2013 Events
Christmas Party
Another successful Christmas Party was held at the Malt Shovel, Ashby.
This included a buffet, quiz and raffle as to be expected although there appeared to be a new theme
this year of 'accessorising'.
Christmas Pub Crawl of Sheffield
A merry bunch set off for an 'Alternative' pub crawl of Sheffield on foot rather than the branch's usual
usual tour round on the tram.
Pubs included the Sheffield Tap, Rutland Arms, Henrys,
Old House, Devonshire Cat, Hop, Bath Hotel and Red Deer which resulted in a very merry bunch and
a very merry bunch of hat photos.
Beer of the Festival Presentation
Presentation of the beer of the festival award to Batemans Brewery held at Pooleys, Messingham.
There was a chance to try Batemans new range of Boheman Brews, including Hazelnut Brownie
which won the award. Stuart Bateman also gave an interesting talk on brewing.
Congratulations to Batemans on their award, and thanks go to them for their
continued support of the Scunthorpe Beer Festival.
Trip to Axholme Brewing Company Brewery
A group ventured out by train to the the far flung reaches of the Shire to
7 Lakes Country Park, Ealand, near Crowle for a tour of the new home of the
Axholme Brewing company, www.axholmebrewing.co.uk/
possibly the tidiest brewery in the world!
Mike, the brewer, gave a insight into the brewery and brewing process while
members sampled a barrel of stout and one got very excited about an item for her letter to Santa.
The tour and sampling was followed by lunch and more Axholme Beer,
this time Dark Mild at the Lakeside Bar.
Pub of the Season Presentation, The Jolly Miller, Wrawby
Our Autumn Pub of the Season award goes to the The Jolly Miller, Wrawby.
This is a roadside free house and an extensive refurbishment of the premises was completed
in November 2012.
The Jolly Miller offers Batemans Yella Belly Gold as its permanent real ale, plus two
rotating guest beers and recently organised a small beer festival in the covered outdoor area
featuring ten cask beers and some ciders and hope to repeat this again in the not too distant future.
We wish the Jolly Miller continued success in the future, presenting the Pub of the Season award
on Wednesday 23 October.
16th Scunthorpe and District Beer Festival
The 16th Scunthorpe Beer Festival held in the function room of the Bridge Hotel was an outstanding success,
drawing much praise for the new venue and for the range and quality of the beers.
Just under 400 people attended the four day event, voting for Batemans
Hazelnut Brownie, a 6.3% ABV chocolate-flavoured beer from their Bohemian Brews range,
as Beer of the Festival.
We were blessed with good weather throughout, and quite a few people opted for a spot of
al fresco drinking on the attached terrace. Many thanks to all those who came along to visit
the festival, to our generous sponsors and to all the CAMRA staff who worked very long hours
to ensure the festival was a success.
Special praise must go to the Wetherspoon staff who helped to man the bar on Friday and Saturday
evenings, some of whom had put in an earlier shift at the Blue Bell.
We couldn't have done it without you all!
All being well, we'll be back next year, hopefully at the Bridge Hotel again.
After the event we received this e-mail from local branch member Keith Dixon:
"Mark, I would just like to put on record a big thanks to you and the other
branch members for once again organising another excellent festival, beating
last year's success and displaying some fine beers which seem to have appealed to all tastes.
Personally I again enjoyed helping out and I do hope that we will be able to repeat
this year's success in 2014!"
Grafters Brewery Trip
A group of members travelled to Grafters Brewery,
Willingham by Stow, on an extremely pleasant Saturday in September.
The branch previously visited the brewery in 2010 but members were keen to return to see the
expansion of the brewery to a new 10 barrel plant and
the extensive refurbishment to the beer garden, not to mention sampling more of the
excellent ales to be had at the Half Moon.
Details to plan your own trip can be found here.
Pub of the Season Presentation, The Sutton Arms, Scawby
The Sutton Arms, Scawby
This newly refurbished village pub is owned by local businessman
Darren Lince (also owner of the White Swan at Scotter), and run by
Martin Scott, a licensee with 20 years experience, who started working
at the pub in January of this year.
Although set up with the emphasis on food, the Sutton
Arms still has three real ales available. Shortly Theakston Best Bitter
will be the 'house' beer, but the other two beers are guest beers.
We were very pleased to be joined by the brewers from Axholme.
Attractions at the pub are live music every Friday evening and a pub
quiz on Sunday evenings. The Sutton Arms is a very nice pub in which to drink
and eat. It's good to welcome it back to the real ale fold, after
previously giving up on real ale altogether under a previous licensee.
Branch Summer Barbecue
The weather was kind for a second year running for the members' summer barbecue
in Barton.
And brought out the usual suspects:
Plus some shady characters:
The queen graced us with her presence and her entourage:
Whereas some members should have known where to draw the line:
A range of bottled beer was brought be members plus this year's shed bar was serving
two delicious beers: Ealand Elderflower Ale and Black IPA from the
Axholme Brewing Company purchased through
Stables in Barton, strong promoters of locally brewed ales.
We drank the beer dry and a very pleasant afternoon was had all round.
Pub of the Year Presentation, The Royal Oak, Snitterby
CAMRA runs a competition each year to find the national Pub of the Year, which is
selected from pubs nominated by CAMRA branches up and down the country. The
eventual winner attracts a lot of publicity, and so is beneficial to CAMRA
and its support for the public house.
The competition starts with a branch nomination and Scunthorpe & District CAMRA
nominated the Royal Oak at Snitterby as our Pub of the Year for 2013.
See Iron Brew Summer 2013
for more information.
Trent Bank Bike Crawl
A dedicated group of members set off for an enjoyable day's riding, eating and drinking taking in several
villages and pubs along the way.
The tour included Pubs in Messingham, Scotter, Susworth and East Butterwick with the majority making
all the way round without the need to call in the support vehicles although some members might have fared better
had they used a bike.
The weather could have been slightly more pleasant and there was, with hindsight,
far too much leg on show but the rain held off making for an enjoyable day out.
Mild in May
The branch likes to support CAMRA's designated mild month and this year the George Hogg at
Winterton very kindly hosted a 'mild social' evening.
Milds on offer were Axholme Mowbray Mild (4% ABV) and Tom Wood Melton Mild (3.5%) in excellent
condition accompanied by a marvellous buffet making for a hugely enjoyable evening.
Many thanks to Dave and Jacqueline at the George Hogg for their never-failing superb hospitality.
Spring Pub of the Season Presentation
Our Spring Pub of the Season award was presented to the Chancel, Bottesford
followed by the branch AGM.
Easter Saturday Social, Stables, Barton
A group of members met up for the afternoon at Stables in Barton, a former branch pub of the season,
for beer food and a catch-up.The lunchtime menu and beers went down very well.
Stables has 2 rotating guest pumps and, as luck would have it, both of these were
changed in the course of the afternoon allowing for sampling of 4 beers in all:
Axholme Ruby (4.7% ABV), Oldershaw Great Expectations (4.2%), Fugglestow Village Life (4.0%)
and Copper Dragon Silver Myst (4.0%).
You would almost think they had planned it that way!
Winter Pub of the Season Presentation
Our Winter Pub of the Season award was recently presented to the River Don at Eastoft.
This roadside tavern is run by experienced licensees Gordon Crowe and Karen
Burdett, and has a well earned reputation for its real ales and food.
For more information visit the Pub of the Season page.
Huddersfield Pub Crawl
The final Saturday in January saw a stalwart bunch of active members take to the trains
to Huddersfield for the long overdue and rearranged visit to acknowledge the home of
this year's Beer of the Festival, Rattus Rattus, at the Rat and Ratchet.
Whilst we did finally make it to our destination we were waylaid along the way by some of
the other superb establishments Huddersfield had to offer.
These included The Sportsman, where we were entertained by one of our number's talent for origami
as we awaited the arrival of possibly the best brisket sandwiches in the world.
This was followed by a fabulous range of beers at the Grove where our chairman installed himself
on a very fitting throne and we felt might never move again, the selection being that good.
We did eventually make it to the Rat and Ratchet, where albeit far too late for any chance of
sandwiches or a brewery tour, the Rattus Rattus lived up to all expectations and was superb
making the trip wholly worthwhile.
Click here for previous events.
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