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THE CAMRA MAGAZINE FOR READING AND MID BERKSHIRE ISSUE THIRTY SEVEN • SPRING 2016 • FREE - PLEASE TAKE A COPY

IN THIS ISSUEPub & Brewery News Small BeerHistory of Lager in the UKJoin CAMRABehind the Bar… AlehouseBeer Scoring

READING BEER AND CIDER FESTIVAL IS MOVING TOCHRISTCHURCH MEADOWS. READ MORE INSIDE

Contact UsUseful contact details for this magazine, CAMRA and other important things…Mine's a Pint Circulation: 3,000.Outlets: Over 70 across the region.

Editor: Phil Gilleditor@readingcamra.org.uk0771 455 029381 Addison Road, Reading, RG1 8EG

Magazine published on behalf of Readingand Mid Berkshire CAMRA by:

Orchard House Media Ltddaniel.speed@orchardhousemedia.co.uk

For advertising enquiries please contact Jane Michelson:01778 382718jane@orchardhousemedia.co.uk

Reading & Mid Berkshire CAMRAwww.readingcamra.org.uk

Social Secretary: Rich Croton social@readingcamra.org.uk

Contact for all other branch matters:Katrina Fletchercontact@readingcamra.org.uk0779 401 9437

Local Trading StandardsReading Borough Council:www.reading.gov.uk 0118 937 3737

West Berkshire Council:www.westberks.gov.uk 01635 519930

Royal Borough of Windsor &Maidenhead:www.rbwm.gov.uk 01628 683800

Wokingham Borough Council:www.wokingham.gov.uk 0118 974 6400

The next issue of Mine’s a Pint will be published in June. Please feel free to submit copy or ideas by 8 May.

The opinions expressed in Mine’s a Pint arenot necessarily those of the editor or theCampaign for Real Ale. © Campaign forReal Ale 2016.

March

Sun 6: CAMRA v RURAS Pub Games Night. Hop Leaf, 163-165 Southampton Street, Reading, RG1 2QZ. 19.30 start.

Tue 8: Branch meeting. Castle Tap, 120 Castle Street,Reading, RG1 7RJ. CAMRA members only, please.

Sun 20: Ale Trail Walk. Meet 12.00 at Reading Station, northentrance. 5 mile walk visiting several ale trail pubs inCaversham and Reading and finishing about 17.30. ContactChris Hinton on ck.hinton@virgin.net / 0118 987 3203. Moredetails in the Small Beer section of this magazine.

April

Fri 1: Southall Curry Night. Meet 19.30 onwards for drinks atthe Conservative Club, High Street, Southall, UB1 3HB, thenNagina Karahi restaurant at 20.45. Contact John Robinson onjohn.robinson@hotmail.co.uk / 0118 940 2787 / 0790 4343187.

Thu 7: First Thursday of the Month Social (quiz night). Foxand Hounds, 51 Gosbrook Road, Caversham, RG4 8BN.

Sun 10: End of the Ale Trail. All entries to be received by midnight. See website for participating pubs.

Thu 14: Branch meeting. Foresters Arms, 79-81 BrunswickStreet, Reading, RG1 6NY. CAMRA members only, please.

READING BEER AND CIDER FESTIVALThu 28 April – Sun 1 May. NEW LOCATION atChristchurch Meadows, Caversham. See www.readingbeerfes-tival.org.uk for more details including how to buy tickets.

May

There will be no First Thursday social in May because of theproximity to the beer festival.Mon 16: Branch meeting. Volunteer, Church Street, Theale,RG7 5BX. CAMRA members only, please.

See www.readingcamra.org.uk for details of these events asthey come available.

For details of an event with no contact listed, to suggest anevent or to receive regular e-mail updates of the branch diary,contact Rich Croton: social@readingcamra.org.uk

Branch DiaryAll events start at 20.00 and are open to everybody unless specified.

There’s been a lot to celebrate lately in theworld of real ale.

For BreweriesTwo new breweries have started up sinceour last issue – Bond Brews and ElusiveBrewing – and you can read more aboutthem in this magazine.

… Pubs …More local pubs continue to be registered asAssets of Community Value, including ourcover star last time, the Nags Head.

… and FestivalsReading Beer and Cider Festival is on themove! A licence has now been granted forthe brand new venue at ChristchurchMeadows in Caversham – not far from theold site – which means that planning is nowwell under way for this year's event.

It's not all good news of course. Pubs con-tinue to close at an alarming rate – the latestfigures published by CAMRA, compiled byindependent research company CGAStrategy, show that 27 pubs a week closedin the second half of 2015. Although slightlydown on the previous figure of 29 a week inthe previous six months, that's still far toomany and each of those pub closures leavesa community much poorer.

If you’d like to help our pubs survive, there areseveral things you can do. Here are just a few.

• Join CAMRA. Every new member addsextra weight to our campaigns. There's ahandy form in this magazine that you canuse, or go online to www.camra.org.uk/join

• Tell us your news. Whether it's newsabout a pub under threat, a change of landlord, a new pub menu or a change inthe beer range, we want to know.Particularly if a pub is about to close, there’s

nothing we can do if we don’t know about ituntil it’s happened.

• Send us your beer scores. Entries for theGood Beer Guide and shortlisting for Pub ofthe Year all rely on information about beerquality in pubs and, the more people thatsend in beer scores, the more reliable thatinformation gets. If you haven't tried beerscoring before there's a handy article in thismagazine to guide you through it.

• Visit your local pub. This is the single easiest and most important thing you cando. Pubs are nothing without their commu-nities, and communities are nothing withouttheir pubs. If we don't want our local tobecome one of those 27 that close everyweek, then we all need to go in and putsome money across the bar. It’s not difficultand you get some lovely beer in return!

So, support your local pub and remember toget your tickets for the Reading Beer andCider Festival. Cheers!

Phil Gill - Editoreditor@readingcamra.org.uk

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From the Editor

ContentsBranch Diary 3

From the Editor 4

Pub & Brewery News 5-11

Small Beer 12-17

Reading Beer Festival 2016 18-19

Behind the Bar 20-21

The Early History of Lager 22-24

The Village Festival 2016 26

Beer Scoring 28-29

Join CAMRA 30

BEENHAMStarting with news from a little outside ourarea, but worth reporting – the WINNINGHAND on Bath Road has closed. The staffhave relocated to Pincents Manor Hotel inCalcot.

BURGHFIELDAn appeal against refusal of planning permission for residential conversion of theBANTAM on Omers Rise was held inJanuary, with the result unknown as wewent to press. A decision on an applicationto register the pub as an Asset ofCommunity Value was also outstanding.

CAVERSHAMSeveral local pubs have been embracing theAle Trail and the FOX AND HOUNDS inGosbrook Road is worth a particular note.The “60 / 60” sees the pub showcasing 60brand new beers in 60 days during the trail,made up of a mix of local brews and thosefrom further afield. Also at weekends thereare special food and beer offers for aletraillers. On Saturdays a burger meal and apint is £9, while on Sundays the famoushome-made roast with a pint is £11 (bothare only served during the afternoon). Put

another way, your pint of real ale or realcider is just £1 when you come in for yourale trail sticker and order food. During theweek the food is rolls, available daytime.

Up the road at the top of Prospect Street,the PRINCE OF WALES has brought in arange of bottled beers to complement thecask ales from the Marstons list.

EARLEYCask ales are only £2.50 a pint all dayTuesday at the SEVEN RED ROSES. Thispub in Maiden Place has a quiz on Mondaynights and a range of different eventsthroughout the year, which have includedlive music, discos, fund-raisers and gamesnights. Children are welcome until 8pm ifdining.

Sadly it definitely seems like last orders forthe MAIDEN OVER on Silverdale Road. A well-supported community group havewaged a hard-fought campaign ever sinceEnterprise Inns closed the pub and granted alease to Tesco. However, it looks as thoughthe supermarket company now have all thepermissions that they need to turn this pop-

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Pub & Brewery News

CONTINUED OVERLEAF

The Bantam in happier times before closure

Seven Red Roses

ular community pub into a conveniencestore. Wokingham Borough Council certain-ly didn’t help their residents by refusing anapplication to register the pub as an Asset ofCommunity Value.

EMMER GREENLocated on Surley Row, just off the 24 busroute, the GARDENERS ARMS has one ofthe few remaining skittle alleys in the area.It's in a separate function room with a bar,that's available for hire. Two Greene Kingales are usually on offer in the pub itself.

HURSTGreene King have been advertising the ten-ancy of the JOLLY FARMER on DavisStreet. Their website describes it as “a largerural destination site” with “ample room forthe outside bar, BBQ and aunt sally pitch”and says that “this site has great opportuni-ty for a proven food operator.”

PLAYHATCHThe FLOWING SPRING on Henley Roadhas been named as one of the Top 10 vegan-friendly pubs in the UK. The award fromPETA (People for the Ethical Treatment ofAnimals) reflects the wide variety and goodquality of vegan-friendly food on the menu.Licensees Nick and Hazel say that it cameout of the blue: “Over the past five yearswe’ve been expanding our selection of food

offerings for vegetarians, vegans and thosewith intolerances to gluten and dairy. But wewere unaware that this major internationalorganisation had heard about our efforts. It’sgreat to be recognised in this way.”

Other news is the launch of a classic car andbike meet on the second Sunday of everymonth. Starting in April (Sunday 10th) thepub garden and car park will be opened upto enthusiasts from 9.30 – 11.30am to dis-play their prized possessions. Entry is freeand there will be bacon rolls, hot dogs,soup, chips, tea and coffee to enjoy whilstadmiring both two and four wheeled won-ders. The meets will continue through untilthe autumn.

READINGHappening just after we went to print, theCASTLE TAP on Castle Street will by nowhave held its first anniversary beer festival.On the same theme, the ALEHOUSE inBroad Street recently held its own winterbeer festival with nine casks. The bar staffweren’t always this coordinated …

Not content with 12 real ales and even morereal ciders, the NAGS HEAD on RussellStreet has added a craft beer wall. Eightcraft beers feature, some real (key keg) andothers not, but all interesting choices andserved in good condition.

PUB & BREWERY NEWS CONTINUED

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Jolly Farmer, Hurst

Carl and Tim at the Alehouse beer festival.Picture by Sarah Hussey.

The new Hungry Horse pub on BasingstokeRoad is being called the TROOPERPOTTS. Named after war hero andReading's only holder of the Victoria Cross,Lance Corporal Frederick Owen Potts, thepub was named following a competition latelast year and should be open soon.

Trooper Potts seems to have seen a resur-gence of interest 63 years after his death. A year or two back he was virtuallyunknown in his home town; now he has aroad named after him, a statue by ForburyGardens and now a pub bears his name too.After being hit by machine gun fire at theBattle of Scimitar Hill in 1915, Potts managedto drag a severely wounded colleague on ashovel for 48 hours, while under fire, untilthey reached safety. He was awarded the VCin October 1915 for outstanding bravery.

The ROYAL on Oxford Road is closed andhas been boarded up. The previous “to let”sign from Admiral Taverns has gone too, sothe future is uncertain for this pub.

MIX cocktail bar in Kings Walk has alsoclosed. While this was never a real ale outletit's always sad to see an independent barclose down. The closure was attributed to adispute with the landlord, which seems tohave been a common theme amongst busi-nesses in the arcade over the last fewmonths.

The HOP LEAFon SouthamptonStreet celebrated 21years as a HopBack pub inFebruary byholding a partyand a beer festi-

val. The ale is always keenlypriced and it's one of the few places in townwhere you can play bar billiards, so wellworth a visit.

In St John’s Street, the RETREAT hosted itsrenowned annual Pickled OnionCompetition in February. Jazz on the lastSunday of the month is popular (SimonPrice 15.30 – 17.00) and look out for theVillage Festival over the Easter weekend inconjunction with the LYNDHURST andELDON ARMS – more details elsewhere inthis issue.

WILD LIME on Friar Street has reopenedafter a three day refit and real ale is back inthe form of Doom Bar.

Regular monthly Tap Takeovers at theGREYFRIAR on Greyfriars Road / TudorRoad have included the excellent VibrantForest brewery from Lymington, Hants.

SHINFIELDAt the BELL AND BOTTLE on SchoolGreen, new licensees Mark and ChrissieEast are settling in. Food is served every dayand, on our visit, the regular ale Plain SheepDip was on top form. The pub is fully acces-sible including a disabled toilet, and theno.3 “Leopard” bus stops nearby.

THEALEThe RED LION on Church Street, closedand the subject of numerous failed planningapplications for residential conversion, isreported as being for sale as a pub.

Just down the road, the VOLUNTEER isvery much open and offering a choice ofFullers beers along with food, and an attrac-tive garden for when the weather getswarmer. Dogs are welcome and can even getfree dog biscuits at the bar.

WARREN ROWThe SNOOTY FOX is reported as closed.Formerly a Brakspear pub, it was the subjectof an unsuccessful application for change ofuse to residential recently.

PUB & BREWERY NEWS CONTINUED

CONTINUED OVERLEAF

Mine’s a Pint7

Mine’s a Pint8

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WOODLEYThe INN ON THE PARK, part of thesports centre, remains closed and the furni-ture and some fittings have been removed. It looks unlikely to reopen as a pub.

Brewery News

NEW BREWERY – BOND BREWSDean Bond has taken hismany years of home-brewing experience and,with the backing of aBrewlab course, set up acommercial brewery.Based in Wokingham,Bond Brews started offat the turn of the year

with an initial range of three ales:• Best of British – a 4% copper-coloured best bitter• Goldi-Hops – a 3.9% pale ale with ahint of citrus• Railway Porter – a 4.5% brown porterusing five varieties of malt and wheat

It's a six barrel plant and, if you were pay-ing attention to the last issue of Mine's aPint, you'll know that means it can produceup to 24 regular sized casks at a time. Or, inother words, 1,728 pints in each brew. Bestof British and Railway Porter were two ofthe first beers on offer in Reading pubs, andthey were very well received. We understandthat the beers are to be brewed on a weeklybasis in both cask and bottle conditionedform, as the market requires. Find out moreat www.bondbrews.co.uk

ANOTHER NEW BREWERY – ELUSIVE BREWINGHot on the heels of Bond Brews, and justdown the road in Finchampstead, ElusiveBrewing has been set up by Andy Parker.Brewing was expected to commence as we

went to press so we haven't had a chance tosample the beers yet, but we understand thatthe first three to go into production wereplanned to be:• Cherrywood Road – a 3.8% subtlysmoked mild• D&V – a 5% English pale ale with a hintof apricot in the finish• Level Up – a 5.8% American red alebrewed with Mosaic and Equinox hops

This is a five barrel plant (1,440 pints) andas the brewery gets going you should beable to find out more information atwww.elusivebrewing.com

ASCOT ALESThe next in the popular series ofSingle Hop IPA (4.6% ABV)will be Admiral. It's a UK vari-ety that has excellent flavournotes which are orangey, citrusand herbal.

BINGHAMSThe next two specials willbe Bricks and Mortarporter and Total EclipseBlack IPA. The ever popu-lar single hop Craft Hopseries continues with UShop Bravo for a fruityhop character with hints of plumand pine.

HOP KINGIt was announced in January that, owing toconstraints on time and finance, the breweryis to be “put on hiatus for the time being”.This is sad news as things just seemed to begetting going but we hope that the brewerywill be resurrected in the future.

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PUB & BREWERY NEWS CONTINUED

CONTINUED OVERLEAF

LODDONIf you happen to catch anold re-run of MidsomerMurders called “The Nightof the Stag” (series 14,episode 6) you might won-der where the featuredMidsomer Abbas cidermaker is. It's actuallyLoddon Brewery in dis-guise and the filming tookplace over several days in2011. Now you can markthe event with a specialbeer. The golden beerNight of the Stag is 4.4% ABV and is avail-able in bottles from the brewery shop.

There you should also find some of the lastremaining bottles of 300, the 10% oak-agedbarley wine that was brewed to celebrate thebrewery’s 10th anniversary. It comes in anindividually numbered 78 cl bottle in a specialpresentation tube – great for a special gift.

SHERFIELD VILLAGE The latest collaboration between RURASand Sherfield Village Brewery is MidnightOil – as might be expected, a stout. It's 5%and described as very malty with tones ofchocolate. The collaboration brews are aregular event and it's great to see a hands-on student society whose alumni are alreadyactive in local pubs, breweries, beer festivalsand CAMRA.

SIREN CRAFTFollowing last year's series of beersunder the “Dinner for ...” name, thisyear's theme is “Proteus”. The idea isthat there will be four different“Volumes” of the beer brewed, each with adifferent selection of three hops. However,there will also be three brews of eachVolume, where the chosen hops will be usedin different ways to achieve variations of thesame beer. At the end of each Volume thenthe optimum way of combining the hops

will be used to brew an IPA.

What's planned is, in the brewery'swords, “a slightly darker than aver-age pale ale, light in ABV (4%),clean and crisp but with a goodbody, not too thin which will carryover and balance out the hops withsome sweetness in the backbone.”The beers will only be released incask and keg.

New beers and expansion of thebrewery in Finchampstead haveunfortunately meant that the tap

room has been closed. The space is beingused for eight new fermenters, each of 60hectolitre capacity. The brewery shop willremain open (although initially not onSaturdays) for the sale of bottles, merchan-dise and glassware, but not draught beer.

WEST BERKSHIREBuilding on the success of the matchday barat the Madejski Stadium, the brewery is tobrew a special ale for Reading FC. Abespoke pale ale is to be created for the cluband team sponsor Waitrose have agreed, inprinciple, to stock it in their local storesfrom early this year. A competition was heldto name the new ale and, while we don't yetknow the winning name, we're keen to trythe beer.

The brewery has also launcheda reward programme for pub-licans. The “Good OldReward Scheme” offers pub-licans benefits and ongoingrewards for stocking and

selling Good Old Boy. Thescheme is free to join and publi-

cans can earn points towards a widenumber of gifts such as business orientatedPoint of Sale and glassware, and otherswhich are personal rewards. Each firkin ofGood Old Boy delivered has a sticker whichis removed and saved by the publican. Each

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BREWERY NEWS CONTINUED

Night of the StagPhoto by Loddon Brewery

sticker equates to one point and the points canbe exchanged for anything from bar runners topolo shirts and other branded merchandise.

XTThe new annual special isXT-16 – a 6% BelgianStyle IPA – quadruplehopped with some ofEurope’s finest greenery.It's described as “Belgianspeciality malts and aEuropean Union of hopsall presided over by aBrussels Abbey Ale Yeast. Plus the XTBrewery is built on the site of an AugustinianAbbey.” Also, the National Trust estate atWaddesdon Manor have commissioned arather unique beer from XT – a Quince Ale.The Quince is all grown on the estate and XTworked with them to create a very specialbottled beer. The new 4.2% Quince Ale willbe available exclusively in bottle fromWaddesdon Manor from the spring.

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BREWERY NEWS CONTINUED

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Small BeerASSETS OF COMMUNITY VALUEGreat news in local pub campaigning earlythis year. Firstly in January our nominationof the Butchers Arms in Tilehurst as anACV was successful. Then as we were putting together this issue of Mine's a Pint,the wonderful news came through thatReading’s Nags Head had also been grantedACV status, becoming the tenth pub in ourbranch area to do so. Massive thanks toeverybody that helped make the case for thepub: The Nags Head Cavalry, Dale Ingramat Planning For Pubs, the local ward coun-cillors, CAMRA members and pub regularswho all supported the campaign. Now hap-pily free of permitted development rights for

change of use or demolition, the future ofboth the Butchers and the Nags is moresecure.

Sadly the same is not true of the Horns atCrazies Hill. There the local parish councilapplied to register the pub as an ACV butWokingham Borough Council rejected thenomination. Wokingham don't seem to havea good record in that department.

One of our CAMRA branch objectives thisyear is to nominate a certain number ofpubs as ACVs and we're putting togetherplans to achieve that, so hopefully there willbe more good news in the next issue.

PUBS MAKE YOU HAPPYA study for CAMRApublished in early2016 has shown thatpeople who go to thepub tend to be happierthan those that don’t.

In his study “Friendson Tap: The Role ofPubs at the Heart ofthe Community”,Professor Robin

Dunbar of the Department of ExperimentalPsychology at Oxford University concludedthat the pub offers an enriching environ-ment where we have the opportunity tomeet a greater diversity of people from allwalks of life than we might otherwise beable to do. His study found that people whohave a “local” or those who patronise smallcommunity pubs have more close friends onwhom they can depend for support, are moresatisfied with their lives and feel more embed-ded in their local communities than thosewho said they did not have a local pub.

Professor Dunbar concluded that “Directlyor indirectly (by allowing us to meet face toface), modest alcohol consumption alsoenables us to build friendships and create asense of community, and there is consider-able evidence that social network size andquality has dramatic effects on health, wellbeing, happiness and even survival.”

He recommended that:• Publicans and pub owners work closelywith their community to develop a localcommunity atmosphere;• City planners and developers make greaterefforts to ensure that communities havelocal pubs readily available to them;• Government policy on beer tax and busi-ness rate relief should consider the positiveimpacts which community pubs have onhealth and wellbeing;• If we can persuade people to get off theirsmart phones and get down to the pub totalk to each other, it is likely to have dra-matic effects on health and wellbeing, aswell as community cohesion.The full report is available on the CAMRAwebsite www.camra.org.uk

LOCALE UPDATEThere’s a lot to catch up with on the LocAlefront, with new local breweries starting upregularly and a great choice of local ales inour pubs. Unfortunately as there’s a lotgoing on this time we can’t publish a full listof LocAle pubs and breweries, but we hopeto do so in the next issue.

PUB OF THE YEARJudging for the 2016 Branch Pub of theYear award was taking place duringFebruary and March, and the winner shouldbe announced soon. Pubs on the shortlist, inalphabetical order, were:• Alehouse, Reading• Bell, Waltham St Lawrence• Castle Tap, Reading• Fox and Hounds, Caversham• Greyfriar, Reading• Nags Head, Reading

...any of which are well worth a visit!

GREAT BRITISH BEER FESTIVALThe Great British Beer Festival is organisedby CAMRA and offers visitors over 900 realales, ciders, perries and international beersas well as fantastic entertainment, food,seating areas, and traditional pub games toenjoy. It's all held under one roof in theheart of London, at Olympia, and is a greatday out that's easily accessible fromReading. A range of ticket options is nowavailable at gbbf.org.uk including VIP andseason tickets, so make sure and get yoursearly for this popular event. See the advertin this magazine for more details.

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SMALL BEER

Fancy the chance to take a walk around theheart of Reading and Caversham while visiting some Ale Trail pubs along the way?To mark this year's trail, Chris Hinton hasorganised a walk for Sunday 20 March thatexplores the two town centres as well as fol-lowing stretches of the Thames and theKennet.

Start: North exit of Reading Station at 12:00

Finish: Alehouse approx. 17:30

Distance: 5 Miles

Paths: Pavements, riverside and canal tow-path (all tarmac).

Ale Trail Pubs: Fox & Hounds, Crown onthe Bridge, Fishermans Cottage, Eldon Arms,Retreat and Alehouse.

Places of Interest: New Thames Bridge, newbeer festival site, Caversham weir and lock,old beer festival site, Horseshoe Bridge,Blakes Lock, Chestnut Walk, Reading Gaol,Forbury Gardens.

Contact details: ck.hinton@virgin.net / 0118987 3203

ALE TRAIL WALK

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DRINK / DRIVE LIMITSIn December 2014 the Scottish governmentreduced the alcohol limit for drivers from 80to 50 milligrams of alcohol in every 100millilitres of blood. Evidence suggests anincreased pressure on licensed premises inrural areas owing to a reduction in trade inthe last year.

The limit in England and Wales remains at80 mg per 100 ml. Although there havebeen calls for it to be lowered, theDepartment for Transport confirmed inFebruary that there are no plans to lowerthe England and Wales limit to bring it intoline with Scotland.

CAMRA supports responsible drinking andits position on drink drive limits is this:“CAMRA strongly recommends that peopledo not drink and drive. We would howeverurge the Government to consider carefully thelikely impact of changing the current legal

limit in England and Wales, which have seen asteady reduction in the number of drink-driverelated incidents over the last decade.”

“We would expect the Government to con-sider the impact that lowering the limit hashad on the licensed trade in Scotland, and toreflect upon that experience when consider-ing whether to apply it elsewhere. With thechange in Scotland having affected the busi-ness of hundreds of rural pubs we'd expectthe Government to present robust evidencedemonstrating the benefits of any proposedchange in other parts of the UK - where adop-tion of the lower limit is likely to affect thecommercial viability of thousands of pubs.”

“Finally, we'd urge everyone to continue tosupport pubs, especially those situated inremote and rural areas. By using publictransport or designated drivers, it's still pos-sible to have a great time, support theBritish pub trade and stay safe.”

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SMALL BEER - CONTINUED

Late last year Canadian brewery Storm Brewing from Vancouverunveiled a limited edition beer that was sold for $1,000 a bottle.“Glacial Mammoth Extinction” was a hefty 25% ABV anddescribed as a “rich, complex, and viscous 100 percent malt bever-age” that bears more resemblance and taste to a port than a beer.

James Walton from Storm said that he started with the brewery'sImperial Flanders Sour Ale, then exposed it to temperatures of -30degrees Celsius over a month. This froze the water out of the beer,leaving “sugars, flavors and alcohol”, which was then aged inFrench oak barrels for two years.

To promote the beer's release, Storm made just ten limited edition bottles, hand crafted byBrad Turner, a glass blower from Terminal City Glass Co-op in East Vancouver. In additionto being handmade, each bottle featured a one-of-a-kind prehistoric mammoth ivory and 14carat gold pendant made by local sculptor Richard Marcus. The ivory used for the pendantswas from a real mammoth tusk estimated to be 35,000 years old.

Unfortunately if you feel like splashing out, you’re just too late. The bottles sold out withinweeks and all the draught beer is now gone too.

$1,000 THE BOTTLE OF BEER

Above: James Waltonwith his $1,000 beer. Photo from StormBrewing's Facebookpage

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2 Broad Street Reading, RG1 2BH

01189 508119thealehousereading.co.ukenquiries@thealehousereading.co.uk

A Community pub in theheart of Reading

Follow us on twitter @AlehouseReading

3 West Berkshire Ales6 Guest Ales

German & Belgian BeersReal Cider, Perry and Mead

Local CAMRA Pub of theYear 2014 Runner Up

Local CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year 2013 & 2014

Pub quiz first Monday of the month

e e

Call: 01628 826622 / 2781 Email: info@birdinhand.co.uk Visit: www.birdinhand.co.uk

The Bird in Hand, Bath Road,Knowl Hill, Twyford,

Berks RG10 9UP

A charming 14th Century Country Inn betweenMaidenhead and Reading. The Inn serves a host

of regularly changing Real Ales.

The beautifully refurbished Restaurant overlooksthe garden and the Inglenook fire provides a

warm and cosy setting.

The Inn has 22 en-suite bedrooms - standard,superior and suites. One room is adapted forthe disabled. Free wifi available throughout.

Quiz Nights20th March, 10th April, 1st May, 22nd May

and 12th JuneFree entry. Winning team get a

round of drinks.

Mine’s a Pint17

CAMRAMEMBERS'WEEKENDThere’s still just timeto register for theCAMRA AGM andMembers’ Weekend tobe held in Liverpoolon 1-3 April. Online

registration at camraagm.org.uk/registercloses on 11 March.

The weekend is where our members discussour future policy and direction. It offers theopportunity to socialise with friends, visitrecommended pubs and go on organisedtrips. Elections for the National Executive –CAMRA’s board of directors – will also beheld. It’s open to all CAMRA members andwill be held at the Liverpool Guild ofStudents.

Over 1,000 people usually attend theMembers’ Weekend so, if you'd like to be apart of this important and fun event, registertoday!

BRACKNELLALE AND WINEFESTIVALIt's not only theReading BeerFestival that's relocating this year– the Bracknell Ale and Wine Festival ismoving to a new venue within the groundsof Lily Hill park at Bracknell Rugby Club.The event will take place on Sunday 29thMay – the bank holiday weekend – and runfrom noon until the late evening. Over 30real ales, wine and cider as well as goodfood and some great live music are prom-ised.

Best of all, if you’re a CAMRA member or a member or season ticket holder of anyBracknell sports club (Bracknell Rugby

Club, Bracknell Football Club, BracknellBees Ice Hockey Club or any Bracknellbased sports club with a membership sys-tem) you can get in for free. It's best to visitthe ticket website to download your freeticket in advance. See www.bracknellalefesti-val.co.uk for more details.

BRITISH PUB CONFEDERATIONA new body has been launched with the aimof becoming the voice of pubs and publi-cans. Building on the success of the FairDeal For You Local coalition, the BritishPub Confederation wants to ensure that thevoice of pubs, publicans and pub campaign-ers will always be heard, whether on theissue of the Market-Rent Only option orany other issue that matters to those groups.Thirteen organisations are members so far,and the Confederation aims to provide acounterpoint to the lobbying of big businessinterests.

Greg Mulholland, Chair of theConfederation, was quoted in ThePublican’s Morning Advertiser as saying,“The challenges facing pubs and publicans

may be significant – but the success ofthe Fair Deal For Your Local campaignhas shown what can be achieved. Wenow need similar success on meaningfulprotection for pubs and on pro-pub tax-ation and we will be a leading voice onboth. Until we see an end to the closure

of viable pubs, an end to exploitation ofpublicans, an end to predatory purchasingof pubs, and end to excessive business rateson pubs and an end to pocket money pricesin supermarkets and until we see a more sta-ble, more diverse, more prosperous pub sec-tor we will work, with others, to get posi-tive change to benefit pubs and publicans.”

SMALL BEER - CONTINUED

For the first time in a couple of decadesReading and Mid-Berks Beer and CiderFestival has a new home. Due to the rede-velopment of the Lido building, adjacent toour old Kings Meadow site, we have relo-cated. Our new home is on ChristchurchMeadows. It's just a stones throw from theold site on the opposite side of the Thames,so it's pretty easy to find, with easy accessfrom Reading Bridge. The council have eventhoughtfully provided a new pedestrian andcycle bridge over the Thames which makesaccess to the Festival even easier from thetrain station (although I don't think theyactually built it for us!). For those of youusing the mapping directions on a smart-phone the magic numbers are RG4 8DH.

The format will be unchanged from previ-ous years with a huge range of Real Ales(over 550), Ciders and Perry (120+), a large

selection of Foreign Bottled Beers, Englishwhite and fizzy Wines, Mead and BritishCountry Wines. All served from the longestbar in the county (and possibly the country).There will be traditional pub games; tombo-la; live music Friday and Saturday; and children's entertainments and MorrisDancers on the Sunday. I've asked the site

Mine’s a Pint18

ReadingBeer Festivalis Moving!Thursday 28th April to Sunday 1st May 2016

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2016

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team to order in a delivery of lovely sunnyweather but have been told there are noguarantees on that one. But should deliverygo as planned you can enjoy the sunshine inour massive Beer Garden.

The Beer Festival is run entirely by unpaidvolunteers, it's a great deal of fun, and ifyou are a CAMRA member and fancy pop-ping along to help out (and get free entry!)volunteering forms are available on the web-site: www.readingbeerfestival.org.uk

Once again the Saturday will be split intotwo sessions with opening times as follows:

THURSDAY 28TH APRIL 16:30 to 23:00

FRIDAY 29TH APRIL 11:00 to 23:00

SATURDAY 30TH APRIL (AFTERNOON) 11:00 to 16:30

SATURDAY 30TH APRIL (EVENING)18:00 to 23:00

SUNDAY 1ST MAY12:00 to 19:30

Tickets should be available soon (and proba-bly are available now by the time you readthis) from our website. For prices, details ofthe ticket packages and any other informa-tion please check the website.

I look forward to having a pint (or maybetwo) with you all at the new venue.

Cheers!

Dave ScottFestival Organiser

READING BEER FESTIVAL 2016

The Bull Hotel High Street,Wargrave RG10 8DDTEL 01189 403120 email:worrall.jayne@gmail.com

A PROPER PUB with bags of character,charm, beams galore and a crackling

log fire in our fabulous Inglenook fireplace.

FINE WINES • GREAT ALES (Cask Marque accredited)

TOP QUALITY HOME MADE FOOD

Fish, Chips and Fizz on a Friday night at £25 per couple

Jayne's Sunday Roast is a firm favourite- booking highly recommended

5 en suite bedroomsPlease contact Jayne and her staff for more details

We have a delightful secluded walled garden which will be open from Easter

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Behind the BarThis is the part of Mine's a Pint where wehand over to a local landlord to tell usabout their pub. This time Carl Mellorsbrings us up to date with the Alehouse onReading's Broad Street.

If you've not been paying attention, you mayhave missed it, but there has been a changeof management at The Alehouse. It has notbeen obvious, because I became assistantmanager back in 2010 under Katrina’s lead-ership, then continued in this role duringMick’s tenure. I took over in charge at thebeginning of October last, and so far thechanges have been subtle – but what of thefuture?

The first few months were basically gettingsettled in and dealing with the very busyChristmas period. So apart from the newbeer fridge, which has allowed me to expandthe bottled beer range and introduce achanging menu of mostly imported bottledbeers, not much has changed so far.

What I intend to do can be pretty muchsummed-up as “consolidate and tweak”. My view is that the pub has an enviable repu-tation among lovers of real ale, and my job isto both preserve and build on that. With expe-rience in the trade spread over 30 years and16 years involvement in a number of CAMRAbeer festivals, including Cambridge, the Great

British Beer Festival and our own event inReading, I feel I should be able to do so.

There's a lot that’s right with The Alehousebut I would like to improve some of thestuff that we all know needs it. The mostobvious example is the decor in the toilets,which requires a lot of work. I hope to getunder way with this soon, so please bearwith us and we will try to keep any disrup-tion and inconvenience to a minimum.

The important thing is the beer, of course,and there are no plans to change policythere. The pub will continue to serve an everchanging range of real ale, cider and perrysourced from around the country. This wasexemplified by a Mini Winter Ale festival atthe end of January, with nine ales serveddirect from cask in addition to the normalnine hand pumps, and some German WinterBocks also on draught. The little festival wasa great success, and I'm grateful for all the

support I am receiving from both staff andcustomers. Ricky in particular is doing agreat job in my old role as deputy, taking onresponsibility for much of the ale ordering.

Hopefully, over the coming months, you willbegin to see some improvements, while continuing to enjoy some fine beers, bothcask, key-cask and bottled. Don't forget toask to see the beer menu if you like to trysomething a bit different.

Carl MellorsManager, The Alehouse

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Above: The Alehouse at night. Inset: Carl at the bar

Local LandlordsDo you have a story to tell and want to promote your pub? Get in touch – the detailsare on page 3 – and you could feature in acoming issue of Mine’s a Pint.

Mine’s a Pint22

PART ONE:PRODUCTION

Although often looked down upon in the UKbecause of the poor mass-produced nature ofmany of the products available, lager is anauthentic beer style with a long history. HerePaul Dabrowski looks as the early history oflager in the UK. This article deals with production, while part 2 in a future issue willlook at the consumption of lager.

It was in 1835 that an Edinburgh brewer,John Muir, began lager production utilisinga strain of yeast provided to him as a gift bya fellow German brewer. However, lagerbrewing at the Calton Hill Brewery, estab-lished 20 years previously, soon ceased sinceit proved impossible to keep the yeast strainpure given that other beer styles were stillthe brewery’s mainstay.

Nonetheless, lager was fast becoming popu-lar in the rest of Europe beyond the confinesof Germany, usually through imports. Thename ‘Bavarian’ became attached to severalbreweries hoping to capitalise on the fashionfor this new, bright, beer.

Although only founded in 1860, theShepton Mallet Pale Ale Brewery, having

built an impressive new brewing complex in1864, found that taken over by “The Anglo-Bavarian Brewery” in 1871. [According tothe Brewery History Society, the Pale AleBrewery had been acquired by a Garton &Co of Southampton in 1870, ostensibly as areserve brewery. Little is known about aHampshire ‘Garton’ concern but, in 1898,the Anglo-Bavarian took over a CharlesGarton & Co of Lawrence Hill, Bristol.]Formed a year earlier (1870), the new brew-ery utilised an unusual process, one designedto replicate German-style beers without theneed for extended storage, but was also ableto produce a range of standard English ales– it reputedly never produced any lager forhome consumption – its raison d’être hadbeen as an export brewery! Unsurprisingly,the ‘Bavarian’ nomenclature was dropped

during the First WorldWar and beer produc-tion finally ceasedhere at the outbreakof the Second WorldWar.

It was not until 1881that Britain’s firstdedicated lager-onlybrewery was estab-lished at the former Eltham Brewery (rebuilt1872) as “The Bayerische Lager BeerBrewery”. However, this concern had tradedunder myriad owning names previously and,whilst its intention had been to exploit theLondon market, it is not even certain that anylager was ever produced there! By the late1880s, the venture had failed and the brewerytraded as Kenward Brothers [probably ofKenward & Court of Hadlow, Kent, renown]from 1900 onwards, possibly until the establishment of Kenward’s Lydd brewery.

Also, in 1881, the first brewery erectedspecifically to brew lager was “The Austro-Bavarian Lager Beer Brewery” ofTottenham, owned by a Leopold Seckendorff.At least four beers were produced, includinga Tottenham Lager, but, after reforming(and registering) as “The Austro-BavarianLager Beer Brewery & Crystal Ice FactoryLtd.” in May 1886, voluntary liquidationfollowed in May 1895. It then became the“Imperial Lager Brewery Ltd.” for a fewyears until brewing stopped forever in 1903.

The accolade of the first true English brewerof lager goes to Joseph Spink & Sons ofBradford who, in 1877, started productionat their Brown Royd brewery. It was only ashort-lived experiment. Two years later,William Younger’s Holyrood brewery inEdinburgh commenced brewing lager andpersisted for a few years before being defeat-ed, probably, by the increasing popularity ofthe imported product. The St. Anne’s Wellbrewery of Exeter also tried out lager pro-

duction in 1881 but,again, this was onlyas an adjunct toother brewing andsoon ceased.The second purpose-built lager breweryand, by far, the mostsuccessful, was inWrexham, erectedbetween 1882 and

1883 for the “Wrexham Lager BeerCompany”. This had actually been foundedin 1878 by Ivan Levenstein and Otto Isler asthe “Wrexham Brewery Company” but oneRobert Græsser had soon acquired a majori-ty shareholding before the name waschanged in 1881. Austrian engineers haddesigned the new brewery, overseen by thegeneral manager, Stanislav Fenzl, by basingit on previous blueprints and it featuredlagering cellars containing 200, 1,446 gal-lon, maturing vessels together with an asso-ciated ice machine. Brewing continued underseveral changes of ownership before beingacquired by Ind Coope Ltd. in 1949 who,along with their successors, Carlsberg-Tetley,kept the brewery in production for the restof the 20th century. Even latterly, apartfrom a touch of wheat for head retention,Wrexham Lager still conformed to the stric-tures of the 16th century German pure beerlaw, or Reinheitsgebot. Ind Coope had earli-er commenced production of its c. 1897‘Burgomaster’ lager brand c. 1897 at theirBurton site alongside Allsopp’s.

Also purpose-built, in 1891, was the “EnglishLager Beer Brewery” of Batheaston, nearBath. Registered as a limited company inearly 1890, the brewery itself only lasted acouple of years before the company was vol-untarily wound up in mid-1893.

Founded 1776, J & R Tennant Ltd. ofGlasgow was similarly registered in 1890and built two completely separate lager

Mine’s a Pint23

THE EARLY HISTORY OF LAGER IN THE UK

CONTINUED OVERLEAF

breweries, the first in 1891 (which breweduntil 1906) before opening another to takeits place, again on its Wellpark Brewery site,in 1905.

Allsopp’s of Burton-on-Trent had installed a60,000 barrel lager plant in a disused part oftheir premises during 1897. But, with salesnever more than 2/3 of this capacity, theirAmerican-derived lager plant was moved toArchibald Arroll’s Alloa Brewery in 1921where, ultimately, production of Skol lagerwas perpetuated until that brewery wasclosed, again by Carlsberg-Tetley, in 1998/9.

Also, in 1921, one of the two Kenwardbrothers (either Edward or Peter – it is notknown which – of the Kenward & CourtBrewery) bought the “Pale Ale Brewery” ofEdward Finn & Sons Ltd., Lydd, Kent whohad previously been taken over by Style &Winch of Maidstone (also Kent). His inten-tion was to produce a ‘near beer’ for exportto the USA during prohibition but, by allaccounts, he was ultimately unsuccessful inthat endeavour.

‘Near beers’ were categorised by theVolstead Act, which instigated prohibitionin 1920, as those containing 0.5% alcoholor less and were therefore permissible.However, many breweries in the USA beganto brew these ‘tonics’, as they becameknown, to avoid going out of business dur-ing prohibition and these were undoubtedlyderived from the beers previously producedby the predominantly-German dominatedindustry there.

One can only speculate as to the quality ofMr. Kenward’s ‘near beer’ and its ability towithstand the journey across the Atlanticbut the fact that his new brewery had beenacquired from a pale ale specialist anyway(as had occurred in Shepton Mallet fiftyyears earlier) suggests a light, even lager-style, ‘near beer’ was being brewed forexport. The Kenward-owned Lydd brewery

finally closed when prohibition was eventu-ally repealed in 1933 and, quite possibly,only met its demise since its original purposehad been overtaken by events.

Finally, the Moss Side Brewery, having pro-duced its Red Tower brand during the 1920s,when German-built equipment was installedon their Manchester site in 1933, a new company was registered as the “Red TowerLager Brewery Ltd.”. Acquired by ScottishBrewers in 1956, the name was changed tothe “Royal Moss Side Brewery” in 1963 coin-cident with redevelopment of the brewhouseand where production of various forms oflager, Fosters, Harp, Heineken and Kroen-enburg, has continued to the present day.

With most attempts at lager productionbeing carried out in older premises with newor adapted plant, the early history of lagerbrewing in the UK seems to have fared bet-ter in Scotland and Wales than in England.Here, only sporadic attempts to brew andsell lager, occasionally for export only,appears to have been the norm, at least untilthe Second World War, since when the con-struction of several giant ‘megakeggeries’occurred to satisfy the manufactured popu-larity of ersatz versions of an adulteratedbrew that is often ‘lager’ in name only.Authentic lager production thus came to beeffectively subsumed by the development ofthe kegging process for indigenous beersbeing extended to almost all mass-marketlager production.

Paul Dabrowski

With acknowledgements to: Beer, Boak &Bailey, CAMRA; Built to Brew, LynnPearson, English Heritage; British FilmInstitute and Where Have All the BreweriesGone?, Norman Barber, Brewery HistorySociety. CAMAL (The Campaign forAuthentic Lager – which has no connectionwith CAMRA) may be of interest. Pleasevisit www.camal.org.uk for more details.

Mine’s a Pint24

THE EARLY HISTORY OF LAGER IN THE UK - CONTINUED

Mine’s a Pint25

A charming country pub. The friendly & relaxed atmosphere welcomes locals, families, walkers, dogs & cyclists alike

• Cosy seating area with wood burner

• Ideal for walks & to hack to, very near the Knowl Hill bridle path

• Home-made food served Mon - Fri 12-3pm & 6 - 9pm, Sat - Sun 12-9pm

• Sunday Roast from 12 noon to 3pm

• Beer garden overlooking fields

01628 822 010Knowl Hill Common, Berkshire, RG10 9YE

Serving London Pride permanentlywith weekly changing guest ales

Bar Food Served Monday - Friday noon until 2pm

Hog Roast SpecialistsRing for details

Regular Jazz Nights17th March, 7th April

& 28th AprilMarquee available for events

Arborfield Road,Shinfield,Reading,Berkshire,RG2 9EA

Tel: 0118 9884130

A UNIQUE, TRADITIONAL BAR

Above: Inside the Eldon Arms – one of thepubs taking part in the Village Festival

Due to the runaway success of last year’sfestival the three popular Reading “Village”pubs: The Lyndhurst, The Retreat and TheEldon are getting together again to celebrateEaster 2016. Over the Easter weekend therewill be 21 live music acts, 21 real ales (plusguest ales) and great food and snacks servedthroughout the weekend.

Heath Thomas, owner of The Lyndhurst,said, “We are really looking forward to thisyear’s festival after last year’s success.Preparations are well under way and theexciting array of music acts coupled withfantastic real ale across the three pubs, greatLyndhurst food and some extra surprises instore, we are certain that everyone will havea great time. It’s a really important event forthe local community too and we are proudto be part of it.”

Brian Moignard of The Retreat added,“Absolutely. There will be something foreveryone across the three pubs over thewhole weekend. Where else can you go inReading and experience first rate live musicand so many different ales in one area?”

“We are proud to be part of The VillageFestival again this year”, said RussellMcKenzie, landlord of The Eldon Arms.“The teams are all geared up for what isgoing to be another exciting, successfulFestival. Reading has a long history of livemusic and real ales and it's great to be apart of that legacy moving forward”.

The Village Festival starts at 12pm across allthree pubs on Good Friday and runsthrough to Easter Monday afternoon. Makesure to put a note in your diary so you don’tmiss out!

Mine’s a Pint26

The VillageFestival 2016“The Village” annual real ale and livemusic festival is back for 2016.

Mine’s a Pint27

While the concept of sitting at the bar with anotebook giving your beer a points scoremight seem a little obsessive, in fact beer scor-ing is a vital tool of CAMRA's ongoing cam-paign for good beer and good pubs. There areover 150 pubs in our branch so we needmembers from across the region to help usgather information about them year-round.

The scores are on an 11 point scale (0-5, by half-mark):

0 = No cask ale available.

1 = Beer that is anything from barely drink-able to drinkable with considerable resent-ment. Includes beer taken back as beingpoor and not taken off sale.

2 = Competently kept; drinkable but doesn'tinspire in any way. Below what is expectedfor the GBG.

3 = Good beer in good form. A GBG user(i.e. you!) would not be disappointed withit. You may seek out the beer again in thesame session.

4 = Very good: Excellent beer in excellentcondition. Exceeds expectations.

5 = Probably the best beer you are likely tofind. A seasoned drinker will award thisscore very rarely.

Don’t give a pint 5 just because it’s (say)Doom Bar and you happen to like DoomBar. Think: in your experience is this beer infront of you a really good example of aDoom Bar, or a pretty poor one? And don’tgive a pint 0 because it’s a stout and youhappen to hate stouts. If in doubt, don’tscore, or maybe ask a friend what theythink. Most people can tell the differencebetween a beer that just happens to have aflavour that “isn’t for them” and a beerwith actual defects.

Gradually you’ll accumulate scores andbegin to develop your own method of mak-ing comparisons. It’s like riding a bike. Soonit becomes second nature.

Some people do find beer scoring confusingand are unsure as to the “correct” way torecord a beer score. But you don’t need tobe particularly knowledgeable about everybeer you might come across! The great thingabout real ale is the diversity of tastes. Hereare a few things to take note of when evalu-ating an ale:

1. LOOK: Assess the colour, clarity and thefoam of the pint. Golden ales should appearbright and clear while darker beers, such asstouts and porters, possess a richer colourand often a thick, creamy head. As a generalrule of thumb it’s best to base your view onwhether it looks appealing. If it’s got bits init, or looks very flat (no head) it’s lookinglike a duffer.

Mine’s a Pint28

Beer ScoringHave you ever wondered about howpubs get into the Good Beer Guide(GBG)? Unlike those guides where paidindividuals submit reviews, GBGentries are compiled from beer scoressubmitted by CAMRA members. Everysingle CAMRA member has the opportunity to contribute to the GBG,by submitting quality scores for thebeers they have drunk.

Mine’s a Pint29

BEER SCORING

2. SMELL: Smell is an important part ofthe drinking experience. Take a short sniffof your drink to assess the aroma. If it’simmediately repulsive – smelling of vinegaror chemicals – then it’s a sure-fire bet thatthe pint you have is poor.

If it smells of alkali chemicals it's likely theremnants of line cleaner which is a corrosivesubstance - do not be tempted to drink anyof the beer, take it straight back and informthe staff.

3. TASTE: Take a sip and let it flowaround your mouth before swallowing.Beers can reflect many taste sensations. Theintensity of the flavours and the finish (the“aftertaste”) make up the whole taste. Giveyour taste buds a few seconds to register allthe differing sensations. Has the publicankept the beer well enough to allow theflavour to come through fully?

4. MOUTHFEEL: How does it “feel” inthe mouth? Most well-kept ales will have alight carbonation and feel “alive”. Well,they are! They should be served at cellartemperature – that means cool, not cold.Ales that are warm and/or as flat as olddishwater are definitely not good. Flat beerscan often indicate that the beer has hit theend of the barrel (imagine the dregs left in abottle of cola that has been open a fewhours) – this is a natural part of the cycle ofthe barrel’s lifespan and a good publicanwill be happy to check if you suspect an aleis at “bottom” and replace it with a freshpint from elsewhere.

With thousands of ales to choose from,everyone has their own personal favouritesand things that they don't like, so please tryto give an honest account of how well-kepta particular beer is. If you aren't sure thentry to do your scoring based on beers thatyou know that you normally like when theyare in good condition.

It’s up to you how you record your scoreswhile in the pub - scraps of paper, notebooksor on a smart phone, whatever suits you.

So how do you submit them? The easiestway is to log onto CAMRA's WhatPub site:whatpub.com. The default username is yourCAMRA membership number (without anyleading zeroes) and, unless you've set upyour own password, it will be your postcode(in upper case with no spaces) at the time ofjoining. If you have difficulty logging in,there’s help on the screen. In fact, there’splenty of help for all steps in getting yourpub scores entered! If you can’t use the webthen there’s a spreadsheet that you can useinstead – ask the branch contact for a copy.

SO MUCH FOR SUBMITTING THESCORES, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?All the scores recorded for our local pubsare entered into a master spreadsheet. Thiscontains an agreed algorithm that compress-es bulk scores and produces the overall figures for multiple-level scores, amongstother things. At the end of the year, thosepubs which have scored 80% or abovescores of 3+ and have been ‘visited’ at least20 times (exceptions are occasionally madefor our more rural pubs) are presented tothe GBG selection meeting. This is part of ageneral branch meeting so any card-carryingCAMRA member may attend! Usually, thetop 10-14 are waived through blind; ifthey’re this good on the beer quality, theymust go in. The rest are then opened up to ageneral debate to the floor, from which fol-lows a vote to decide the remaining places.Surveys are taken, entries are submitted toCAMRA HQ and then they appear in thefollowing GBG. Simple.

So, your vote does count. Judging the bestpubs in Britain is something you are uniquelyplaced to do. Please take the time to beerscore and make your contribution to theGood Beer Guide!

James Moore and Quinten Taylor