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2012 Events
The branch saw an active social programme throughout 2012:
Trip to Acorn Brewery and the Old No.7, Barnsley
A small but cheery crowd set off to find Acorn Brewery
on an Industrial Estate in Wombwell, Barnsley on the first Saturday in December.
We were given a very interesting tour and explanation of the brewing process by the two Daves,
brewery and brewery manager plus sampling of Acorn Blonde.
And one of our youngest recruits learned that a malt shovel was not merely her parents' local!
We then went into Barnsley centre to sample many fine beers on offer in the very welcoming
Old No.7 pub where we were happy to spend the rest of the afternoon
sampling the many lovely beers to be had at their mini beer festival.
Pub of the Season Autumn 2012
The Dog & Gun, East Butterwick
Our Autumn Pub of the Season is the Dog & Gun at East Butterwick. This
riverside pub on the Trent Bank has been gradually refurbished by owners
Dave 'Dixie' Dean and wife Judy, and is now a comfortable, attractive
village pub, although remaining primarily a 'drinker's pub'.
The Dog & Gun is also home to the DarkTribe microbrewery, which Dixie
started at his previous home in Gunness. They brew once a week to supply
the pub, and any excess is sold to other pubs or beer festivals. The
brewery's beers have won many awards over the years, the most recent
being a gold for Sternwheeler (4.3% ABV), in the best bitter category at
Chestefield Beer Festival earlier this year. The beer also went through to
the judging of the CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain competition held at
Olympia in August. We ordered Dixie's Bollards (4.5%), a delicious
ginger-flavoured beer for the 15th Scunthorpe Beer Festival.
We congratulate Dixie and Judy on their award which presented on
the 16th of October.
For more information visit the Pub of the Season page.
15th Scunthorpe and District Beer Festival, 20th - 23rd September
The 15th Scunthorpe and District Beer Festival
organised by Scunthorpe & District CAMRA and held at Campbell's Bar in the centre of town,
was an outstanding success and seemingly enjoyed by all who attended.
There was lots of praise for the range and quality of the beers on offer (see testimonials below),
and five out of six beers on the Yorkshire Brewers' Bar sold out.
Beer of the festival was won by Rat Brewery of Huddersfield with their superb, naturally cloudy wheat beer, Rattus Rattus (4.3% ABV).
Equal second were Magic Rock with Curious (3.9%), a pale, hoppy ale with bags of flavour despite its modest strength,
and Amber Ales Chocolate Orange Stout, a delicious, dark beer with chocolate overtones and a subtle aftertaste of Seville oranges.
The Friday night session was one of the busiest on record, and Saturday afternoon and evening wasn't far behind,
helped by support from members of neighbouring CAMRA branches in Gainsborough, Doncaster, Grimsby and Lincoln,
and not forgetting all the Colchester football fans who visited us before the game.
Remarkable really when you consider that the much bigger York Beer Festival also took place over the same weekend.
Many thanks to all who attended and our generous sponsors - we couldn't have done it without you!
Unfortunately it looks as though we'll need to find a new venue for next year's festival, hopefully in the town centre once again.
The search will start almost immediately, and we're confident we'll be able to bring you the 16th Scunthorpe Beer Festival in 2013. Cheers!
These testimonials were sent to us shortly after the festival:
"Looking forward to a fine Scunthorpe beer festival! It was that and more - really enjoyed it and will keep popping back as long as it's running
? 28 loverly beers and 3 ciders at Scunthorpe Beer Festival, a good way to spend the afternoon.
(Grimsby Lincolnshire CAMRA, Facebook)
"A very good festival. We enjoyed ourselves. Well done Mark & Co."
(Kev Taylor, Gainsborough CAMRA, Facebook)
"Just a quick note to congratulate yourself and the other branch members for an excellent beer festival at the weekend.
Being more involved myself this year made it all the more enjoyable and I look forward to a repeat in 2013!"
(Keith Dixon, Scunthorpe & District CAMRA, by e-mail)
"I would like to thank you and your fellow members of Scunthorpe and District CAMRA for the
excellent time I had at your 15th Beer Festival. The organization seemed very smooth and I
received a good welcome from all members of staff. There was a good range of beers and all I
tried were in tip top condition especially those on the Yorkshire Bar - a pleasing feature.
As CAMRA's Yorkshire Regional Cider Co-ordinator, I considered that the three ciders/perries
were well chosen and hope that they sold well. The food was just what the doctor ordered to
quell my hunger - locally produced pie I understand. There were some great prizes on the
Tombola and I was lucky enough to win a really good book.
Thanks to everyone and I am already looking forward to the next one.
Cheers, David Litten"
Pub of the Season Summer 2012
Take a Gander, Burringham
Our Pub of the Season for Summer 2012 is the Take A Gander at
Burringham. This attractive country-styled pub is located next to the River
Trent, and is renowned for its range of tasty home-cooked meals,
available from Tuesday to Sunday.
Less well known is its commitment to
real ale, with up to three rotating draught beers from the Theakston /
Caledonian stable available at all times.
At the helm since March 2011 is licensee Freddie Webber, pictured below receiving the award.
Members Barbecue
Probably by luck rather than good planning the members' summer barbecue took place on the first dry Saturday of the summer!
Members enjoyed an afternoon of fun, food, frolics and obviously beer with much homebrew provided for sampling and a
bar handily set up in the shed serving Wold Top beers purchased through Stables at Barton.
Sunfest 2012
Despite a dreadful week of weather and flooded train lines a stalwart group of members braved the trip to Sunfest at Sheffield
and were rewarded for their efforts with a good weather, no travel issues, excellent beer and a very enjoyable event.
Stables WOLD TOP Beer Tasting Gourmet Evening
Stable in Barton was fully booked for the evening when they hosted a Wold Top beer and food tasting event.
Brewery owner, Tom, introduced the beer selected for each course with brewing and tasting information then the beer was matched
with excellent food prepared by Stables chef.
The evening was a great success and an event we hope to see repeated. We are also very pleased that Stables acknowledged their recent
Pub of the Season award by commissioning a banner proudly displayed outside to be seen by everyone travelling through Barton's main road.
Banner produced by MD Signs.
Sheffield Pub Crawl
The branch was delighted with the excellent turn-out of members and friends old and new who
took advantage of the excellent pubs in Sheffield accessible by its Supertram system.
Stop-offs included some old favourites such as the Wellington plus some
pubs new to Sheffield itself such as the Hop and Da Da all pictured above.
Barrow Hill Rail Ale Festival
Members travelled to Barrow Hill, Britain's last surviving working Roundhouse for their annual Rail Ale Festival.
The organizers lay on a free bus from Chesterfield station to reach the village where the festival is held in the roundhouse with the bars arranged in
and around the locomotives adding an interesting dimension to the visit.
Train rides up and down the platfrom are also included.
Over 150 ales were available and members had a good time although, by the open nature of the venue and the poor weather it was a very cold day out!
Mild in May
May is CAMRA's designated Mild month
A group of members celebrated this
with a Mild Social evening at the Blue Bell in Scunthorpe.
CAMRA designated April as Community Pubs month.
To support this we held two Saturday pub crawls of community pubs in Barton and Scunthorpe
combining the first one with the Pub of the Season presentation to Stables.
All in all members visited the Volunteer Arms, Old Mill, Wheatsheaf, George Inn, Stables, Chancel,
Malt Shovel, Crown, Harry's Bar, Queen Bess, Clamart, Abacus, and the Blue Bell.
The beers and cider were generally good and one of our branch aims is to support and promote
local pubs, especially those not in the Good Beer Guide due to the entry limit,
producing mini-guides and raising their profile on this branch website.
Doncaster Beer Festival
Branch members attended several sessions of this year's festival taking
advantage of its proximity and supporting one of our neighbouring branches.
Leeds Beer Festival
An overwhelmingly girly group of members made our way to Pudsey Civic Hall where over
150 real ales were on offer, many from within Yorkshire. As opposed to previous
years little had sold out as we arrived just after Saturday opening so a good
selection was to be had. The festival also featured a 'Mild Trail', which pleased
our dark beer loving members. Five halves of mild drunk resulted in the sixth one
being free, with Leeds Brewery Midnight Bell amongst the favourites.
After sufficient sampling we made our
way into the City Centre on a mission to visit the Leeds Brewery Tap, trying some
of their own excellent brews followed by Whitelocks First City Luncheon Bar, a historical gem nestled in an alleyway
off the busy shopping area.
Pub of the Season Winter 2012
The Malt Shovel, Ashby
Our Winter Pub of the Season was awarded to the Malt Shovel,
located in the busy shopping area of central Ashby. At the helm are Simon Hall and Belinda Fisher,
both experienced licensees who have been in post at the Malt since 2006
and this is and the second time they have won in recent years.
National Winter ALes Festival, Manchester
We always enjoy a branch trip to the National Winter Ales as,
amazingly, can be seen on the official website!
(Keep refreshing until you see us in a previous incarnation!)
This year we met friends from other branches on the way there and appreciated
the selection of ales on offer plus the new tablecloths before sampling some of Manchester's fine ale houses.
(Alexander also had a splendid time comparing beers.)
Meet Alexander 'the Beercat'!
Apparently, like him or not, we now have a branch mascot to accompany us on trips and be
photographically reproduced at every opportunity.
He is also claiming the phrase, 'Compare the beercat' as his intellectual property.
Click here for previous events.
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