CAMRA's Good Beer Guide 2011, launched today (Thursday 16th September 2010), highlights that 136 pubs in the UK now brew real ale on their premises. This is a huge growth since the Campaign for Real Ale was formed in 1971 when there were only 4 brew pubs!
Good Beer Guide editor Roger Protz welcomes this return of an ancient tradition.
"There's no better way to save on carbon footprints than to brew just for the pub," he says. "And there's something special about visiting a pub where fresh beer comes frothing up from the cellar where it's been brewed."
Protz's favourite 10 brew pubs from around the country are as follows:
Three Tuns, Bishop's Castle, Shropshire
The pub is an ancient coaching inn and it has been supplied since the 16th century by the brewery across the yard.
The original brew house was first licensed in 1642: its owners claim it's the oldest licensed brewery in the country. It was replaced in the 19th century by a small, classic Victorian “tower brewery”, where the brewing process flows logically from floor to floor, with water tanks at the top and cask-filling on the ground floor.
In the 1990s both pub and brewery were bought by a group of “incomers” with holiday homes in the area. They wanted to run the pub but had no interest in the brewery, which closed, even though it's a Grade II-listed building.
But at a cost of £1m, Bill Bainbridge, Samantha Edwards and John Russell have restored the brewery, which officially re-opened in the summer of this year and is once again supplying the pub with XXX based on a 19th-century recipe, along with other beers.
Black Bull, Coniston, Cumbria
The Black Bull, which graces the cover of the 2011 Good Beer Guide, is a 16th-century coaching inn at the foot of the Old Man of Coniston and close to Coniston Water with its Lakeland poets connections and, more recently, Donald Campbell's ill-fated attempt on the world water speed record in 1967 in his boat, Bluebird.
Campbell and his team used the Black Bull as their base and there are many photos in the beamed bars in memory of the event, plus other images of a TV film about the 1967 events that starred Anthony Hopkins, who bears an eerie resemblance to Campbell.
The inn is run by the Bradley family and in 1995 Ian Bradley set up his 10-barrel brewery to supply the bars. Just three years later - to his astonished delight - Ian won the title of Champion Beer of Britain with his Bluebird Bitter. Although Ian lost a leg in a motorbike accident a few years later, he continues to brew and supplies his parents' pub with Bluebird, Oliver's Light Ale, XB, Old Man Ale, Special Oatmeal Stout and Blacksmith's Ale. Pure brewing water comes cascading down from the Old Man and passes alongside the brew house.
Old Crown, Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria
The pub is the last one in the small Cumbrian village and it seemed destined to close when its owners wanted to retire.
So the villagers, along with lovers of the pub throughout the world, formed a co-operative to own and run the Old Crown. The shareholders - including famed mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington - can each own only one share to avoid “passing on” and diminishing the co-op ideal.
The pub is supplied by the tiny Hesket Newmarket Brewery in the yard behind the pub. This was also threatened with closure in 1999 and a second co-op was set up to own and run it.
HRH The Prince of Wales, who started the Pub is the Hub group which helps rural pubs diversify their business and advises communities on pub ownership, has visited on several occasions. The brewery supplies the pub with a wide range of beers named after local fells and mountains, such as Blencathra Bitter, Haystacks, Skiddaw Special and Helvellyn Gold.
Talbot, Knightwick, Worcestershire
This is what a community pub is all about. The Talbot, close to Elgar's birthplace, has been run by the Clift family for more than a quarter of a century.
The pub serves not only splendid beers from the on-site brewery but it also has a renowned restaurant where the menu uses only locally-grown ingredients, including food from fields and hedgerows as well as vegetables and salads grown in the pub's own garden.
The Teme Valley Brewery also makes use of hops grown on the pub's land with more hops from surrounding farms, including the famous local variety, the Fuggle.
The brewers couldn't think of clever names for their beers and so they are called simply This, That and T'other.
The Talbot stages a Farmers' Market on the second Sunday of each month and there's a Green Hop Beer Festival every October, with a special brew using the first hops of the harvest.
Beacon Hotel, Sedgley, West Midlands
This is a wonderfully restored Victorian tap house with a tiny tower brewery that produces Sarah Hughes' ales.
The heart of the pub is a central serving area with hatches that supply a corridor bar, a small snug and the larger main room. There's also a tap room and a family room.
The pub has a piano, marble fireplaces, velvet curtains and mahogany tables. It's been named local CAMRA Pub of the Year three years running in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The brewery dates from the 1860s and was bought in 1921 by Sarah Hughes, who brewed Dark Ruby Ale. Following her death, the brewery lay unused until 1987 when her grandson, John Hughes, found her brewing recipe in a cigar box. He restored the brewery and re-launched Dark Ruby, a potent 6% beer that showed that mild ale was not a weak beer many decades ago.
The brewery also brews Pale Amber, Surprise and a Christmas barley wine called Snowflake.
Brunswick Inn, Railway Terrace, Derby
The pub sign says “a true ale house and brewery” and the Brunswick lives up to the claim.
This remarkable pub has “community” at its historic heart, for it was built in 1842 as part of a row of cottages by a philanthropic railway company for its workers.
The red-brick, wedge-shaped pub is at the end of the terrace, just a few yards from Derby station, and offers a corridor drinking area with the bar and a series of small, intimate and cosy rooms with open fires, old station furniture and lamps, and a plethora of railway photos from the age of steam.
Tenant Graham Yates brews beer in a small plant at the end of the corridor: his beer range is extensive and includes the top-selling Triple Hop along with Railway Porter, Old Accidental, and two strong milds, Father Mike's Dark Rich Ruby and Black Sabbath.
Graham proves you don't have to be a swanky “gastro-pub” to serve good food. As well as excellent bar meals, Graham and his chef, Ralph Edge, have devised a series of regular beer dinners where dishes are matched with the house beers. Try, for example, tomato fettucine with black olives and pancetta, matched with Railway Porter.
Concertina Band Club, Dolcliffe Road, Mexborough, South Yorkshire
The “Tina”, as it's known to its legion of admirers, is the only-remaining working-men's club that still has its own brewery.
There were once powerful clubs breweries in many parts of the country but one by one they have disappeared.
The biggest of all, the Northern Federation Clubs Brewery, was taken over by Scottish & Newcastle and the site was closed earlier this year by S&N;'s new owners, Heineken.
The Concertina's name comes from the time when a concertina band played in the club and performed widely, including competitions in London: there are many fascinating old photos of the band on the walls of the club.
The brewery, which dates from 1992, is in the cellar of the club. It produces up to eight barrels of beer a week and the brews include Club Bitter, Old Dark Attic, One Eyed Jack and an India Pale Ale called Bengal Tiger.
Visitors to the club can be signed in by members.
Marble Arch, Rochdale Road, Manchester
Even if it didn't brew outstanding beer, the Marble would be worth a visit, for this Grade II-listed pub has an impressive red glazed exterior with a pillared portico and a fine glazed tile interior with, as the name suggests, plenty of marble, too.
A frieze round the tiled ceiling promises “whiskies, brandies, gin and cordials” but there's plenty of good ale as well. But, before imbibing, be warned about the sloping floor that leads to the bar.
As the Laurel & Hardy Appreciation Society meets here to watch films starring the famous duo, you could find yourself in another fine mess if you spill your luscious brew.
The brewery can be seen through a panoramic window where James Campbell and his team have been producing a wide range of organic and vegan beers since 1997.
There are 10 pumps in the Marble Arch serving such delights as Pint, Manchester, JP Best, Ginger - a snappy, tangy beer brewed with ginger - Stouter Stout, Lagonda and Chocolate.
As well as bar meals, a separate restaurant serves excellent tucker, with dishes cooked with the pub beers.
Bankes Arms, Studland, Dorset
Don't be put off by the pub and brewery being in Watery Lane, for there's nothing weak or washy about the beers.
The stone-built, ivy-clad pub, 200 years old and named after the aristocratic family that lived in Corfe Castle, is an old fishermen's and smugglers' retreat close to the great sweep of Studland Bay on the Jurassic Coast.
The small, beamed front bar opens out into a wider room where families can dine.There's a strong emphasis on fresh fish from the sea here.
Alongside the pub is the Isle of Purbeck Brewery, a substantial 10-barrel plant that started life as the Poole Brewery before moving to Studland.
Other pubs are supplied but the complete range is on sale in the Bankes Arms: Best Bitter, Fossil Fuel, Solar Power, Studland Bay Wrecked and IPA, with Harvest Pale Ale in autumn and Thermal Cheer in winter.
In good weather, you can drink and eat in a large beer garden over the lane from the pub, with stunning views of the sea, Old Harry Rocks and Bournemouth across the bay.
Clockwork Beer Company, Cathcart Road, Mount Florida, Glasgow
The only disappointment is that they don't brew a Clockwork Orange beer, but there are plenty of other brews available from the plant visible from the bar.
The pub has a striking white exterior and is just five minutes' walk from Hampden Park football stadium.
If you're not a footie fan, beware the screens showing local matches, but there are plenty of nooks, crannies, cosy corners and an upstairs function room.
Children are welcome in designated areas and the food is good pub grub, including excellent pizzas.
Clockwork is Glasgow's oldest brewpub, dating from 1997. The beers are stored in cellar tanks under their own gas produced by fermentation but, with the exception of Original Lager and Seriously Ginger, they are not served by gas pressure.
You can sample the range in small taster glasses. Genuine beers include Oregon IPA, using American hops, Strong Ale and Thunder & Lightning. The brewery has access to the beer recipes from Maclays of Alloa, a long-closed brewery, and there are plans to recreate such lost beers as Wallace IPA, Oat Malt Stout and 90 Shilling.
You can get to Clockwork from Mount Florida station.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
The 2011 edition of CAMRA's best-selling guide to Britain's 4,500 best real ale pubs
will be launched on Thursday 16th September 2010.
38th edition of the original independent guide to great beer and good pubs.
There is no charge for entry into the Good Beer Guide. All entries are surveyed on a regular basis by CAMRA members. Other guides may only send a questionnaire and may never be visited.
Information about pub facilities for families and disabled visitors, history, architecture, food, accommodation, local places of interest... and of course, the beer: the best pubs serving the finest real ale in the country.
Unique brewery section listing all British real ale breweries and their regular beers.
Radio Interviews:
Please call CAMRA's Press Office on 01727 798443 if you would like an interview with the Good Beer Guide's Editor Roger Protz or a local CAMRA spokesperson on Thursday 16th September 2010. CAMRA has ISDN facilities.
Good Beer Guide Media Site - Available from Tuesday 14th September 2010:
Please visit the new Good Beer Guide Media Site - www.camra.org.uk/gbgmedia. Here you will find press releases, regional stories, photographs, book imagery and plenty of other interesting information to support the launch of the guide.
Review Copies:
Please email
if you are interested in receiving a review copy of the guide. Limited numbers available.
Good Beer Guide Sponsorship:
The 2011 Good Beer Guide is sponsored by Cask Marque - www.cask-marque.co.uk
For further information:
CAMRA Press Office: 01727 798443
Tony Jerome, Senior Press Manager: 07736 948186
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