Norfolk Nips | From the Editors
The Ed’lines The Norwich Beer Festival has just finished for this year which means Christmas is coming. Yet again we had another successful event and had 18400 customers who drank at least 53600 pints of Real Ale. There was also the many tubs of ciders and perries which get more popular each year. This year we had introduced new dispensing equipment in the Foreign and Bottled Bar which proved very popular. It gave the customers more opportunity to taste the beers beforehand which you cannot do with bottles. The system of key-casks has been mentioned previously and have been approved by CAMRA Technical Committee as an acceptable process of dispensing Real Ale. I tried a few myself and still have my doubts as to the quality. They just don't taste the same as Real Ale from a cask. We are a Beer Festival which asks our customers to choose their favourite beers, ciders and foreign and this year congratulations goes to Elmtree Nightlight Mild which won the overall Champion Beer. A list of all the winners are included later. At this stage I would mention there will be another Brewery Awards Evening at the Epic in Norwich on 25th March 2017 so another date for some diaries. Another date is of course the National Winter Ales Festival in Norwich running from 21st to 25 February. We are asking you to keep an eye on the website mentioned by Ian Stamp as this is the best way to be updated on the situation. We will of course be looking for volunteers and I would now like to thank all who helped us at the Norwich Beer Festival. It was good to see new recruits although one decided to hit my finger with a mallet. The dangers of being a member of the Cellar Team. It's not all just about tasting the beers. We regularly have Campaigning Trips on the last Friday of the month in the rural parts of the County and this is a good opportunity to join in the activities. Recently we had trips to Ascot Beer Festival and St Peters Brewery in
Suffolk which shows the social side of our Branch. There are of course the Christmas Crawls to look forward to before we finish the year. I hope you can join us in any of the listed pubs. As you know CAMRA is going through a Revitalisation Project and some details are included later. However it has made us consider your Norfolk Nips and Cask Force magazine and its future. We intend to review all aspects and possibly even a change of name. Its early days but Stig and myself would welcome any comments you would like to make. Any fundamental changes will need to be approved by both Branches so you will all be able to have the final say in what we do. Finally with Christmas approaching I would mention a nice present for somebody’s stocking could be a CAMRA membership. There are a numerous advantages and it would be a welcome surprise. I therefore take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Graham Freeman
Subscriptions We have a growing number of postal subscribers to Norfolk Nips and Cask Force, and I would like to send my thanks for the kind comments and best wishes from those who have renewed their subscriptions recently. If you would like to join them in receiving the next 4 issues by post, send 10 first class stamps or £6.50 cheque payable to West Norfolk CAMRA, 91 Tennyson Road, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 5NG. The magazine is also viewable online at issuu.com
Winter 2016 / 2017 | 7