly. This interview up; we’ll carry on serving the good ales that we is a conversation between Mat Button, a serve, now that we’ve put on a sixth hand pump Stourbridge & Halesowen branch member and and the Craft ale keg tap, frankly there’s no landlord of The Crafty Pint, Andy Davies. more room left on the bar! Possibly expanding in the future, we might look into opening Name: Andy Davies another micro pub. We’re happy with our Age: 54 current opening hours and our customers and neighbours seem happy with what we do now. Mat: What Hobbies & Interests do you have? Andy: Real Ale; I’m always working in The Crafty Mat: What advice would you give to someone Pint! else who was thinking about opening a micro pub? Mat: What was your background before Andy: There’s lots of different advice I’d offer; opening The Crafty Pint? the main issue is choosing the right location. Andy: My background is in installations of Real We’ve opened up in what is quite a large Ale and other alcoholic products. I worked for residential area, with houses all around; that Whitbread Brewery for twenty-two years and or a busy high street is ideal for a micro pub. prior to that I worked for ten years at Bulmers Where we are allows most of our regulars to Cider. walk, so we don’t encourage drink driving. You also need to listen to your customers and make 5 sure you’re offering the products they want Mat: What other alcoholic drinks do you prefer to drink. When I first opened up, being from if beer isn't available? Hereford originally, I would have brought in a Andy: I’m partial to a nice whisky; a Scottish range of darker or certainly more bitter beers; malt. I quite like Glenlivet Reserve. One of my but having asked potential customers on social customers put me on to that one; as most of my media what they would like to see on the bar, customers tend to put me on the right track! our range is quite different. Judging by what I serve now, which is mostly pale ales with hoppy Mat: Where is your Favourite pub (other than and citrusy flavours, if I hadn’t listened to my The Crafty Pint of course)? customers, then I think by the third night after Andy: The Barrels Pub in Hereford; it’s a Wye we opened then we probably would have been Valley brewery pub. Basically when I was a empty. About four weeks before we opened cellar service engineer, when he first started we asked for preferences on Facebook; it’s back in 1985, I used to look after him. So it’s definitely made a big difference to the success quite a bit of a turn around, because I looked of the business. The difference in what we serve, after his cellar, keeping his ales right and now I to what I had planned has probably changed actually buy from him and serve his ales in my my own taste in beer too. You’ve got to keep micro pub. listening to your customers and I always take on board the recommendations I’m offered.