Cheers North East magazine #79 - April 2018

cheers WWW.CHEERSNORTHEAST.CO.UK // APRIL 2018 // ISSUE 79

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WELCOME Purely by coincidence this super issue has a bit of an Ouseburn slant. The former industrial are of Newcastle is now the beating heart of creativity and innovation of the city, with designers, artists, musicians, makers, shakers and breakers all contributing to its vibrancy.

There’s so much happening in the Ouseburn Valley that it’s a gift for Cheers stories and a focus on independence.

But it’s not all Ouseburn this month – we talk to two former teachers who are bringing language learning and painting tuition right into the bar-room; we take a trip along the coast and marvel at the energy there; we talk to brewers, pubcos and publicans, we take a serious note over waste plastic, and also preview the Newcastle and Gateshead beer festivals.

Our pubs seem to have come out of the winter months in reasonable shape – the Campaign For Real Ale calculates that 18 are closing a week. But that doesn’t take into account the ones that are opening and thriving. Perhaps more debate on the subject is called for.

However, spring is springing and we’ve got a jaunt in our step, so let’s get out and use those lovely pubs we have from Berwick upon Tweed to Darlington – and all points beyond.

No doubt see you in one of them.

Cheers, Alastair Gilmour Editor, Cheers North East

EDITORIAL

Alastair Gilmour 07930 144 846 01661 844 115 alastair@cheersnortheast.co.uk @CheersPal www.cheersnortheast.co.uk Photography: Peter Skelton www.thepsp.net

CONTENTS 20

COLOUR ME INN

A Newcastle brewpub and kitchen uses striking imagery on its bottle labels, website and on the walls of its taproom.

Paintings by Jim Edwards are in tune with what Newcastle Brewing Co and Arch2 brewpub and burger kitchen are all about – creativity built on solid foundations then coloured by a twitstof imagination. Jim paints Newcastle and the North East with the glow that we all know is there but haven’t got the time or patience to sit down and look for it.

Now is the time to sit down and read.

COVER: ARTIST JIM EDWARDS IN HIS NEWCASTLE STUDIO. PHOTO: PETER SKELTON

WE ALL LIKE NICE THINGS AND GOOD FOOD AND DRINK SO WE SEEK OUT GREAT DESIGN

AND QUALITY GOODS JADE SKEELS, BODA HOME

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While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for omissions and errors. All material in this publication is strictly copyright and all rights reserved.

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CHEERS NORTH EAST

brings out the best in pubs and brewing that exists in the region. The magazine, published ten times a year, is distributed to almost 300 pubs, bottle shops and specialist outlets from the Borders to North Yorkshire and across to the fringes of Cumbria. It is packed with stories from them with suggestions on where to go and what you’ll find there. But most of all, Cheers is about people – after all, it’s people who make beer and people who make pubs what they are. And to be able to bring you more information, our A-Z pub guide can now be found at www.cheersnortheast.co.uk Tell them who sent you.

NEWS

TOP VENUES GO ALL THE WAY Three leisure industry companies with a presence in Newcastle made it to the finals of The Publican pub awards recently with one winner in Tokyo Industries. Unfortunately, the other two were pipped at the post for the top spots. York-based Pivovar made the final selection via its Newcastle Tap venue in the Best Brewing Pub Company category which was won by Leeds’ North Bar Brewing Co. Central Oven & Shaker (coincidentally next door to the Newcastle Tap on Neville street in the city), operated by the Crafted Projects arm of Ladhar Leisure, was a finalist in the Best New Pub/ Bar sector topped by Impossible in Manchester. Impossible is from the Tokyo Industries stable headquartered in Newcastle and operating nightspots Digital, Stein Bierkeller, Riverside, Tokyo, City Vaults, theCut, Tup Tup Palace and the Waterside Hotel in the city as well as Klute in Durham. The company was also shortlisted in the Best Late Night Operator category.

And we had a further winner, though one tinged with sadness. The Publican’s Outstanding Achievement award went to the late John Sands, one of the North East’s most influential figures in the industry.

Dram come tue: Jessica Tomlinson, Durham Distillery

CITY STILL MAKING HISTORY

Durham Distillery is set to be the first of its kind in the North East to create whisky and has launched a range of opportunities to be part of its history. Fans of the spirit – to begin production later this year – can now be among the first to own and taste a bottle, case or cask of Durham Whisky, which will be ready to drink from 2021.

Special investment packages have been named after the city’s famous bridges, Prebends and Elvet, each presenting a chance to join the distillery on its whisky journey. The project is led by head distiller Jessica Tomlinson; the spirit being produced following the distillery’s move to larger premises in the centre of Durham this winter, which will be a

visitor destination as well as a working distillery.

Jessica said: “Our venture into the world of whisky is a huge step for the company and as a regional first, we want to create a product that the North East can be proud of and enjoyed here in our home town as well as across the globe.”

Packages range from £10 which guarantees discounts for a year, to £3,250 for a privately-owned ex-sherry cask. Cask owners can determine the flavour profile of their whisky and choose between a 200-litre first-fill American former bourbon cask made from American oak, or 250-litre first-fill Spanish sherry cask made from European oak.

All privately-owned casks will be printed with the owner’s name and the cask number.

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DOG

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PUB

NEWS

WHERE HAS THAT YEAR GONE?

There has been only one overwhelming response to a comment from Julian Ive. “It’s exactly a year since we bought The Cluny,” he says. The response is always: “Never, I don’t believe it, where’s that year gone?”

It was March 27 2016 that Julian and business partner Steve Parkin took over the pub from Camerons Brewery after simply asking the question: “Do you fancy selling it?”

Julian had been involved with the Ouseburn, Newcastle, ale, art and music pub for 11 years previously so he knew what he was getting into. He beefed a few things up and put more emphasis on The Cluny Kitchen, inspired the 25 staff (who already had a bit of get-up-and go), reintroduced the art gallery space, scrutinised the beer list, and away it went.

“It’s been a fantastic 12 months,” says Julian. “It’s exactly a year, you know.”

EVERY ONE A WINNER

Several North East breweries and friends of Cheers from North Yorkshire were among the winners at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) flagship BeerX event in Liverpool.

Judged by brewers and industry experts, the awards run across a huge range of beer style categories from porter and stout to lager and pale ale.

Coming home very happy with various gold, silver and bronze awards were: Tyne Bank (Newcastle), Maxim (Houghton le Spring), Roosters (Knaresborough) and Black Sheep (Masham) breweries. Visit www.siba.co.uk for all category winners.

BIGEYE ON THE PRIZE Hadrian Border brewery manager Martin Hammill (pictured above) caught a 30kg Bigeye tuna on a fishing trip to the deep Atlantic waters off La Gomera in the Canary Islands. Bigeye tuna live in deeper, cooler waters than other tropical tunas. They a highly migratory fish that roam all the world’s oceans in tropical and subtropical zones.

Bigeyes have streamlined, torpedo-shaped bodies adapted to fast and continuous swimming. With a high fat content, its reddishpink meat is prized by sashimi lovers. Thirty kilos is an awful lot of slices, mind.

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 5

NEWS

TWO WHEELS GOOD, 1,000 EGGS BETTER

The Low Fell, Gateshead, Scooter Club rode out from The Schooner – also Gateshead – on Palm Sunday to deliver hundreds of Easter eggs to sick and underprivileged children in the surrounding area. Their initial target of 500 eggs was smashed as more than 1,000 were donated by local businesses and their customers.

Christine Spencer of the scooter club said: “The staff and matron at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead were amazed by the generosity and kindness of local businesses, sponsors and neighbouring scooter clubs.”

Hand crafted: Gracie, the Poetic License pot still

GIN SHOWS NO SIGN OF FLAGGING

Poetic License, the independent small batch distillery based in Sunderland has secured a listing for its multi award-winning Northern Dry Gin to go into more than 350 Co-op convenience stores. Stockist stores range from Aberdeen to Devon.

In addition to this, Northern Dry Gin and two other gins from the Poetic License range – Picnic Gin and Old Tom Gin – will be included in the retailer’s Best of British Spring/Summer promotion.

The gin boom shows no signs of slowing with UK shoppers buying 47 million bottles last year –

seven million more than the year before – and it is the appetite for craft gin that is driving much of this growth. Since 2015, Poetic License has been carving out a unique identity for themselves within this category by creating bold, handmade gins that break with tradition.

Poetic License Distillery was founded in Roker, Sunderland, in 2015. All gins are crafted by hand in a 500-litre pot still called Gracie – based in the Poetic License bar of the Roker Hotel – bottling only the hearts, the purest and most flavoursome liquid in small batches of 400 bottles.

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NEWS

DOWNING 18 UNITS A WEEK

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) is calling for a new deal for pubs in response to fresh data which reveals 18 pubs are being lost each week. The consumer group says that urgent action is needed to cut the tax burden placed on pubs.

Pubs are being hit hard by a triple whammy of one of the highest rates of beer duty across Europe, rapidly rising business rates and VAT. A third of the cost of a pub pint is now made up of various taxes.

The latest report on pub closures covers pubs throughout the UK which are known to have closed between July 1 2017 and December 31 2017, with comparative data for the 12 previous months. It details pub closures and does not include

new openings. The data has been compiled by Camra’s WhatPub online pub guide, which covers about 47,500 pubs in the UK. This is estimated to represent over 95% of all currently open pubs.

Information is collated by several thousand Camra members who provide updates on pubs to the 220 Camra branches maintaining the WhatPub database, and report to branches on pubs closing and opening. Branches then monitor these pub closures and record the key details including when and why.

Cheers asks: Wouldn’t it be easy to include new pub openings in the data to give us a clearer picture of the actual situation? It just seems so negative as it is.

FIVE GO TO NEWCASTLE

A group of London-based food bloggers visited the North East last month – with a desire to find out what makes us tick.

Supported by destination agency NewcastleGateshead Initiative, the five stayed at Jesmond Dene House Hotel and visited Newcastle’s Grainger Market, Fenwick’s Food Hall (“Ooh, this is posh.”), Cookhouse, Dobson & Parnell restaurant, Riley’s Fish Shack in Tynemouth and Wylam Brewery at Exhibition Park, Newcastle.

A few hours were set aside for a pub tour of the Ouseburn Valley, with Arch2 Brewpub & Kitchen, The Cluny and Cumberland Arms all impressing hugely before catching the sunset at the Free Trade Inn. Bet they slept on the train home. www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 7

NEWS

THE CAT’S GOT THE CREAM

Early March saw the muchanticipated opening of the Mean Eyed Cat in central Newcastle. Cheers asked a few questions of Dave Campbell, who owns the pub with wife Julie – particularly the reasoning behind the quirky decor.

You’ve been involved with some of Newcastle’s bestloved pubs – The Cluny, Head of Steam and The Central

8 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

and The Schooner in Gateshead – so why a micropub?

“We wanted a small pub that would be our last hurrah. After a year out (from leaving The Schooner) we were going out to small pubs and thought, ‘we could do this’.

So we started checking out the micropubs in the area.

And what did your market research tell you?

“What we saw was either a

Fruitful: Simon 'Hub' Hubbard at the Mean Eyed Cat, Newcastle

PUB NEWS comfortably traditional approach or slightly pushing the sector, so we thought we’d try to meld the two and offer traditional bitters plus sours and IPAs with our own style and twist and started looking around. The premises on St Thomas’ Street in Newcastle seemed ideal.

Newcastle Council were extremely open to the idea. It’s very close to Haymarket Metro and two bus stations, so it couldn’t be handier.”

The pub’s décor is a bit different to normal city-centre pubs, isn’t it?

“The Mean Eyed Cat is a kind of homage to Mexico and Spain which we visit a lot on holiday and where they have simple bars where you can walk in off the street, stand at the counter, have a beer and you’re away again – duck in and duck out. You can spend the night there as well, of course. It’s about the attitude of the place. You can call it a micropub, but I prefer to think of it as a Spanish bar within the confines of the micropub movement which has opened the doors to free-thinkers like us.”

So, how is it going after a month in business?

“We’re absolutely delighted with the way it’s going, it’s been fantastic. I have to say I couldn’t have done it without Hub (Simon Hubbard) and, of course, Julie. He knows more about the keg beer end of things than I ever will so I handle the cask stuff. And we’re taking on new people, which is great.”

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CULTURE

A TIDDLY BIT OF FUN Encouraging people to use language in the pub possibly isn’t the best way forward.

When it’s a foreign language attracting a room full of customers… well, that’s a different storia.

Similarly with painting pictures – it’s not the normal pub or wine bar activity, but language and art classes in a relaxed atmosphere away from the classroom are exactly what two Northumberland friends are building businesses on.

Susannah La Rosa runs Tiddly Languages, teaching Italian, French and Spanish, while Karen Johnson operates Tiddly Painters at various venues around the region, demonstrating the “everyone can paint”. The idea is that learning should be fun and what better way to have fun is to combine it with a glass of something convivial?

Both have been mainstream teachers but knew deep down there was “something else” to apply their talents to. Karen had seen a similar scheme on an American website and was convinced that if it could work in Memphis it could work in Morpeth.

10 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

“We appeal to people who want to do something different for a night out,” says Karen. “People are nervous about painting in public as well as speaking foreign languages.

They get intimidated by a blank canvas but once you’ve got them over the initial fear they really go for it.”

Susannah’s method is on a conversational level – the “need-to-knows” – what to say and hear in a bar or restaurant, how to book a hotel room and ask directions, all of which you need on a holiday to get the most out of it. Her method is one of role-play where she might take the place of the hotel receptionist while the group soon learns the basics and even get to the stage of complaining in Italian.

She says: “It’s really a course in culture and everybody takes a little bit of Italy from it. It’s definitely not a grammar evening.”

Karen supplies all the materials; canvas, brushes and acrylic paint, so the group doesn’t even have to do any cleaning up.

She says: “I take one of my own paintings along and get them to follow my steps – or they can do something of their own choice.

Culture courses: Tiddly Languages' Susannah La Rosa, left, with Karen Johnson, Tiddly Painters

CULTURE

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We want people to leave with something they’re really proud of. People who are good at painting and drawing are the ones who practice a lot – it’s like anything.

“You can’t do anything wrong in art; you can just be different, which is what all artists need to be. We then get the bar staff to choose what they think is the best of the night.”

Tiddly Painting and Tiddly Languages has been operating mainly around Morpeth, Alnwick and Ponteland, but Karen and Susannah are keen to hear from landlords and bar owners elsewhere who have a space to spare at a quiet time.

“We encourage them to buy a drink before we start, then again half-way through the sessions – and at the end, of course,” says Susannah. “That way the pubs and wine bars benefit from the group being there – they love it – and there’s a good chance they’ll go back again with friends.”

The pair have plans for joint painting and language sessions, plus corporate events, children’s groups, and for business people to strengthen business relationships.

And who could argue with: “It’s a bit of a giggle while having a drink and a go at something creative.”

Tiddly Languages: 07887 352 272.

Tiddly Painters: 07801 496 706.

Tynemouth Lodge and, left, John Taylor's mode of transport

SNOW BUSINESS LIKE BEER BUSINESS

The Beast From The East carved its way through the North East in February and its little brother whistled by in March, but as ever, we soon stopped complaining about the snow and wind and made the most of it. Intrepid brewers like John Taylor (Stables Brewery, Beamish Hall) wouldn’t be beaten and took the best form of transport to work.

Pub regulars too had their fun, particularly at the Tynemouth Lodge pub in Tynemouth.

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www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 11

PUB NEWS

Family member: Head of Steam, Tynemouth

ALL FIRED UP

What is it with the Head of Steam success, asks Alastair Gilmour Read this in the voice of former BBC Sports Report announcer James Alexander Gordon. “Here are today’s premier draws: Newcastle 2 Leeds 2; Sheffield 1 Birmingham 1; Hull 1 Nottingham 1; Huddersfield 1 Leicester 1…”

It’s not the definitive list, but an indication of the number of Head of Steam pubs there are – 13 come May – stretching across the nation from their base in Hartlepool. This is surely a pub phenomenon. The brand, developed by licensed trade entrepreneur Tony Brookes in the mid-1990s then sold to Camerons Brewery in 2014, has since taken on a new life – but has remained true to the original Brookes ideal of quality venues and knowledgeable staff with the emphasis firmly on an adventure in beer.

“We’ve kept close to Tony Brookes’ roots,” says Yousef Doubooni, head of marketing at Camerons Brewery.

“In a Head of Steam there’s a great range of beer plus recognisable brands on the bar. We think that’s important – people like something new and exciting while others want something they’re familiar with. Some might be looking for Belgian beer or a different British beer while others are happy with the big brands.”

But there’s infinitely more to it 12 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

than that – these days, size matters.

For example, the new Nottingham site features 19 keg lines and the Leicester venue has 20 keg beers available, both of them offering a selection of rotating craft beers plus eight cask ale lines each with beers sourced from their local area as well as brewers across the UK. A selection of premium cocktails, wines, spirits and soft drinks completes the drinks range.

“Of course, it’s about the beer but the food side is developing the way it’s supposed to,” says Yousef.

“Certain elements run right through every Head of Steam. It might be how the beer is set up; there’s always one wall in the pub with distinctive images of their host town or city; it could be the chandeliers; it’s definitely the high standard of finish; it’s in the innovation and the enviable amount of free rein the managers enjoy.

“Head of Steam managers are trusted; many have been promoted from within, plus there’s an ability within the company to pinpoint a site and be certain of its future position within the family. It takes a while to absorb the Head of Steam vision. We have exceptional bar staff and we have expanded to developing that vision the way it’s always been while stretching ourselves at the same

PUB NEWS

GOOD AIM BRUCE, GOOD AIM New arrival: Head of Steam, Leicester time. People are now very much aware of who we are – from Newcastle down through the country, city by city.

“I walked past a site recently and thought ‘that place is wasted, it would make a great Head of Steam’. I can’t reveal where it is, but we’re now well down the road to securing it.

“It takes a lot of getting right. We don’t open a pub while there’s still a smell of wet paint about it; we have eight to ten days of dry runs and staff training. We have a target of opening six pubs a year but we’re nearly up to that now, so I think it could be ten this year, I really do.

“Another thing about the Head of Steam and the Tony Brookes ethos is that someone might come in with a puzzled look on their face but our staff can help them through that scenario and take them on a journey. We put them through a beer sommelier scheme and run masterclasses which helps everybody.

“I met a lady who said she didn’t like beer. That’s fine – but you should be able to go into a Head of Steam and say that. There is a beer for everybody.”

The managers are encouraged to go to the

brewery and brew their own beer. For example, Graham Frost at Tilleys in Newcastle (part of the group though not branded Head of Steam) has brewed a White Chocolate Stout and Spencer Pritchard-Owen at the Quayside Head of Steam has developed a dry-hopped Bourbon-infused brown ale.

Yousef Doubooni says: “The interesting thing here is that the pubs in the Camerons family which are not branded Head of Steam as such are run in exactly the same way. The managers are at the coalface; they’re the best market research ever, they listen to bar conversations and take the positives and negatives. They know what will work in their bars.”

As Spencer says from bitter experience: “You roll with it, it’s a two-way thing, an open dialogue, which is refreshing.”

The Head of Steam legacy appears to be honesty and integrity, 100% behind beer quality and beer education. Anybody can open a bar but what the Head of Steam has created is a place to relax, to chill and settle in. Tony Brookes will raise a glass to that.

It’s going to be a tough month for Bruce Renwick (above), owner of CentrAle bottle shop in Newcastle Central Station.

Business is great, he says, it’s more his fitness he’s worried about. Bruce is taking part in Etape Loch Ness, a 66-mile ride around Scotland’s deepest loch alongside 999 others on April 29 in aid of McMillan Cancer Support, hoping to raise £1,000.

He has a bit of pedalling form, mind.

“I rode Mont Ventoux three times in a fortnight in 2015,” he says. “That was solid climbing, no respite.”

Mont Ventoux is a permanent feature in the Tour de France and is widely regarded as the toughest of all the Tour’s climbs.

“On Loch Ness, there’s a daunting 48mile climb 35 miles in,” says Bruce. “But I’ll celebrate with something appropriate when I finish. I’m not as fit as I was before we opened the shop. I cycled to work every day for 20 years, rain, hail or shine, so I’ll be feeling it. But the local breweries have been magnificent, donating money or beer for me to sell in aid of the charity.”

To contribute, visit Bruce Renwick’s page on Just Giving.

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 13

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

T H E G R E AT

NORTH EAST

BREWERY

GUIDE

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO T H E R E G IO N ’ S F I N E ST B R EW E R I E S

Full diary: Ross Holland at Box Social Brewing. Photo: Peter Sketon

MAKING ALL THE RIGHT MOVES AVAILABLE TO BUY FROM BREWERIES, SPECIALIST BOTTLE SHOPS, WATERSTONES AND THE CHEERS WEBSITE WWW.CHEERSNORTHEAST.CO.UK

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The father-and-son Box Social Brewing team’s diary is so full they need two phones to keep all their events safe. That’s what it seems anyway as Ross Holland and his dad Steve consult their devices and compare notes.

They’ve got a lot on their plates, the biggest of which is an imminent move into brand-new premises which should soak up expansion over the next few years.

“Mind you, that’s what we said about our existing place,” says Steve.

“It’s done it’s job though. We’ve got all the approvals and expect to move in and be in production in a couple of months.”

Box Social has secured a unit on the Riverdale Industrial Estate in Newburn, not far from their current premises to the west of Newcastle.

At least three staff will be taken on, including a brewing apprentice from a new scheme at Derwentside College.

“It’s huge and ideal and we’ll be able to put beer directly into 440ml cans which we can’t do at the moment,” says Ross. “The new kit is on order from a company in Aberdeen – 15-barrel capacity which should allow us to do everything we want with plenty of room for growth.

“We’re actually doing a tap takeover at SixºNorth in Aberdeen soon, so we’ll be able to call in and say hello to our new brewery.”

The brewery tap, The Box Social in Newcastle, recently made it to the final three of the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) City Centre Craft Beers competition along with North Bar in Leeds and Wigan

NEW DEVELOPMENTS Central, two extremely good, award-winning pubs.

“We’re pretty pleased with that for such a small pub only a year old,” says Ross. “As for the brewery, keg beer has gone mad this month and we’re sending it all over the place. Pubs are just seeing it online and just going for it. The brewery is at full capacity and everything else is pretty much full-on.”

Export business is very much in the Box Social crosshairs.

Denmark is high on the list with an enquiry for a gulping amount of beer. China is on the horizon too following a successful trade mission to Shanghai last October. Sweden is another export target and they’re meeting all the right people.

Steve says: “I was in Singapore recently and met a couple of guys who said they were interested in UK craft beer as a lot of their beer comes from Australia and New Zealand. It’s a bit similar to China. The logistics might be a bit difficult but the people we met seem to know what they’re doing.”

The interest in Shanghai was for Kaffir Lime Leaf Session IPA (4.3% abv) and Campfire Porter which is a mighty 7.0% abv. In Sweden, it’s Campfire Porter while the Danish market is about hazy, murky, US-style IPAs. Ross says: “We’re also delighted to have been invited to take part in the Great Exhibition of the North brewing collaboration with such names as Magic Rock, Northern Monk and Thornbridge. We’re really proud to be part of it."

Ross is again consulting his phone for confirmation of times, dates and venues.

He says: “Before that we’ve got another two tap takeovers in Newcastle in May and two in London with collaborations on the go as well, plus Liverpool Craft Beer Expo at the Invisible Wind Factory on Albert Dock at the end of July.”

Invisible is what Box Social is not.

A REAL BOX OF TRICKS Wylam Brewery is set to release a limitededition series of collaboration beers that will celebrate the North of England’s thriving brewing industry. The project – The Northern Powerhouse Brew Series – will feature eight limited-edition beers, sold together as a single case to be launched on June 22. Breweries include Black Lodge, Box Social, Buxton, Cloudwater, Hawkshead, Magic Rock, Northern Monk, and Thornbridge. The project is inspired

by The Great Exhibition of the North, the three-month celebration of Northern English art, innovation, industry and culture centred around Newcastle and Gateshead.

There will be only be 6,600 cases of the beer made available, with the eight 440ml cans inside featuring unique artwork depicting each brewery’s home town.

Full range of Durham Distillery brands available through LWC North East.

To order contact, either your Local LWC Sales Manager or Tel 0191 3851600 Visit the Durham Distillery Team at the LWC Trade Show on 18th April www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 15

WINE

One of the UK’s leading suppliers of wine and spirits to the trade.

OOPS:

Salt and white wine can stop red wine from staining if spilled. Even a deeply-coloured red like Barolo should leave no mark if you dollop the stain with a generous pile of salt and a splash of white as soon as possible.

THE GRAPE TOP TEN CHART The world’s most used varieties composed by Vincent Zeller

Despite their huge popularity in the UK, Pinot Grigio and Malbec don’t make the world’s top ten grape varieties by use. Here they are in all their red and white glory, which is really no indication of what you should be drinking; after all, it’s your choice. In descending order are: 1 Cabernet Sauvignon: The world’s best-travelled red wine variety makes concentrated tannic wines that benefit from a period of ageing.

2 Merlot: An early ripening grape variety from Bordeaux that is fleshy and fulsome with flavours of sweet plum.

3 Airen: Perhaps not a familiar name but Spain’s most widely planted white grape variety is used in the production of white Rioja and brandy.

4 Tempranillo: Spain’s most famous grape, responsible for the majority of its most celebrated reds.

5 Chardonnay: Recovering from a backlash in the UK following its allconquering days in the 1980s but remaining hugely popular world wide.

Versatile, widely planted and equally capable of extreme mediocrity and elegance bordering on regal.

6 Syrah/Shiraz: A generally fashionable alternative to Cabernet Sauvignon that can be produced in a wide variety of styles.

7 Grenache/Garnacha: Very widely planted, long-lived vine making strong, sweetish reds and some successful rosés.

8 Sauvignon Blanc: The parent of Cabernet Sauvignon that produces much appreciated aromatic, zesty, crisp whites with grassy, citrus notes.

9 Trebbiano Toscano: A Tuscan white grape variety also known as Ugni Blanc which some people find uninspiring.

10 Pinot Noir: Silky and sensual red grape variety that often flatters to deceive but at its best, can be utterly sublime.

www.lanchesterwines.co.uk

01207 52 1234 / sales@lanchesterwines.co.uk

16 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

MYTH BUSTER: All wines improve with age. Not necessarily so. Older wines are often thought to be better by definition and we have got used to drinking wine that has the taste of oxidation – the sherry-like character that means wines are past their best. Modern drinkers prefer wines with fresher, fruitier flavours and all inexpensive wines should be consumed well within two years of harvest.

WINE: COMMERCIAL FEATURE

THE BEST WINES TO DRINK IN SPRING Hooray, we’re officially in the midst of spring and the promise of longer days, new blooms and some sunshine. While in this seasonal transition between the arrival of the warming sun and the departure of snow (which still lingers at the time of writing), we might find ourselves in a quandary over which wine to match with which food.

There is a French expression which sums up the perfect spring wine in just three little words: vin de soif. This phrase describing “a wine to quench your thirst” is all about great-tasting, easy-drinking bottles that you want to guzzle with reckless abandon.

Perfect for this time of year.

With that in mind, here are our picks of the wines to enjoy this spring. But of course the most important thing to remember about wine is that it should be fun. Use our guide as a navigation tool to steer through the world of wine – no two wines are the same, so take time to experiment and try new things.

THE REDS It’s the lighter, fruitier styles of red that succeeds in spring, such as Pinot Noir. While this grape is traditionally from Burgundy, we suggest looking globally to find your favourite, with Australia and New Zealand producing some particularly excellent Pinots. Our choice would be McPherson Wine’s MWC Pinot Noir with red fruit notes on the nose, leading to soft tannins and

some medium acidity. A great wine to serve with a fresh salad.

Or why not try a chilled New Zealand Pinot Noir which would pair perfectly with spring lamb.

And, if the weather warms up, pop it in the fridge for 10 minutes and serve slightly chilled – it’ll be a revelation!

Some Cabernet Sauvignons and Riojas – particularly a Joven – would also be ideal but be sure to check the wine’s tasting notes. The clues you’re looking for are “fruity”, “light”, “sweet”. On the other hand, if the weather changes or you’re looking to indulge while gorging on left-over Easter egg or chocolate cake, a sumptuous, luxurious red is what you seek. Look for a peppery Shiraz or Zinfandel, then sit back and enjoy in sumptuous splendour. Whether you share or not is up to you.

THE WHITES There are so many great white wines around that include increasingly interesting and quirky varieties, and there’s no better way to greet spring than with a glass of something chilled. The changeable weather of spring creates the perfect opportunity to try something bold and punchy – so perhaps an oaked Chardonnay or a savoury Pinot Gris instead of a lighter Pinot Grigio.

Albariño is Spain’s feted seafood white, which comes from Galicia in the North West of the country. It has the intensity to cope with most light fish dishes, making it a good wine to choose in fish

restaurants.

Riesling tends to polarise wine drinkers – some love it, some hate it. There’s no denying though that its crisp, fresh flavours and modest levels of alcohol it makes perfect spring sipping. Germany is the traditional home of Riesling, but for something a little different head to Washington State in the US for Charles & Charles Riesling or even Australia for McPherson Wine’s La Vue Riesling – both outstanding wines and very different examples of the same grape variety.

THE ROSES Not usually a rosé drinker? Now’s the perfect time to try something different – there’s nothing wrong with a glass of sweet White Zinfandel, but it’s not the only rosé on offer. For the perfect drink on a warm day, try a chilled glass of Princess Butterfly sparkling Moscato while catching up with friends in the beer garden. With a slight spritz and only 7.0% abv, it’s incredibly easy to drink.

Meanwhile, in the US, winemaker Charles Bieler is pioneering rosé – at a time when rosé was considered unfashionable, Bieler travelled America in a pink Cadillac to beat the drum for the style. This rosé is now available in the UK under the Charles & Charles brand, with Bieler’s passion evident – the aromatic wine has flavours of raspberries and cherries. It’s a highly recommended wine and one worth seeking out this spring. *All wines mentioned in this article are available through Lanchester Wines. Ask your bar staff for more details. www.lanchesterwines.co.uk

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 17

THE ENVIRONMENT

Liddle’s Coaches of Tyneside - a small, friendly, family run mini coach company. We are a Walbottle based business and specialise in private and contract mini bus hire in Newcastle and the North East area We provide a dedicated service at a highly competitive price with our 7 to 16 seater Mercedes mini coaches.

Whether your requirements are a short trip or long distance, private or corporate hire please contact us and we will be happy to help and advise.

We look forward to welcoming you on board very soon.

Telephone:0191 267 4000 Email:info@liddlescoaches.co.uk

www.liddlecoaches.co.uk 18 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

PLASTIC NOT SO FANTASTIC

A clutch of Newcastle pubs and bars is to ban plastic straws and cocktail stirrers in a bid to cut down on the city’s annual 142,000 tonnes of waste. The Cluny, Wylam Brewery Tap, the Mean Eyed Cat, Town Wall, Bridge Tavern, Red House, Lady Greys, Hop & Cleaver, Pleased To Meet You and Central Oven & Shaker have banded together to help reduce plastic waste by 10% by 2025 and by 23% by 2030.

The JD Wetherspoon group nationally has already taken action to cut plastic straw use by bringing in biodegradable substitutes, or giving them only to people who request them, while an industry-wide summit conference was scheduled for late March to raise awareness and invite initiatives to counter the problem.

However, it took the words of a 92-year-old broadcaster, naturalist and national treasure to make us sit up and take notice. Plastic waste is

choking the world’s oceans, polluting the environment and killing wildlife, as highlighted in the recent Blue Planet II series narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Efforts to protect the environment by reducing plastic use have moved up the political agenda with January’s launch of the Government’s 25-year plan of targeted action. The UK’s imperative to cut plastic waste was further highlighted by China banning all plastic waste imports, raising concerns that waste collected in the UK to be shipped to China would quickly start to pile up.

New research indicates that the number of tiny particles of plastic polluting the world’s oceans is vastly greater than ever imagined. An enormous area of floating rubbish has been discovered in the Pacific, covering an area of 618,000 square miles – or three times the size of France – as reported in Nature

THE ENVIRONMENT magazine. About eight million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans every year, washing up on beaches, drifting out to sea, entangling and killing marine life, while tiny fragments are ingested by sea creatures. Plastic pieces take hundreds of years to break down and it’s estimated that there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050.

And the problem is not confined to some remote corner of the planet, no siree. Recent research reveals that the highest microplastic pollution ever recorded anywhere in the world is in the River Mersey, near Manchester. It also shows that the early 2016 floods in the area flushed more than 40 billion pieces of microplastic into the Irish Sea. Glastonbury Festival is taking a break this year which is all well and good, and next year there is to be a site-wide ban on plastic bottles. In 2014, Glastonbury introduced environmentally-friendly steel bottles and water kiosks for free refills, followed two years later by stainless steel pint cups, although their use was optional.

Organisers reckon one million plastic bottles are used during the event – the same number that The Guardian estimates as being bought around the world every minute, creating an environmental crisis that could become as serious as climate change.

One has only to take a look at single-use KeyKegs used by pubs to start the recycling wheels turning. How easy is that to achieve? The

company’s website states that the containers for keg beer are 100% recyclable, made up of an average of 30% recycled plastic and can save up to 60% of transport cots. But not all pubs are recycling them, with many piled up in back yards.

“We actually use KeyKegs, because there are more considerations than just plastic versus stainless steel,” says Dr Chris O’Malley from Newcastle University’s Stu Brew microbrewing facility. “From a Stu Brew perspective, we have no equipment to clean standard stainless steel kegs and no space to install it.

“There are transportation costs of delivering stainless – they are heavier – and then collecting empties and cleaning them add an environmental burden. KeyKegs are infinitely more scalable for us. We also recycle the kegs into stools to use at our events, but it’s an interesting problem to discuss.”

Along with colleague Sharon Joyce, Chris is considering putting in a sustainability research project for a Masters student to do a full cost benefit analysis on the lifecycle of the KeyKeg, among other projects.

The plastic disposable problem is accelerating quickly – many businesses are reducing single use by switching to biodegradable, disposable cutlery and platters and replacing plastic cups in vending machines with recyclable ones – and wouldn’t it be great if Newcastle and the North East were at the forefront of the braking process.

CHEERS ON TOUR

Regular Cheers reader Ian Walker tells us he had the opportunity to vist Chisineau, the captital of Moldova, recently and also took a day-trip to the self-proclaimed Republic of Transnistria and its capital Tiraspol.

“While the the real ale circuit was somewhat lacking in Transnistria I did mange to grab a photo with Cheers magazine,” says Ian in true Cheers On Tour style. “It was good to see that there is a real ale circuit in Chisineau. Probably the best of the venues was Taproom 27 – A Hoppy Place.”

Cheers Ian!

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 19

CULTURE

COLOURING INNS Art and beer go together like… beer and art, as Alastair Gilmour finds out Local is the name of the game; we all love local. Local produce, local history and a pint at the local – it’s a comforting word. And you can’t get much more local than a Newcastle microbrewery calling itself Newcastle Brewing with branding designed by the chap round the corner.

The striking illustrations are by celebrated artist Jim Edwards who is so local he’s one of the family (the brewery and Arch2 Bar & Kitchen are owned by father-and-son Mike and Leo Bell and Jim Edwards is married to Leo’s sister).

Jim’s work straddles solid cityscapes and abstract images inspired by man-made structures which lend Newcastle Brewing’s craft beers a solidity and sense of place.

His studio is in Newcastle’s creative hub, the Ouseburn Valley – as are Newcastle Brewing and Arch2 where some of his paintings hang.

“I’m very interested in line, form and structure,” says Jim. “The city is my muse; I’m strongly influenced by what’s around us, particularly the bridges.”

Jim’s paintings progress through layers and layers of acrylic paint, developing an intensity and a surreal glow that he’s made his signature style. He starts off with blocks of grey colour and gradually builds up a scene until he’s happy with it.

“You can’t get that effect with one layer of brushstrokes,” he says. “Each painting varies – some take a couple of days to complete, some take a week, and one in particular of the Great North Run took weeks to do – all those tiny people. Sometimes you’ve got to be quite hard on 20 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

yourself knowing where the end point of a picture is. You can beat yourself up about when you should stop.”

He’s careful to add that the whole process should also be fun.

“There was no great reason behind the works on show at Arch2 but Leo wanted something colourful for the bottle labels – so, being family, I was happy to do it. I think the product has benefitted from that. It’s not something I’d let anyone use, but at the end of the day it’s the quality of the beer that counts, not the images.”

Jim is originally from North Wales – around Snowdonia – and went to art school in Norwich where he met his now wife, Natalie.

“She dragged me up here in 1999 to where she was originally from,” he says.

“She’s an artist in her own right, making teddy bears. I worked as a picture framer and showed my paintings at Armstrong Bridge when it was a craft market.”

Jim soon realised from seeing others selling local photographs and paintings that people are fascinated by pictures of Newcastle; there appeared to be an insatiable appetite for sturdy buildings with local meaning and bridges with individual style. Everybody has their favourite, but it’s fair to say that Jim Edwards’ renditions aren’t particularly true to life.

He says: “You can get bogged down making things too accurate, like how many windows there are or what’s that building behind. I’m more interested in central points of interest and not being too realistic.

“It’s actually the way we see things. You can tell

Overall genius: Jim Edwards in his Ousebur, Newcastle, studio.

Photo: Peter Skelton.

Left: The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle

CULTURE when someone paints a picture from a photograph – why not just use photo and be done? I once did a mural for Gateshead Council and they didn’t want the ‘Get Carter’ car park in.”

Jim takes his sketchbook out with him to note shapes of structures, often skewing them to suit the particular need at that time.

“It’s ‘let’s try it this way’ at the sketch stage and working out a solution,” he says.

Some of his initial sketches are mini-masterpieces by themselves – from pub interiors to the armadillo-like undulations of The Sage, Gateshead.

“Sketches are problem-solving and the more detailed sketches are worked up from thumbnails,” he says. “I’ve always got a sketchbook with me, even sitting in front of the telly I’ll be doodling away.”

Encouragingly for would-be artists, Jim uses bog-standard biros to make his rough thumbnails, rather than using fancy-pants hitech pens.

“Biros are great for making marks, they have a great depth of hue, you can make heavy and light areas and smudge like using a pencil. They’re also quite cheap.”

Interestingly, the vast majority of Jim’s paintings are people-free, an observation he smiles at.

“As soon as you put one person in it’s a bit of a distraction and it’s all you can see.”

The gallery walls are full of highly-coloured paintings and prints, ranging from Jesmond Dene, Tynemouth Priory, Bamburgh Castle, Cullercoats, the Tyne’s bridges, bridges, bridges, and every Ouseburn pub – The Ship Inn, The Cluny, Cumberland Arms, Tyne Bar and Free Trade Inn. He says: “I must stop doing the Free Trade – people think I’m obsessed by it – but every time I’m in there I see something different. One painting leads to another. It’s a brilliant pub.

“There’s nothing better than sitting with a pint and scribbling. In Ouseburn pubs you get this feeling of not being in a city, they’re more relaxing.

“The Ouseburn is renowned for its creativity and its pubs. I live quite near there and everything I want from pubs is there.

“There’s so much subject matter around the North East; Newcastle has a lot going for it, as have Durham and Edinburgh, compared to cities like London.”

But as part of the family, how does he rate Newcastle Brewing’s beers?

He says: “I quite like the Satsuma IPA and the rhubarb one that actually came from my garden, but maybe I’m being a bit biased there. I’m not fond of the coffee one, Saison Barillas.”

Jim Edwards is content to be local in everything he creates. Wonder what he thinks of Newcastle Brewing’s Thai Haze Super Pale? www.jimedwardspaintings.com www.newcastlebrewingltd.co.uk www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 21

PUB AND BREWERY NEWS

HUME FROM HUME

The mention of Hume Street in the Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle, would normally have beer lovers searching Google Maps. But it’ll shortly be on many a radar as the home of Brinkburn St Brewery Bar & Kitchen. Next month, in fact..

The brewery is already firing away nicely in a former Maling Pottery building – black-and-white striped vessels and all – busy producing the likes of The Never-ending Pursuit of Hoppiness, Groovy Juice, Byker Blonde, Byker Brown Ale, Geordie Pagoda and House of the Rising Sun under the watchful eye of head brewer Richard Bazen and his three decades of brewing experience,

alongside Stew Southern riding shotgun and Natasha Allen as deputy sheriff.

It’s yet another ambitious project that will propel this part of the city into national beer significance, together with exciting developments

by Northern Alchemy Brewing just up the hill and over the road.

“We intend to complement the other Ouseburn Valley venues when we open on May 17,” says Brinkburn St managing director Lee Renforth.

“The date coincides with the royal wedding, so maybe we’ll get a late extension.”

The beer serving area is actually a shipping container with a section removed, much like an enormous

Ready to order: The Brinkburn St crew, left to right: Emma Anderson, Stew Southern, Lee Dolman, Stuart Whitby, Gareth Baty, Josie Smith and Lee Renforth

DARLINGTON’S FIRST MICROPUB

NOW OPEN

THE ORB MICROPUB - ALE AND WHISKY HOUSE WILL BE FOCUSING ON PROVIDING THE HIGHEST QUALITY LOCAL REAL ALES, CRAFT BEERS AND A WIDE RANGE OF SINGLE MALT WHISKIES.

ORB MICROPUB, ALE & WHISKY HOUSE 28 CONISCLIFFE ROAD, DARLINGTON DL3 7RG TEL: 07903237246 | 22 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

@ORBMICROPUB

PUB AND BREWERY NEWS ice-cream van and featuring a counter made of polished concrete – which has got to be a “mustsee”.

Tyne Wear Museums & Archives have been involved in the recreation due to the historic and architecturally sensitive nature of the site, although the present building dates from the 1930s.

Another interesting feature are girders that were manufactured in Middlesbrough by Dorman Long, the company that supplied the fabric of the Tyne Bridge, and a short tunnel that disappears under Hume Street.

“We’re recycling as much material as possible,” says Lee Renforth. “Recycling is a very important part of what we do. The brewery has been upgraded completely with twice the production capability of the former eight-barrel one we originally had. Brewers often say their beers are like their bairns. There’s a story behind every one of them and they love them dearly.”

Also on the team is Josie Smith, a well known figure in the Newcastle pub trade, having spent eight years with the Sir John Fitzgerald group at the Bacchus and Fitzgeralds on Grey Street when it was awarded pub of the year by the local Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) branch She then had a spell at Colonel Porters in the city, but now at Bribkburn St she has been responsible for bar layout and menu themes, whilst becoming expert out of necessity –12:08 in planning TBF-18 Cheers ad 1/2 18 awk.qxp_TBF Cheers 1/2anpage 18–awk 27/03/2018 Pageand 1 building regulations.

The kitchen, which the whole enterprise revolves around, is the domain of head chef Gareth Baty, originally from Carlisle, and a young man who has been making a name for himself in the London restaurant scene, working with some of the top names in the business and on private events for the likes of Alexander McQueen, Harrods, Vogue and Dom Perignon Champagne. His mother is a Geordie and a former chef, as was his grandfather who criss-crossed the region helping to feed miners in their darkest days.

He says: “I feel the Brinkburn St project to be the most exciting one yet.” His style of “good, honest food” will use beer as much as possible during cooking and will pair with Brinkburn St beers. A community of local growers, farmers and producers has been set up with the likes of local bread and black pudding coming in and spent grains going out to feed pigs which will then come back as sausages. Weekly menus will change with what’s available and in season, while a Scotch Egg of the Week will be a constant on the menu.

Regular events planned include The Brewer’s Table, a beer and food matching dinner; Rum and Gin Masterclasses, and a Saturday Brew Club under the strapline of “brew, learn, lunch and beer” which offers hands-on experience and a chance to learn the mystical art of brewing.

Where Brinkburn St Bar & Kitchen is concerned, great beer and first-class food are never-ending pursuits.

COMING SOON! BEER • CIDER • CRAFT BEER • WINE • PIMMS • GIN STREET FOOD • LIVE MUSIC • SATURDAY FAMILY AFTERNOON

Tickets from £ 8 – buy online:

tynedalebeerfestival.org.uk at TYNEDALE RUGBY CLUB, CLOSE TO CORBRIDGE TRAIN STATION CAMPING • FREE CARPARKING

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@tynebeerfest tynedalebeerfestival

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 23

BEER FESTIVALS

SPRING HAS SPRUNG IT’S FESTIVAL TIME

The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is, of course, 42 – if you’re a Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy believer, that is. Most of us prefer our 42 to be the third primary pseudoperfect number, or through watching The Kumars at No 42 – and did you know that if you folded a sheet of paper 42 times it would reach beyond the Moon?.

The Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) Newcastle Beer & Cider Festival number 42 is upon us; an opportunity to sample some of the best ales the region can serve up, plus with its Celtic theme this year,

offerings from Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.

“A special beer selection team has been involved for the first time, rather than leaving the choice to one or two individuals,” says Martin Ellis, the Tyneside & Northumberland Camra branch’s festival committee chairman. “That way the range of beers should reflect the vast array of styles and brands available.

“The team has put a lot of effort into researching the beer scene to find interesting cask beers. For example, the Welsh brewers have gathered together to get them to us and as some of them are very small producers there should be quite a

few beers which have never been in the region before.

“A lot of local brewers are interested in supporting us; they see the value in getting the festival to work. We’ve got a lot of commercial support with Hexhamshire Brewery sponsoring the glassware which celebrates its 25 years of brewing. These should become collectors’ items.

Great North Eastern Brewing Co is supplying the branded staff shirts, while Hadrian Border, Camerons and Mordue breweries have become beer festival patrons.”

This year’s Battle of the Beers, the hotly-contested annual

event that normally comes with a tight brief, has been divided into two categories. More and more participants are taking part and the answer to question 42 will emerge from an American IPA or a wheat beer with some 30 breweries rising to the occasion. The winners of both categories will then go head-tohead. Another first this year is that the beer and cider of the festival will be voted on by the festival-going public rather than by the staff.

The 42nd Newcastle Beer & Cider Festival, Northumbria University Students’ Union, Newcastle.

Details: cannybevvy.co.uk

First & Last Brewery Finely crafted ales from the heart of Northumberland

T 07757 286 357 E info@firstandlastbrewery.co.uk Facebook firstandlastbrewery Twitter fl_brewery www.firstandlastbrewery.co.uk 24 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

BEER FESTVALS

GATESHEAD NUMBER NINE What initially started off as a small beer festival in 2010 has quickly grown into one of the largest in the North East.

Gateshead Beer & Music Festival is now in its ninth year – based at Gateshead Rugby Club in Low Fell, the three-day event raised funds foro the development of the sport.

The organisers try to reach out as far afield as possible with the emphasis very much about building connections with neighbouring communities and supporting local businesses by sourcing their produce and involving local charities.

As always there promises to be a great selection of local ales available – 50 of them from 20 different breweries which include 2018

Ferryhill - Co. Durham

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF YARD OF ALE BREWING Based at the award winning Surtees Arms since 2008, Yard of Ale have been distributing award winning ales across North East pubs and festivals playing a key role in the brewing community for a decade.

SPRING BEER FEST debutants Three Brothers, Rigg & Furrow, McColls, Saints Row and Twice Brewed, plus the usual wide range of beers from all corners of the UK, totalling over 160 beers plus ciders. The featured region this year is Lancashire with offers from 11 different breweries. www. gatesheadbeerfestival.co.uk

QUITE A FEAT FOR YARD OF ALE

Surtees Arms & Yard of Ale, Chilton Lane, Ferryhill Station, County Durham DL17 0DH. Celebrating ten years of Yard of Ale brewing with in-house beers, plus cider and some special guests to the tune of live music and great food. Music in the bar with Signs of Life (folk/rock) on Friday night and Siobhan McCavanagh on Saturday

Yard of Ale Brew Co.

night or if you like it a little quieter, settle in the lounge with its real fire.

Brewery and pub owner Alan Hogg says: "We can't belive it's ten years since we decided to set up the brewery. It's gone so fast. I have to pay a huge tribute to my wife Susan who has been a major part of the whole thing."

Details: 01740 655 724.

Weds 18th - Sun 22nd April Featuring Yard of Ale & Special Guests Beer & Cider / Live Music / Food

Brewery contact no: 07540733513 www.surteesarms.co.uk whatpub.com @yardofalebrewer email: yardofale@yahoo.co.uk Surtees Arms opening hours Weds & Thurs 4pm-11pm, Fri 4pm - Late, Sat 12pm-12am, Sun 12pm - 11pm

PROUD TO SUPPORT ALL OUR LOCAL NORTH EAST BREWERIES WITH THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE SELECTION OF LOCAL BEERS AVAILABLE ANYWHERE.

NEW MARKETS, NATURALLY It might be wild but it’s definitely wonderful – Brewlab, the brewing training and analysis centre in Sunderland, is conducting a course in wild and natural fermentation. So, it’s welcome to the world around us.

This specialist course provides students with the knowledge and skills in producing additional products for their brewery – some as additional fermentations using novel ingredients and others based on brewery by-products.

Expanding the portfolio is a

pressing need in contemporary brewing, but this often results in a catalogue of beers which can be difficult to manage. Diversification into additional products is a valuable means of building on brands while opening new markets and outlets. The two-day wild and natural fermentation course (May 10-11) provides an introduction to additional fermentations with a strong focus on the microbiology and production requirements of cider and fruit wines and sour beers. www.brewlab.co.uk

LOCAL ALES – CRAFT BEERS CHILLED TRAIN BEERS LOCAL SPIRITS – ENGLISH WINE AMBIENCE – AND MORE FIND US AT: UNIT 11, PLATFORM 12, CENTRAL STATION. @CENTR_ALE

@CENTRALEBEER

E MAIL: CONTACT@CENTRALEBEER.COM PHONE: 0191-2618468 WWW.CENTRALEBEER.COM (COMING SOON)

www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 25

AREA FOCUS: NORTH TYNESIDE

SETTING THE PACE NOT COASTING North Tyneside is setting the pace for pubs, beer and all that goes with them

North Tyneside’s strip of coastline is the ideal choice for a day trip or evening out.

Whitley Bay, Tynemouth, Cullercoats and North Shields have “welcome” woven into them, their pubs and their ancillary businesses.

Most people we met for this feature announced that the area – Whitley Bay in particular – is “on the up” and it certainly has that feel about it. There’s a lot going on with change for the better.

North Shields town centre remains vibrant. Tradition is king here and the more savvy leisure operators are turning their 26 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

attention to its potential. The Fish Quay is benefitting enormously from some wise investment with awards arriving regularly for its pubs and restaurants.

Tynemouth is ever popular with select shops and is a highly recommended destination for eating and drinking or a simple thirst-inducing stroll. Front Street and Percy Park Road both have a mix of shops well worth browsing, as well as traditional pubs, cafes and bistros with enough of a difference to make the experience a memorable one. Here and over the next few pages, we take a look at what’s on offer:

Joe Clancy at Elderberry

ELDERBERRY HOME BREW CENTRE, WHITLEY BAY The specialist home-brew outlet is a regional jewel for beer, wine and sprits experimenters. Founded by

Kiwi Alan Gough in 1993 and on its current site on Station Road, Whitley Bay, since 1996, you could say it’s an elder (berry) statesman. Alan Gough now runs a small vineyard in

AREA FOCUS: NORTH TYNESIDE France but pops back every six months to keep his hand in.

Crammed inside is a huge range of beer kits, cider kits, wine kits, distilling equipment and brewing gear plus every conceivable bit and bob that you need for full-mash brewing.

Manager Joe Clancy joined the company in 2015. He says: “The brew kits these days are much improved from the ones you got years ago.

Everything you need is in the box – small bags of malt, hops and brewing sugars.

“People are getting more into it with the rise of craft brewing over the past four years and lot of people are making their own liqueurs, vodkas and gins these days. We still have the old Geordie home-brew kits which are cheap and cheerful, but it depends on what you want your beer to be like.

There are some excellent ones on the market – St Peters is a good seller.”

Elderberry even offers cheese-making kits – from Mozzarella to Red Leicester – “they make great presents”. Mini distilling equipment is a hot line, as is a 30-litre conical fermenter which saves racking beer from one plastic bucket to another after fermentation.

Joe says: “Customers come from all over because we’ve got pretty much everything for brewing.”

Elderberry Home Brew Centre, 29 Station Road, Whitley Bay NE26 2RD. Tel: 0191 251 3907. www.elderberryhomebrew.com

Boda Home

BODA HOME, WHITLEY BAY Boda Homes owner Jade Skeels sums up the ethos of her family business in a couple of sentences. “We love cooking, eating and drinking so we think our little shop reflects that,” she says.

“We always have something to catch your eye and feed your imagination.”

For the full story, though, you simply have to visit to see the range of goods that captures the best in food and drink plus all that goes with it. Local

producers and ethical products come top of Jade’s shopping list, with regional beers outselling all others on the shelves and a magnificent choice of organic wines often exclusive to the North East.

The wines aren’t simply organic, they’re biodynamic, natural and free from pesticides, herbicides and man-made toxins, produced by growers who not only care about what’s in each bottle but have huge respect for their employees.

“We go to tastings with these organic wine producers who rock up in jeans and T-shirts,” says Jade. “Some speak English, some don’t, but they love to tell you the rigmarole they go through to get their wine right. Sometimes it’s a disaster but they just laugh it off. I love that attitude.

“Things are going really well in the shop, there’s lots to do and we’re very happy. We’ve got a nice following and local people are always popping in.

We’re quite easy going, it’s a superb location with a lot going on in this part of town and a lot of energy about.

“We’re forever changing stuff around because we’re very aware of what people want; the kitchenware, glassware and greetings cards all go well. We all like nice things and good food and drink, so we seek out great design and quality goods produced by people making great stuff in a thoughtful way.”

Boda Home, 74A Whitley Road, Whitley Bay NE26 2NE. Tel: 07452 244 716. www.bodahome.co.uk

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AREA FOCUS: NORTH TYNESIDE

Tony Patton at the Dog & Rabbit DOG & RABBIT, WHITLEY BAY If there was an advert for how to create the perfect micropub with microbrewery attached, it would be the Dog & Rabbit. It’s comfortable and friendly with great beer and knowledgeable staff – more often than not owners Tony and Julie Patton.

And there’s something about a tartan carpet that says “nice pub”.

“We’re still seeing new people every day which is really encouraging,” says Tony (the pub has been open for just over 18 months). “Lots of people like to come out for a quiet drink and that’s what we’re all about.”

Tony is busy brewing a beer for the Newcastle Beer Festival battle of the beers competition in the neat microbrewery at the rear of the pub.

“It’s an American IPA called Underdog – it’s us against the big boys. I’ve also got a Butterscotch Stout on the go in collaboration with the Split Chimp micropub in Newcastle. It’s called Shug Monkey after the half-monkey, half-dog mythical beast. Butterscotch is normally an off-flavour in beer but we’ve crushed a whole load of Werthers Originals to get the flavour we want – it’s a bit like Angel Delight.”

Another collaboration is with Coppers in Gosforth – Max-Ed-St-Out (11.6% abv) is named after the pub dog.

“Customers are very loyal, they’re even taking Dog & Rabbit T-shirts with them on holiday and sending back photos from the likes of Easter Island and beside the Space Shuttle.

“We’ve also set up a ‘Bermuda Triangle’ round tour with Nord bottle shop and Whitley Bay Brewing Co (based at the King George pub) which everybody benefits from.”

Dog & Rabbit, 34 Park View, Whitley Bay NE26 2TH. Tel: 07944 552 716.

The Storm Cellar at Black Storm THE STORM CELLAR AT BLACK STORM, WHITLEY BAY The Storm Cellar, owned by Black Storm Brewing, is a prime example of the impression that Whitley Bay is on the up. Paul Hughes, James DavieBaguely previously ran neighbouring pubs in Oxfordshire, and have put their experience to great use in a deceivingly large former restaurant,

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tucked between a residential area and the bustling commercial centre of town.

James says: “Paul sold up and I took some time out, then I got a phone call out of the blue saying we should work together – so here I am. We decided to call it The Storm Cellar after putting it to a public vote.”

The local public have been involved from before the start to see if their concept would work.

Paul says: “We opened it up for a few weekends as a pop-up bar to see how it went. It was a bit of market research with beers from Mordue, Three Kings, Flash House and Hadrian Border as well as our own beer brewed at the moment by Hadrian Border to our recipes. It went really, really well – the first one was a sell-out – and convinced us that we were right.”

Paul and James have definite ideas for the style and direction of The Storm Cellar – lounge-style, home-from-home is the idea populated with large settees rather than tables and chairs. The bar counter features four handpulls – three Black Storm beers and a rotating guest, with six keg taps pouring behind.

Black Storm beers are straightforward, traditional British classics – Bitter (4.4% abv), Porter (5.2% abv), Blonde (4.0% abv) and IPA (5.5% abv). They are as finely balanced and well-tuned as you’d ever want a beer to be.

“They’re easy-going beers, ones you want to go back for,” says James.

Paul says: “The long-term goal is to have our own brewery, but it’s great at the moment to be backed up by the Hadrian Border team’s expertise. The idea is to build the audience first and we’re very happy with the way it’s all going at the moment.”

The Storm Cellar At Black Storm, 10 York Road, Whitley Bay NE26 1AB. Tel: 07725 762 102.

Yard House THE YARD HOUSE, TYNEMOUTH When Andrew Phillips absorbed the local Post Office into his newsagents and off-license, he probably had a good right to think it was all he could do with the newsagents and convenience store in Percy Park View that he runs with business partner Peter Carr. But seeing the success others have had with a bottle shop and taphouse convinced them they had yet more to offer Tynemouth.

The Yard House was converted from an office and storage space and now offers tasting sessions and, in time, meet-the-brewer events.

“We started off with a core range to see what goes and what doesn’t and built from there,” says Andrew. “The high volume IPAs sell best of all, as do the Pale Ales. Magic Rock, Cloudwater and Wylam are great sellers and anything Almasty just flies out. We’re building on a community of interested people.”

That community extends to the school across the road where parents picking up their kids have discovered the joys of Yard House, plus Andrew has donated empty KeyKeg plastic containers for science projects and for www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 29

AREA FOCUS: NORTH TYNESIDE

planters. To supplement the rows of shelving sparkling with bottles and cans, five keg taps have been installed in the intimate Yard House space – beers from Brinkburn St Brewery, Cloudwater, Magic Rock, The Kernel and Beatnikz ready for filling into glasses for sampling or growlers to take away.

Andrew says: “We’re having tasting nights once a month and offering food – and there’s a lovely deli round the corner where we get things like cold cuts.”

The Yard House 27-29 Percy Park View, Tynemouth NE30 4LT. Tel: 0191 257 0532.

The Salutation THE SALUTATION, TYNEMOUTH First things first. The gents’ toilets in The Salutation are a credit to the pub and to the

licensed trade in general. They’re well designed, spotlessly maintained and – dare we say – userfriendly. But there’s an awful lot more to The Salutation that little boys’ rooms; it’s a large pub but somehow doesn’t seem it.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s three pubs knocked into one, such is the clever division of traditional public bar, lounge and dining area with its mix and match finishes of brick, timber, tile and upholstery in a £370,000 investment by owners Stonegate Pub Co. Lots of decorative plus points lean towards the quirky with dashes of neon, suitcases and blank picture frames add up to an overall ambience.

There’s no doubt The Salutation is a food-led establishment with burgers and pizzas high on the menu, plus an extensive cocktails list and the pub, on Front Street, caters for sports fans with a selection of live events from around the globe.

Competition among pubs is fierce along the North East coast and Tynemouth and The Salutation has set out its beer stall on a craft keg range which includes Wylam Jakehead IPA, Hadrian Border Grainger Ale, Tyne Bank Northern Porter and Sonnet 43 Impressionment. The cask handpulls impress equally with Allendale Wolf, Anarchy Blonde Star, Draught Bass, Wylam Collingwood and Sonnet 43 Aurora Pale Ale an intriguing line-up. Rather pleasingly, a large mix

of age groups is attracted by the choice. (A quick glance at our notebook reveals: “Allendale Wolf in perfect nick. Super, friendly staff. Sit and watch Tynemouth go by”.)

The pub’s large front area is cleverly sectioned into separate, airy, open-plan sections for dining and drinking, with a room to the rear serving more of a traditional restaurant role. The L-shaped bar counter, faced in sections of distressed timber, is a fair old size – as it undoubtedly needs to be in this busy location.

The Salutation, Front Street, Tynemouth, NE30 4BT. Tel: 0191 296 3950 www.stonegatepubs.com

Oddfellows

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AREA FOCUS: NORTH TYNESIDE

ODDFELLOWS, NORTH SHIELDS There’s at least one constant in North Shields – Oddfelloes (aka Oddies) has changed very little over the years, if at all. Landlady Lynda Blair has been in charge since last September and says: When I took over I promised I wouldn’t change anything.”

She’s been true to her word; Oddies is the same cracking little pub it has been for years; virtually square in shape, a traditional bar with some great beers and sparkling fittings. Judging by the photos on the wall and the television screen rolling over black-and-white images of bygone North Shields, it’s a community pub that’s very proud of its roots – and its successes with a row of top pub awards.

There’s free soup every day and free dog biscuits for furry companions. Regular events include two poker evenings (one acting as a school for beginners), fun quiz, and live acoustic music.

A beer festival is scheduled for May which takes up the enclosed rear yard and is perfect for such an occasion.

Lynda says: “It’s always a nice crowd, never any bother and lovely, lovely customers. Our best seller is the house beer Hale Ale (3.8% abv) from Three Kings. We go through a cask a day.

“I’m very proud of my pub and very proud of my customers, but I couldn’t do it without my lovely staff. Ninety-nine per cent of customers have been

coming here for years and we’re starting to attract younger ones as well who like a nice night out.”

Oddfellows, 7 Albion Row, North Shields NE30 2RJ. Tel: 0191 435 8450.

The Pie Shop

THE PIE SHOP, NORTH SHIELDS A visitor from Outer Space would be left in no doubt that they have landed in the heart of North East culture. Couthy and canny, jam-packed with character, and as Geordie as owt, The Pie Shop is a real find and a place that makes you smile long before your “dinna” arrives.

Décor-wise, full use has been made of marine ply which lends a no-nonsense feel – owner Stephen Bones is a former joiner. It’s a lovely,

friendly little place and there’s no mistaking where football allegiances lie – note the historic Newcastle United photos. Large solid tables allow plenty of elbow room – a must when tackling something like The Clammin’ Dinna (two pies, three mash, peas and gravy).

Even better, there are beers in a corner, beers in a chiller and beers on a shelf. Pies and beer, eh?

“The combination of pies and beer didn’t take much thinking about,” says Stephen.

The concept of The Pie Shop is that it shouldn’t just be a takeaway but also a place where customers can sit in and enjoy “good old-fashioned hearty Geordie food and hospitality”.

Stephen says: “And we’re trying to keep as local as we can, working with Flash House, Three Kings and Mordue breweries from North Shields, as well as Whitley Bay Brewing and Brinkburn St from Newcastle. But we’ll expand on that.”

Other meal styles on the menu are The Oversized Dinna (one pie, two scoops of mash, peas and gravy), the Not That Hungry Or If You’re a Bairn (smaller portions all round), and Nee Pie which is exactly that – just want mash, peas and gravy all mixed in without the pie,” says Stephen.

“It’s now a talking point – a pie shop with nee pie.”

The Pie Shop, West Percy Street, North Shields NE29 0DJ. Tel: 07597 134 259 www.geordiepieandmash.co.uk

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EVERY BEER YOU TAKE When a global superstar performs at your brewery and takes a liking to one of your beers, it must make you feel very proud indeed. Having said that, Dave Stone, director at Wylam Brewery in Newcastle, is rightly proud of everyone who comes to the brewery in Exibition Park, Newcastle, to have a good time and enjoy great beer in great company.

But Sting is special to the North East and a performance by him in an intimate atmosphere is admittedly a very special occasion.

Dave Stone says: “We were asked to host the after-party following the premiere of The Last Ship musical at Northern Stage in Newcastle which raised money for the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Centre – a brilliant charity. The Graeme Wylie Foundation is currently building the first such centre outside of London which is dedicated to changing the lives of vulnerable and isolated people.

“It was a fantastic occasion and it was incredible even during the sound

32 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

check when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. We sometimes forget how iconic some of these songs are. He performed Englishman In New York, Fields Of Gold, Every Breath You Take… and was one hundred per cent up for it.

“He owns a vineyard now so he’s more of a wine man, but I told him beer had changed since he was a gadgie. He got right into our Macchiato Hazelnut Praline Coffee Porter. There were 400 in the audience which I suppose is an intimate gig for him – and such a small venue. He hung around for quite a while afterwards and was very easy to deal with.”

The Last Ship, directed by Lorne Campbell with music and lyrics by Sting celebrates the communities that lived – literally – in the shadows of the Tyne shipyards at Wallsend where he was brought up. It is showing at Northern Stage in Newcastle until April 7, then touring.

Sting first performed with The Police at The Mafcentrum in MaasBree, Holland, in 1977.

VIEW FROM ABROAD

INDIAN TAKEAWAY

Globe-trotter Nick Snaith continues his search for indigenous beer Southern India is not the easiest region of the world to drink in. The southernmost states of Kerala, Karuataka and Tamil Nadu each have their own regulations on the sale and consumption of alcohol, whereas the northern states have banned it totally.

Kerala is the most difficult of the three; each town in the state might have only two or three “beer and wine” outlets in upmarket hotels, charging 180-250 rupees (£2-£3) for a 650ml bottle of 6.0% abv beer.

Wine is also available from locallyproduced grapes – but don’t go there! Needless to say, their bars are largely empty and are lacking in atmosphere.

The local bars in Tamil Nadu are usually situated down an insanitary alleyway and are exclusively male preserves. Buying beer goes something like this: Purchase a bottle of the ubiquitous Kingfisher from a man behind a metal grill for about 40 rupees. Take the bottle to a table or bench where another man will come

and open it for you – and sell you a plastic cup (five rupees) to drink it from. Repeat the performance for subsequent rounds.

At 8.0% abv, some Tamil Nadu beers hit the mark, being well chilled – which is particularly welcoming in 32ºC heat. Haywards 5000 Gold Premium Strong Beer (7.5% abv) is easy-drinking and full-flavoured with a detectable yeast and hop

aftertaste. Zingaro Magnum Strong Beer (8.0% abv) comes with a small-print warning, “Liquor ruins country, family & life” above an illustration of a cowpoke wrangling wild horses. It is extremely sweet and malty with a nose of over-ripe fruit. A more popular drink in local bars is “brandy” – 40cl bottles retailing at about 220 rupees which is washed down with water from plastic packets. Not for the faint-hearted.

Bengaluru (Bangalore) is the capital of Karnataka and India’s call-centre and IT hub (think unsolicited phone calls about that car accident you never had in 2013). Microbreweries spring up on an almost monthly basis catering for the burgeoning middle classes. Inevitably, they are situated in expensive suburbs and command prices to suit. Cheaper bars do exist but are not places you would necessarily take your granny.

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BEER STYLES

OH HONEY... DO YOU FANCY A BEER?

There are so many new beers and styles available with every visit to the pub that it would be easy to think they’re produced on a whim. However, there’s an awful lot of thought going into what ingredient will work with another and how the actual brewing process will be affected.

The latest in a long line of experimentation is not exactly new – braggot has been around since beer was developed six thousand years ago. Braggot is a combination of honey and malted grains – mead meets beer comes close to its description – and the best braggot is formed rom a recipe that highlights the best of mead and beer in one delicious package.

As the American Homebrewers Association puts it: “History buffs toil away trying to recreate what different cultures were drinking

The

thousands of years ago, while other forward-looking mead makers and homebrewers are pushing the envelope of ingredient combinations in braggot.”

Honey producer Mark Chambers – The Travelling Bee Co – has been working with Newcastle University brewing facility Stu Brew on a prototype braggot recipe that he hopes will fulfill all expectations.

Gateshead-based Mark keeps hives all over the North East, Northumberland, and Argyll in the west of Scotland. His bees take advantage of heather, lime trees, garden flowers and everything else in flower to produce astonishing honeys that are available in specialist outlets locally, including Fenwicks in Newcastle. But the honey used in the braggot samples came from hives within 200 metres of Gateshead Millennium Bridge

and less than a mile from the university.

“I do quite a bit of work with the university anyway, so I agreed to supply local honey in a flash. The beer is really nice; I love it – and it’s as local as you can get. I’d been thinking about a honey-type beer for some time and now we’ve got a choice between two cracking beers.”

Andy Hickson, manager of The Green in Wardley, Gateshead, has been one of the first to try out the new braggot in the most scientific of tasting arenas, the bar.

“Mark pops in occasionally and he brought in a few bottles of braggot to try, so we passed them around to see what the opinion was. The style follows on from when they would use all different ingredients in beer like heather and kelp because hops were so expensive.

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smells good, it’s effervescent, has a decent colour and is very pleasant.

With being honey-based, the sweetness could override everything else, like those other honey beers – Waggle Dance was one – but it’s interesting to know that the two batches we sampled were made with two different yeasts.”

Stu Brew student brewers Tom Nesfield and Paulius Rasuikas have been working on the braggot recipe.

“Usually braggots are two-thirds honey and one-third malt,” says Tom. “However, as we wanted a beer around the 4.0% abv mark we switched the ratio. Technically, if you’re going by the official beer guidelines it isn’t a braggot but it’s the nearest style you could call it.

“We boiled rhubarb and added the juice part-way through fermentation to counter the honey sweetness.

The batch was split into two

BEER STYLES

Swarm outside: Bees on honeycomb. Photo: Georgina Lydon

fermenters, one fermented with S04 yeast and the other with S05 yeast.

“With S04 yeast you tend to get a more fruitier flavour and S05 gives a dry, crisp finish. Feedback from the Stu Brew committee largely preferred S04 yeast – on blind tasting, 39 people preferred S04 and 24 went for S05. Customers from The Green reported they preferred S05.

“We’re hoping the prototype will be scaled up to full batch size when rhubarb is in season.”

Paulius Rasuikas stresses the importance of yeast in this experiment and indeed the whole brewing process. He says: “Yeast makes a lot of difference in our prototypes. When we gave out blind samples, people were slightly in favour of the S04 strain. Brewing with honey is not difficult, but you need to make sure it dissolves well and take into account that most of the honey sugar will ferment out.”

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Real Madrid brewer: Alan Dunlop at Tyne Bank Brewery

YOU CAN BANK ON IT A name new to Newcastle brewing is going to be one to remember, writes Alastair Gilmour

A head brewer with the surname Brewer could be a hard act to follow. But Alan Dunlop hasn’t been recruited to Tyne Bank Brewery to do exactly what Adam Brewer did before he headed off into education – he intends to make his mark and do a bit of shaking up at the Newcastle brewery and taphouse.

Alan’s background qualifies him to bring innovation and vision into the region’s beer scene, with a slant or two guaranteed to refresh drinkers’ palates. He worked in the music industry in Madrid where he was also employed in a brewpub, and he brewed at celebrated Scottish breweries SixºNorth and Williams Bros – two outfits with style and quality written through them like a stick of rock.

SixºNorth in Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire, specialises in brewing Belgian beers – and has four outlets in Scotland’s major cities.

“I was there for about 15 months before going to Williams Bros in Alloa for more than 18 months,” says Alan. “I had been a homebrewer for years but learned to brew in Fabrica Maravillas, a brewpub in Madrid. I lived there for 13 years working for EMI. It was just at the time when craft beer was starting up in Spain so I

was in right at the beginning. Before that, Spain was all about industrial lagers.”

The music business was falling apart and EMI was changing – nobody was buying in the traditional way. Alan had looked after EMI’s back catalogue – music that’s more than a year old, going right back to the 1960s from The Beatles and Pink Floyd through Blur and Nick Cave and onto Coldplay. Then the company was sold to a Sony-led consortium and staff – including Alan – were made redundant.

He says: “SixºNorth was an extension of what I already knew, the big difference being the use of Belgian yeasts. I actually learned more at Williams Bros. Working in a brewpub is really just a step up from home-brewing so the move back (to the UK) was to learn more and get the experience.

“Williams’ history is great – they started off brewing Heather Ale when an elderly woman from the Hebrides came into their parents’ home-brew store with a recipe and asked if it could be reproduced. Working there was an opportunity for me to learn all about different flavours in beer and that it’s not just pale ale or IPA but can be brewed with bog myrtle, heather and ginger.

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“It’s exciting for me to be able to help take Tyne Bank forward; it’s a great opportunity.

Newcastle is a great city and the chance to be part of the beer scene here was very tempting.

There are some great local breweries producing really, really nice beer – Wylam, obviously, and Errant and Out There are doing some great things – and there are some terrific pubs like the Free Trade and the Town Mouse.

“Now at Tyne Bank I’m looking to liven things up, if that’s the right phrase. I worked with Adam before he left so there was a bit of a changeover and to get the feel of the place.”

Alan’s brief is to experiment more and refreshing a lot of the portfolio, doing oneoff specials – a couple of which is Cabana, a recreation of the old and much-loved cherry and coconut chocolate bar.

“We’ll taking a whole new way of looking at things, new flavours, while I’m looking at what’s happening in the beer scene around Newcastle in general,” says Alan. “We’ll always be creating new things here, even if it’s a beer only on in the taproom, but obviously I’d like to get more beer out into the city. I’m hoping people will talk about our beers; that’s how craft brewing works, people talk.”

Alan was brought up with the smell of whisky and wooden casks – his dad was a cooper at Johnnie Walker in Kilmarnock and he would come home from a shift smelling of whisky – in a nicest of ways.

He says: “I also lived in Edinburgh for a few years in the 1990s when there were still a few breweries there. The whole city used to smell of beer and on brew days it always takes me back there.”

Tyne Bank owner Julia Austin is particularly excited about what Alan Dunlop can bring to the business. She says: “We’re very happy to have Alan on board and to build on our recent gold awards from SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) for Helix Czech-style lager and Summer Breeze Light Ale brewed with root ginger and lemongrass. Elsewhere, Mitchell & Butler has recently renewed our contract for another year.”

Tyne Bank is running a Vintage Inns photo competition – just take a selfie with a pint of Silver Dollar to win a meal at Miller & Carter or another Vintage Inn. See www. tynebankbrewery.co.uk for details, plus brewery news and taproom events.

Craft Beer for the People by Richard Taylor, James Watt and Martin Dickie.

Mitchell Beazley. 2017. Hbk. 240 pp. £20.

Craft Beer for the People is part corporate history of craft brewers, BrewDog; part style guide and part overlong PR presentation. It is a well-illustrated book aimed at BrewDog’s legions of fans, many of whom are also shareholders.

There are sections on brewing, the ingredients of beer, beer styles, beer tasting and food and beer pairing. Every few pages we get a two-page article on a BrewDog beers such as Nanny State, 5AM Saint and Tokyo*. It also has 20 pages of recipes for those who might want to try their hand at brewing a 15% Imperial Stout or an IPA. Craft Beer for the People screams BrewDog from every page. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the book but, £20 seems a lot to pay for what is effectively a very long advertisement for BrewDog. David Harris

BOG STANDARD

Our celebration of the pub toilet continues with the gents at The Strawberry in Newcastle.

Landlord Michael Hill says: “It’s been been great fun – there has been a queue to use it with lots of smiling faces coming out. We intend to replace all the toilets like this. The previous floods on the floors seem to have gone and everyone is hitting the pot. “We’re just waiting for it to get stolen – then we can launch a Who Stole Our Bog Seat campaign!” www.cheersnortheast.co.uk / CHEERS / 37

FUN STUFF

SIGN OF THE TIMES We’re not sure if this fascia lettering in Morpeth, Northumberland, is permanent or if there are just letters missing, but this greengrocer’s shop spells out the three most appealing letters available to mankind.

THE DIRTY DOZEN

TWELVE TEASERS TO TEST THE GREYEST OF GREY MATTER 1 How many grooves are there on the average vinyl LP? 2 What is the most common international crime?

3 C-Curity was the original name for what?

4 What is the national flower of the US? 5 Which TV detective had the badge number 627?

6 Which animal defends itself by squirting blood from its eyes?

7 What nation reads the most books by head of population?

A POLICEMAN WALKS INTO A BAR… …AND THE BARMAN SAYS: “I HEAR YOU’RE BEING DONE FOR WRONGFUL ARREST.” THE POLICEMAN SAYS: “YES, I CAUGHT A MAN GOING TO A FANCY DRESS PARTY DISGUISED AS A TERRORIST. HOW WAS I TO KNOW HE WAS A BARRISTER?” THE BARMAN SAYS: “IT JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU CAN’T BOOK A JUDGE BY HIS COVER.”

46

EEH! NUMBERS

8 What did William Pitt the Younger introduce in 1798 as a temporary financial wartime measure?

9 What is considered to be the world’s fastest team game?

10 Where would you originally have found a penthouse?

11 What did fictional character Otto Titzling invent?

12 In which county is Leeds Castle?

The fictional door number of the Queen Vic in Albert Square in EastEnders.

46 The Go North East bus service connecting Newcastle with Consett (via Metrocentre Interchange) 46 is an enneagonal and centred triangular number and the sum of the totient function for the first twelve integers (eeh!)

46 The number used by Valentino Rossi, the most successful MotoGP motorcycle racer ever 46 in Japanese pronunciation – “yon roku” – sounds similar to “best regards” so is often used in texts.

QUOTE

“ THE BEST DRINK IN EXISTENCE IS THE PAN GALACTIC GARGLE BLASTER, THE EFFECT OF WHICH IS LIKE HAVING YOUR BRAINS SMASHED OUT WITH A SLICE OF LEMON WRAPPED ROUND A LARGE GOLD BRICK.” DOUGLAS ADAMS, THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY

QUIZ ANSWERS: 1 There’s only one continuous groove on an LP. 2 Drug smuggling. 3 Zip fastener. 4 There isn’t one. Congress has failed to agree. 5 Kojak.

6 The American horned toad. 7 Iceland. 8 Income tax. 9 Ice hockey. 10 On a real-tennis court (the three sloping roofs that balls can be played off are penthouses). 11 The bra (in the 1971 book Bust-Up). 12 Kent..

38 / CHEERS / www.cheersnortheast.co.uk

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Events @ Arch 2 Ouseburn's newest brewpub and burger kitchen Enjoy a drink and a bite to eat in our modern, friendly bar nestled under one of the Byker Bridge arches in Newcastle's creative quarter.

10 taps of craft beer Onsite microbrewery Undercover courtyard Sit-around fire pit Child and dog friendly Beer tastings Brewery experience days Private parties FEATURE BEER: Newcastle IPA ABV 5.0% Perfect reward for an honest day’s work, a clean, drinkable IPA that’s packed with flavour and offers a bold balance not a smack in the head.

Brewed with our own blend of 4 American hops (Centennial, Amarillo, Cascade and Chinook), the result is a hop lover’s dream with fruity aromas, set off by a dry malt middle and a long hop finish.

March 14th • April 16th 2018 The Crafthood Social

March 10th • March 30th • April 27th 2018 GESÚ presents ELECTRIC DISCO March 21st April 18th 2018 Paint Social

NEWCASTLE IPA Unfiltered. Wheat Free. Allergen Advice: Contains Barley

MORE INFORMATION AT: www.facebook.com/ arch2ouseburn/events/

Arch2 Stepney Bank, Ouseburn, NE1 2NP www.newcastlebrewingltd.co.uk Like us on facebook to keep up to date about our new developments in 2018 facebook.com/arch2ouseburn