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CHRISTMAS PARTY, SING, DANCE & PARTY SOME MORE

Our Motto is:- You’re always welcome at the Canute.

See us at The Canute. www.partyatthepub.co.uk

/bars/the-canute

the Canute

12-14 Silver Street, Gainsborough, DN21 2DP

Tel: 01427 678715

Gainsborough CAMRA’S award winning pub in 2012 is now open after a full refurbishment. Enjoy our 5 ever changing ales in our sumptuous warm atmosphere. We keep a broad selection of beers including independent breweries alongside quality national brands.

Food is served every day - be it breakfast from 9AM til noon, lunches, main meals to our fantastic Big Eat Monster meals. All available with full table service. Enjoy the Big Match form our big screen. We show all major sports fixtures. Planning a Party? Don’t forget you can book a table, booth or entire area of the Canute for free! We can assist you in every way to make your party sparkle. Our food and drinks packages can be tailored to your needs by our in house party planner.

For the best food, drink and party venue in town, make the Canute your

first choice. We look forward to welcoming you very soon.

THE GAINS BREW

THE MAGAZINE OF GAINSBOROUGH CAMRA

DEC12 / FEB13 ISSUE 16

BEER FESTIVAL. ANOTHER HUGE SUPCCES

For the second year running we have achieved the ultimate victory yet suffered defeat at the same time. Once again we managed to completely sell out of all of our chosen beers, ciders, perries and wines before our allotted closing time, even though we imported an extra 10 more beers and 3 more ciders in on the Saturday morning. We have incorporated a festival supplement in this issue. By the time you read this the old Christmas jingles will have well and truly started to sound. Be on the look out for the Christmas specials from the micro breweries. Grafters Greetings will be hitting the pumps from the end of November. This is a wonderful Christmas ale that, although it has all the essence of a Christmas beer, is not too overpowering with the tastes of Cinnamon and mixed fruit. No doubt it will be on the bar at The Half Moon and other quality pubs around our area. Look out for it and enjoy.

REMEMBER A PUB IS FOR LIFE NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS !

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ROSE & CROWN

30 HIGH ST UPTON

GAINSBOROUGH DN21 5NQ

EDITORS PINTS OF VIEW !

A FRIENDLY COMMUNITY PUBLIC HOUSE

SERVING FINE REAL ALES, SUNDAY CARVERY

WE ARE NOW OPEN FOR EVENING MEALS FRI-SAT 5pm-8pm

***WEDDINGS & PARTIES CATERED FOR***

TELEPHONE 01427 838216

There will be enough said in the following pages about the beer festival so I am not going to mention it any further other than to thank ALL of our sponsors, helpers and customers and I look forward to serving you all again next year. It was good to see that at least one of our local pubs (The R Bar) had the common sense to jump on the band waggon and stock some of the beers from the beer festival, and judging by the amount of people in there over the festival period the crowds also appreciated them as well. The local pub scene has had another couple of casualties over the past month or so. The Sun Hotel closed its doors for the last time at the beginning of October. It was only a few months ago that they were trying out real ale on their bars but to no avail. The other victim of apathy and taxes is the sole remaining Cons Club. Both establishments were long established businesses in the town and it is a sad state of affairs that the trade has lost both of them. On the plus side Lords has opened its doors again. Up to us going to print there was no real ale on sale there but it is rumoured that the new tenants will try it out to see if it is going to sell. Also the newly built Marston eatery pub, The Lincolnshire Otter, has opened and seems to have been a massive hit. Though I have not as yet tried it first hand I am told the food is very good and the beer is well kept and selling well. There are four real ales on the bar 2 regulars, Pedigree and Hobgoblin, and 2 seasonal guests from the Marston catalogue. I suppose it is a bit awkward to get to for a couple of pints but if you have a DES it would be worth it. Well that’s all for this year. Peace, good ale & cheer to all our readers.

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CHAIRMAN KARL THOMSON kgt1946@gmail.com

SECRETARY GRAHAM BARTHORPE

TREASURER JOHN PLATT, whitefeather@fsmail.net

SOCIAL SEC. LYNNE ALSOP

Brewery Liaison Officer AARON TAYLOR

MEMBERSHIP SEC.. DAVID MALCOM davidmalcom485@hotmail.com

PRESS OFFICER & EDITOR KEVIN TAYLOR harrydaverchi @hotmail.com PHONE 07747733876

15th Dec Christmas social 1 The Half Moon Willingham (Bus pick up opposite

The Rowing Club 7:30pm fare £5 return)

18th Dec Christmas social 2 at the Elm Cottage 8:30

Jan 12th Beer festival staff outing to Hull (Guests £5) (Bus pick up opposite

The Rowing Club 10:00am)

Jan 15th Branch Meeting The ‘R’ Bar

Jan 23rd 1st Beer Festival Meeting 8:30 Horse & Jockey. All welcome.

Feb 19th Branch Meeting the Canute

Mar Wed 20th A.G.M. & Branch Meeting Blues Club. Please note 8:00 start

April 16th The Lincolnshire Otter

Our branch meetings are usually held on the 3rd Tuesday of every month with Beer Festival meetings every second Wednesday. If you wish to attend please

email one of the addresses above for more details.

DIARY DATES

GAINSBOROUGH CAMRA CONTACTS

Grafters Brewery. Brewery tours are available any day of the week and at any-

time. Tour of the brewery, Fish & Chips, plus 2 hours drinking (Grafters beers only)

only £20 per person. Tel:- 01427 788340 To book.

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Hot and Cold sandwiches made to order (telephone orders welcome). Fresh Savoury Pies baked daily. Specials made to order.

OXLEY’S BUTCHERS

Suppliers of locally produced, free range Beef, Pork and Lamb. We also supply (TO ORDER) Venison,

Wild Boar, Ox Tail, Lambs Hearts & other specialist cuts.

Beer Sausages, made with

Grafters Darker Side of the Moon

Melrose Road, Gainsborough.

For orders Tel:- 01427 616700

The White Hart High Street Blyton

01427 628683

Why not book your party in our Lounge Bar, any occasion catered for with or without Disco or a Buffet Menu of your choice.

Opening Hours:- Mon-Tues, 5pm - 12. Wed/Thurs 12– 2pm & 5pm/12 Fri 12:00pm - 01:00am. Sat 12:30pm/1am. Sun 12:00 - 12:00

***** HAPPY HOUR 6:30-7:30 EVERY SUNDAY ***** 50p Off all draught bitters and lagers.

Forthcoming Events

We have a number of weekly events from darts to dominos and bingo nights. Why not look us up and like our page on facebook?

Home cooked meals Friday & Saturday 6:00 Till 9:00

Traditional Roast Sunday Lunches 12:00 Till 3:00

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Here is this issue’s quiz. Once again it has been compiled by the branch’s self acclaimed super hero ‘Ciderman’ We hope you don't get the pip with it but find the quiz appealing and not at all saucy. (Boom Tish) Q1/. What was the title of the first Disney animated film that was NOT based on an existing story? Q2/. What occurs twice in a lifetime ,but only once in a year, twice in a week but never in a day? Q3/. Which Scottish band was made up of Gerry Rafferty and John Egan? Q4/. Which celebrity chef was responsible for the revamping of the Little Chef menus? Q5/. The teddy bear was named after which famous person? Q6/. Name the 6 James Bond films that have titles made up of a single word. Q7/. What are the first names of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde ? Q8/. Who was the voice of ‘Wilo the Wisp’ in the children’s programme of the same name? Q9/. Which character was played by Adrian Edmonson in ‘The Young Ones’ ? Q10/. How many countries border Mexico ? and name them. Answers can be found on page 23

PUB QUIZ PAGE

Gainsborough Trinity

Supporters Club Ian, Jill & the committee invite you to

sample their 2 continually rotating guest ales, also selling beers from Lincolnshire Breweries

(Inc. Grafters). @ ONLY £2:50 A PINT

Hot Bar snacks available. So no need to miss the match! Our bar has 7 TV screens, with a large screen in the concert room.

Big Screen Football & Real Ale Why Not?

WE WELCOME NEW MEMBERS. SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE ONLY £10 per couple

GET YOUR BEER

CHEAPER THAN

PUB PRICES.

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STARS BEHIND THE BARS

This section is nothing to do with tax dodging comedians or kiddy fiddling TV presenters. The meet the landlord feature has run its course so we decided it was time that the real work horses behind a successful pub the, total underrated and overworked, bar staff should get a bit of the limelight.

First under the spotlight is the Canute and 8 Jolly Brewers barman James Darby and bar lass Nicola Clelland. Where were you born? (J) Melton Mowbray, (N) Lincoln. What previous jobs have you had? (J) Only the ancillary jobs of my trade: Plumber, councellor, bouncer, infacta general & all rounder. (N) Cleaner, baker, laundry woman, listener, nagger, baby sitter, girlfriend, sister, etc., etc. I don't get paid for any of these I do it because I enjoy it and if I didn't do it it wouldn’t get done. Do you like bar work? (J) It’s not the worst way to pay the mortgage. (N) I love it, if I didn’t I wouldn’t do it. What other occupation would you like to do? (J) I always fancied being a stand up comedian, but the terror of failure or even worse becoming Michael Macintire keeps me behind the bar. (N) I would love to have my own business, but what I don’t really know. I want to be a CEO and have my minions do all the work for me. Hobbies & interests. (J) I’m a big fan of quality music, comedy, crosswords & ale. I also like channel 618 on Sky. (N) I love baking & crafty stuff, especially knitting. I can sit all day like an old granny clicking away, but I love it and that’s what counts. Have you tried/do you like real ale? (J) Yes & I love it. My favourite beer is Zebedee from The Rebellion brewery in Marlow. It makes you fall off underground platforms (N) I’ve tried it & don’t really like it. Favourite food? (J) An old fashioned Sunday roast. (N) I love spag boll, lasagne, a home cooked roast, fish & chips and of course chocolate after all I am female. Likes & Dislikes? (J) Likes: Originality, Private Eye mag, bbc4, smutty jokes and those boozers you just “happen to find.” Dislikes: Fearn Cotton, management speak, chewing gum, skinny drinks & Greene King beer. (N) I like tea but not coffee. Ideal holiday? (J) Anywhere in Britain really. The furthest south I dare go is Ventnor. (N) I dream of going to Ayres Rock on the back of a Harley Davidson. If you won the lottery, not enough to retire, what would you spend it on? (J) I guess it would involve real ale & pubs or buying something unique on E Bay. (N) I would go to Ayres Rock on the back of a Harley Davidson of course. What’s the funniest thing to happen at work? (J) A curious incident involving a live duck, a carrier bag, a glass of wine and an ashtray full of peanuts. Oh and a dead eel in a bin bag, (N) Nothing funny ever happens at work, it’s work not a playground. Haha! Who am I kidding? Are you free? (J) Free indeed, but out on licence. A liquor licence. (N) No I’m not. That’s all you need to know. Thanks very much you 2 more next issue.

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High Street, Gringley-on-the-Hill, DN10 4RF

For info or bookings please Telephone: 01777 816 303

or see our Web Site: www.bluebellinngringley.co.uk

Opening Times

Monday to Friday 3pm - 11pm

Saturday & Sunday 12-11pm

Food Available

Wednesday to Saturday 5-9pm

Sunday 12-4pm

Try our Exotic

Steaks

Bison, Elk, Buffalo,

Springbok, Kangaroo

and more.

The Blue Bell has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment and has four open fires and a warm and welcoming staff. We have three traditional cask

ale pumps with two rotating guest ales from around the country and our regular beer Theakston’s Best Bitter,

Experience The

JOIN US ON AND

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SCUNTHORPE CAMRA PAGE

Hello again, and here’s a short update about what your neighbouring branch has been up to recently. Our 15th beer festival held in September was a great success, with our highest numbers through the door, and more beer sold than ever before. We had lots of praise for the range and quality of our beers and ciders, which was appreciated, especially as we had to make a few changes very late in the day. Unfortunately we’ll have to find a new venue for next year as Campbell’s Bar and the Conservative Club are due to close at the end of 2012 as club membership has dwindled and the whole enterprise has become unsustainable. A great pity, but we’ve already sounded out a couple of town centre venues, and we’re hopeful one of them will be amenable to hosting our 16th festival in 2013. In October we presented our Autumn Pub of the Season award to the Dog & Gun at East Butterwick, a traditional village pub and regular GBG entry, which is also home to the Dark Tribe microbrewery (see attached picture). Owned and run by Dixie & Judy Dean, the pub is a welcoming stopping-off point for locals and visitors alike. Two or three Dark

Tribe beers are rotated at all times, and Dixie also brews occasional seasonal and one-off beers, so the choice is always interesting. A welcome bonus on the night was that the CAMRA quiz team also won the pub’s quiz – fortunately we didn’t get chased out of town!

We enjoyed the recent Gainsborough Beer Festival in the Old Hall, with good quality beers (even if they were starting to run out while we were there), and a nice ambience. From what I’ve read on the website, it was a great success, so many congratulations to all concerned. We have a much anticipated trip to Acorn Brewery at Barnsley in early December, which also coincides with a beer and cider festival at their tied house, the Old No. 7, in the town centre, where we’ll also be dropping in. Sounds like a good day out to me! We’ll be rounding off the year with our annual Christmas party at the Malt Shovel in Ashby in mid-December. Thanks for reading and wishing you a Merry Christmas! Mark Elsome

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CHAIRMANS CHAT

To quote "The Big O", "It's over". The beer festival that is. Yet again our wildest expectations were exceeded, when beers, ciders, perries and wines ran out at 9pm on the Saturday evening. Although this might seem like a bit of a disaster, I am sure the landlords of our real ale outlets were delighted to benefit from a good few extra customers, I know that the "5th best pub in Gainsborough", as they were wont to call themselves in the immediate aftermath of the festival, was pleased to prove that we had got it wrong, and that the only permanent beer festival in town would never run out of beer. Well done the Eight Jolly Brewers & the rest for helping us out, keep up the good work. I must, once again, thank all who helped to make the festival so successful. Without their unstinting help, in particular the gallant band of volunteers, the venture would be almost impossible to put on. I hope all of our sponsors were able to attend and I would stress just how much we appreciate their generosity. We will be asking you again, so be warned! I am delighted to report that this year's charity, the George Henderson Lodge, St Barnabas Hospice, was the beneficiary to the tune of £415 raised by our patrons by donating unused beer tokens and by waiving the return of the deposit on the pint glasses, as well as cash. Because our treasurer is an employee of HSBC, we actually donated £830, as HSBC matched us pound for pound. Many, many thanks to you. Preparations for next year's festival, which will be in the same venue, beginning on the 17th of October, are not yet underway, but the first meeting will take place in the Horse & Jockey at 8.30 pm on Wednesday the 23rd of January. All are welcome to attend. Coming up soon are our two annual social events; at The Elm Cottage on Tuesday the 18th of December and at The Half Moon, Willingham by Stow on Saturday the 15th of December. A bus will leave from outside the Rowing Club building at 7.30pm. The branch is involved in supplying information to go on a national database of pubs. You can access this at www.whatpub.com. Another milestone was reached recently when CAMRA exceeded the target of 100,000 petitioners to try to get rid of the beer duty escalator which I mentioned in the last Gains Brew. CAMRA members from around the country are descending on the Houses of Parliament in December to seek the support of local MPs. It will be interesting to hear the outcome of this.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a happy and safe holiday season. KT

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ALBUMS IN MY ATTIC

Rooting about in the attic, blowing away the dust and cobwebs of time, revealed my only purchase, from that era of a Pink Floyd album. That was the powerfully motivated The Wall. Written entirely by the band’s bass guitarist, Roger Waters, and recorded throughout 1979 for a release date late in November of that year, with the U.S. release being a week later in December. Although I had long been a fan of their style of music, I must have been one of a small handful that has never owned a copy of The Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall has been my only purchase of any of Pink Floyd’s work with the exception of some greatest hit style albums. The Wall, the band’s eleventh album, was initially conceived back in July of 1978, amidst the turmoil of the band’s money crisis, Waters brought 2 ideas for a new album to the band members. Even though two of the band members, Mason & Gilmour were a bit sceptical about the thinking behind it the band chose The Wall, the other option later became Waters’ first solo album ‘’ The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking’’. The co-producer, Bob Ezrin, wrote a forty-page script for the new album. Based on the central figure of Pink—a gestalt character inspired by Waters' childhood experiences, mainly the death of his father during World War II and an overbearing teacher who took a peevish delight in ridiculing his attempts at writing poetry. Other aspects in his life, such as his overprotective and dominant mother and even the eventual breakdown of his marriage also added to the construction of his own private wall. Throughout the album the listener learns to understand the ordeals of Pink and how each and every individual instance of strife and conflict in his life add yet another brick to the mental wall he is using to seal himself in and to keep himself safe. This first metaphorical brick led to more problems; Pink becomes drug-addled and depressed by the music industry, eventually transforming into a megalomaniac, a development inspired partly by the decline of Syd Barrett. At the end of the album, the increasingly fascist audience would watch as Pink tore down the wall, once again becoming the regular and caring person he always was.

The album seems harsher and more theatrical in style than Pink Floyd's

previous releases. The keyboard player left the band during the album's production

but remained as a salaried musician, performing on The Wall Tour. Commercially

successful upon its release, the album was one of the best selling of 1980, and as

of 1999, it had sold over 23 million copies in the United States alone. Rolling Stone

magazine placed The Wall at 87 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

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Advertising Rates

Advertising rates are for insertions into four consecutive issues of Gains Brew :-

Full Page £ 60:00 — Half Page £ 35:00 — Third of a Page £ 25:00

THIS WILL GO DOWN WELL WITH THE “I CAN DO ANYTHING A BLOKE CAN DO” BRIGADE.

On a recent trawl through various sites looking for interesting titbits to delight you with, I came across this golden little snippet. There was a link to the web site.

Having a party or celebration this Christmas? Grafters Brewery not only have

an outside bar but can also provide Beer in a Box. 5Lt, 10Lt & 20Lt.. With bar

and pump hire also available. Add a touch of Grafters to your Christmas.

Answers to the quiz.

Q1/. The Lion King. Q2/. The Letter E. Q3/. Stealers Wheel. Q4/. Heston Blumenthal Q5/. Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt. 6/. Goldfinger, Thunderball, Moonraker, Octopussy, Goldeneye and Skyfall. Q7/. Henry (Jekyll) and Edward (Hyde). Q8/.Kenneth Williams. Q9/. Vyvian Basterd. Q10/. 3. They are U.S.A, Guatemala and Belize.

Pee Powered Games - New Age Urinal Allows Male Users Play

Interactive Video Games Controlled By Peeing.

Gaming is everywhere be it your computer, laptop, TV, cellphones or tablet but now they have a new address - inside man urinals. A British company, Captive Media, have designed the worlds first toilet game console with a hands-free control - "The users pee". These "TOYLETS" feature a hi-definition screen, fitted at eye level above the urinal, where it commands the full attention of the user. When not in active use, it plays a mixture of adverts and contents which switches automatically to GAMING mode when a user approaches it. The urinal makes use of contactless sensors to detect the position of a man’s stream allowing them to interact with the game. At present there are only five games available, Knock Down Penguin, Art Splash, On the Piste,The100ml Dash and a quiz called, yes you guessed it, Clever Dick. But who knows what other games could make an appearance. So come on girls who’s up for the challenge? (Taken from an article in Huff Post, Weird News, 20th Nov 2012)

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LOCAL BREWERY NEWS

Coming upto Christmas and Grafters brewery are full steam ahead in trying to keep

up with all the extra orders that the season brings. Even more so because the

launch date of the new brewery is getting ever nearer. It seems to have been a long

time coming but things have not gone exactly according to plan. The electricity and

water supplies are already installed and are just awaiting the arrival of one or two

other pieces of equipment before the delivery of the new mash tuns and

fermentation vessels, that are massing in the yard of a local sheet metal working

company, just awaiting the go ahead to transport and install.

Grafters Greetings is now being delivered around the area. If you like

your Christmas beers then this is defiantly one for you. Brewed to be

rich and spicy with Pale, Crystal and Chocolate malts along with

torrefied wheat. It is double hopped with Goldings and Cascade hops

to enhance the flavours that the addition of raisins, nutmeg, mixed

peel and cinnamon gives it. Greetings really is the taste of Christmas.

Another new beer from the Grafters stable is Howler.

At a manageable 4.3% Howler (Nicknamed “Son of Moonster

Mash”) is no weakling when it comes to body and taste. Junior here

is a bronzed coloured bitter with a deep and long lasting taste, and a

rounded, full malty bitterness that stays on the palate for a long time.

Once bitten you will be enslaved forever. This beer is going to be

available all year round. But once it goes on the bar it doesn’t stay there long.

As usual the local branch of CAMRA is having one of its Christmas social

evenings (15th Dec) up at the brewery tap, The Half Moon at Willingham. A bus has

been organised for members (£5 return for non members). Pick up will at the bus

stop over from the old rowing club at 7:30. We are always ensured of a really good

night with a couple of specially concocted for our visit and a quiz, music (from the

pub band) dancing and general festive frivolities.

Just as a reminder The Half Moon at Willingham and The ‘R’ Bar in town

are still, as yet, the only two pubs in our area that appreciates your patronage by

offering CAMRA members10p off of a pint of real ale. This alone can pay for you

yearly membership. Let alone the £20 of Wetherspoons vouchers you also receive

with your membership card. So join CAMRA now and save money on your beer.

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Hardware Shopping List Ingredient Shopping List

ONE OF LIFE’S GREATEST QUESTIONS ANSWERED

OR An Anarchists Guide to Brewing Beer The most important question in any red blooded male’s life has got to be “ If civilisation, as we know it, ended could I still brew beer?” The simple answer, thankfully, is yes. It wouldn't be that difficult a task and you really don't need 21st century technology or materials to do it. However, if there was a nearby abandoned hardware store and supermarket from said ended-civilisation, acquiring a few bits and bobs that are needed would ease the situation a bit, as growing your own ingredients would take at least a harvest season and a whole year without beer. So that’s your equipment and raw materials taken care of now we need yeast. Yeast can be grown from an existing culture from sediment found in bottles of bottle conditioned beers. Beer does not require many ingredients. You need water, yeast, malt, and hops. For good beer (not that you'll be picky if civilization has ended), you’ll need water that has an optimal calcium content and pH. Yeast is a living organism, always present in the air, which converts the sugars from malt or malt extract into alcohol and carbon dioxide. You can, in fact, ferment alcohol just by waiting for wild yeast to colonise any fruit juice or grain mash, but the results are are going to be unpredictable and not at all pretty. It's really better to use a strain of yeast that has been proved to be good for brewing. Malt is made from a grain called barley. To make malt, barley is soaked to sprout it, then roasted, and crushed. Hops are the flowering portion of an easy-to-grow vine. Evidently the barley and the hops are the two crops that would need to be grown.

6 X 50 Ltr Drums

A couple of large plastic tubs

A gas burner & a canister of

gas.

Lengths of piping.

Taps (if you want to be posh).

Nuts & bolts, washers etc.

Lots of Water.

Malted Barley

Hops or Heather or

something to use as a

flavouring.

Sterilising fluid or Sodium

Metabisulfite

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A reminder to all our contributors, the next issue of The GAINS BREW will be out

before the end of March. So the LAST date for any inclusions in that issue will be

the 23rd of Feb. Giving you plenty of time to send any letters, e mails etc.

Advertisers if you wish to alter your advert please email any changes by the same

date ED.

NEW IN LINCOLN

With the opening of two new real ale outlets the real ale scene in Lincoln has had some much needed new life injected into it since the beginning of November. The first to open was the remarkable Strait & Narrow. Situated at the bottom of the Strait this remarkable pub offers 5 real ales (including a permanent beer from Grafters), continental lagers and over 100 bottled beers for it’s customers to choose from. The other new one is the Lincolnshire Red Steakhouse. Predominantly an eatery come entertainments venue this also sells real ale and is situated on Newlands. After a brief closure, one of our old favourites, The Tap &

Spile has re-opened. So that’s a few more to add to your touring list in the big city.

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MK_DIGITAL_PRINTMK_DIGITAL_PRINTMK_DIGITAL_PRINT

TOTAL PRINT SOLUTIONSTOTAL PRINT SOLUTIONSTOTAL PRINT SOLUTIONS

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Weekly Attractions

Tues Night—Jamming Session

Wed Night—Quiz Night 8:30

Fri Night—A Great Fun Night with

our Karaoke

Sat Night - Dance with H&J Disco

ACCOMMODATION

5 Newly Re-furbished

Bedrooms @ £25:00 pp.

2 Real Ales on at all times. Sharps Doombar is the house

beer & 1 changing guest ale

For Real Ale & Accommodation

Tel:- 01427 330596

Sky Sports & WiFi

The Horse & Jockey

A REAL PUB

Hot Water Tank

Mash Tun

Copper

Heat Exchanger

Fermentation

Tank (Add Yeast

Here)

Hops

Malt

Tub

Hopback

Barrel

This is the kind of set up

you should be looking for.

The Hot Water Tank

feeds the mash tun where

the malt is added. The

Copper is where the hops

are added. The Hopback

is where further Hops are

added for flavouring etc.

The Heat Exchanger

allows the liquor to cool

before going into the

fermentation tank where

the yeast is added.

Setting up your Brewery

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Now to start that first brew. Most importantly everything must be sterile and do not use metal utensils for stirring etc. Mix the malted barley with hot water, in the Mash Tun. The mashing process takes around 1 to 2 hours, and then the liquor is drained off the grains. The grains are now washed in a process known as "sparging". This washing allows you to gather as much of the fermentable liquid from the grains as possible. This also allows the grain bed itself to serve as a filter medium. It is possible to collect a second or even third wash with the not quite spent grains as separate batches. Each run would produce a weaker wort and thus give you a weaker beer. The sweet wort collected from sparging is put into a kettle, or "copper", (so called because these vessels were traditionally made from copper because copper heats up quicker) and boiled, usually for about one hour. During boiling, water in the wort evaporates, but the sugars and other components of the wort remain; this allows more efficient use of the starch sources in the beer. Boiling also destroys any remaining enzymes left over from the mashing stage. Hops are added during boiling as a source of bitterness, flavour and aroma. Hops may be added at more than one point during the boil. The longer the hops are boiled, the more bitterness they contribute, but the less hop flavour and aroma remains in the beer. After boiling, the hopped wort is now cooled, ready for the yeast. This is where the hopped wort may pass through a hopback, which is a small vat filled with hops, to add a more aromatic hop flavour and to act as a filter; but the hopped wort can be simply cooled for the fermenter, where the yeast is added. During fermentation, the wort becomes beer in a process which requires seven to twenty days depending on the type of yeast and strength of the beer. During this fermentation period all the sediment and yeast will settle to the bottom of the vat leaving the beer clear. Fermentation is sometimes carried out in two stages, primary and secondary. Once most of the alcohol has been produced during primary fermentation, the beer is transferred to a new vessel and allowed a period of secondary fermentation. Secondary fermentation is used when the beer requires long storage before packaging or greater clarity. As soon as you allow air into the barrel secondary fermentation will start and this is when you will be able to bottle your brew. This will stop the beer from going off and prevent you from having to drink it all in one go. There you go then. If Armageddon should happen you are safe in the knowledge that you will be able to brew and drink beer to your hearts content.

The Next Step. The Brew

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GAINSBOROUGH POTS (WINTER) 2012 PRESENTATION

As previously announced this years summer pub of the season went, once again, to the Canute on Silver Street Gainsborough. Neil and his fantastic team really must be doing something right as this is the third time that the Canute has won a CAMRA award in the four years that the pub has been open The

presentation was made on September 28th. The picture shows (from L-R), Karl Thomson (Branch Chairman), Neil

Boardman, and James Darby. The area manager of the Bramwell Pub Company, Ian Brown, was also present to congratulate Neil on the achievement. Neil expressed his thanks to the members who turned up for the presentation and also to all of the CAMRA members that opted for the Canute in what was a landslide vote in its favour. Neil said “It is great to win an award of any kind but from your local CAMRA branch it just shows that we must be doing something right.” He also added that “The award is not just for the pub but a tribute to all the hard work his staff puts into running the place.” The Canute has recently been refurbished and now has 5 beers on the bar on a permanent basis.

VILLAGE ROVER ‘2’

Having meaning to pay it a visit since its opening in June I had the opportunity to visit the Pheasantry Brewery, on the A57 at East Markham. Although it is a tad difficult to find in the dark [ a light at entrance might help ] a 1/2 mile trip up a farm track to the Brewery & Tearoom was really worth the effort. With the premises being converted from old farm buildings into a modern micro brewery the Pheasantry had two beers on offer. The BB Bitter a smooth tasting copper coloured beer which had a light spicy aroma at 3.8% ABV and the PA a pale coloured bitter at 4% ABV which had a little citrusy taste. The DA a dark beer is in the process of being produced and Director and co owner Martin Easterbrook told me it would be on sale early in December. Tours for small parties can be arranged. The premises also serves food, hot drinks and cakes. As you would expect from new premises the Pheasantry was spotless in presentation. Opening times are Wednesday 10am till 6pm,Thursday with Friday & Saturday,10am till 9pm and Sunday 10am till 5pm.The Pheasantry can be found on the A57 at High Brecks Farm just before the village of East Markham. It’s really worth the trip out there.

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We cannot help feeling a bit chuffed with ourselves once again. Nine

months of organising and 3 days of mayhem. Once again we completely

sold out well before our 3 o’clock Sunday deadline, in fact we sold out 30

minutes before last year’s sell out time of 9:30pm, even though we had a

contingency plan of doubling up on 4 of our 36 original beers. On top of

that, on the Saturday morning, we also brought in 6 more firkins of beer

and 3 more 20 litre boxes of cider as well. This gave us a grand total of

3312 pints of beer, roughly 455 pints of cider and perry and, for the first

time ever, 72 x 187ml bottles (about 18 x 70cl bottles) of wine, all of which

were sold to over 1500 visitors who came to The Old Hall venue in

approximately 25 hours. That's just over 2.2 pints a minute.

On the Thursday night we had a feeling that we were going to be

busier than last year. The fact that more of our sponsors and guests

stayed much longer and we also had a ‘Brendan’ quiz which brought us

more customers, also improved the turnout. When we were dipping the

casks to see how much had gone, one of the beers had half sold already.

On the Friday night at 6:55 the bung was hammered in on our first

casualty of The War of the Roses beer. This was from Magic Rock

brewery ‘Curious’ (also the first victim of the Scunthorpe beer festival).

This beer was also voted beer of the festival by a wide margin and

Yorkshire beers were the eventual winners of The War of the Roses.

When picking the beers for the festival we think that having a

theme is very important. There are that many breweries and that many

beers nowadays it gives you something to choose your beers around. This

year The War of the Roses theme gave us a chance to bring beers into the

town, that you would not ordinarily find in this particular area, from the

counties Lancashire and Yorkshire. Unfortunately there were a couple of

our original choices from each region that, for various reasons, could not

Gainsborough’s Most ‘SUPCESSFUL’

Beer Festival Yet !!!

Gainsborough CAMRA 2012

Beer Festival Review

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DISCLAIMER.

THE VIEWS & ARTICALS EXPRESSED IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE NOT

NECESSARILY THOSE OF CAMRA OR THAT OF THE MEMBERS OF THE

LOCAL BRANCH. MOST ARTICLES ARE INCLUDED TO ENTERTAIN AS

WELL AS BEING AS FACTUALLY ACURATE AS POSSIBLE

be acquired, but we had a back up list of beers for just that occasion and it

would seem that no one was disappointed with our choices.

None of this success would have been possible without the

dedication of the members of the local branch of CAMRA who

volunteered to work at the festival. We are the smallest branch in the

country but we never seem to lack volunteers when the festival actually

gets here. There is a tremendous amount of work that needs doing that

a lot of our visitors don't actually realise we have to do. Several key

positions which need manning include fire attendant, membership desk,

glass and beer token sellers, glass collector and entrance steward,

while each room and entrance have to be monitored. Someone has to

keep visitors from going in places were glasses are not allowed etc. Oh

and not to forget people to man the bar and keep a check on the state

of the beer. Then we have to clean up after we close every night ready

for the next day. What people don’t realise is that we are partly

responsible for one of the country’s national treasures and we are very

grateful to English Heritage, the Lincs C.C. and all of the staff of The

Old Hall for allowing us to hire the venue and all the help Victoria and

Joan give us throughout the months of planning. There are many other

people that help us out throughout that time such as the landlords of

the pubs we use for our meetings and also the town council for allowing

us to store all of our festival gear at one of their properties. Without their

help someone’s garage would be awfully full.

We would like to dedicate this section of The Gains Brew to all

those people mentioned and some we haven’t, to all of our invaluable

sponsors and of course the beer loving public that all made our festival

a huge ‘supcess’. We hope to see all of you and more at next years

festival when we hope our beer selections will last out until the closing

hour of 10:30.

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THE VILLAGE ROVER ‘1’

Harrogate for the Beer Connoisseur What a lovely time of year to let the train take the strain. Along with three branch members Harrogate was the destination. More renowned for Betty’s Tearoom and posh shops the upmarket town provided us with 4 superb hostelries. In fact all four were only a nine iron apart and all had a fine selection of ales from local micro breweries. Missing out on The Winter Gardens [Wetherspoons] due to a tight schedule we turned the corner and stepped into Hales Bar. The bar was gas lit and along with the local Daleside Beer 3 rotating guests were on the menu. A couple of Halloween beers were on this particular day. About a hundred yards down the way The Bell Tavern, extended with the purchase of Farrah’s Toffee Shop, offered 8 real ales, 2 Belgian Draughts and Erdinger Weissbier. Spoilt for choice somewhat but the recently award winning Rudgate Ruby Mild took the party’s vote. The next port of call was the recently renovated Fat Badger situated in the White Hart Hotel. What an inspired idea, a super bar packed with lunchtime drinkers sampling the 4 guest ales on tap and all from local micro breweries. Final call was The Blues Cafe Bar full of Blues Memorabilia and Nightly Blues music but serving 6 real ales Naylors Black&Tan was the choice but one of the other five could easily have been consumed. A good four hours on a Saturday spent in four excellent juicers. Not to be finished our final port of call was at the Hop in Leeds. We just had time left for a pint of Magic Rock in the Sheffield Tap. This ended what turned out to be a splendid day. Locally the Sun Inn and Bridge Hotel at Saxilby have both recently changed hands and both are advertising real ales but at present have not had any feedback. Both the Castle Inn at Torksey and The Carpenters at Fenton are both on the market both of them in present ownership only serve pumppiss so we can only hope. The Plough Sturton has been bought in a joint venture and they plan to keep 4 real ales on the menu. The Dambusters is having a festival at the end of November so it might be worth a call. Mr Troop informs me the construction of the extension to Grafters Brewery is on schedule to be completed before Christmas. We wish him well and hope this leads to more success for this popular brewer. It would be rude not to congratulate everybody who contributed to the Gainsborough Beer Festival and helped to make it another successful event. All the hard work involved in promoting the event getting everything sponsored and all the work into the build up before the four days of mayhem in the Old Hall. Well done to one and all. We just need a few more beers on next year, lets try for the half century. Finally Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to all the readers of Gains Brew and keep supporting your local over the festive season.

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MEASUREMENTS OF THE GOOD OLD BRITISH PINT !

The British brewing industry is fairly unique with its measuring system as it has refused to be bullied into accepting the continental measurements of litres. Our beer is still sold in pints .This not only satisfies our needs but also has the added bonus of confusing the jolly old foreigner and any kid born after decimalisation. When you ask for a beer you are usually asked if you want a pint or a half pint. For future reference there are 8 pints to a gallon, this piece of information is in itself invaluable. The beer you receive will have been put into casks at the brewery (not 'barrels') These are the containers in which it is delivered to the pub's cellar, and from which it is drawn for dispensing at the bar by the pumps. In todays health and safety conscious world casks are usually made from metal or plastic not of traditional wood (bang goes the job of a cooper to the annals of history). So if beer comes in casks don't they use barrels anymore? Well, yes and no . . . Beer is delivered in casks of firkin or kilderkin size, because those are reckoned to be most convenient for sales purposes - and in these days of strict Health and Safety rules they are also less likely to give the drayman or cellarman a hernia!. But the old barrel (measuring 36 gallons) still survives in a notional form because that is how the output of a brewery is assessed - one with a 10 barrel plant can produce 360 gallons. There were a lot more barrel sizes in the past some of which held a colossal amount of beer. A table of the standard measurements and the names of the barrels appears below.

The names given to some of the barrel sizes come mainly from a corrupt translation of words from the Dutch language of the 15th and 16th century. Firkin literally means a fourth and a firkin is a quarter of a barrel measure. Kilderkin is Dutch for small cask and a Hogshead is a corrupt translation of either the Dutch name of Oxhooft, Danish Oxhoved or old Swedish Oxhofvod. The English translation should then really be oxhead. It should be pointed out that the size of barrels for ale generally held less liquid, as an example a barrel of ale held only 48 gallons. Also American gallons are a lot smaller than our Imperial gallons

Barrel name No. Gallons No. Pints

(Polly)PIN 4:5 36

FIRKIN 9 72

KILDERKIN 18 144

BARREL 36 288

Barrel name No. Gallons No. Pints

HOGSHEAD 54 432

PUNCHEON 72 576

BUTT 108 864

TUN 216 1728

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SOME VISITORS’ COMMENTS

This year we had a box for visitors’ comments. Here are a few of them.

Es war sehr schön, gutes Bier. Danke!

Evidently from the 3 German guys who stood near the cider bar on Saturday. It’s nice to impress our foreign visitors.

Not enough beer. Great building, though.

Lovely, but a shame you ran out of all drinks. After throwing a fair amount of beer away after the first 2 festivals, last year, we were evidently cautious so as not to let that happen again. We didn’t let last year’s sell out success go to our heads by putting a lot of extra beer on, but we did have 4 beers doubled up and 6 more beers and 3 more ciders on stand by. Next year we hope to be able to improve on the amount of beer on sale at any one time and have more beers on standby.

Very pleased you had wine this year. Could you consider fruit wines next year? We tried the wine this year and very successful it was too. Fruit wines are a different matter though. There are too many varieties and they don't come in miniature bottles. If we had this wine it would mean having open bottles and jigger measures that would need washing after each use, to avoid cross contamination of the drinks.

Excellent location. Great beers.

Over the moon about Over the Moon. Great day thanks.

Pity you could not take alcoholic drinks into the cafe. Otherwise we have had a super time. This is one avenue we don’t have great control over. We can only ask next year.

Stamp the reverse of the beer tokens for each session, or a different colour, for fraud prevention. The beer tokens do have a ghosting effect on them that is not easy to reproduce, the card is of a grade that cannot be bought singularly and next year the tokens will have sponsors’ names on the back. It would cost you as much to copy one as to buy one and if anyone was that desperate I would buy them a drink myself.

Very interesting... I thought there would be more brewers! but enjoyed it. Not sure what is meant by this but we had a varied selection of different breweries from around the country & invitations to attend were sent out to all of our LocAle breweries within a 30 mile radius. But I don't think any took us up on the invite.

Suggest being less defensive with stocking beer. CAMRA member/festival volunteer (been to festival past two years). Lessons learnt from the past are there for guidance, See comment 2.

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THE BEER FESTIVAL THROUGH THE EYES OF AN ORGANISER

DID WE GET IT WRONG? - AN ORGANISER'S VIEW

As the dust has now almost settled on the 2012 festival, I feel that the people who missed out on enjoying drinking at the event deserve to know the circumstances resulting in us once again running out of beer on the Saturday night. We have received numerous compliments from many areas on the success of the event so I think it only fair that we address this issue. I hope that the following information will therefore help. In preparation for every festival we have to submit to CAMRA HQ a detailed budget. If this is not approved, CAMRA will not provide us with the necessary finance. Naturally the main item of expenditure and income is the purchase and sale of beer and it is essential that the budget figures for these are realistic. The beer order for our 3rd festival, in 2011, was for 32 x 9 gallon casks. These were sold by 9.30 on the Saturday night, meaning we were within 1 hour of an almost perfect sales estimate. Our budget estimate for this year therefore was to increase the order to 36 casks, with an additional 4 casks to be used as required but returnable if unused. The total order for 2012 was therefore 25% higher than in 2011. This was approved by HQ and the beer ordered. Please bear in mind the fact that once a cask is ‘vented’, any beer unsold will have to be thrown away. Whilst it is not our aim to make a huge profit on the festival we must cover our costs and we cannot therefore waste money in this manner. The promotion of the festival this year was exceptional with various forms of advertising spread far and wide thanks to the efforts of our many volunteers. This resulted in the attendance for virtually all the opening hours being far higher than in previous years. We did realise that on checking the beer remaining on Friday night that we would need additional supplies for Saturday. We were therefore highly indebted to Phil Troop and his team from Grafters Brewery who spent most of Saturday morning emptying, cleaning and then filling another 6 casks to try to get us through the day. This took the total order to 46 casks - a 44% increase on 2012. The most optimistic of our estimates were nowhere near this figure and it is doubtful that budgeting at this level would have been approved. In the event we still ran out even earlier than last year at 9pm.

Our festival has an excellent reputation for the quality of its beers and this

is mainly down to the fact that the racking is done on the Monday before the festival

leaving time for conditioning and settling. We have only a finite amount of space at

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The Old Hall and currently the stillage only holds 40 casks. This meant that this was the maximum number of suitably racked and 'live' beer casks we could provide. Beer brought in at the last minute has to be 'bright' and whilst entirely drinkable would not develop in the way live beer would. We would only therefore want to serve our customers bright beer if no other options were available.

We obviously were disappointed to turn people away on Saturday night but

we do not think we could have done much more at the time. Other people may of

course have a different view and we would be delighted to receive any feedback

both positive and negative. Contact details are available on our website and in this

magazine.

Plans and Ideas have already been put forward for consideration as

options for next year, to help increase the amount of beer we can safely store, and

we will be doing our very best to ensure that we do not have the same problems of

running out too early on the Saturday night. Any ideas would be very welcome and

if you would like to attend one of our beer festival meetings, which will be held

regularly starting in the New Year, you will be very welcome. Details of these will

appear on our website.

A comment from our previous chairman:

The Gainsborough Beer Festival has definitely come alive since its reinstatement

into the towns social calendar in 2009. Congratulations must go to Gainsborough

CAMRA for putting on another fabulous beer festival, it has gone from strength to

strength over the last four years and I for one certainly hope it continues to do so.

On a personal level we were very pleased to see a gluten free beer available, as I

have a wheat allergy this made the festival for us, especially as it tasted so good.

Also I can't let this opportunity pass by without mentioning how delighted we were

knowing Yorkshire beat Lancashire in the battle of the beers, Up the Tykes. We

also can't wait for next year's festival, and hope that a few more brewers

experiment with gluten free beers to give the festival selectors a better range to

choose from.

Cheers John and Lynne Alsop.